ITEC54 – SYSTEM INTEGRATION

AND ARCHITECTURE 1

Project Life Cycle and Project Phases

One of the important components of a project development is the Project Life Cycle. A project
life cycle is a collection of project phases. These phases vary by project or industry, but some
phases include concept, development, implementation, and support or close-out.

In a system development, the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a framework for
describing the phases involved in developing and maintaining information systems.
Systems development projects can follow two models:
• Predictive models: The scope of the project can be clearly articulated and the schedule and
cost can be predicted, e.g., Waterfall, Spiral, Incremental, Prototyping or Rapid Application
Development (RAD) models
• Adaptive models: Projects are mission driven and component based, using time-based
cycles to meet target dates, e.g., Extreme Programming (XP), Scrum or Agile models

Requirements

I will just give you the streamlined contents and I will not go deeper into details. But what you
must know is that a system cannot be analyzed, designed, implemented, and evaluated unless
the problem is understood and requirements elicited. Requirements are statements that identify
the essential needs of a system for it to have value and utility. These are fundamental basis of
all the system development processes.
System architects will always base of the requirements elicited by the system analyst to design
an architectural view of the system. Besides much as the system is designed and there is need
for integration say business process, legacy, new systems, business-to-business, integration of
commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products, interface control and management, testing,
integrated program management, integrated Business Continuity Planning (BCP), requirement
is the basis.

Requirement Life Cycle

1) Elicitation Phase. It is the starting point of the requirements production process is an
elicitation process that involves several people to ensure consideration of a broad scope of
potential ideas and candidate problems
2) Organization Phase. In this step there is no transformation of the requirements, but simple
classification and categorization, e.g. requirements may be grouped into functional vs.
nonfunctional requirements.
3) Analysis Phase. It represents a transformation.
4) Prototype Phase. If the requirements are poorly understood, in this way, you may be tested
and perhaps strengthened, corrected, or refined. This phase is often done as a proof of concept
and serves to bring feedback from both the stakeholders and developers (engineers).
5) Requirements documentation and specification. This represents the requirements as the
finished product of the stakeholder requirements team. The requirements are compiled into a
requirement list or into some equivalent document format. These collected requirements are
then transformed into a specification

You may also use different tools that aid in developing & understanding system requirements
like: Affinity diagrams, Force-field analysis, Ishikawa fishbone (cause-and-effect) diagrams,
Pareto diagrams, Pugh charts, Quality function deployment (QFD), other tools that you find
suitable for your project development.

System Development Life Cycle

 An effective System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) should result in a high-quality
system that meets customer expectations, reaches completion within time and cost
evaluations, and works effectively and efficiently in the current and planned Information
Technology infrastructure.
 System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a conceptual model which includes policies
and procedures for developing or altering systems throughout their life cycles.
SDLC is used by analysts to develop an information system. SDLC includes the following
activities -

 requirements
 design
 implementation
 testing
 deployment
 operations
 maintenance

System Development Life Cycle

Phases of SDLC
 Systems Development Life Cycle is a systematic approach which explicitly breaks down
the work into phases that are required to implement either new or modified Information
System.
PLANNING: obtain approval for project, Initiate, Assess feasibility,
plan, schedule.

ANALYSIS: Understand business needs and processing needs

DESIGN: Define solution system based on requirement and analysis decision
IMPLEMENTATION: Construct, test, train users, install new system
MAINTENANCE: Keep system healthy and improve

Feasibility Study or Planning .

 Define the problem and scope of existing system.

 Overview the new system and determine its objectives.
 Confirm project feasibility and produce the project Schedule.
 During this phase, threats, constraints, integration and security of system are also
considered.
 A feasibility report for the entire project is created at the end of this phase.

Analysis and Specification

 Gather, analyze, and validate the information.

 Define the requirements and prototypes for new system.
 Evaluate the alternatives and prioritize the requirements.
 Examine the information needs of end-user and enhances the system goal.
 A Software Requirement Specification (SRS) document, which specifies the software,
hardware, functional, and network requirements of the system is prepared at the end of
this phase.

System Design

 Includes the design of application, network, databases, user interfaces, and system
 interfaces.
 Transform the SRS document into logical structure, which contains detailed and
complete set of specifications that can be implemented in a programming language.
 Create a contingency, training, maintenance, and operation plan.
 Review the proposed design. Ensure that the final design must meet the requirements
stated in SRS document.
 Finally, prepare a design document which will be used during next phases.

Implementation

 Implement the design into source code through coding.

 Combine all the modules together into training environment that detects errors and
defects.
 A test report which contains errors is prepared through test plan that includes test
related tasks such as test case generation, testing criteria, and resource allocation for
testing.
 Integrate the information system into its environment and install the new system.

Maintenance/Support
 Include all the activities such as phone support or physical onsite support for users that
is required once the system is installing.
 Implement the changes that software might undergo over a period of time, or implement
any new requirements after the software is deployed at the customer location.
 It also includes handling the residual errors and resolve any issues that may exist in the
system even after the testing phase.
 Maintenance and support may be needed for a longer time for large systems and for a
short time for smaller systems.

