Week 6

System Approach
Systems approach to problem solving

 The systems approach to problem uses a system

orientation to define problem and develop solutions.
This system involves the following interrelated
activities:
 Recognize & define a problem or opportunity
using systems thinking.
 Develop and evaluate alternative solutions.
 Select the system solution that best meets your
requirements.
 Design the selected system solution.
 Implement & evaluate the success of the designed
system.
Systems approach
•Define a problem or
Define the Problem opportunities using systems
thinking

Develop •Develop and evaluate

Alternative Solutions alternative solutions
Monitor and
evaluate results
•Select the system solution
Select The Solution that best meets your
requirements

•Design the selected system

Design The Solution solution to meet your
requirements

•Implement and evaluate the

Implement The
success of the designed
Solution
system
 Problems & opportunities are identified in the first step
of the systems approach.
 Symptoms
Merely signals of an underlying cause or problem
Problem
Defined as a basic condition that is causing
undesirable results
Opportunities
Basic condition that represents the potential for
desirable results
Symptoms should be separated from problems
 Developing alternative solutions
There are different ways to solve a problem.
Jumping immediately to a single solution is not
good as it limits your options.
It is better to analyze & evaluate the merits &
demerits of different alternate solutions and so that
the best solution can be identified.
Alternate solutions can come from experience,
advice from others (consultants or expert systems),
use our own intuition & ingenuity (ie. Our own
thinking), decision support packages, simulation etc.
 Selecting the best solution

Once the alternative solutions have been

evaluated, begin the process of selecting the
best solution.
Alternative solutions are compared each other
using the same criteria to select the most
appropriate alternative.
An example of evaluating 2 alternative
solutions of a problem is given below :
 Alternative A Alternative B
Startup cost 10 lakh 5 lakh
Operating cost 2 lakh 7 lakh
Ease of use Good Fair
Accuracy Excellent Fair
Reliability Excellent Excellent
Summary of Low op.cost,easy to low startup
of Adv. Use,Accurate,reliable cost,reliable
Summary of High startup cost high op.cost,
Of disadv. not very accurate Difficult to use,
 Design the solution

 Once a solution has been selected, it must be

designed
 Design specifications is done with the help of
other business end users & technical staff.
 Design specification must describe people,
hardware, software, data resources and
information system activities needed by a new
system.
implementing the solution
 After designing, the design should be implemented.
 Implementation plan is also done with the help of other
business end users & technical staff.
 Implementation plan specifies the resources, activities
and timing needed for proper implementation
 The implemented system should be monitored and
evaluated to check whether the problem has been solved
properly. This is called post-implementation review.
In these steps we can recycle back to a previous step if further
work is needed.