Systems Analysis and Design - Detillier's Review
Thomas Edison
"If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves."
Element Is Base or Derived
- A base element is one that has been initially keyed into the system - A derived element is one that is created by a process, usually as the result of a calculation or a series of decision-making statements
Six Sigma
- A culture built on quality - Uses a top-down approach - Project leader is called a Black Belt - Project members are called Green Belts - Master Black Belts have worked on many projects and are available as a resource to project teams
Seven Sections of a Form
- Heading - Identification and access - Instructions - Body - Signature and verification - Totals - Comments
Aliases
- Synonyms or other names for the element - Names used by different users in different systems - A CUSTOMER NUMBER may also be called a RECEIVABLE ACCOUNT NUMBER or a CLIENT NUMBER
HCI Design: Touch
- keyboards - direct manipulation - using a stylus - a mouse - touch screens
HCI Design: Hearing
- noisy laser printers and phone conversations can lead to overload on human hearing.
The Systems Proposal: Summary
Brief statement that mirrors the content of the executive summary. Conclude the proposal on a positive note.
Interview Preparation: Preparing the Interviewee
call ahead; keep to 45 minutes to an hour at the most.
Alphabetic Derivation Codes
- A commonly used approach in identifying an account number. - Ex: -- First five digits come from the first five digits of the subscribers zip code. -- Next three are the first three consonants in the subscribers name. -- Next four numbers are the street address. -- Last three make up the code for the magazine.
Mnemonic Codes
- A mnemonic (pronounced nî-môn'-ïk) is a human memory aid - Any code that helps the data-entry person remember how to enter the data or the user remember how to use the information is a mnemonic - Using a combination of letters and symbols affords a clear way to code a product so that the code is easily seen and understood
Simple Sequence Codes
- A number that is assigned to something if it needs to be numbered - No relation to the data itself
Sampling
- A process of systematically selecting representative elements of a population - Involves two key decisions: -- What to examine --- reports, forms, output documents, memos, and websites that have been generated by people in the organization. -- Which people to consider --- which people should be selected to represent the population as a whole?
Data Dictionary
- A reference work of data about data (metadata) - Collects and coordinates data terms, and confirms what each term means to different people in the organization
Usability
- A way for designers to evaluate the systems and interfaces they create with an eye toward addressing as many HCI concerns as thoroughly as possible - Usability standards - Usability heuristics
Types of Feedback
- Acknowledging acceptance of input - Recognizing that input is in the correct form - Notifying that input is not in the correct form - Explaining a delay in processing - Acknowledging that a request is completed - Notifying that a request was not completed - Offering the user more detailed feedback
Activity Diagrams and Test Plans
- Activity diagrams may be used to construct test plans - Each event must be tested to see if the system goes to the next state - Each decision must be tested
Use Case Diagram
- Actor -- Refers to a particular role of a user of the system -- Similar to external entities; they exist outside of the system - Use case symbols -- An oval indicating the task of the use case - Connecting lines -- Arrows and lines used to diagram behavioral relationships
Technical Feasibility
- Add on to present system - Technology available to meet users' needs
Tangible Benefits
- Advantages measurable in dollars that accrue to the organization through the use of the information system - Examples: -- Increase in the speed of processing -- Access to otherwise inaccessible information -- Access to information on a more timely basis -- The advantage of the computer's superior calculating power -- Decreases in the amount of employee time needed to complete specific tasks.
Keeping Forms Attractive
- Aesthetic forms draw people into them and encourage completion - Forms should look uncluttered, and elicit information in the expected order - Using different fonts and line weights within the same form can help make it more attractive for users
Classification Information
- Affords the ability to distinguish between classes of items - Must be mutually exclusive - Classification codes - Block sequence codes
Interrelatedness and Interdependence of Systems
- All systems and subsystems are interrelated and interdependent. - All systems process inputs from their environments. - All systems are contained by boundaries separating them from their environments. - System feedback for planning and control. - An ideal system self-corrects or self-regulates itself.
Feedback for Users
- All systems require feedback to monitor and change behavior - Feedback compares current behavior with predetermined goals and gives back information describing the gap between actual and intended performance
Designing the Questionnaire
- Allow ample white space - Allow ample space to write or type in responses - Make it easy for respondents to clearly mark their answers - Be consistent in style
Pivot Tables
- Allows a user to arrange data in a table in any way they choose - Gives users greater control over how they look at data in different ways within a table
RFID
- Allows the automatic collection of data using RFID tags that contain a chip and an antenna - Passive RFID tags - Active RFID tags - Privacy is a concern
Object-Oriented (O-O) Systems Analysis and Design
- Alternate approach to the structured approach of the SDLC that is intended to facilitate the development of systems that change rapidly in response to dynamic business environments. - Analysis is performed on a small part of the system followed by design and implementation. - The cycle repeats with analysis, design, and implementation of the next part and this repeats until the project is complete. - Examines the objects of a system.
