INFORMATION SYSTEMS

ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

INFORMATION SYSTEMS
ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

Shouhong Wang
Hai Wang

Universal-Publishers
Boca Raton
 Information Systems Analysis and Design

Copyright © 2012 Shouhong Wang and Hai Wang

All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without written permission from the publisher

Universal-Publishers
Boca Raton, Florida
USA • 2012

ISBN-10: 1-61233-075-4
ISBN-13: 978-1-61233-075-4

www.universal-publishers.com

Cover photo © Chris Lofty | Dreamstime.com

Credit: Visible Analyst is trademark of Visible Systems Corporation. Copyright of webERP is owned
by weberp.org a trust of the webERP developers.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wang, Shouhong.
Information systems analysis and design / Shouhong Wang, Hai Wang.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-61233-075-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-61233-075-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Management information systems. 2. Management information systems--Design and construction.
3. Information resources management. I. Wang, Hai, 1973- II. Title.
T58.6.W348 2012
658.4'038011--dc23
2011044241
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE ............................................................................................................................... 7
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................13
1.1. Context of Information Systems Analysis and Design ........................................13
1.2. Central Objective of Information Systems ............................................................14
1.3. Systems Analysts........................................................................................................15
1.3.1. Business skills .....................................................................................................15
1.3.2. Information technology skills...........................................................................16
1.3.3. Human interaction skills ...................................................................................16
1.3.4. Managerial skills..................................................................................................16
CHAPTER 2. INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT ...............................19
2.1. Systems Development Life Cycle ...........................................................................19
2.2. Management of Systems Development Project ....................................................21
2.2.1. Project sponsor and project approval .............................................................21
2.2.2. Project scope definition, project scale estimation, and risk assessment.....22
2.2.3. Project team management.................................................................................23
2.2.4. Project control and coordination .....................................................................23
2.3. Fundamental Strategies of Information Systems Development.........................23
2.3.1. Systems acquisition ............................................................................................25
2.3.2. Systems construction .........................................................................................28
2.3.3. Outsourcing ........................................................................................................29
2.4. Diversified Information System Construction Approaches ...............................30
2.4.1. Waterfall approach .............................................................................................30
2.4.2. Parallel approach ................................................................................................32
2.4.3. Rapid application development (RAD) approach .........................................33

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 Table of Contents

2.4.4. Other variant approaches of RAP ...................................................................34

CHAPTER 3. SYSTEMS PLANNING ...........................................................................37
3.1. Initiating a System Development Project ..............................................................37
3.2. Defining the Scope of the New Information System ..........................................38
3.2.1. As-Is system ........................................................................................................38
3.2.2. To-Be system ......................................................................................................38
3.2.3. Extent of the potential changes of the business process .............................38
3.3. Justifying the Feasibility ............................................................................................40
3.3.1. Constraints ..........................................................................................................40
3.3.2. Technological feasibility ....................................................................................41
3.3.3. Economic feasibility ..........................................................................................42
3.3.4. Organizational feasibility ...................................................................................45
3.4. Scheduling the Project Activities.............................................................................46
3.5. Assessing Risks ..........................................................................................................47
3.6. Generating System Development Project Plan.....................................................47
CHAPTER 4. SYSTEMS ANALYSIS ..............................................................................49
4.1. System Requirements ................................................................................................49
4.1.1. Functional requirements ...................................................................................49
4.1.2. Nonfunctional requirements ............................................................................51
4.2. Techniques of Requirements Information Collection .........................................53
4.2.1. Experiencing and observation ..........................................................................53
4.2.2. Interview..............................................................................................................53
4.2.3. Joint Analytical Development (JAD) ..............................................................55
4.2.4. Documents review .............................................................................................55

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 Table of Contents

4.2.5. Questionnaire......................................................................................................55
4.2.6. Selecting techniques for collecting requirements information ....................56
4.3. Business Process Modeling ......................................................................................56
4.4. Major Tools of Business Process Modeling ..........................................................57
4.4.1. Data Flow Diagram (DFD) ..............................................................................58
4.4.2. Unified Modeling Language (UML) ................................................................58
4.4.3. Business Process Modeling Notations (BPMN) ...........................................59
4.4.4. Summary of business process modeling tools ...............................................60
4.5. Data Flow Diagram...................................................................................................61
4.5.1. Overview of DFD..............................................................................................61
4.5.2. Systems thinking approach ...............................................................................65
4.5.3. Context diagram .................................................................................................68
4.5.4. Decomposition ...................................................................................................70
4.5.5. Level-1 diagram ..................................................................................................75
4.5.6. Balancing .............................................................................................................76
4.5.7. CASE tools .........................................................................................................78
4.5.8. Level-2 diagram ..................................................................................................79
4.5.9. Scope of system and lower level DFD ...........................................................83
4.5.10. Descriptions of processes, data flows, data stores, and external entities.83
4.5.11. Validating DFD and common errors............................................................86
4.6. The Use of DFD for Systems Acquisition Development ...................................89
4.6.1. Contrasting the as-is and to-be systems ..........................................................89
4.6.2. Specifying functional requirements for system design .................................95
4.7. Data Modeling ...........................................................................................................97

