ITEC 3010:

Systems Analysis and Design I

Instructor: Dr. Luiz Marcio Cysneiros

Office: TEL Building 3053

Email: cysneiro@yorku.ca

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 General Info.
• Text: “Systems Analysis and Design in a Changing World” by John Satzinger,
Robert Jackson and Stephen Burd 3rd / 4th / 5th edition
– Current available 7th edition. Not the best one to use
– Best Editions to use : 5th and 3rd

• Office Hours: Wednesday: 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM

– Skype me at luizmarciocys for Office hours

Email: cysneiro@yorku.ca

How to Better follow this course ?

o Reading Material in Advance
o Answering questions a the end of each chapter and checking with the answers provided on the
course website

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7Th
Edition – Lecture x Chapter correlation

Lecture Chapter 7th Ed.

1 1 and Online Chapter A
2 10/11 Online Chapter C
3 10/11
4 2 + Online Chapter B

5 2 +4 + Online Chapter B
6 Online Chapter B
7 3/4/5
8 6+7
9 8
10/11 6/7
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 Marking Scheme

• Midterm (Closed Book) – 25%

• Final exam (Closed book) – 65%

• Assignments (Mandatory)
•
• 2 assignments - 10% (1st 5%, 2nd 5%)

• Rounding Policy : For example :

• 49.4 goes to 49
• 49.5 or higher goes to 50

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 Course Objectives

• To provide you with new ways of looking at information

in the world in order to solve business problems
• To introduce you to concepts and methods of System
Analysis and design (SAD)
• To describe the systems development life cycle (SDLC)
• To teach you effective methods for gathering essential
information during system analysis
• To teach you effective methods for designing systems to
solve problems effectively using technology

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Denys Lasdun

– “Our job is to give the client, on time and on cost,

not what he wants, but what he never dreamed
he wanted; and when he gets it, he recognizes it
as something he wanted all the time”

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 Course Topics
• Introduction to systems analysis and design
– the analyst as problem solver
– required skills of systems analysts
– types of jobs and the analyst’s role
– Example: Rocky mountain outfitters

• The analyst as project manager

– the systems development life cycle (SDLC)
• planning phase
• analysis phase
• design phase
• implementation phase
• support phase
– the project team

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 Topics (continued)

• Approaches to Systems Development

– Methodologies and Models
– 2 approaches:
• structured approach
• object-oriented approach
– Waterfall Models for SDLC
– other variations
– computer-aided software engineering (CASE)

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 Topics (continued)

• Identifying System Requirements

– stakeholders
– Methods - e.g. questionnaires, interviews, observation, build
prototypes, others
• Modelling System Requirements
– types of models - e.g. mathematical, descriptive, graphical
– identifying and modeling events
– identifying and modeling “things” in the world
– traditional and object-oriented methods

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 Topics (continued)

• System Design
– going from requirements to design
– elements of design
– approaches
• structured approach
• object-oriented approach
– design of inputs and outputs
– designing databases
– designing user interfaces

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 The World of the Modern System Analyst

• System Analysis: the process of understanding and specifying in detail

what the information system should do

• System Design: the process of specifying in detail how the many

component parts of the information system should be implemented

• System Analyst: A professional who used analysis and design

techniques to solve business problems (involving information
technology)

• A theme of the course: developing effective information systems is

much more than just writing computer programs (involves cognitive
skills in understanding problems and knowing where computer
technology best “fits in”)
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The Analysts’ Research and understand the problem
Approach to Problem
Solving (Figure 1-1
in the text) Verify that the benefits of solving the
problem outweigh the costs

Develop a set of possible solutions

(alternatives)

Decide which solution is best,

and make a recommendation

Design the details of the chosen

solution

Implement the solution

Monitor to make sure the you

Obtain the desired results 18
 Marking Scheme

• Midterm (Closed Book) – 25%

• Final exam (Closed book) – 65%

• Assignments (Mandatory)
•
• 2 assignments - 10% (1st 5%, 2nd 5%)

• Rounding Policy : For example :

• 49.4 goes to 49
• 49.5 or higher goes to 50

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 Thinking in terms of “Systems”

• What is a system?