Three Things a Use Case Always Provides
- An actor that initiates an event - The event that triggers a use case - The use case that performs the actions triggered by the event
Event Response Tables
- An event table is used to create a data flow diagram by analyzing each event and the data used and produced by the event - Every row in an event table represents a data flow diagram fragment and is used to create a single process on a data flow diagram
Block Sequence Codes
- An extension of the sequence code - Data are grouped according to common characteristics - Simplicity of assigning the next available number (within the block) to the next item needing identification
Output Bias
- Analysts must avoid unnecessarily biasing output and make users aware of the possible biases in output - Bias is introduced in three main ways: -- How information is sorted -- Setting of acceptable limits -- Choice of graphics
BYOD and BYOT
- BYOD: Bring your own device - BYOT: Bring your own technology - Employee uses their own device access corporate networks, data, and services remotely
Selection of Projects
- Backing from management. - Appropriate timing of project commitment. - Possibility of improving attainment of organizational goals. - Practical in terms of resources for the system analyst and organization. - Worthwhile project compared with other ways the organization could invest resources.
Type of Process
- Batch - Online -- Require screen design or web pages - Manual -- Should have well-defined procedures for employees performing the process tasks
General Guidelines for Coding
- Be concise - Keep the codes stable - Ensure that codes are unique - Allow codes to be sortable - Avoid confusing codes - Keep the codes uniform - Allow for modification of codes - Make codes meaningful
Rene Descartes
- Believed that since the human mind was finite that it could not possibly grasp a large system of any complexity. - A system must be viewed by examining its constitute elements, by breaking it down into manageable elements and then reassembling it. - Only then can man with his limited reasoning ability understand it.
Comparing Costs and Benefits
- Break-even analysis - Payback - Cash-flow analysis - Present value analysis
Leniency
- Caused by easy raters - Solution is to move the "average" category to the left or right of center
Check Boxes
- Check boxes are used for nonexclusive choices - Check box text or label is placed to the right of the check box - If there are more than ten check boxes, group together in a bordered box
Process of Validation
- Check first for missing data - Check the syntax - Check the semantics - GUI screens can help to reduce the number of human input errors when they incorporate radio buttons, check boxes, and drop-down lists
Closed Interview Questions
- Closed interview questions limit the number of possible responses - Closed interview questions are appropriate for generating precise, reliable data that is easy to analyze - The methodology is efficient, and it requires little skill for interviewers to administer
Four Basic Activities of Agile Modeling
- Coding—the most valuable thing that we receive from code is "learning." - Testing—the agile approach views automated tests as critical. - Listening—in the agile approach, listening is done in the extreme. - Designing—a way of creating a structure to organize all of the logic in the system.
Mashups
- Combine two or more application programming interfaces (API) - An API is a small set of programs and protocols - A building block approach to building websites
Agile Values
- Communication - Simplicity - Feedback - Courage
Depicting Systems Graphically
- Context-level data flow diagrams - Entity-relationship model - Use case modeling
Software Alternatives
- Created custom software - Purchased as COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) software - Provided by an software as a service (SaaS)
Data Flow Diagram Levels
- Data flow diagrams are built in layers - The top level is the context level - Each process may explode to a lower level - The lower level diagram number is the same as the parent process number - Processes that do not create a child diagram are called primitive
Effective Coding
- Data that are coded require less time to enter - Coding helps to reduce the number of items entered - Coding can help in sorting of data during the data transformation process - Coded data can save valuable memory and storage space
Decision Trees
- Decision trees are used when complex branching occurs in a structured decision process - Trees are also useful when it is essential to keep a string of decisions in a particular sequence
Strategic Cloud Computing Decisions
- Decisions on cloud computing can first be addressed on a strategic level - Business should focus on: -- Define a high-level business case that focuses on high-level benefits -- Define core requirements -- Define core technologies for the enterprise
Developing a WBS
- Decomposition, starting with large ideas, then breaking them down into manageable activities - Product oriented, building a website can be broken down into many parts - Process-oriented, emphasizes the importance of each phase
Classes
- Defines the set of shared attributes and behaviors found in each object in the class - Should have a name that differentiates it from all other classes - Instantiate is when an object is created from a class - An attribute describes some property that is possessed by all objects of the class - A method is an action that can be requested from any object of the class
Use Case Modeling
- Describes what a system does without describing how the system does it. -- A logical model of the system. - Use case is a view of the system requirements. - Analyst works with business experts to develop requirements.
