System Analysis and Design (SAD)

Introduction to System Analysis and Design (SAD)

System are created to solve Problems. One can think of the systemsapproch as an organised ay of
dealing ith a problem. In thi s dynami c orld! the sub"ect system analysis and design! mainly deals ith the softare
development activities.
#his post include$%
&hat is System'
&hat are diffrent Phases of System Development (ife )ycle'
&hat are the component of system analysis'
&hat are the component of system designing'
&hat is System'
A collection of components that ork together to reali*e some ob"ectives
forms a system. +asically there are three ma"or components in
every system! namely input! processing and output.
In a system the different components are connected ith each other and they are interdependent.
,or e-ample! human body represents a complete natural system. &e are also bound by many national
systems such as political system! economic system! educational system
and so forth. #he ob"ective of the system demands that some output is produced as a result of processing
the suitable inputs. A ell%designed system also includes an additional element referred to as .control/ that
provides a feedback to achieve desired ob"ectives
of the system.
SYSTEM LIFE CYCLE
System life cycle is an organi*ational process of developing and maintaining systems. It helps in
establishing a system pro"ect plan! because it gives overall list of processes and sub%processes re0uired
for developing a system.
System development life cycle means combination of various activities. In other ords e can say that
various activities put together are referred as system development life cycle. In the System Analysis and
Design terminology! the system development life cycle also means softare development life cycle.
,olloing are the different phases of system development life cycle$
Preliminary Study
,easibility study
Detailed system study
System analysis
System design
)oding
#esting
Implementation
1aintenance
#he different phases of system development life cycle is shon in this diagram
Phases of System Development (ife )ycle
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(et us no describe the different phases and related activities of system development life cycle.
(a) Preliminary System Study
Preliminary system study is the first stage of system development life cycle. #his is a brief investigation of
the system under consideration and gives a clear picture of hat actually the physical system is' In
practice! the initial system study involves the preparation of a
.System Proposal/ hich lists the Problem Definition! Ob"ectives of the Study! #erms of reference for
Study! )onstraints! 3-pected benefits of the ne system! etc. in the light of the user re0uirements.
#he system proposal is prepared by the System Analyst (ho studiesthe system) and places it before the
user management. #he management may accept the proposal and the cycle proceeds to the ne-t stage.
#he management may also re"ect the proposal or re0uest some modifications in the proposal. In
summary! e ould say that system study phase passes through the folloing steps$
Problem identification and pro"ect initiation
+ackground analysis
Inference or findings (system proposal)
(b) Feasibility Study
In case the system proposal is acceptable to the management! the ne-t phase is to e-amine the feasibility
of the system. #he feasibility study is basically the test of the proposed system in the light of its
orkability! meeting user/s re0uirements! effective use of resources and of course! the cost effectiveness.
#hese are categori*ed as technical! operational! economic and schedule feasibility. #he main goal of
feasibility study is not to solve the problem but to achieve the scope. In the process of feasibility study! the
cost and benefits are estimated ith greater accuracy to find the 7eturn on Investment (7OI). #his also
defines the resources needed to complete the detailed investigation. #he result is a feasibility report
submitted to the management. #his may be accepted or accepted ith modifications or re"ected. #he
system cycle proceeds only if the management accepts it.
(c) Detailed System Study
#he detailed investigation of the system is carried out in accordance ith the ob"ectives of the proposed
system. #his involves detailed study of various operations performed by a system and their relationships
ithin and outside the system. During this process! data
are collected on the available files! decision points and transactions handled by the present system.
Intervies! on%site observation and 0uestionnaire are the tools used for detailed system study. 8sing the
folloing steps it becomes easy to dra the e-act boundary of the ne system under consideration$
9eeping in vie the problems and ne re0uirements
&orkout the pros and cons including ne areas of the system
All the data and the findings must be documented in the form of detailed data flo diagrams (D,Ds)! data
dictionary! logical data structures and miniature specification. #he main points to be discussed in this
stage are$
Specification of hat the ne system is to accomplish based on the user re0uirements.
,unctional hierarchy shoing the functions to be performed by the ne system and their
relationship ith each other.
,unctional netork! hich are similar to function hierarchy but they highlight the functions hich
are common to more than one procedure.
(ist of attributes of the entities : these are the data items hich need to be held about each entity
(record)
(d) System Analysis
Systems analysis is a process of collecting factual data! understand the processes involved! identifying
problems and recommending feasible suggestions for improving the system functioning. #his involves
studying the business processes! gathering operational data! understand the information flo! finding out
bottlenecks and evolving solutions for overcoming the eaknesses of the system so as to achieve the
organi*ational goals. System Analysis also includes subdividing of comple- process involving the entire
system! identification
of data store and manual processes.
