Transcript CHAPTER 5
ANALYSIS PHASE OF BUSINESS SYSTEM
DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
System Analysis – is a term that describes the early
phases of systems development.
problem solving technique that decomposes a system
into its component pieces for the purpose of studying
how well those component parts work & interact to
accomplish their purposes.
System analysis approaches
There are 4 system analysis approaches;
Model driven analysis approach
Accelerated analysis approach
Requirements discovery methods
Business process redesign methods
Model Driven Analysis Approaches
Emphasizes the drawing of pictorial system models to
document & validate both existing & proposed system.
The system model becomes the blueprint for designing &
constructing an improved system.
Example of software : VISIO
Structures Analysis
Was one of the first formal approach for system analysis of
business information system.
Used to either analyze an existing system, define business
requirements for new system or both.
Model Driven Analysis Approaches
Information Engineering
Model driven & data centered approach to plan,
analyze & design information systems.
Consists of pictures that illustrate & synchronize the
system’s data & processes.
Said to be data-centered paradigm because it
emphasizes the study & requirement analysis of data
requirements before those of the process & interface
requirements.
This is based on the belief that data is a corporate
resources that should be planned & managed.
Model Driven Analysis Approaches
Object Oriented Analysis
Is a technique that integrates data & process concerns
into constructs called objects.
Consists of pictures that illustrates the system’s objects
from various perspectives such as structure &
behaviour.
Unified Modeling Language (UML) provides a
graphical syntax for an entire series of object models.
Accelerated Analysis Approaches
Emphasize the construction of prototypes by rapidly
identifying business & user requirements for a new
system.
Emphasizes the interface building blocks in the
information system framework by constructing sample
forms & reports.
Prototype – a small scale, incomplete but working
sample of desired system.
Accelerated Analysis Approaches
Discovery Prototyping
Uses rapid development technology to help users discover
their business requirements by having them reach to quickand- dirty implementation of those requirements.
Rapid Architecture Analysis
An accelerated analysis approach that also builds a system
models.
Attempts to derive system models from existing systems or
discovery prototype.
It is made possible by reverse engineering technology that
is included in many tools such as CASE & programming
languages.
Accelerated Analysis Approaches
Reverse engineering technology reads the program
code for an existing database, application program,
user interface & automatically generates the equivalent
system model.
The resulting system model can be further edited by
system analyst & users to provide a blueprint for a new
& improved system.
Requirement Discovery Methods
Includes those techniques to be used by system analyst
to identify or extract system problems & solution
requirements from the user community.
Fact-finding Techniques
An essential skill for all system analysts.
Classical set of techniques used to collect information
about system problems, opportunities, solution
requirements & priorities.
Accelerated Analysis
Approaches
Fact finding techniques;
Sampling of existing documentation, reports, forms, memos
Research of relevant literature, site visits
Observation on the current system & work environment
Questionnaires & surveys of the management & users
Interviews of the appropriate managers, users & technical
staffs.
Business Process Redesign
Methods
Business process redesign – the application of system
analysis methods to the goal of dramatically changing &
improving the fundamental business processes of an
organization, independent of information technology.
Suitable for a study of existing business processes to
identify problems & inefficiencies that is addressed in
requirements for new / improved system.
The Preliminary Investigation
Phase
Investigation is done by system analyst to study the
systems request & recommend specific action.
The analyst gathers fact about the problem /
opportunity, project scope & constraints, project
benefits & estimated development time & cost.
The end product of the investigation is a report to the
management.
Steps in the Preliminary
Investigation
Step 1:
Understand the problem / opportunity
Step 2:
Define project scope & constraints
Step 3:
Performs fact-finding
Step 4:
Determine feasibility
Step 5:
Estimate development time & cost
Step 6:
Present result/recommendation to management
Steps in the Preliminary
Investigation
Step 1: Understand the problem / opportunity
System analyst might need to develop a business profile.
Analyst will need to understand & know how the
modifications will affect the business operation or system
even when it’s a small alteration.
Step 2: Define the project scope & constraints
Means to define boundaries/extent of the project being as
specific as possible.
Projects that expands gradually without specific
authorization is called = project creep
Steps in the Preliminary
Investigation
Types of constraints ; present, future, internal, external,
mandatory & desirable.
Step3: Perform fact-finding
Analyst will perform this step using various techniques
such as;
Analyze organization charts – to understand how departments
functions & identify the individual involved
Conduct interview – interviewing the identified individual.
Review current documentation – analyst should check whether the
documentation received is accurate & complete
Observe operation – use statistic technique to check the frequency
Carry out a user survey – especially when it involves larger group.