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 Table of Contents

4.8. Systems Analysis Report...........................................................................................98

CHAPTER 5. SYSTEMS DESIGN ............................................................................... 101
5.1. Systems Design for Systems Acquisition Development ................................... 101
5.1.1. System infrastructure design .......................................................................... 101
5.1.2. Design of alternatives of application software products ........................... 102
5.1.3. Comprehensive decision making for system acquisition........................... 109
5.1.4. Backward-design ............................................................................................. 111
5.1.5. System architecture design ............................................................................. 114
5.2. Systems Design for Systems Construction Development ................................ 116
5.2.1. Design of physical business process model ................................................ 119
5.2.2. Database design ............................................................................................... 121
5.2.3. User interface design ...................................................................................... 121
5.2.4. Programs design .............................................................................................. 123
5.3. Systems Design Report.......................................................................................... 124
CHAPTER 6. SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION ....................................................... 127
6.1. System Implementation for Systems Acquisition Development..................... 127
6.1.1. System installation........................................................................................... 127
6.1.2. Configuring ERP system, or customizing software product .................... 128
6.1.3. Data conversion .............................................................................................. 128
6.1.4. System tests for acquired system .................................................................. 128
6.2. System Construction for Systems Construction Development....................... 129
6.2.1. Database construction and tests ................................................................... 129
6.2.2. Application software construction, installation, and tests......................... 130
6.2.3. Hardware and network installation............................................................... 130

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 Table of Contents

6.2.4. Data conversion .............................................................................................. 130

6.2.5. System tests for constructed system ............................................................. 130
6.3. Transition from As-Is System to To-Be System ................................................ 131
6.3.1. New policies and procedures for the new system ...................................... 131
6.3.2. System conversion methods and contingency plans .................................. 132
6.3.3. User training..................................................................................................... 134
6.4. Establishing System Support Facilities and System Hand-Over ..................... 134
6.5. Systems Implementation Reports ........................................................................ 135
CHAPTER 7. SYSTEMS MAINTENANCE .............................................................. 137
7.1. Management of User Support and System Maintenance ................................. 137
7.1.1. User support .................................................................................................... 137
7.1.2. System maintenance procedure..................................................................... 137
7.2. Post-Project Evaluation ......................................................................................... 139
7.3. Preparation for the Next New System ................................................................ 140
APPENDIX A. GUIDELINE FOR SYSTEMS ACQUISITION PROJECTS .... 143
APPENDIX B. CASE TOOL: VISIBLE ANALYST ............................................... 149
APPENDIX C. AN EXAMPLE OF SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN .... 173
APPENDIX D. AN EXAMPLE OF OPEN SOURCE ERP SYSTEM ............... 189
INDEX ............................................................................................................................... 199
POWERPOINT SLIDES ................................................................................................ 205

** Electronic teaching material for this textbook includes model syllabus, sample exams, lecture
PPT, and Visible Analyst project artifacts.

5
 PREFACE

Theme of Information Systems Analysis and Design

Information systems are vital to business. Information Systems Analysis and Design
is one of the core courses in the MIS curriculum. It explains the right process of
information systems development for the organization. The course also introduces
the tools that can be applied to the information systems development. In the digital
era, information technology has become a commodity, and the Information Systems
Analysis and Design course has become a widely accepted elective course for all
business majors.
The objective of this textbook is to help business students understand the con-
cept of information systems development and develop practical skills of information
systems analysis and design. Upon completion of the course, students should be
able to analyze and design information systems in a professional manner.
Information systems analysis and design are connected with a wide range of
topics. Generally, information systems analysis and design involves two interrelated
parts: management of information systems development and techniques of
information systems development. The techniques of information systems
development include five major interrelated technical components: business process
modeling, data modeling and database design, networking design, computer
programming, and computer hardware and operating systems. Each of these
technical components has its unique and plentiful material to learn. The fact is that a
single course or a single textbook is unable to fully cover all these technical
components. Commonly, management of information systems development and
business process modeling are taught in the information systems analysis and design
course, data modeling and database design are taught in the database course,
networking design is taught in the data communication and networking course, and
computer programming is taught in courses of computer languages. Hence, the
primary theme of this textbook is management of information systems development
and business process modeling. The secondary topics, including data modeling,
networking, computer programming, and computer hardware and operating systems,
are discussed very briefly in this textbook when delivering the monolithic concept of
information systems development.

