S556: SYSTEMS ANALYSIS & DESIGN

Week 2

Announcements

Three new classmates Luke Tassie Rebecca

Problems with Information Systems

Information Systems-centric

Problem w/ Traditional Systems Analysis Approach

Dataflow diagram

Problem w/ Traditional Systems Analysis Approach

Dataflow diagram

Consider Business Problems

People and work practices are essential ingredients in IT success stories, and that supposed “computer glitches” often involve sloppy work practices and human error (Alter, 2006, p. 4)

The Analyst as a Business Problem Solver (Satzinger, et al., 2009)

Information systems are developed to solve problems for organizations. Therefore a system analyst is often thought as a problem solver rather than a programmer.

Definition of A System

A collection of interrelated components that function together to achieve some outcome

Other examples of a system?

Definition of An Information System

A collection of interrelated components that collect, process, store, and provide as output the information needed to complete a business task.

Definition of An Information System

Any examples of an information system?

System Development Life Cycle (SDLC, or the waterfall method)

Problem definition Analysis Design/Development Testing Implementation Maintenance

Contextual Design

Discover the everyday work practice of people

Contextual Design

Discover the everyday work practice of people

For example…

If you are asked to automate check out grocery process (design/develop a self-check-out system), what’s the process you should follow?

For Example…

Work Redesign

Work Redesign

5 Work Models in Contextual Design

Flow Sequence Artifact Physical Cultural

Any Questions

What is a Problem?

A problem is a difference between things as desired and things as perceived (Gause & Weinberg)

What is a Problem?

A problem is a difference between things as desired and things as perceived (Gause & Weinberg)

Zero inventory

Defining Problems

Problem

Organizational goals

Defining Problems

Problem

Organizational goals

Long-term Scope Feasibility

You Cannot Solve a Problem Unless You know the Cause

Scientist

Observephenomenon

Formulatehypothesis

Performexperiment

Physician

Observesymptoms

Identifypossiblecauses

Conductdiagnostictests

Systems analyst (You)

Recognizeproblem

List possible causes

Study presentsystem

Communicate the Hypothesis with The Clients

A good problem statement includes: The problem: a list of symptoms

E.g., inventory value is $100,000 too high The objectives: the likely cause(s)

E.g., reduce inventory cost by $100,000 by eliminating obsolete inventory

Scope: analyst’s sense of the problem's magnitude.

Specify what must be done, not how to do it

Problem Definition

The problem definition = the analyst’s preliminary sense of the problem (it could be wrong, thus keep an open mind)

See the assignment page for details: https://info.slis.indiana.edu/~nhara/teaching/sp12/s556/assign.html

Common Mistakes in Problem Definition

Example of a goal/objective: The goals of the analysis of the current

information system used in the Recreational Sports Center is to provide an online form that is generic as much as possible that could help face the challenges described earlier.

Common Mistakes in Problem Definition

Don’t act first. “Think fist, then act” (Davis, p. 38)

Don’t be prescriptive: “Objectives specify what must be done, not

how the problem will be solved” (Davis, p. 38)

Don’t make vague statements

Common Mistakes in Problem Definition

Example of a goal/objective: The major earmark of success in fixing this

problem would be a reduction in the time spent managing it. This would entail a system that is designed to reduce erroneous data entry, create simple and complex data reports, and automatically import certain data sets from the online catalog to reduce the amount of time spent entering bibliographic information.

Common Mistakes in Problem Definition

Example of a goal/objective: A concrete, tangible goal of this project to

be considered successful would be a 50% decrease in the number of ordering and reporting errors.

Common Mistakes in Problem Definition

The scope of the problem is your sense of the problem's magnitude

For the assignment: identify how significant/serious the problem is

Davis (1994): a preliminary cost estimate

Example of a scope: The departments primarily involved in resolving

product failures are Engineering, Service, and Quality in the U.S., and Service in Japan. . . . The team consists of 5-10 members, and each team leader is responsible for 4-5 projects simultaneously.

Common Mistakes in Problem Definition

The scope of the problem is your sense of the problem's magnitude

For the assignment: identify how significant/serious the problem is, e.g., # of people who are affected by the problem, cost of failure if not addressed

Davis (1994): a preliminary cost estimate Wait for later until you are certain about the

solution

WSLC Overview Activity

1. Form groups of 4-5 people 2. Two teams will work on the UpNow

case, and the other two will work on the Websters4 case

3. Discuss the cases by asking the question on the worksheet for apx. 20 minutes

4. Report back to the class