Introduction to Systems Analysis,

Systems Analyst and Systems

Lecture Session 1
What Do We Hope To Achieve
Today?
To gain an overview of systems analysis, the role
and responsibilities of the systems analyst, and
ethical matters in particular
Acquire an understanding of the essential
concepts of systems theory and its relevance to
information systems analysis
 Systems Analysis
According to Lonnie D. Bentley:

Systems analysis is a problem solving technique

that decomposes a system into its component
pieces for the purpose of the studying how well
those component parts work and interact to
accomplish their purpose.
 Systems Analysis
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary :

Systems analysis is the process of studying a

procedure or business in order to identify its goals
and purposes and create systems and procedures
that will achieve them in an efficient way.
 Systems Design

Systems design is the process of defining the

architecture, components, modules, interfaces,
and data for a system to satisfy specified
requirements.
Information Systems Success
Rate
Various studies have looked at information
systems development effort success rates

Typical results?
Up to 75% of systems can be regarded as failures
in one sense or another
Around 30% are cancelled before completion
About 50% overrun budgeted cost and/or time, or
have impaired functionality
 The Systems Analyst
The person who systematically assesses how
businesses work by examining the inputting and
processing of data and the outputting of information
with the intent of improving organizational
processes and the quality of work life for users.
Bridges the communication gap between
information technologists and business personnel
Must therefore have an understanding of both
information technologies and business operations
Is a change agent, facilitator and problem solver
 Systems Analyst Knowledge
and Skills
Systems analysts require a range of knowledge and
skills in order to fulfill their role:

Technical knowledge, including of analysis

techniques, information technologies and (ideally)
programming skills
Business knowledge
Problem-solving capability
 Systems Analyst Knowledge
and Skills

Communication skills, verbal and written, and in
individual and group settings
Ability to listen and understand what others are saying
Ability to work effectively and cooperatively in a team
environment
Flexibility, adaptability, resilience, persistence and
ability to cope with and manage change
 Systems Analyst Knowledge
and Skills

Leadership, mediation and conflict management skills
Ability to empower, trust, delegate and assign
responsibility to others
Knowledge of, and adherence to, relevant ethical
principles and standards of behavior
 System: A Definition

A system is an inter-related set of components with

an identifiable boundary, working together to
achieve some function or purpose.
 Basic Features of Systems
Components and Interfaces
subsystems Input
Inter-relationships Output
between components Constraints
Boundary Feedback (positive
Purpose and/or negative)
Environment
A Basic Depiction of A System
 Components and Subsystems
Systems comprise distinct components or
subsystems they are modular
A component or subsystem is typically tightly
coupled internally and loosely coupled to other
components or subsystems
Subsystems may contain other components (or,
perhaps, lower level subsystems too)
Tight and Loose Coupling
Tight Coupling Example
Loose Coupling Example
 Decomposition
The act of identifying the components or
subsystems that comprise a system is called
decomposition
A good decomposition makes a system easier to
understand and/or design and build
Components identified by a good decomposition
will be cohesive (i.e. each will have a single easily
described function)
 System Boundary
The system boundary defines what is in the system
and what is not
It divides the system from its environment (and other
systems)
Perhaps surprisingly, a system boundary can be
difficult to define e.g. what is the boundary of
Bangladesh? The education system? The telephone
system?
 System Purpose or Function
If something is to be called a system it cannot be
just any old collection of bits and pieces, even if
they are all connected in some way
Human generated systems generally have a
purpose or function that the collection of
components serves or aims to achieve (what
about natural systems?)
 System Environment,
Interfaces, Input and Output
The system environment is what lies outside its
boundary, and from which it takes its input and
returns its output

The points at which exchanges occur between the

system and its environment are its interfaces
 System Constraints
Most (all?) systems are subject to various
constraints that affect what they can and cannot do
Constraints may originate internally or externally to
the system they constrain
Internal: the way the system is constructed prevents it
from doing certain things
External: the system could do certain things but is
prevented from doing so by factors outside itself
 Information Systems
Constraints
Some common external constraints on information
systems and their development arise from:
Budgets and deadlines
Human resource and skills availability
Policies, laws and governmental regulations and
requirements
Existing organizational structures and technological
architectures
Other information systems to which they are relate or
connected and with which they interact
 Information Systems
Constraints
Typically, information systems internal constraints
arise from things like:
System architecture
Capabilities of the technologies chosen to implement
them
The way the system has been designed and
implemented internally
Systems and Feedback
 Negative and Positive
Feedback
Feedback is negative when a change in the system
output in turn causes, through the environment, a change
in the input that tends to return the output to its original
value (i.e. the system resists any change to its output)
Feedback is positive when a change in the system output
acts, through the environment, to enhance the change in
the input that originally caused it (i.e. the system
accentuates any change to its output)
Systems typically have many feedback loops (some
positive, others negative)
 Negative and Positive
Feedback
Note that the terms negative and positive
feedback do not, in general, imply bad and good
respectively!
Rather, they refer to the nature of the influence the
feedback from the output has, through the
environment, on the system input
 Negative and Positive
Feedback
Example of negative feedback with respect to an information
system:
The quality of data users are entering into the system, which
produces reports that management uses, declines, so
management institutes better controls, incentives and training to
improve data input and get the quality of the output reports back to
what it was
Example of positive feedback with respect to an information
system:
Users are required by management to begin inputting data into a
system, which they then discover is capable of producing reports
useful to them, so they respond by entering more and better
quality data into it and making more and more use of other reports
they find the system can provide
End of Chapter