A system is a collection of interrelated components

(subsystems) that function together to achieve
some outcome (e.g. biological system, computer
system, social system)

An information system is a collection of interrelated

components that collect, process, store and
provide as output the information needed to
complete business tasks (e.g. payroll system)
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 Characteristics of Systems
• Systems are made up of interrelated subsystems
(e.g. a nuclear reactor is composed of boilers,
reactor components etc.)
• Functional decomposition – dividing a system into
components based on subsystems (which are in
turn further divided into subsystems)
• System boundary – the separation between a
system and its environment (where inputs and
outputs cross)
• Automation boundary – separation between the
automated part of system and the manual part
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 General Depiction of a System
input

boundary
subsystem
subsystem

interrelationship
subsystem
subsystem

subsystem
input
output
output

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Overall production system (supersystem)
(figure 1-2 in the text)

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Figure 1-4: The system boundary and the automation boundary

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 “Systems” Thinking

• Being able to identify something as a system

• Involves being able to identify subsystems
• Identifying system characteristics and functions
• Identifying where the boundaries are (or should
be)
• Identifying inputs and outputs to systems
• Identifying relationships among subsystems

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Information Systems and
Component Parts

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 Types of Information Systems

• Transaction processing systems (TPS)

– Capture and record information about the transactions
that affect the organization (e.g. the sale of an item, a
withdrawal from an ATM etc.)

• Management Information Systems (MIS)

– Take information captured by the transaction
processing system and produce reports management
needs for planning and controlling business

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• Executive Information Systems (EIS)
– Provide information for executives to use in strategic
planning (could be from organizational database, or
outside sources like stock market reports)

• Decision Support Systems (DSS)

– Support human decision making and allows users to
explore the potential impact of available options or
decisions (e.g. can ask “what if”)
– Closely related to “expert systems” or “knowledge-
based” systems

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 Required Skills of the Systems Analyst
• Technical Knowledge and Skills

• Computers and how they work in general

• Programming languages
• Devices that interact with computers
• Communications networks
• Database and database management systems
• Operating systems and utilities

Tools: software products used to help develop analysis

and design specifications and completed system
components
• e.g. Microsoft Access, Integrated development
environments, computer-supported system engineering
(CASE) tools
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• Business Knowledge and Skills
• What activities and processes do organizations
perform?
• How are organizations structured?
• How are organizations managed?
• What type of work (activity) is done in the
organization? (e.g. hospital, bank etc.)
• Who are the “actors” doing the activities

About the organization (e.g. company) the system

analyst needs to know:
• What the specific organization does
• What makes it successful
• What its strategies and plans are
• What its tradition (“culture”) and values are
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• People Knowledge and Skills
• Single most important interpersonal skill:
• To communicate clearly and effectively with others!
• Since analysts work on teams with others (e.g. team
members, clients etc.) must understand about people:
• How people think
• How people learn
• How people react to change
• How people communicate
• How people work (“activities” and “actors”)
• Other areas:
• Skill in interviewing, listening and observing
• Good written and oral presentation
• Being able to work in a team
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Committed to Social Integration
• https://youtu.be/pVMjTGqrVT8

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 Typical Job Titles
• Programmer/analyst
• Business systems analyst
• System liaison
• End-user analyst
• Business consultant
• Systems consultant
• System support analyst
• System designer
• Software engineer
• System architect
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 Typical Job Ad:
Systems Analyst – Distribution Center
We are the world’s leading manufacturer of women’s apparel products.
Our organization in the Far East has openings for a Systems Analyst

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Business Administration or

closely related field with 5 (+) years of working experience
• In-depth understanding of Distribution and Manufacturing concepts
(Allocation, Replenishment, Floor Control, Production Scheduling)
• Working knowledge of project management and all phases of the
software development life cycle
• Experience with CASE tools, PC and Bar Code equipment
• Working knowledge of AS/400 and/or UNIX environment with the
languages C++, Java and/or COBOL are desirable
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 Components of an
Information Systems Plan
Strategic Plan

Figure 1-7 35
Systems Analysis and Design in a Changing World, 5th Edition 35
 Rocky Mountain Outfitters
(RMO) and Its Strategic
Information Systems Plan
• RMO sports clothing manufacturer and distributor
about to begin customer support system project
• Need to understand the nature of the business,
approach to strategic planning, and objectives for
customer support system
• RMO system development plan project used to
demonstrate analysis and design concepts