7
 Preface

Unique features of this textbook

There have been hundreds textbooks of systems analysis and design on the market.
Given the long history of information systems, many information systems analysis
and design textbooks were written decades ago and then revised for numerous times.
The volumes of those systems analysis and design textbooks are usually huge since
they contain many secondary contents that might be useful to know decades ago but
are no longer essential for information systems development today. Many of those
textbooks contain chapters that are rarely used for teaching and learning in this
course. In the history of the management information systems discipline, systems
analysis and design has been dominated by the computer software builders-centered
approaches which were borrowed from the software engineering discipline. For
instance, countless textbooks of systems analysis and design on the market still
describe structured computer program design in great detail. In fact, structured
program design was a major topic of systems analysis and design before the 1980s,
but is no longer significant for systems analysis and design today. On the other
hand, the fast growth of ERP systems and commercialized business software
packages on the software market has shifted the strategies of information systems
development from systems construction to systems acquisition in ordinary business
organizations. Contemporary topics such as systems design for systems acquisition
and acquisition decision making are lacking in the existing textbooks. This textbook
emphasizes the concept of business-centered systems acquisition by including the
contemporary topics, and aims to enhance students’ practical skills of systems
analysis and design.
This book maintains a good balance between the core concepts and the second-
ary concepts, as well as a good balance between the basic knowledge and the
practical skills in systems analysis and design. The unique features of this textbook
are summarized as follows.

(1) Emphasizing information systems acquisition instead of systems construction

The strategies of information systems development in the ordinary business
organizations have been changed over the past several decades. Nowadays, except
for software companies, few business organizations build their information systems

8
 Preface

by doing programming and testing, because commercialized off-the-shelf software

packages, services online, and ERP systems are widely available at low costs. This
textbook emphasizes information systems acquisition, and provides a synopsis of
information systems construction as supplementary knowledge. In presenting its
contents, the textbook clearly distinguishes the two different systems development
strategies.

(2) Emphasizing the systems acquisition tools instead of the system construction tools
Many tools for information systems analysis and design have been invented during
the past several decades. The most commonly used tools in this field are: Data Flow
Diagram (DFD), the Unified Modeling Language (UML), and Business Process
Modeling Notation (BPMN). According to our experiences of teaching information
systems analysis and design for longer than twenty five years as well as the research
findings, we consider that the UML is a good set of software engineering tools for
systems construction, but is difficult to use in the systems acquisition cases.
Similarly, BPMN is a good tool for describing a business process at a detailed level
for system construction, but provides little system perspective. DFD has been with
us for a long time. DFD is not perfect, but is an excellent tool for students to
develop system thinking skills for information systems analysis and design. As
explained in the textbook, DFD is particularly powerful in the context of informa-
tion systems acquisition which is much relevant to today’s information technology
environment of business.

(3) Emphasizing contemporary contents instead of legacy contents

Since the focal point of information systems analysis and design has been shifted
from system construction to system acquisition in the contemporary information
technology environment, this textbook eliminates legacy contents, such as structured
programming design, which might be worth knowing for system construction but are
no longer essential for business students. On the other hand, this textbook
emphasizes contemporary contents such as selection of commercial software
products.

9
 Preface

(4) Emphasizing project skills

This textbook emphasizes the practical project skills. It provides a methodical
guideline for information systems analysis and design projects, and describes the
tools and techniques used for information systems analysis and design in a systematic
way. This textbook is actually a comprehensive guideline for practical systems
analysis and design projects. As specified in Appendix A, the general requirement
for students, who learn information systems analysis and design using this textbook,
is a real-world information system analysis and design project.

(5) Eliminating secondary material

This textbook eliminates secondary material that is not essential to business students
for learning information systems analysis and design. It has little overlap with other
independent information systems textbooks such as database design and implemen-
tation, data communication and networking, and computer programming languages.
All chapters and appendices of this textbook are necessary for the systems analysis
and design course.