Use Case Modeling
- Describes what the system does, without describing how the system does it - Based on the interactions and relationships of individual use cases - Use case describes -- Actor -- Event -- Use case
Designing Printed Output
- Detailed reports -- Print a report line for every record on the master file - Exception reports --Print a line for all records that match a certain condition - Summary reports -- Print one line for a group of records that are used to make decisions
Reasons for Partitioning
- Different user groups - Timing - Similar tasks - Efficiency - Consistency of data - Security
Conversion Strategies
- Direct changeover - Parallel conversion - Gradual or phased conversion - Modular prototype conversion - Distributed conversion
Work Breakdown Structure Properties
- Each task or activity contains one deliverable, or tangible outcome, from the activity - Each task can be assigned to a single individual or a single group - Each task has a responsible person monitoring and controlling performance
Ecommerce Applications
- Ecommerce applications involve more than just good designs of websites. - Customers need to feel confident in the site -- Shopping cart -- Customer can edit the quantity of the item ordered or can remove the item entirely
Enterprise Resource Planning
- Enterprise Systems or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) describes an integrated organizational information system. - Software that helps the flow of information between the functional areas within the organization.
Algebraic Notation
- Equal sign means "is composed of" - Plus sign means "and" - Braces {} mean repetitive elements - Brackets [] for an either/or situation - Parentheses () for an optional element
Five Stages of Agile Development
- Exploration - Planning - Iterations to the first release - Productionizing - Maintenance
Entity-Relationship Model
- Focus is on the entities and their relationships within the organizational system - Another way to show the scope of a system
Advantages of the Data Flow Approach
- Freedom from committing to the technical implementation too early - Understanding of the interrelatedness of systems and subsystems - Communicating current system knowledge to users - Analysis of the proposed system
Project Scheduling
- Gantt Charts -- Simple -- Lends itself to end user communication -- Drawn to scale - PERT diagrams -- Useful when activities can be done in parallel
Evaluating Vendor Support
- Hardware support - Software support - Installation and training support - Maintenance support
Keeping the Display Simple
- Heading—contains titles of software and open files, pull-down menus, and icons that do certain tasks. - Body—used for data entry and is organized from left to right and top to bottom. - Comments and instructions—displays a short menu of commands that remind the user of basics.
Decision Table Advantages
- Help the analysis ensure completeness - Easy to check for possible errors -- Impossible situations -- Contradictions -- Redundancy
Drawing Decision Trees
- Identify all conditions and actions and their order and timing (if they are critical) - Begin building the tree from left to right, making sure you list all possible alternatives before moving to the right
Why Use Case Diagrams Are Helpful
- Identify all the actors in the problem domain. - Actions that need to be completed are also clearly shown on the use case diagram. - The use case scenario is also worthwhile. - Simplicity and lack of technical detail.
Disaster Recovery Planning
- Identify teams responsible for managing a crisis - Eliminate single points of failure - Determine data replication technologies that match the organization's timetable - Create detailed relocation and transportation plans - Provide recovery solutions that include an off-site location - Ensure the physical and psychological well-being of employees and others
Unicode
- Includes all standard language symbols - Has room for 65,535 characters - The full set of Unicode characters are grouped by language and may be found at www.unicode.org
Organizations are Composed of Interrelated Subsystems
- Influenced by levels of management decision makers that cut horizontally across the organizational system -- Operations -- Middle management -- Strategic management - Influenced by organizational cultures and subcultures
Need for Systems Analysis and Design
- Installing a system without proper planning leads to great user dissatisfaction and frequently causes the system to fall into disuse - Lends structure to the analysis and design of information systems - A series of processes systematically undertaken to improve a business through the use of computerized information systems
Intangible Benefits
- Intangible benefits are benefits from use of the information system that are difficult to measure - Examples: -- Improving the decision-making process -- Enhancing accuracy -- Becoming more competitive in customer service -- Maintaining a good business image -- Increasing job satisfaction
Interviewing
- Interviewing is an important method for collecting data on human and system information requirements - Interviews reveal information about: -- Interviewee opinions -- Interviewee feelings -- Goals -- Key HCI concerns
Joint Application Design (JAD)
- Joint Application Design (JAD) can replace a series of interviews with the user community. - JAD is a technique that allows the analyst to accomplish requirements analysis and design the user interface with the users in a group setting.
