MIS 581 Systems Analysis, Planning, and Control

Week 1 Discussion

DQ1 ROLE OF A MODERN SYSTEM ANALYST

Why is the role of a system analyst so important in the modern business world? Give an example.

DQ2 THE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE

What are the key differences between traditional and agile methodologies? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

 

MIS 581 Systems Analysis, Planning, and Control

Week 2 Discussion

DQ1 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Compare and contrast the project management life cycle with the system development life cycle (SDLC)? Why is project management different from normal management?

DQ2 FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS

Compare and contrast any two components of a feasibility study? Is one component more important than the other? Explain in detail.

 

MIS 581 Systems Analysis, Planning, and Control

Week 3 Discussion

DQ1 JOINT APPLICATION DESIGN

Joint application design (JAD) can be known as joint application design or development. Discuss how JAD may significantly decrease the amount of systems development time? Why might an organization choose to use a JAD leader from outside the company?

DQ2 PROTOTYPING

What are the advantages and disadvantages of prototyping techniques within any software development methodology?

 

MIS 581 Systems Analysis, Planning, and Control

Week 4 Discussion

DQ1 STRUCTURED ANALYSIS AND DESIGN (SAD)

Discuss the difference between the logical and physical process models within any software development methodology? How do the two process models relate?

DQ2 OBJECT-ORIENTED ANALYSIS AND DESIGN (UML/OOAD)

What are the basic characteristics of object-oriented analysis and design (OOAD)? How does OOAD compare to structured analysis and design (SAD)?

 

MIS 581 Systems Analysis, Planning, and Control

Week 5 Discussion

DQ1 DATA MODELING

Discuss the difference between logical and physical data models within any software development methodology? How do they relate?

DQ2 NORMALIZATION

What is the purpose of normalization? How does it ensure a quality database design?

 

MIS 581 Systems Analysis, Planning, and Control

Week 6 Discussion

DQ1 INPUT AND OUTPUT DESIGN

What are the key characteristics of a good input and output design? Explain in detail.

DQ2 HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERFACE (HCI)

System analysts want the best fit in their design. How can HCI help their understanding to ensure systems are user centered? Explain in detail.

 

MIS 581 Systems Analysis, Planning, and Control

Week 7 Discussion

DQ1 IMPLEMENTATION PHASE

As you might notice from web research, the description of an implementation phase may vary. What are the key activities performed in the implementation phase and how do the key activities relate?

DQ2 QUALITY ASSURANCE

How is quality managed in your organization? Is the approach to quality in your organization effective?

 

 

 

 

MIS 581 Systems Analysis, Planning, and Control

Week 4 Quiz

Question 1 (TCO A) The _____ is based on values, principles, and core practices.

fragile approach

open source approach

closed source approach

agile approach

Question 2 (TCO A) An organization with many employees and many cubicles with each employee having a unique phone extension is said to be a _____ relationship.

1:1

1:M

M:1

M:N

Question 3 (TCO B) All of the following indicate that an effort is a project instead of day-to-day work except

the effort does not have a definite beginning and end.

the effort creates a unique product, capability, or result.

the effort deliverable is defined and developed in incremental steps.

the effort has constraints in time, cost, scope, quality, resources, or risks.

Question 4 (TCO B) One way to pinpoint systems challenges and opportunities is by listening to feedback from external sources like customers, vendors and service providers, and suppliers. Using this method, which of the following is not

a sign of a problem in an organization?

Complaints

Suggestions for improvement

Loss of sales

High online review rate

Question 5 (TCO C) Which of these steps in interview preparation is most helpful in allowing the interviewer to build a vocabulary common to the interviewee?

Reading blog materials

Deciding whom to interview

Establishing interview objectives

Preparing the interviewee

Reading background material

Question 6 (TCO C) Which of the following is not an advantage of using joint application design (JAD)?

JAD works independent of organizational values.

The time to develop the system is reduced.

JAD works independent of organizational culture.

JAD helps to generate new ideas.

Describe the agile approach to a systems development.

One of the difficult decisions a systems analyst has to make when it comes to software is whether to recommend making, buying, or outsourcing software for information systems projects. What are the advantages of purchasing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software? What are the disadvantages of this approach?

 

MIS 581 Systems Analysis, Planning, and Control

Week 2 Course Project Milestone 1  

Understanding and Modeling a System

Thinking of a company as a system and understanding the business problems are keys to modeling a solution. We have to answer the question, Is this project worth looking at? To answer this question, in this phase, we define the scope of the project and the perceived problems, who is involved, and what the system will need to accomplish.

Your first team task this week is to describe the business and the business problem. How does the business system work? Who is involved, and what do they do? Using our massage example, we might find we have massage therapists, schedulers who answer the phone and make appointments, an accountant who does the billing, customers, and a manager. Business may be conducted at a central office and at customer homes. The business problem might be a lack of competitive advantage with other, more automated massage businesses or problems with missed or broken appointments or customers that do not pay for the service.

