SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

AND DESIGN
INTRODUCTION

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 Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students should have understanding of:
◦ the key roles of a systems analyst in business
◦ the concept of Information System
◦ the analyst’s role in a system development project
◦ the importance of technical skills, people skills, and business skills for an analyst
◦ the various types of systems and technologies an analyst might use
◦ various job titles in the field and places of employment where analysis and
design work is done

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 What is System Analysis?
System Analysis – is the process of understanding and specifying in detail what
an information system should accomplish.

System analysis is all about

◦ understanding the business, its goals and strategies,
◦ defining requirements for information systems that support those goals and
strategies and
◦ supporting the business.

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 What is System Design ?

Systems Design –
◦ Means specifying in detail how the many components of an
information system should be physically implemented.

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Who is a Systems Analyst ?
Systems analyst –
◦ A business professional who uses analysis and design techniques to
solve business problems using information technology.
◦ requires extensive technical, business, and people knowledge and
skills to solve business problems.
◦ Essentially a system analyst is a problem solver.

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 How does an analyst solve problems?
The analyst must
◦ first understand the problem and learn everything possible about it—
◦ who is involved, what business processes come into play, and what other systems
would be affected by solving the problem.
Then the analyst needs to confirm from management that the benefits of solving the
problem outweigh the costs.

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How does an analyst solve problems?
(Cont’d)
If solving the problem is feasible, the analyst defines in detail what is required to solve it
—
◦ what specific objectives must be satisfied,
◦ what data needs to be stored and used,
◦ what processing must be done to the data, and what outputs must be produced.
What needs to be done must be defined first. How it will be done is not important yet.
Many different alternatives must be considered, and the challenge is to select the best
◦ that is, the solution with the fewest risks and most benefits.

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 What Next After Analysis?
After the systems analyst has determined the best solution in consultation with management,
the design details must then be worked out.
Analyst is now concerned with creating a blueprint (design specifications) for how the new
system will work.
Systems design specifications
◦ describe the construction details of all parts of the system, including
◦ databases,
◦ program modules,
◦ user interfaces,
◦ networks,
◦ operating procedures, and
◦ conversion plans.

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After Design?
After detailed design, then comes programming.
Building a system based on incomplete or misunderstood requirements may
lead to
◦ over budgeting,
◦ late delivery,
◦ or delivery of a system that doesn’t fully solve the problems it was intended
to address.

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Analyst Approach to Problem Solving
Verify that the
Define the
Research and benefits of solving
requirements for
Understand the the problem
solving the
Problem outweigh the
problem
costs

Decide which
Define the details Develop a set of
solution is best,
of the chosen possible solutions
and make a
solution (alternatives)
recommendation

Monitor to make
Implement the sure that you
solution obtain the desired
results
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 Class Exercise – A Practical Problem
Let’s attempt to solve a real life problem in our environment – Covenant University
◦ Any Ideas?
◦ Now let’s follow the analyst’s approach.

SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN IN A CHANGING WORLD, 6TH

EDITION 11
 What is an Information System?
An information system 
◦ is the information and communication technology (ICT) that an organization uses, and
also the way in which people interact with this technology in support of business
processes. 
It purpose is to:
◦ process input, maintain data, produce reports, handle queries, handle on line
transactions, generate reports and other output
A payroll system, for example,
◦ collects information on employees and their work, processes and stores that
information, and then produces pay checks and payroll reports (among other things)
for the organization.

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Components of Information Systems
They include:
◦ Data
◦ Software
◦ Hardware
◦ People
◦ Procedures

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 Systems and subsystems
Any system can have subsystems. A subsystem is a system that is part of
another system. For example:
◦ a sales management system might be one subsystem of a customer relationship
management (CRM) system.
◦ Another subsystem in the CRM might enable customers to view past and current
orders, track order fulfilment and shipping, and modify their account
information.
◦ A third subsystem might maintain the product catalogue database and provide
Web-based access to product specifications and manuals.

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Figure 2: Information systems and subsystems
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Required skills of system analysts
They need to be able to understand
◦ how to build information systems, which requires quite a bit of technical knowledge.
◦ the business they are working for and how the business uses each of the types of
systems.
◦ quite a bit about people and the way they work.
People are the source of information about requirements, the labour that builds
systems, and the ultimate users of the information system.