Good Display and Web Forms Design
- Keep the display simple - Keep the display presentation consistent - Facilitate user movement among display screens and pages - Create an attractive and pleasing display
Designing Output for Displays
- Keep the display simple - Keep the presentation consistent - Facilitate user movement among displayed output - Create an attractive and pleasing display
Human Purposes for Coding
- Keeps track of something - Classifies information - Conceals information - Reveals information - Requests appropriate action
Choosing a Data Entry Method
- Keyboards - Bar codes - QR (Quick Response) codes - Microsoft tags - RFID - NFC (Near Field Communication) - Optical character recognition - Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) - Mark-sense forms Considerations: - need for speed - accuracy - user training - cost - methods currently in use
Minimal User Action
- Keying codes instead of whole words - Entering data that are not already stored on files - Supplying the editing characters - Using default values for fields on entry screens - Designing an inquiry, change, or delete program so that the user needs to enter only the first few characters of a name or item description
Operations Control
- Make decisions using predetermined rules that have predictable outcomes. - Oversee the operating details of the organization.
Good Form Design
- Make forms easy to fill in - Ensure that forms meet the purpose for which they are designed - Design forms to assure accurate completion - Keep forms attractive
Managerial Planning and Control
- Make short-term planning and control decisions about resources and organizational objectives. - Decisions may be partly operational and partly strategic.
Dashboards
- Make sure the data has context - Display the proper amount of summarization and precision - Choose appropriate performance measures for display - Present data fairly - Choose the correct style of graph or chart for display - Use well-designed display media - Limit the variety of item types - Highlight important data - Arrange the data in meaningful groups - Keep the screen uncluttered - Keep the entire dashboard on a single screen - Allow flexibility
Interface Design Objectives
- Match the user interface to the task - Make the user interface efficient - Provide appropriate feedback to users - Generate usable queries - Improve productivity of computer users
Guidelines for Dialog Design
- Meaningful communication - Minimal user action - Standard operation and consistency
Verbal Symbolism
- Myths - Metaphors - Visions - Humor
Hidden Fields
- Not visible to the viewer - Do not take up any space on the web page - Can only contain a name and value - Used to store values sent from one Web form to the server
Element Length Considerations
- Numeric amount lengths - Name and address fields - Other fields
Object-Oriented Concepts
- Objects - Classes - Inheritance
STROBE Elements
- Office location - Desk placement - Stationary equipment - Props - External information sources - Office lighting and color - Clothing worn by decision makers
Work Breakdown Structure
- Often a project needs to be broken down into smaller tasks or activities - These tasks together make up a work breakdown structure (WBS)
Aristotle
- One of the first philosophers to understand how all systems are related. - "All systems are a part of a larger system and can themselves be broken down into smaller systems." - He believed that it was possible to understand a system only by looking at the whole or the "holistic" view.
Structured Walkthroughs
- One of the strongest quality management actions is to do structured walkthroughs routinely - Use peer reviewers to monitor the system's programming and overall development - Point out problems - Allow the programmer or analyst to make suitable changes
Open-Ended Interview Questions
- Open-ended interview questions allow interviewees to respond how they wish, and to what length they wish - Open-ended interview questions are appropriate when the analyst is interested in breadth and depth of reply
Option Buttons
- Option or radio buttons are used for exclusive choices - Choices are listed to the right of the button, in some sequence - Often they are placed in a rectangle called an option group - If more than six option buttons are used, a list box or drop-down list box should be implemented
Cloud Computing
- Organizations and individual users can use: -- Web services -- Database services -- Application services over the Internet - Done without having to invest in corporate or personal hardware, software, or software tools
Organizational Culture
- Organizations have cultures and subcultures. - Learn from verbal and nonverbal symbolism.