Next, the team will need to define the business requirements for an information system to solve the business problem. We put to work what we learned in our Week 1 readings.

Deliverables: (50 points)

Statement of the Business Problem (System Request Form)

Business Requirements: Using Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Word or Excel, your team will need to create the following diagrams for your project. (Refer to the textbook for examples.)

Context Level Data Flow Diagram (Visio)

Use Case List (normal business activities/work flows)

Use Case Diagram (Visio)

Use Case Scenarios (Description or narrative of steps in each use case)

 

MIS 581 Systems Analysis, Planning, and Control

Week 3 Course Project Milestone 2  

Before teams typically begin planning a project, they define the initial scope and seek permission to proceed with planning with a project charter. This week, your team needs to work together to complete a project charter for your project.

Deliverable: (50 points)

Project Charter

(See Week 2 Lecture for Project Charter outline)

 

MIS 581 Systems Analysis, Planning, and Control

Week 5 Course Project Milestone 3  

Every system has two perspectives that are reflected in the user requirements which are data and process. Any systems that exist will these two perspectives, among others, that must be addressed to build a quality application/system. In this milestone, you are creating diagrams for both the data model and process model perspectives to accurately capture the business requirements initiated in the milestones above.

Data modeling is a technique for organizing and documenting a system’s data. Data modeling is sometimes called database modeling or database design because a data model is direct input into the implementation of the physical database, depending on the database platform for the organization. Data is viewed as a resource to be shared by as many processes as possible. As a result, data must be organized in a way that is flexible and adaptable to unanticipated business requirements, and that is the purpose of data modeling.

Process modeling is a technique for organizing and documenting a system’s functionality. Keep in mind, data and processes/ business functions are derived from the analysis of the business requirements graphically captured in Milestone 1 and 2 deliverables above. The business functions will ultimately be translated into program code in the implementation phase of the SDLC, if we were to really build the application/system.

Notice, the process model is just another graphical approach to capturing the business functional requirements. The process model meets the same objective of creating the Use Case Diagram in the UML/object oriented analysis and design (OOAD) approach, but the symbols/syntax is slightly different given the specific objective of the two graphical approaches. You will be creating the remaining UML/OOAD diagrams to graphically capture additional requirements in the next milestone assignment.

Deliverables: (50 points)

Milestone 3.1 (Data Model Diagrams – for database requirements – Week 5 Lecture)

Logical Entity Relationship Diagram (LERD) (Visio)

Physical Entity Relationship Diagram (PERD) (Visio)

Milestone 3.2 (Process Model Diagrams – for functional/process requirements – Week 4 Lecture)

Logical Data Flow Diagram (LDFD) (Visio)

Physical Data Flow Diagram (PDFD) (Visio)

 

MIS 581 Systems Analysis, Planning, and Control

Week 6 Course Project Milestone 4

This section will explore data modeling in an object-oriented development approach.

Deliverables: (50 points)

UML Use Case Diagram (Visio)

UML Class Diagram (Visio)

UML Sequence Diagram (Visio)

 

MIS 581 Systems Analysis, Planning, and Control

Week 7 Course Project Final Paper  

Now that we have defined and modeled the business requirements, the next task is to look at technical solutions. In this section, we will create three technical alternatives that meet business requirements and use feasibility analysis to decide which alternative best meets the needs of our customer. We will then describe the hardware, software, and database components required to meet the alternative, the architecture we propose, and the approximate costs for the project. All of this is done within the context of the system proposal outline, which consolidates all milestone deliverables in to one Final Project Paper.

Deliverables: (150 points)

System Proposal  (Final Project Paper)

Cover letter

Cover or title page of project

Table of contents

Executive summary (including recommendations)

Outline of system study (all milestone lab assignments)

Detailed results of the system study (deliverables from each milestone lab assignment)

System alternatives (Use system alternative assessment and feasibility matrix in the Files section of the Course Menu.)

System analysts’ recommendation (Use system alternative assessment and feasibility matrix in Files.)

Proposal summary (Summarize information into a PowerPoint presentation.)

Appendices (assorted documentation as needed)

 

 

MIS 581 Systems Analysis, Planning, and Control

Week 8 Final Exam  

Question 1(TCO A) Describe the agile approach to a systems development.

Question 2 (TCO B) One of the difficult decisions a systems analyst has to make when it comes to software is whether to recommend making, buying, or outsourcing software for information systems projects. What are the advantages of creating custom software in-house? What are the disadvantages of this approach?

Question 3 (TCO C) Describe a situation in which JAD would be ideal.

Question 4 (TCOs G and H) List and describe the four major guidelines an analyst should use to set up training for a new system.

Question 5 (TCOs G and H) What are seven essential items that the analyst should include in performing a website traffic analysis?

Question 6 (TCO F) When should check boxes be used in a form? When should option buttons be used?

Question 7 (TCO F) List five of the eight ways to minimize user action when keying in data.

Question 8 (TCO D) What are the four advantages of using a data flow approach over narrative explanations of data movement?

Question 9 (TCO E) What is normalization?