MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT

1.1 What is Systems Development

Unit Objective: The objective is to understand the scope of systems development work and its relationship to other
associated disciplines.

System Development is all about finding out what software needs to be created and how you should create it. It is the
art and science of creating man-made systems to satisfy predetermined needs. It is a problem-solving process where
we bring to bear appropriate elements of mankind's knowledge base to create new knowledge specific to the problem
and, as a result, define a solution to the problem.
Organizations that accomplish this work are system development enterprises, developers, or contractors that may, at
any one time, be in the process of developing several systems, each through the exercise of an organizational structure
called a program.
When the problem is very complex, involving a knowledge base that is both wide and deep, and the customer wishes
delivery within a constraining time period and cost limit, these enterprises find it necessary to employ many people in
the development effort, leading to a need to manage the development effort well in terms of the capabilities of the
evolving product, the number of billable hours accumulating, and the amount of schedule time consumed relative to a
plan and contract.
Definition of a System and Its Parts

A system is an interrelated set of business procedures (or components) used within one business unit, working together
for some purpose. For example, a system in the payroll department keeps track of checks, whereas an inventory
system keeps track of supplies. The two systems are separate. A system has nine characteristics, seven of which are
shown in Figure 1-4. A detailed explanation of each characteristic follows, but from the figure you can see that a system
exists within a larger world, an environment. A boundary separates the system from its environment. The system takes
input from outside, processes it, and sends the resulting output back to its environment. The arrows in the figure show
this interaction between the system and the world outside of it.
1. Components
2. Interrelated components
3. Boundary
4. Purpose
5. Environment
6. Interfaces
7. Constraints
8. Input
9. Output

A system is made up of components. A component is either an irreducible part or an aggregate of parts, also called a
subsystem. The simple concept of a component is very powerful. For example, just as with an automobile or a stereo
system, with proper design, we can repair or upgrade the system by changing individual components without having
to make changes throughout the entire system. The components are interrelated; that is, the function of one is
somehow tied to the functions of the others. For example, the work of one component, such as producing a daily report
of customer orders received, may not progress successfully until the work of another component is finished, such as
sorting customer orders by date of receipt. A system has a boundary, within which all of its components are contained
and which establishes the limits of a system, separating it from other systems. Components within the boundary can
be changed, whereas systems outside the boundary cannot be changed. All of the components work together to
achieve some overall purpose for the larger system: the system’s reason for existing.

A system exists within an environment—everything outside the system’s boundary that influences the system. For
example, the environment of a state university includes prospective students, foundations and funding agencies, and
the news media. Usually the system interacts with its environment. A university interacts with prospective students by
having open houses and recruiting from local high schools. An information system interacts with its environment by
receiving data (raw facts) and information (data processed in a useful format). Figure 1-5 shows how a university can
be seen as a system. The points at which the system meets its environment are called interfaces; an interface also
occurs between subsystems.

In its functioning, a system must face constraints—the limits (in terms of capacity, speed, or capabilities) to what it
can do and how it can achieve its purpose within its environment. Some of these constraints are imposed inside the
system (e.g., a limited number of staff available), and others are imposed by the environment (e.g., due dates or
regulations). A system takes input from its environment in order to function. People, for example, take in food, oxygen,
and water from the environment as input. You are constrained from breathing fresh air if you’re in an elevator with
someone who is smoking. Finally, a system returns output to its environment as a result of its functioning and thus
achieves its purpose. The system is constrained if electrical power is cut.
Important System Concepts

The following are other important system concepts:

 Decomposition
 Modularity
 Coupling
 Cohesion

Decomposition is the process of breaking down a system into its smaller components (also known as functional
decomposition). These components may themselves be systems (subsystems) and can be broken down into their
components as well. How does decomposition aid understanding of a system? It results in smaller and less complex
pieces that are easier to understand than larger, complicated pieces. Decomposing a system also allows us to focus
on one particular part of a system, making it easier to think of how to modify that one part independently of the entire
system. Figure 1-6 shows the decomposition of a portable MP3 player. Decomposing the system into subsystems
reveals the system’s inner workings. You can decompose an MP3 player into at least three separate physical
subsystems. (Note that decomposing the same MP3 player into logical subsystems would result in a different set of
subsystems.)
Breaking the subsystems down into their components reveals even more about the inner workings of the system and
greatly enhances our understanding of how the overall system works.

Modularity is a direct result of decomposition. It refers to dividing a system into chunks or modules of a relatively
uniform size. Modules can represent a system simply, making it easier to understand and easier to redesign and
rebuild. For example, each of the separate subsystem modules for the MP3 player in Figure 1-6 shows how
decomposition makes it easier to understand the overall system.