Prototyping
- Patched-up - Nonoperational - First-of-a-series - Selected features
Objects
- Persons, places, or things that are relevant to the system being analyzed - May be customers, items, orders, and so on - May be GUI displays or text areas on a display
Order of Questions
- Place most important questions first - Cluster items of similar content together - Introduce less controversial questions first
Three Sections of a Use Case Scenario (Third Area)
- Preconditions - Post conditions - Assumptions - Outstanding issues - Optional statement of priority - Optional statement of risk
A Variety of Help Options
- Pressing a function key, such as F1 - A GUI pull-down menu - Context-sensitive help - Icon mouse hover help - Wizards - Online help or help lines - Software forums
Qualities of the Systems Analyst
- Problem solver - Communicator - Strong personal and professional ethics - Self-disciplined and self-motivated
Scrum Parts
- Product backlog - Sprint backlog - Sprint - Daily scrum - Demo
Website Page Design
- Provide clear instructions - Demonstrate a logical entry sequence for fill-in forms - Use a variety of text boxes, push buttons, radio buttons, drop-down lists, and other GUI features - Provide a scrolling text box if you are uncertain how much text will be entered - Include two basic buttons: Submit and Clear - If the form is lengthy, divide it into several simpler forms on separate pages - Create a feedback screen that lists error messages if a form has not correctly been filled out
Need for Understanding the Data Dictionary
- Provide documentation - Eliminate redundancy - Validate the data flow diagram - Provide a starting point for developing screens and reports - Determine the contents of data stored in files - To develop the logic for DFD processes - Create XML
Acquisition of Computer Equipment
- Purchasing - Using Cloud Services
Arranging Interview Questions
- Pyramid -- Starting with closed questions and working toward open-ended questions - Funnel -- Starting with open-ended questions and working toward closed questions - Diamond -- Starting with closed, moving toward open-ended, and ending with closed questions
Query Methods
- Query By Example (QBE)—the database fields are selected and displayed in a grid, and requested query values are either entered in the field area or below the field - Structured Query Language (SQL)—uses a series of words and commands to select the rows and columns that should be displayed in the resulting table
Query Types
- Query Type 1 -- What is the value of a specified attribute for a particular entity? - Query Type 2 -- What entity has a specified value for a particular attribute? - Query Type 3 -- What attribute(s) has (have) a specified value for a particular entity? - Query Type 4 -- List all the values for all the attributes for a particular entity - Query Type 5 -- List all entities that have a specified value for all attributes - Query Type 6 -- List all the attributes that have a specified value for all entities
Interview Preparation
- Reading background material - Establishing interview objectives - Deciding whom to interview - Preparing the interviewee - Deciding on question types and structure
Relationships
- Relationships show how the entities are connected - Three types of relationships: -- One-to-one -- One-to-many -- Many-to-many
Developing Use Case Diagrams
- Review the business specifications and identify the actors involved. - May use agile stories. - Identify the high-level events and develop the primary use cases that describe those events and how the actors initiate them. - Review each primary use case to determine the possible variations of flow through the use case. - The context-level data flow diagram could act as a starting point for creating a use case.
Basic Principles of Agile Modeling
- Satisfy the customer through delivery of working software - Embrace change, even if introduced late in development - Continue to deliver functioning software incrementally and frequently - Encourage customers and analysts to work together daily - Trust motivated individuals to get the job done - Promote face-to-face conversation - Concentrate on getting software to work - Encourage continuous, regular, and sustainable development - Adopt agility with attention to mindful design - Support self-organizing teams - Provide rapid feedback - Encourage quality - Review and adjust behavior occasionally - Adopt simplicity
Output Design Objectives
- Serve a specific user or organizational purpose - Meaningful to the user - Deliver the appropriate quantity of output - Make sure the output is where it is needed - Provide output on time - Choosing the most effective output method
Nonverbal Symbolism
- Shared artifacts -- Trophies, etc. - Rites and rituals -- Promotions -- Birthdays, etc. - Clothing worn - Office placement and decorations
Four Core Agile Practices
- Short releases - 40-hour work week - Onsite customer - Pair programming
Activity Diagrams
- Show the sequence of activities in a process, including sequential and parallel activities, and decisions that are made - Symbols -- Rectangle with rounded ends -- Arrow -- Diamond -- Long, flat rectangle -- Filled-in circle -- Black circle surrounded by a white circle -- Swimlanes
Sliders, Spin Buttons, and Image Maps
- Sliders and spin buttons are used to change data that have a continuous range of values - Image map fields are used to select values within an image
Three Main Categories of Cloud Computing
- Software as a Service (SaaS) - Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Process Specifications
- Sometimes called minispecs - Created for primitive processes as well as for some higher level processes on a data flow diagram - Created for class methods in object-oriented design and for the steps in a use case
Ascertaining Software and Hardware Needs
- Steps used to determine hardware and software needs: -- Inventory computer hardware currently available. -- Estimate current and future system workloads. -- Evaluate available hardware and software. -- Choose the vendor. -- Acquire the computer equipment.