Life Cycle of System Analysis and Design

  The following diagram shows the complete life cycle of the system during analysis and
design phase.

User Requirement Specification

Requirement
Determination &
Specification Feasibility
Feasibility Study
Analysis

System
Specification
Logical Design & Test
Analysis
Plan System Design
Functional Specification
System
Implementation

System & Revised Requirements

System Evaluation
and Maintenance
System Integration Planning & Process
System Integration When it comes to outsourcing your company's System Integration, finding
the best System Integrator that suit or understand your goal and vision, and can achieve your
business objective without any trouble, are the most important thing that you should consider
when choosing a partner to help your success. Nowadays, a full-service system integrator can
offer companies multiple ways to embrace their unique digital transformation journey, having
progressed and is ready to give a seamless System Integration process.

When do we need System Integration?

When your business grows, it is only natural that the importance of a system integrator will grow
as well. In the beginning, you may think that instead of acquiring an entire software solution,
purchasing several independent tools will be way much cheaper and more effective. But as
protocols, formats, and technologies evolve and different applications develop differently, a
disjunct ecosystem with applications that do not cooperate will only result in confusion,
duplication, and inconsistencies in the system.
Employees will have difficulties to work efficiently, and the company will be struggling to
prosper.
. To deal with the challenge and remain competitive, the options are either to buy off-the-shelf
software, order a solution specifically tailored to meet your exact needs. Or, you can have your
already existing and used systems integrated into one, which will save not only your money but
also the time that your employees will need to learn how to use a new system.
While System Integration is crucial and has a lot of benefits for companies, before planning to
hire a system integrator, find what a system integration can do to help your company succeed.

Again, in simple words, System Integration is the process of linking various independent
components to act as one coordinated system. As a software solution, the integrating system
means to put different IT systems which often come from different vendors together, enable
them to communicate with each other, and work functionally as a coordinated whole. Thus, SI is
the linking of these systems and software applications, meaning they’re able to talk to each
other and act as a coordinated whole.

When starting a business, choosing several components is always seems like a better option. It
is cheaper than having to develop an entire system. And you might want to start small by
acquiring only what you need at that moment anyway. However, as your business evolves, you
will realize that you need more tools to handle more processes. Adding more components is
indeed cheaper, but it is also harmful to your organization.
Starting small is good. You might only want to acquire what you need at that moment. Probably
software that can help you with accounts and bookkeeping. Then, your business grows and you
have to deal with more and more customers. At this point, adding more processes is inevitable.
You will acquire more data and add more systems. Soon as your business evolves, you will
need something to keep track of your inventory, customer data, order management, and so on
till the architecture of your system becomes a tangled web of inefficient processes and disparate
applications
The results are predictable: inefficient data management, employees losing productivity caused
by having to use multiple applications and the company will struggle to meet the demands of the
clients. By integrating your system, you can avoid having to re-enter data to each of your
systems manually. After all, not all programs can play nicely together with the already existed
system. And as you add more programs, it will become harder to integrate them into your
current workflows.
To help you with the complicated process of System Integration, you will need a system
integrator-whether it's a company or a team of professionals-that can streamline your disparate
systems, including existing hardware, software, and communications seamlessly.
See an example of an integration process flow:

Planning on System Integration: How and Why Should You Integrate Your System
Previously, we have talked about System Integration; what is it and how it can help your
business. To wrap p, System Integration is the process of linking various independent
components, for example, IT systems, to communicate with each other and act as one co-
ordinated system. Now, we are going to dig deeper into the System Integration methods and
what benefits you can get by integrating your system.

Other System Integration Method

According to Moore, system integrator works integrating discrete systems using several
techniques such as computer networking, enterprise application integration, business process
management, or manual programming.
System integration is usually completed to comply with your business goals using the very latest
technology. It can be implemented using various methods classified according to their
characteristics (as discussed in Module #1): Vertical, Horizontal Integration, Star Integration or
Spaghetti Integration and the other one that does not specify…
Common Data Format Integration. In this method, a common format is established to remove
the reliance for an adapter to translate between various application formats using an enterprise
application integration (EAI) system. Enterprise application integration (EAI) system usually
defines an independent application data format. Data transformation service to help to convert
between specific and common format is usually done in 2 steps: Adaptor changes information
from application format to the common bus format. Then, the implementation of semantic
transformation (for example, converting the postcode to the city name, splitting/merging objects
from one application to objects in another application, etc)