The organization of this textbook

The textbook has seven chapters, plus appendices. Chapter 1 introduces students
into the information systems analysis and design field, and discusses the roles of
systems analysts in business organizations. Chapter 2 discusses information systems
development strategies, and presents a general overview of the project management
for information systems development. Chapter 3 explains the systems planning
phase. Chapter 4 provides details of the systems analysis process and DFD, a
powerful tool for systems analysis. Chapter 5 presents details of the systems design
process. Chapter 6 explains the systems implementation and conversion process.
Chapter 7 is an overview of post-project activities and information systems
maintenance. Each chapter includes a list of key terms that convey the important
concepts of information systems analysis and design. Exercise instructions for
course projects are also listed at the end of each relevant chapter. The book includes
four appendices that are relevant to the course project of systems analysis and
design. Appendix A provides a thorough guideline for the course project of

10
 Preface

information systems analysis and design. Appendix B is a short tutorial of CASE

tool Visible Analysis. Appendix C is an example of systems analysis and design case.
This example is not a complete project report, but provides the key features of a
typical information systems analysis and design project for small business. Appendix
D exhibits an example of open source ERP system. The samples of user interfaces
are useful for students to learn how to examine application software products for
system acquisition. Finally, this textbook includes a set of PPT slides handouts for
students to review the textbook material conveniently.
In summary, this textbook is designed for business undergraduate students in all
majors who study information systems analysis and design for business organiza-
tions.

Shouhong Wang, PhD

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Hai, Wang, PhD

Saint Mary’s University

11
 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Context of Information Systems Analysis and Design

An information system is an organized collection of people, information
technology, information resources, and all coordinated activities to achieve certain
objectives in the business organization. Conceptually, an information system may or
may not be computerized. For instance, in a manual inventory process system, the
set of the inventory bookkeepers, calculators, and pencil and paper are the
information system. Practically, nowadays computers have become an indispensable
element of contemporary information systems. As information technology is
essential and vital to business, the development of an information system in the
organization becomes crucial for the success of the organization. This textbook
disseminates theories and methodologies of the process of information systems
development.
Information systems analysis and design refers to the process of completing
an information system development project. Information systems development
covers a wide range of technical areas including business process modeling, data
modeling and database design, networking design, computer programming, and
computer hardware and operating systems. Each of these areas discusses its subjects
of information systems in addition to information systems development, and has rich
and unique material to learn. For instance, the theories of data modeling and
database design can be applied to data resource management and business
intelligence in addition to information systems development. The fact is that it is
impossible for a single course or a single textbook to fully cover all these areas.
Practically, the information systems analysis and design course and its textbook focus
on two components: management of information systems development and business
process modeling, and touch on other technical areas very briefly when delivering
the monolithic concept of information systems development. The context of the
information systems analysis and design course is depicted in Figure 1.1.

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 Chapter 1. Introduction

Figure 1.1. Context of Information Systems Analysis and Design

1.2. Central Objective of Information Systems

The central objective of an information system is to create value for the organization
by using information technology. For most business firms, value means more
profits. For non-for-profit organizations and government agencies, value can mean
much more than monetary measures.
In the information systems literature and on the Web, you can find countless
success stories of information systems development, and you can also read many
failure cases of information systems development. There are many factors that can

14
 Chapter 1. Introduction

have impact on the outcomes of information systems development. The commonly

considered success factors for the information systems development are:

● Top management support;

● User involvement;
● Alignment of the business strategy and the project strategy;
● Effective project management;
● Organizational collaboration; etc.

Clearly, in terms of success factors, an information systems development project

is not much different from any types of projects such as highway projects and green
energy projects. However, an information systems development project is
significantly different from other types of projects in that the value created by the
information system is difficult to measure before the information system actually
takes place. On the other hand, to justify an information system development
project, the organization must estimate the potential value produced by the
information system. The process of information systems analysis and design is to
provide an accurate estimation of the potential value of the information system and
to ensure the potential value of the new information system.

1.3. Systems Analysts

A systems analyst is a person who is responsible for the development of an
information system. A systems analyst must understand the three aspects of
information systems development: the business, information technology, and the
people. She/he must possess business skills, information technology skills, and
human interaction skills to fill her/his job responsibilities.

1.3.1. Business skills

The systems analyst must have a clear vision of the business environment and the
business strategy of the organization. She/he must understand the nature of the
business and the business processes in the organization. When working on the

15
 Chapter 1. Introduction

system development, the systems analyst must consider the various factors of the
business environment and an alignment of the information system with the business
strategy.

1.3.2. Information technology skills

The systems analyst must have solid knowledge of contemporary information
technology, as well as fluent practical skills of systems analysis and design. The team
of systems analysts of the organization possesses the best knowledge about how the
organization can apply information technology to support the day-to-day operations
and decision making at all managerial levels to achieve the organization’s goal.