Stories
- Stories originate in the workplace. - Organizational stories are used to relay some kind of information. - When a story is told and retold over time it takes on a mythic quality. - Isolated stories are good when you are looking for facts. - Enduring stories capture all aspects of the organization and are the ones a systems analyst should look for.
Scope
- System scope defines its boundaries: -- What is in or outside the system -- Project has a budget that helps to define scope -- Project has a start and an end time - Actors are always outside of scope - Communication lines are the boundaries and define the scope
Economic Feasibility
- Systems analysts' time - Cost of systems study - Cost of employees' time for study - Estimated cost of hardware - Cost of packaged software or software development
When to Use SDLC
- Systems have been developed and documented using SDLC. - It is important to document each step. - Upper level management feels more comfortable or safe using SDLC. - There are adequate resources and time to complete the full SDLC. - Communication of how new systems work is important.
Identifying Benefits and Costs
- Tangible benefits are advantages measurable in dollars through the use of the information system. - Intangible benefits are difficult to measure. - Tangible costs are accurately projected by the systems analyst and accounting personnel. - Intangible costs are difficult to estimate and may not be known.
GUI Controls
- Text boxes - Check boxes - Option or radio buttons - List and drop-down list boxes - Sliders and spin buttons - Image maps - Text area - Message boxes
CRUD Matrix
- The acronym CRUD is often used for -- Create -- Read -- Update -- Delete - These are the activities that must be present in a system for each master file - A CRUD matrix is a tool to represent where each of these processes occurs in a system
Roles of the Systems Analyst
- The analyst must be able to work with people of all descriptions and be experienced in working with computers. - Three primary roles: -- Consultant -- Supporting expert -- Agent of change
Data Flow Approach Basic Rules
- The data flow diagram must have one process - Must not be any freestanding objects - A process must have both an input and output data flow - A data store must be connected to at least one process - External entities should not be connected to one another
Developing Use Case Scenarios
- The description of the use case - Three main areas: -- Use case identifiers and initiators -- Steps performed -- Conditions, assumptions, and questions
Guidelines for Developing a Prototype
- The first step of prototyping is to estimate the costs involved in building a module of the system. - Work in manageable modules - Build the prototype rapidly - Modify the prototype in successive iterations - Stress the user interface
Decision Tree Advantages
- The order of checking conditions and executing actions is immediately noticeable - Conditions and actions of decision trees are found on some branches but not on others - Compared to decision tables, decision trees are more readily understood by others in the organization
When to Use Object-Oriented
- The problems modeled lend themselves to classes. - An organization supports the UML learning. - Systems can be added gradually, one subsystem at a time. - Reuse of previously written software is a possibility. - It is acceptable to tackle the difficult problems first.
Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
- The systems development life cycle is a phased approach to solving business problems - Developed through the use of a specific cycle of analyst and user activities - Each phase has unique user activities
When to Use Agile
- There is a project champion of agile methods in the organization. - Applications need to be developed quickly in response to a dynamic environment. - A rescue takes place (the system failed and there is no time to figure out what went wrong). - The customer is satisfied with incremental improvements. - Executives and analysts agree with the principles of agile methodologies.
Tangible Costs
- Those that can be accurately projected by systems analysts and the business' accounting personnel - Examples: -- Cost of equipment -- Cost of resources -- Cost of systems analysts' time -- Cost of programmers' time -- Employees' salaries
Evaluating Hardware
- Time required for average transactions - Total volume capacity of the system - Idle time of the CPU or network - Size of memory provided
Inventorying Computer Hardware
- Type of equipment - Operation status of the equipment - Estimated age of equipment - Projected life of equipment - Physical location of equipment - Department or person responsible for equipment - Financial arrangement for equipment
Four Steps Used to Create Use Cases
- Use agile stories, problem definition objectives, user requirements, or a features list. - Ask about the tasks that must be done. - Determine if there are any iterative or looping actions. - The use case ends when the customer goal is complete.