Coupling means that subsystems are dependent on each other. Subsystems should be as independent as possible.
If one subsystem fails and other subsystems are highly dependent on it, the others will either fail themselves or have
problems functioning. Looking at Figure 1-6, we would say the components of a portable MP3 player are tightly coupled.
The best example is the control system, made up of the printed circuit board and its chips. Every function the MP3
player can perform is enabled by the board and the chips. A failure in one part of the circuit board would typically lead
to replacing the entire board rather than attempting to isolate the problem on the board and fix it.

Cohesion is the extent to which a subsystem performs a single function. In the MP3 player example, supplying power
is a single function.

System Development Scope

In addition to technical knowledge, it requires business knowledge and management skills. These are also the scope
of systems development. Each components play a vital role in the system/product that needs to be created to solve
the problem.
1. Hardware
Hardware is the machinery used to create content and manage and communicate information. This includes the
physical parts of a computer system, such as the computer itself and the monitor, keyboard, scanner, and printer.
2. Software
Software programs are machine-readable instructions that direct the circuitry within a system's hardware to create,
edit, organize, process, and analyze information. Examples include operating systems, spreadsheet and word
processing software, and graphic design applications.
3. Data
Data is a collection of information that can be organized, analyzed, and utilized to better manage, understand, and
communicate the information. Information is organized using databases, which are collections of related data so that
groups of information, or records, can be stored and retrieved for a useful purpose. Typical examples of databases
include employee records, product inventory, and product catalogs.
4. People
People are the most important component in information systems. Without people, information systems cannot
function. This includes anyone who uses or maintains the systems. Everyone who works in business, from someone
who pays the bills to the person who hires and fires, uses information systems.
5. Procedures/Processes
For information systems to operate properly, people need to follow procedures. Procedures are the policies, rules, and
guidelines that govern the operation of information systems. For example, procedures need to be established for an
organization’s accounting system, including who has authorization to access it and at what level. Organizations have
to create manuals, file naming conventions, and a variety of other procedures so their information systems perform in
the way they were intended. Requiring employees to log in and out of their computers at the start and end of each work
day is an important security-related procedure.
6. Networks
While they may not always be required for every information system, networks are vital in today’s virtually connected
society. A network is how computers and other technologies within an information system communicate with one
another. Organizations need networks to send emails, share files, stream videos, hold online meetings, and a multitude
of other tasks. If you have access to the Internet in your home, you have a network.

System Development and its relationship with other disciplines

Project Management
IT project management simply refers to managing the team that would develop the software. Project management
focuses only on the project on hand. It is all about the application of techniques and knowledge for following laid down
plans to the hilt, and meeting the expectations of customer and stakeholders alike. A project is temporary in nature and
always results in a new or modified version of an existing product. Every project defines a boundary of possibilities and
restrictions faced by the same and work within the framework of available resources, capabilities, skill sets and
deadlines.

Service Management
It is a process-based practice that focuses on delivering IT services that benefit customers. Project management is
temporary once the project is done (system is already being used) then maintenance comes to place and that’s where
service management is needed.

Change and Configuration Management

“Change Management” is the first category. Here you manage changes related to project management plans,
processes, and baselines.

In the second category, you manage changes related to product scope, which is known as configuration management.
A Real World Example of Change and Configuration Management

Suppose you are working on a project to construct a school building with ten classrooms.

Case: 1
During the middle of the project, your contractor for steel work walks off the job and you have to find a replacement.
You find an alternative, but the new contractor will not start working on your project for a week.

This will delay the project. Therefore, you will raise a change request for a one-week extension of the schedule through
the change management system.

Once this request is approved, you will update your schedule baseline.

This is an example of the change management system.

Now let us look at an example of the configuration management system.

Case: 2
You are constructing a school building and the client requests that you increase the number of rooms from ten to fifteen.

This is a request to change the product scope as the client has altered the product configuration.

You will handle this change under the configuration management system because here the specifications of your
product have changed. Earlier the school building had ten rooms, and now it will have fifteen rooms.

Please note that in the first case, you raised the change request to increase the deadline of the project by one week.
There was no change to the product, the change was only needed in the schedule baseline; the school building was
the same, but you will hand over this building to the client one week later.
ACTIVITY

A. Think of a system/application and discuss how this system works. Identify major functions that are needed for
the system to work properly. (E.g. GCASH app, Grab, Lazada, Shopee, etc.)

B. Companies generally need to use more than one information system to support all their different business
functions. These functions are frequently referred to as either front-office information systems or back office
systems. Define each of the two types of systems and identify some of the business functions supported by
them.

C. What is the difference between Change management and Configuration management