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 Introduction to Rocky Mountain
Outfitters (RMO) Business
• Began in Park City, Utah supplying winter sports
clothes to local ski shops
• Expanded into direct mail-order sales with small
catalog—as catalog interest increased, opened retail
store in Park City
• Became large, regional sports clothing distributor by
early 2000s in Rocky Mountain and Western states
• Currently $180 million in annual sales and 600
employees and two retail stores
• Mail-order revenue is $90 million; phone-order
revenue is $50 million
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 Early RMO Catalog Cover
(Fall 1978)

Figure 1-8 38
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 Current RMO Catalog Cover (Fall
2010)

Figure 1-9 39
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 RMO Strategic Issues
• Innovative clothing distributor; featured products
on Web site ahead of competitors
• Original Web site now underperforming
– Slow, poor coordination with in-house, poor supply
chain management, poor technical support
• Market analysis showed alarming trends
– Sales growth too slow, age of customers increasing,
Web sales small percentage of total

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 RMO Strategic Issues (continued)
• Enhanced Web site functions
– Add specific product information, weekly specials, and
all product offerings
• Detailed IS strategic plan
– Supply chain management
– Customer relationship management

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 RMO Current Organization

Figure 1-10 42
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 RMO Locations

Figure 1-11 43
Systems Analysis and Design in a Changing World, 5th Edition 43
 Existing RMO Systems
• Small server cluster system
– Supports inventory, mail-order, accounting, and
human resources
– High capacity network connects distribution and
mail-order sites
• LANs and file servers
– Supports central office functions, distribution
centers, and manufacturing centers

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 Existing RMO Systems (continued)
• Supply Chain Management System
– Client/Server system in C++ and DB2
• Mail Order System
– Mainframe COBOL/CICS. Unable to handle phone
orders
• Phone order system
– Oracle and Visual Basic system built 6 years ago
• Retail store systems
– Eight-year-old point-of-sale and batch inventory
package, overnight update with mainframe
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 Existing RMO Systems (continued)
• Office systems
– LAN with office software, Internet, e-mail
• Human resources system
– Thirteen-year-old mainframe-based payroll and
benefits
• Accounting/finance system
– Mainframe package bought from leading vendor
• Web Catalog and Order System
– Outside company until 2011. Irregular performance
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 The Information Systems Strategic Plan

• Supports RMO strategic objectives

– Build more direct customer relationships
– Expand marketing beyond Western states

• Plan calls for a series of information system

development and integration projects over several
years
• Project launch: New customer support system to
integrate phone orders, mail orders, and direct
customer orders via Internet 47
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 RMO Technology Architecture Plan
• Distribute business applications
– Across multiple locations and systems
– Reserve data center for Web server, database, and
telecommunications
• Strategic business processes via Internet
– Supply chain management (SCM)
– Direct customer ordering via dynamic Web site
– Customer relationship management (CRM)
• Web-based intranet for business functions
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 RMO Application Architecture Plan
• Supply chain management (SCM)
– Product development, product acquisition,
manufacturing, inventory management
• Customer support system (CSS)
– Integrate order-processing and fulfillment system with
SCM
– Support customer orders (mail, phone, Web)
• Strategic information management system
– Extract and analyze SCM and CSS information for
strategic and operational decision making and control

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 RMO Application Architecture Plan
(continued)
• Retail store system (RSS)
– Replace existing retail store system with system
integrated with CSS
• Accounting/finance system
– Purchase intranet application to maximize employee access
to financial data for planning and control
• Human resources (HR) system
– Purchase intranet application to maximize employee access
to human resources forms, procedures, and benefits
information 50
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 Timetable for RMO Strategic Plan

Figure 1-13 51
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 System Development

• Project: a planned undertaking that has a beginning

and an end, and which produces a predetermined
result or product
• Information System development project: planned
undertaking that produces a system
• Basic activities in development of any new system:
– Analysis – to understand information needs
– Design – define the system architecture (based on needs)
– Implementation – the actual construction of the system

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