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‘

Figure 3: Required skills of system analyst

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 Technical knowledge and skills (Cont’d)
Even if an analyst is not involved in activities such as programming, network design, or
hardware configuration, it is still crucial to have an understanding of different types of
technology— what they are used for, how they work, and how they are evolving.
A systems analyst should understand the fundamentals about the following:
◦ Computers and how they work
◦ File, database, and storage hardware and software
◦ Input and output hardware and software
◦ Computer networks and protocols
◦ Programming languages, operating systems, and utilities
◦ Communication and collaboration technology such as digital telephones,
videoconferencing, and Web-based document management systems
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 Technical knowledge and skills (Cont’d)
A systems analyst also needs to know a lot about tools and techniques for
developing systems.
Tools
◦ are software products that are used to develop analysis and design specifications
and completed system components.
Techniques
◦ are strategies for completing specific system development activities.

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 Technical knowledge and skills (Cont’d)
Some tools used in system development include the following:
◦ Software packages such as
◦ Microsoft Access, and Adobe Dreamweaver that can be used to implement small
systems or develop subsystems
◦ Integrated development environments (IDEs) such as
◦ Oracle JDeveloper and Microsoft Visual Studio that support program development,
database design, software testing, and system deployment.
◦ Computer-aided visual modelling tools, such as
◦ Rational XDE Modeler, Visible Analyst, and Embarcadero Describe, that help analysts
create, store, modify, and manage system specifications and sometimes generate
programs, databases, Web-based interfaces, and other software components.

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 Technical knowledge and skills (Cont’d)
Techniques are strategies for completing specific system development activities.
◦ How do you plan and manage a system development project?
◦ How do you define requirements?
◦ How do you design user interactions using design principles and best practices?
◦ How do you complete implementation and testing?
◦ How do you install and support a new information system?

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 Technical knowledge and skills (Cont’d)
Some examples of techniques include the following:
◦ Project planning techniques
◦ Cost/benefit analysis techniques
◦ Interviewing techniques
◦ Requirements modeling techniques
◦ Architectural design techniques
◦ Network configuration techniques
◦ Database design techniques

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 Business knowledge and skills
The problem to be solved is a business problem.
What does the analyst need to know?
The following are examples:
◦ What business functions do organizations perform?
◦ How are organizations structured?
◦ How are organizations managed?
◦ What type of work goes on in organizations (finance, manufacturing, marketing, customer
service, and so on)

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 Business knowledge and skills Cont’d
Some specifics the analyst needs to know about the company include the following:
◦ What the specific organization does
◦ What makes it successful
◦ What its strategies and plans are
◦ What its traditions and values are
Best Practices
Be sure you understand the organization, its culture, its mission, and its objectives before
jumping to conclusions about system solutions.

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 People knowledge and skills

Interpersonal skills
◦ are the analyst’s most important skills, because analysts rely on others, including
managers, users, programmers, technical specialists, customers, and vendors, to take a
system from initial idea to final implementation.
The analyst is a translator for all project participants, translating
◦ business objectives into functional requirements,
◦ user needs into system specifications, and
◦ technical jargon and details into terms that nontechnical personnel can easily understand.
The analyst must be an effective communicator in many contexts, including conversations,
interviews, technical reviews, and formal presentations.

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 People knowledge and skills Cont’d

Best Practice
Analysts typically devote several weeks per year to training and continuing education.
An analyst should devote time to developing so-called “soft skills”
◦ such as interviewing, team management, and leadership,
and should develop hard skills such as
◦ database design, programming, and telecommunications.
Analyst should be a person of integrity and maintain ethics of the profession due to
numerous secret information at his/her disposal.

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 Some Job Titles
Here are some job titles you might encounter:

Programmer analyst  Systems support analyst

 Business systems analyst Systems designer
 System liaison  Software engineer
 End-user analyst Web architect
 Business consultant  Webmaster
 Systems consultant  Web developer

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 Review Questions
1. Give an example of a business problem.
2. What are the main steps followed when solving a problem?
3. Define system.
4. Define information system.
5. What types of information systems are found in most organizations?
6. List the six fundamental technologies an analyst needs to understand.
7. List four types of tools the analyst needs to use to develop systems.
8. List five types of techniques used during system development.
9. What are some of the things an analyst needs to understand about businesses and organizations in
general?
10. What are some of the things an analyst needs to understand about people?
11. List 10 job titles that involve analysis and design work. 28
Texts Used
Systems Analysis and Design, Kenneth E. Kendall, Julie E. Kendall, 8th Edition, Pearson, 2011.
System Analysis and Design Methods, Jeffery L. Whitten, Lonnie D. Bentley, Kevin C.
Ditternam,7th Edition, McGraw-Hill- Irwin, 2005
Systems Analysis and Design, Alan Dennis, Barbara Haley Wixom, Roberta M. Roth , 5th Edition,
John Wiley and Sons

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