Designing a Website
- Use professional tools - Study other sites - Use Web resources - Examine the sites of professional website designers - Use the tools you've learned - Use storyboarding, wireframing, and mockups
Classification Codes
- Used to distinguish one group of data with special characteristics from another - Can consist of either a single letter or a number - A shorthand way of describing a person, place, thing, or event - Listed in manuals or posted so that users can locate them easily
Structured English
- Used when the process logic involves formulas or iteration, or when structured decisions are not complex - Based on structured logic and simple English statements such as add, multiply, and move
List and Drop-Down List Boxes
- Used when there is little room available on the page - If there is a commonly selected choice, it is usually displayed in the drop-down list by default
Swimlanes
- Useful to show how the data must be transmitted or converted - Help to divide up the tasks in a team - Makes the activity diagram one that people want to use to communicate with others
Ajax
- Uses both JavaScript and XML to obtain small amounts of data from a server without leaving the webpage - The user does not have to wait for a new webpage to display after making a selection
Physical Considerations in HCI Design
- Vision - Hearing - Touch
Inheritance
- When a derived class inherits all the attributes and behaviors of the base class - Reduces programming labor by using common objects easily - A feature only found in object-oriented systems - Helps to foster reuse - Helps to maintain existing program code
Halo Effect
- When the impression formed in one question carries into the next question - Solution is to place one trait and several items on each page
Operational Feasibility
- Whether the system will operate when installed - Whether the system will be used
Interview Report
- Write as soon as possible after the interview - Provide an initial summary, then more detail - Review the report with the respondent
Attributes and Qualifications of a Systems Analyst
- Written and oral communications skills - Investigative skills - Evaluation skills - Functional business skills - Organizing and overseeing skills - Technical proficiency - Architectural skills - Interpersonal and political skills
Differences between printed and display output
- display is ephemeral - display can be more specifically targeted to the user - display is available on a more flexible schedule - display is not portable in the same way as printed - display can sometimes be changed through direct interaction - display users need to be instructed on use - access to displays may be controlled through a password
HCI Design: Vision
- length of the distance from the display to the person performing a task. - the angle of the display in relation to the person viewing it. - the size and uniformity of the characters, the brightness, contrast, balance, glare and whether a display is blinking or stable.
Usability Standards
- the use of the product - the user interface and interaction - the process used to develop the product - the capability of an organization to apply user centered design
Usability Heuristics
- visibility of system status - match between the system and the real world - user control and freedom - consistency and standards - error prevention - reconnection rather than recall - flexibility and efficiency of use - aesthetic and minimalist design - help that users recognize - help and documentation
The Testing Process
1. Program testing with test data 2. Link testing with test data 3. Full system testing with test data 4. Full system testing with live data
System
A set of interrelated and interacting elements that work together to accomplish specific purposes.
Decision Tables
A table of rows and columns, separated into four quadrants: - Conditions - Condition alternatives - Actions to be taken - Rules for executing the actions
General Systems Theory
A theory in which everything is viewed as a system consisting of many integrated components.
Available Cloud Services
Available cloud services may include: - Web hosting - Email hosting - Application hosting - Backup - Storage and processing of databases - Archiving - Ecommerce
The Agile Approach
Based on: - Values - Principles - Core practices
Use Case Relations
Behavioral relationships - Communicates -- Used to connect an actor to a use case - Includes -- Describes the situation in which a use case contains behavior that is common to more than one use case - Extends -- Describes the situation in which one use case possesses the behavior that allows the new case to handle a variation or exception from the basic use case - Generalizes -- Implies that one thing is more typical than the other thing
The Systems Proposal: Appendices
Can include any information that may be of interest.
Central Tendency
Central tendency occurs when respondents rate everything as average - Improve by making the differences smaller at the two ends - Adjust the strength of the descriptors - Create a scale with more points
Choosing an A & D Method
Choose either: - SDLC - Agile - Object-oriented methodologies
The Systems Proposal
Cover letter Title page of project Table of contents Executive summary Outline of systems study with appropriate documentation Detailed results of the systems study Systems alternatives Systems analysts recommendations Summary Appendices
The Systems Proposal: Detailed Results of the Systems Study
Describes what was found out about human and systems needs through all the methods described in the detailed results of the systems study.
Information System
Different sets of computer hardware, software, procedures, etc., each with different responsibilities, that are interrelated and interact to meet information needs.
Actor
Divided into two groups - Primary actors: -- Supply data or receive information from the system -- Provide details on what the use case should do - Supporting actors: -- Help to keep the system running or provide help -- The people who run the help desk, the analysts, programmers, and so on
Three Sections of a Use Case Scenario (Second Area)
Includes the steps performed, and the information required for each of the steps.
Defining Objectives
Many possible objectives exist including: - Speeding up a process - Streamlining a process - Combining processes - Reducing errors in input - Reducing redundant storage - Reducing redundant output - Improving system and subsystem integration.
