System Investigation

Chapter 7
(Chapter 12 of Text Book)

Fig 12.6

? is the first phase in the traditional SDLC ? purpose to identify potential problems and opportunities and consider them in light of the goals of the company ? 1. Initiating System Investigation Problems/Opportunities for the systems Objectives of system investigation Overview of the proposed system Expected costs & benefits of the proposed system.

2. Participants inFig 12.11 Systems Investigation

3. Feasibility Analysis
? assessment of the technical, operational, schedule, economic, and legal feasibility of a project.
Technical feasibility Operational feasibility Schedule feasibility Economic feasibility Legal feasibility

Technical Feasibility

? is concerned with whether the hardware, software, and other system components can be acquired or developed to solve the problem.

Operational Feasibility

? is a measure of whether the project can be put into action or operation. ? Include: motivational considerations are very important because new systems affect people and data flows and may have unintended consequences. i.e. some users may resist the new system

Schedule Feasibility
? determines whether the project can be completed in a reasonable amount of time. ? a process that involves balancing the time and resources requirements of the project with other projects.

Economic Feasibility
? determines whether the project makes financial sense and whether predicted benefits offset the cost and time needed to obtain them. ? involves cash flow analysis i.e net present value (the net amount by which project savings exceed project expenses, after allowing for cost of capital and passage of time).

Legal Feasibility
? determines whether there are laws or regulations that may prevent or limit a systems development project. ? involves an analysis of existing and future laws to determine the likelihood of legal action against the systems development project and the possible consequences.

4. System Investigation Report

? summarizes the results of the systems investigation and the process of feasibility analysis and recommends a course of action, i.e.
continue on into the systems analysis, modify the project, or drop it

Fig 12.12

Systems Analysis

? is the second phase in the traditional SDLC ? describes what the proposed system must do to solve the problem or exploit the opportunity, i.e.
studies the existing system, determines requirements for the new system, and evaluates alternative solutions.

? includes data collection, data analysis and requirements analysis.

Participants in Systems Analysis

? the development team
users stakeholders

? IS personnel ? management

Identify Data Sources ? additional data is collected about the system needs and situations identified during investigation. ? is collected from both internal and external sources, as summarized in Figure 12.13. ? data sources i.e. people, documents, and organizations.

Fig 12.13

Data Collection
? data is collected in a variety of ways, using different tools and techniques. ? interview - is a primary data collection technique.
structured interviews, questions are written in advance. unstructured interviews, the interviewer asks open ended questions based on experience, sometimes asking follow-up questions for more detail.

? direct observation - members of the analysis team watch the existing system in action. It can find problems that other methods cannot. ? questionnaires - when the data sources are spread over a wide geographic area. ? Statistical sampling taking a random sample of data

Fig 12.14

Data Analysis
? Data modeling refer to Data Model and ERD notes ? Activity modeling refer to DFD notes ? Application flowcharts ? Grid chart

Data Analysis
? refers to the manipulation of the collected data so that it is usable for the development team participating in systems analysis. ? Data modeling ER diagrams
models organizational objects (entities) and associations.

? Activity modeling a.k.a Process modeling DFD

fully describe a business problem or solution Models objects, associations, and activities by describing how data can flow between and around objects.

ERD DFD

Fig 12.15

Refer to page 488

-shows the relationships between different applications or systems. -i.e. Order Processing application provide data to Inventory Control application and Marketing Analysis application.

Application Flowchart Fig 12.16

Grid Chart a table that shows relationships among Fig 12.17 various aspects of a systems development effort.

Requirements Analysis
? to determine user, stakeholder, and organizational needs by: asking directly what they want and expect from the new / modified system. Critical success factors (CSFs) list only those factors that are critical to the success of their area of the organization. the IS plan - identifying requirements for a specific system - that the system will fit into the long-term plan. screen & report layout allows a designer to quickly and efficiently design the features, layout, and format of a display screen.

Fig 12.19
-by showing users mockups of proposed input screens or reports, analysts can get specific feedback from users on their requirements.

Systems Analysis Report

? includes:? strengths and weaknesses of the existing system from a stake holders perspective. ? the functional requirements for the new system i.e user or stakeholder requirements ? the organizational requirements for the new system ? a description of what the new information system should do.

? gives senior management a good idea of what can be expected of the new system. If the costs are too high given the requirements of the new system, the project can be abandoned at this time, before too much money is invested in it. If the report indicates that the proposed system will be beneficial, the next stage, system design, starts.

Fig 12.20

- End of Chapter 7 -

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