Benefits of System Integration

System Integration can be your company's key to success. Not only it ensures seamless data
connectivity and reduces the possibility of errors, but it also improves both the internal workflow
of your organizations and maintains your company's position in the market. By integrating your
system, you will be able to:
• Improve real-time visibility that will allow you to work with the latest information. When different
departments are not integrated, collecting data manually can take hours, and is still prone to
inaccuracy. SI system Integration will minimize these potentials.
• Boost employees’ productivity and process efficiency with automation that eliminates manual
work. As a result, your employees can finally focus on their actual tasks instead of repeatedly
entering data into every subsystem uses by the company. This will reduce the necessity of
hiring new employees.
• Increase your sales with the improved customer experience and better customer service as a
result of data connectivity across all departments. From the customer's perspective, it enables
them to see the availability of the product they are looking for and provides them with a smooth
and easy buying process. From the employees' perspective, it allows them to address the
inquiries immediately and eventually, meet the needs of the customers.
• Save time and money with better decision-making and an automated system that allows you to
focus on gaining new customers and developing new skills and therefore provides you with
more opportunity to grow.
• Collect data that will be valuable for decision making, thanks to a centralized system that
gives more accurate results.

Planning on System Integration: Phases of System Integration Process

When integrating your system, one of the important factors of successful System Integration is
the System Integrator you are working with.
After learning about what is System integration, why should you integrate your system, and
various methods of System Integration in the discussion, now, we will find out how exactly a
System Integrator would integrate your system.

Phases of System Integration Process

System Integration is a complex task, hence the importance of hiring a reliable system
integrator that can assist you with comprehensive integration service, from simple internal point-
topoint connections to intricate many-to-many integrations both internally and with third parties.
(1) Requirements and Specifications Gathering. This is the first step where you have to provide
you with the best practice and most efficient solution, a system integrator must know how
exactly you and your team expect the system to be in the future. In this phase, you will have to
list down the detailed requirements to make, as every developer or software engineer uses
different subsystems and achieve different goals.
2) Feasibility Analysis. What you want is not always what you actually need. In this phase, after
all the requirements, specifications, and expectations are listed down, a feasibility analysis will
be conducted to determine operational feasibility. Your requirements will be analyzed and
translated into needs to support the decision-making process regarding the integration process
your system will go through.
(3) Architecture and Development Design. To achieve the goal, a proper architecture design
regarding how the system should be integrated into the other comprehensive system should be
well-planned, and a strong foundation needs to be built to eliminate all the possible risks.
Usually, an integration plan blueprint consists of a proposed architecture plan is created to help
both parties visualize the process.
(4) Management Plan. Once the complete plan of the system integration process is approved
and released, the next step is creating a management plan. A management plan is usually
comprised of risk factor calculations, project execution plan, alternative listing, etc.

(5) System Integration Design. It is presumably the longest and most challenging phase of the
System integration process. An actual integration is performed, consist of creating the physical
equivalent of the architecture design which is rather logical. This phase comprises some
processes such as preliminary designs, detailed designs, system tests, etc.
6) Implementation. Once the system is ready, it will be verified and tested thoroughly. Detected
bugs and errors in the system will be fixed before the system undergoes another operational
testing to make the product error-free. Afterward, the integrated system will be deployed and
ready to be utilized by your employee. The implementation phase may take a while because to
feel the results of the integration process, you need to make sure everyone in your team able to
correctly operate the new system
(7) Evaluation and Maintenance. In this last phase, the functioning of the integrated system will
be checked thoroughly. If there is any inconvenience in operation or missing feature, the lacking
components can be fixed, added, or modified. This phase includes checking, maintaining,
modifying, and enhancing the components. After all, compared to the off-theshelf solution,
having your subsystems integrated by a professional company will give you the benefit of
having your product works flawlessly according to your specific needs even after it is released.
Role of System Analyst

 The system analyst is a person who is thoroughly aware of the system and guides the
system development project by giving proper directions. He is an expert having
technical and interpersonal skills to carry out development tasks required at each
phase.
 He pursues to match the objectives of information system with the organization goal.

Main Roles

 Defining and understanding the requirement of user through various Fact-finding

techniques.
 Prioritizing the requirements by obtaining user consensus.
 Gathering the facts or information and acquires the opinions of users.
 Maintains analysis and evaluation to arrive at appropriate system which is more user
friendly.
 Suggests many flexible alternative solutions, pick the best solution, and quantify cost
and benefits.
 Draw certain specifications which are easily understood by users and programmer in
precise and detailed form.
 Implemented the logical design of system which must be modular.
 Plan the periodicity for evaluation after it has been used for some time, and modify the
system as needed.

Attributes of a Systems Analyst

  The following figure shows the attributes a systems analyst should possess -

Interpersonal Skills

 Interface with users and programmer.

 Facilitate groups and lead smaller teams.
 Managing expectations.
 Good understanding, communication, selling and teaching abilities.
 Motivator having the confidence to solve queries.

Analytical Skills

 System study and organizational knowledge

 Problem identification, problem analysis, and problem solving
 Sound commonsense
 Ability to access trade-off
 Curiosity to learn about new organization
Management Skills

 Understand users jargon and practices.

 Resource & project management.
 Change & risk management.
 Understand the management functions thoroughly.

Technical Skills

 Knowledge of computers and software.

 Keep abreast of modern development.
 know of system design tools.
 Breadth knowledge about new technologies.