The Systems Proposal: Title Page of Project
Name of the project, the names of the team members, date submitted.
STROBE
Often it is possible to observe the particulars of the surroundings that will confirm or negate the organizational narrative - Also called stories or dialogue - Information that is found through interviews or questionnaires
The Systems Proposal: Executive Summary
Precisely provides the who, what, when , where, why, and how of the proposal.
The Basic Symbols of a Data Flow Diagram
Process—transforms incoming data into outgoing information, the content level has only one process representing the entire system. Entity—entity, a person, group, department, or system that supplies or receives information. Data flows—the lines that connect external entities to the process.
The Systems Proposal: Outline of Systems Study with Appropriate Documentation
Provides information about all the methods used in the study and who or what was studied.
Questionnaires
Questionnaires are useful in gathering information from key organization members about: - Attitudes—what people in the organization say they want. - Beliefs—what people think is actually true. - Behavior—what organizational members do. - Characteristics—properties of people or things.
Question Types
Questions are designed as either: - Open-ended -- Try to anticipate the response you will get -- Well suited for getting opinions - Closed -- Use when all the options may be listed -- When the options are mutually exclusive
Interview Preparation: Reading background material
Read and understand as much background information about the interviewees and their organization as possible. - Corporate website - Current annual report - Corporate news letter - Any publication sent out to explain the organization to the public - Standard & Poor's Trying to build a common vocabulary to phrase interview questions and to maximize the interview time.
Four Agile Resources
Resources are adjusted to ensure successful project completion: - Time - Cost - Quality - Scope
Scrum
Scrum is a high-intensity methodology. It is just one of the approaches that adopts the philosophy of agile modeling. - Begin the project with a high-level plan that can be changed on the fly - Success of the project is most important - Individual success is secondary - Project leader has some (not much) influence on the detail - Systems team works within a strict time frame
Function Codes
Short numeric or alphanumeric codes used to spell out precisely what activities are to be accomplished
The Name of the Element
Should be: - Descriptive - Unique - Based on what the element is commonly called in most programs or by the major user of the element
The Systems Proposal: Cover Letter
Should list the people who did the study and summarize the objectives of the study. Concise and friendly.
Nature of Analysis and Design
Systems analysis and design is a systematic approach to: - Identifying problems, opportunities, and objectives. - Analyzing the information flows in organizations. - Designing computerized information systems to solve a problem.
Systems Design
The creation of the requirements that provide the basis for creating or modifying a system.
Analysis
The decomposition of an item of interest into its constituent parts for investigative purposes.
Cipher Codes
The direct substitution of one letter for another, one number for another, or one letter for a number
Color
The five most legible foreground/background color combinations: - Black on yellow - Green on white - Blue on white - White on blue - Yellow on black
Design
The formulation of the requirements that provide basis for creating or modifying something.
Systems Analysis and Design
The investigation of a system and subsequent design of a replacement system or of modifications to the existing system.
Systems Analysis
The investigation of a system to determine what needs to be done to make it more Efficient and Effective.
Systems Analyst
The person who performs Systems Analysis and Design. - Systems analysts act as: -- Outside consultants to businesses. -- Supporting experts within a business. -- As change agents. - Analysts are problem solvers, and require communication skills. - Analysts must be ethical with users and customers.
The Systems Proposal: Systems Analysts Recommendations
The recommended solution.
The Systems Proposal: Systems Alternatives
Two or three alternatives that directly address the problem.
Three Sections of a Use Case Scenario (First Area)
Use case identifiers and initiators—orients the reader and contains: 1. The use case name and a unique ID 2. The application area or system that this use case belongs to 3. The actors involved in the use case 4. A brief description of what the use case accomplishes 5. The triggering event 6. Type of trigger: - external—those started by an actor - temporal—triggered or started by time 7. May list stakeholders
The Systems Proposal: Table of Contents
Useful to readers of long proposals; omit if less than 10 pages.
Element Length
What should the element length be? - Some elements have standard lengths, state abbreviations, zip codes, or telephone numbers. - For other elements, the length may vary and the analyst and user community must decide the final length.
Interview Preparation: Establishing Interview Objectives
four to six key areas concerning HCI, information processing and decision-making behavior.
Interview Preparation: Deciding Whom to Interview
strive for balance so that as many users' needs are addressed as possible.
Interview Preparation: Deciding on Question Types and Structure
write questions to cover the key areas of decision making that you discovered when you ascertained interview objectives.
