LECTURE 5

SYSTEM DESIGN

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 DESIGN PHASE

• Design involves functional design, database

design and screen (interface) design.
• In this step, the system requirements are
decomposed into a number of interacting
components.
• A well designed system has the following
advantages:
• Easy to implement
• Understandable
• Reliable
• Allows smooth evolution
• Easy to maintain and test
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 DESIGN PHASE

• Badly designed systems:

• May work at first
• Hard to maintain
• Difficult to test
• Unreliable

• To facilitate the design, we first make a top-

level decomposition called “SW architecture”.
Then we make the detailed design.

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 SW ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

• Design is split into 2 sub-phases:

• High-level or architectural design : overall
modules structure and the relationships
among modules (or components)
• Detailed design: refine each module in detail
and describe its algorithm and data structures

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 SW ARCHITECTURE

• It is a top-level decomposition of a system into major

components and their inter-relationship.
• It presents an abstract view of the sub-systems making up
a system.
• Often graphical representations (block diagrams) called
“global design”
• Purpose of SW architecture:
1- Used for communication with the customers, and users (as
it is graphical description).
2- Helps the designer to make early design decisions before
making the detailed design.
3- it can be used to produce other SW systems using the
same architecture, i.e., Product line of SW.
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 SW ARCHITECTURE

• There are several factors that may affect the

choice of SW architecture:
1- the organization constraints.
2- the background and expertise of the architect.
3- some technical effects of the HW on the
functions of the system.

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 SW DESIGN

• Definition: The design process is concerned with decomposing

the system into modules such that each module has a lower
complexity than the system as whole. The whole modules
together satisfy the user requirements.
• The module is an identifiable unit in the design which has a
specific task, inputs and outputs.
• The quality of the design reflects the quality of the resulting sw.
• Errors in the design show during the run-time of the sw, and
require high cost to repair them.

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 SW DESIGN STEPS

1- The system is decomposed into less complex modules

which is then decomposed into less complex modules ,…etc
till we reach the lower simple level.
2- For the lower levels, we draw a graphical representation
of the algorithm to be performed.
3- For each higher and lower modules, we have to specify the
function it performs.
4- Determine the test cases to be used in the test phase.
5- Write the design document to include all the previous steps.
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 SCREEN DESIGN (INTERFACE)

• The main two tasks in the design phase are to design the
interface and the database.
• User interfaces should be designed to match the skills,
experience and expectations of its anticipated users.
• System users often judge a system by its interface rather
than its functionality.
• A poorly designed interface can cause a user to make
catastrophic errors.
• Poor user interface design is the reason why so many
software systems are never used.
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 HUMAN FACTORS IN INTERFACE DESIGN

1. Limited short-term memory

• People can instantaneously remember about 7 items of information. If you present
more than this, they are more liable to make mistakes.
2. People make mistakes
• When people make mistakes and systems go wrong, inappropriate alarms and
messages can increase stress and hence the likelihood of more mistakes.
3. People are different
• People have a wide range of physical capabilities. Designers should not just
design for their own capabilities. People have different interaction preferences.
Some like pictures, some like text.

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 USER INTERFACE DESIGN PRINCIPLES

• User familiarity
• The interface should be based on user-oriented terms and
concepts rather than computer concepts. For example, an
office system should use concepts such as letters,
documents, folders etc. rather than directories, file
identifiers, etc.
• Consistency
• The system should display an appropriate level of
consistency. Commands and menus should have the same
format, command punctuation should be similar, etc.

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 USER INTERFACE DESIGN PRINCIPLES

• Minimal surprise
• If a command operates in a known way, the user should be
able to predict the operation of comparable commands
• Recoverability
• The system should provide some resilience to user errors
and allow the user to recover from errors. This might
include an undo facility, confirmation of destructive actions,
'soft' deletes, etc.

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 USER INTERFACE DESIGN PRINCIPLES

• User guidance
• Some user guidance such as help systems, on-line
manuals, etc. should be supplied
• User diversity
• Interaction facilities for different types of user should be
supported. For example, some users have seeing
difficulties and so larger text should be available

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 INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS DESIGN

• Two problems must be addressed in interactive

systems design
• How should information from the user be
provided to the computer system?
• How should information from the computer
system be presented to the user?
• Interaction styles
• Direct manipulation - Menu selection -Form fill-in
• Command language - Natural language
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 COLOUR DISPLAYS

• Colour adds an extra dimension to an interface

and can help the user understand complex
information structures.
• Colour can be used to highlight exceptional
events.

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 COLOUR USE GUIDELINES

• Limit the number of colours used and be

conservative in their use.
• Use colour change to show a change in system
status.
• Use colour coding to support the task that users
are trying to perform.
• Use colour coding in a thoughtful and consistent
way.
• Be careful about colour pairings.
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 ERROR MESSAGES

• Error message design is critically important.

• Poor error messages can mean that a user rejects
rather than accepts a system.
• Messages should be polite, concise, consistent
and constructive.
• The background and experience of users should
be the determining factor in message design.

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