Steps in the Preliminary
Investigation
Step4 : Determine feasibility
To determine economic feasibility.
Step5 : Estimate time & cost
To determine cost & time the following need to be
addressed:
What information needed & how to gather & analyze?
Source of information to use & the constraints to use it?
How many will be interviewed & how much time & cost for it.
How much cost to alayze the information gathered & prepare final
report.
Steps in the Preliminary
Investigation
Step6 : present results & recommendations to
management
If minor problem then recommendation is given
without further analysis, but if the problem is big then
further analysis is needed (development phase)
Problem Analysis Phase
Provides the analyst a better understanding of the
problems, opportunities & directives that triggered the
project.
The goal of this phase is to study & understand the
problem domain well enough to analyze its problems,
opportunities & constraints.
Steps in Problem Analysis Phase
Analyst must follow a series of steps:
Step 1 – study the problem domain
Step2 – analyze problems & opportunities
Step3 – analyze business process
Step4 – establish system improvement objectives
Step 5- update the project plan
Step 6 – present findings & recommendations to
management
Steps in Problem Analysis Phase
Step 1 – study the problem domain
Attempts to learn about the current system
Step2 – analyze problems & opportunities
To perform this step, project team must work with
system owners & system users
Cause & effect analysis is a technique in which problems
are studied to determine their causes & effects.
Steps in Problem Analysis Phase
Step3 – analyze business process
Analyze business needs – to clearly define the business &
system requirements.
Define business solution – IT experts define in the form of
programs 7 databases, business people define in procedures
to fulfill business mission.
Test business solution – evaluating whether the solution
fulfills the business need.
Step4 – establish system improvement objectives
Any improvement to the system will be measured &
constraints identified. Criteria for success measured in term
of objectives
Steps in Problem Analysis Phase
Step 5 – update the project plan
This task is triggered by completion of the system
improvement objectives.
Initial project plan = input, updated project plan = output
Step 6 – present findings / recommendations
This task is triggered by the completion of the updated
project plan.
Requirements Analysis Phase
Defines the business requirements for a new system.
Final deliverables & milestones is to produce a
business requirements statement that will fulfill the
system improvement objectives.
Steps in Requirements Analysis
Phase
Steps are as follows:
Step 1 – define requirements
Step2 – analyze functional requirements
Step3 – trace & complete requirements
Step4 – prioritize requirements
Step5 – update the project plan
Step6 – outgoing requirement management
Steps in Requirements Analysis
Phase
Step1 : define requirements
A functional requirement – a description of activities &
services a system must provide (input, output, stored data &
processes)
Non functional requirement – description of other features,
characteristics & constraints that define a satisfactory
system (performance, budgets, cost)
Step2 : Analyze functional requirements
System modeling – graphical representation of concept or
process that system developers can analyze, test & modify
Prototyping – creation of early working version of the
information system or its components.
Steps in Requirements Analysis
Phase
Step3 – Trace & complete requirements
Tracing each system model / prototype back to the
functional requirement to ensure all functional
requirements are fulfilled.
Step4 – prioritize requirements
Timeboxing – technique that delivers information
system’s functionality & requirements through
versioning.
Steps in Requirements Analysis
Phase
Step5 : update the project plan
The completed business requirements statement
completes the task, as well as the requirement analysis
phase.
Step6 : ongoing requirement management
Requirement management defines a process for
everyone involved in the system development that
specifies how changes are to be requested &
documented, how to be logged & tracked, etc
Decision Analysis Phase
Identifies candidate solutions, analyses those
candidate solutions & recommends a target system
that will be designed, constructed & implemented.
Steps in Decision Analysis
Phase
Steps are as follows ;
Step1 – identify candidate solutions
Step2 – analyze candidate solutions
Step3 – compare candidate solutions
Step4 – update the project plan
Step5 – recommend a system solution
Steps in Decision Analysis
Phase
Step 1: identify candidate solution
System owners & users may not be directly involved in the
task, but they may contribute ideas & opinions that start the
task.
Step2: analyze candidate solution
Each candidate solution must be analyzed for feasibility.
4 criteria:
Technical feasibility
Operational feasibility
Economic feasibility
Schedule feasibility
Steps in Decision Analysis
Phase
Step3 : Compare candidate solution
The deliverables of this task is the solutions to be
recommended. If more than one solution is
recommended, priorities should be established.
Step4 : update the project plan
System analyst are adjusting scope accordingly, so based
on the solution recommended, analyst should reevaluate project scope & update project plan accordingly
Steps in Decision Analysis
Phase
Step6 : Recommend a solution
This task is triggered by the completion of the updated
project plan.