1.3.3. Human interaction skills

The systems analyst must understand the users’ needs for the information system
and be able to involve the users in the information system development process.
Dealing the relationships with users, training users, and conducting surveys and
interviews are an important part of the job of the systems analysts.

1.3.4. Managerial skills

The systems analyst needs to manage people, pressure, and risks. She/he must
demonstrate the leadership in the project team as well as the analytical capability of
problem solving. The systems analyst must deal with co-workers, managers, and
systems users fairly, honestly, and ethically.

Apparently, the skills set of systems analysts is an integration of soft-skills (e.g.,

human interactions) and hard-skills (e.g., systems analysis and design). The job titles
of systems analyst vary depending on the focal skills needed for the special programs.
Business analyst, program analyst, change management analyst, and information
technology specialist are the alternative job titles of systems analyst. A business
analyst focuses on the business issues surrounding the information system. Program
analyst is a broad job title. If a position of program analyst is set for information
systems development, the program analyst focuses on the business process and the
coordination among functional areas in the course of information systems

16
 Chapter 1. Introduction

development. A change management analyst focuses on the issues of changes

caused by the new information system, including the new policies, new procedures,
user training, and system support in the organization. Information technology
specialist is another broad job title for specialists of modern digital technology.
Upper management positions in the career path of systems analyst include
information systems project manager, information systems manager, and chief
information officer (CIO).

Key Terms

Information system Success factors for information

Information systems analysis and systems development
design Systems analyst
Information systems development Skill set of system analyst
Value

17
 CHAPTER 2. INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT

This chapter provides an overview of the systems development life cycle model and
an overview of information systems development project management. It discusses
three fundamental information systems development strategies: systems acquisition,
systems construction, and outsourcing.

2.1. Systems Development Life Cycle

The systems development life cycle (SDLC) is a conceptual model of the phases
an information system goes through. The typical systems development life cycle
model suggests five fundamental phases of information systems development
process: planning, analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance, as depicted in
Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1. Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

19
 Chapter 2. Systems Development Approaches

The SDLC model provides a general guideline for the information systems
development in two aspects.
(1) The system development process of an information system must move through
these five phases. Although the pattern of how an information system goes through
these phases depends on the approach used for the information system develop-
ment, as discussed in detail in the following chapters of this book, a successful
information systems development process can never omit any of these five phases.
(2) Each of these five phases produces a set of products, called deliverable, which is
used as the input to its successor phase. Each phase elaborates on the work of its
predecessor phase. The structures and forms of the deliverables of each phase can
vary depending on the approaches used for the information system development.
The quality of the deliverables affects the quality of the entire information system
development project.
The planning phase is the process of preliminary investigation to understand
why a new information system should be created for the organization. The
deliverable of the planning phase includes a report of the feasibility study and the
workplan for the new information system development project. Once the
organization decides to create a new information system, a full-scale project of
information system development is then started.
The analysis phase is the first stage of the full-scale information system devel-
opment project to investigate what the new information system will do. In this
phase, the project team fully investigates the current information system (or the as-is
system) of the organization and the specific business needs (or the system
requirements) for the new information system. The new information system that
meets the system requirements is called the to-be system. The deliverable of the
analysis phase reports on the following major system analysis results.

● The differences between the as-is system and to-be system;

● The system requirements for the to-be system;
● The strategy of system development for the design phase.

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 Chapter 2. Systems Development Approaches

The deliverable of the system analysis phase actually presents a blueprint for the new
information system.
The design phase determines how the to-be system will be created and how it
will operate in terms of hardware, software, networking, system personnel, and
operational procedures. The deliverables of the design phase are the detailed system
specifications of system infrastructure, hardware, software, and networking for the
implementation phase. The design phase actually provides the solution to the to-be
system.
The implementation phase builds the new information system based on the
system specifications provided by the design phase. The methods applied to the
system implementation phase vary depending on the strategies of systems develop-
ment, as discussed in detail later in this book. By the end of the implementation
phase, the new information system replaces the old information system.
The business environment changes constantly. Also, the newly built information
system might need improvement. The maintenance phase improves the new
information system. Because of the innovation of information technology and
significant changes of the business environment, the cost of system maintenance
eventually becomes unjustified at a certain point. The next generation of informa-
tion system in the organization will be inevitable. The information system
development starts a new cycle.

2.2. Management of Systems Development Project

The management of information systems development projects has unique
characteristics in some aspects in comparison with the management of other types of
projects, as discussed below.

2.2.1. Project sponsor and project approval

An information system project in the organization must have its project sponsor
who holds a top position in the organization (e.g., VP). The project sponsor has an
interest in the project and is involved in the entire project duration. An information
system project must be approved by the organization which will commit the

21