#he ma"or ob"ectives of systems analysis are to find ansers for each business process$ &hat is being
done! 2o is it being done! &ho is doing it! &hen is he doing it! &hy is it being done and 2o can it be
improved' It is more of a thinking process and involves the creative skills of the System Analyst. It
attempts to give birth to a ne efficient system that satisfies the current needs of the user and has scope
for future groth ithin the organi*ational constraints. #he
result of this process is a logical system design. Systems analysis is an iterative process that continues
until a preferred and acceptable solution emerges.
(e) System Design
+ased on the user re0uirements and the detailed analysis of the e-isting system! the ne system must be
designed. #his is the phase of system designing. It is the most crucial phase in the developments of a
system. #he logical system design arrived at as a result of systems analysis is converted into physical
system design. 6ormally! the design proceeds in to stages$
Preliminary or General Design$ In the preliminary or general design! the features of the ne
system are specified. #he costs of implementing these features and the benefits to be derived are
estimated. If the pro"ect is still considered to be feasible! e move to the detailed design stage.
Structured or Detailed Design$ In the detailed design stage! computer oriented ork begins in
earnest. At this stage! the design of the system becomes more structured. Structure design is a blue print
of a computer system solution to a given problem having the same components and inter%relationships
among the same components as the original problem. Input! output! databases! forms! codification
schemes and processing specifications are dran up in detail.
In the design stage! the programming language and the hardare and softare platform in hich the ne
system ill run are also decided. #here are several tools and techni0ues used for describing the system
design of the system. #hese tools and techni0ues are$
,lochart
Data flo diagram (D,D)
Data dictionary
Structured 3nglish
Decision table
Decision tree
3ach of the above tools for designing ill be discussed in detailed in the ne-t lesson.
#he system design involves$
i. Defining precisely the re0uired system output
ii. Determining the data re0uirement for producing the output
iii. Determining the medium and format of files and databases
iv. Devising processing methods and use of softare to produce output
v. Determine the methods of data capture and data input
vi. Designing Input forms
vii. Designing )odification Schemes
viii. Detailed manual procedures
i-. Documenting the Design
(f) Coding
#he system design needs to be implemented to make it a orkable system. #his demands the coding of
design into computer understandable language! i.e.! programming language. #his is also called the
programming phase in hich the programmer converts the program specifications into computer
instructions! hich e refer to as programs. It is an important stage here the defined procedures are
transformed into control specifications by the help of a computer language. #he programs coordinate the
data movements and control the entire process in a system. It is generally felt that the programs must be
modular in nature. #his helps in fast development! maintenance and future changes! if re0uired.
(g) Testing
+efore actually implementing the ne system into operation! a test run of the system is done for removing
the bugs! if any. It is an important phase of a successful system. After codifying the hole programs of the
system! a test plan should be developed and run on a given set of test data. #he output of the test run
should match the e-pected results. Sometimes! system testing is considered a part of implementation
process.
8sing the test data folloing test run are carried out$
Program test$ &hen the programs have been coded! compiled and brought to orking conditions!
they must be individually tested ith the prepared test data. Any undesirable happening must be noted
and debugged (error corrections)
System #est$ After carrying out the program test for each of the programs of the system and
errors removed! then system test is done. At this stage the test is done on actual data. #he complete
system is e-ecuted on the actual data. At each stage of the e-ecution! the results or output of the system
is analysed. During the result analysis! it may be found that the outputs are not matching the e-pected
output of the system. In such case! the errors in the particular programs are identified and are fi-ed and
further tested for the e-pected output. &hen it is ensured that the system is running error%free! the users
are called ith their on actual data so that the system could be shon running as per their re0uirements.
(h) Implementation
After having the user acceptance of the ne system developed! the implementation phase begins.
Implementation is the stage of a pro"ect during hich theory is turned into practice. #he ma"or steps
involved in this phase are$
Ac0uisition and Installation of 2ardare and Softare
)onversion
8ser #raining
Documentation
#he hardare and the relevant softare re0uired for running the system must be made fully operational
before implementation. #he conversion is also one of the most critical and e-pensive activities in the
system development life cycle. #he data from the old system needs to be converted to operate in the ne
format of the ne system. #he database needs to be setup ith security and recovery procedures fully
defined.
During this phase! all the programs of the system are loaded onto the user/s computer. After loading the
system! training of the user starts. 1ain topics of such type of training are$
2o to e-ecute the package
2o to enter the data
2o to process the data (processing details)
2o to take out the reports
After the users are trained about the computeri*ed system! orking has to shift from manual to
computeri*ed orking. #he process is called .)hangeover/. #he folloing strategies are folloed for
changeover of the system.
(i) Direct )hangeover$ #his is the complete replacement of the old system by the ne system. It is a risky
approach and re0uires comprehensive system testing and training.
(ii) Parallel run$ In parallel run both the systems! i.e.! computeri*ed and manual! are e-ecuted
simultaneously for certain defined period. #he same data is processed by both the systems. #his
strategy is less risky but more e-pensive because of the folloing$
1anual results can be compared ith the results of the computeri*ed system.
#he operational ork is doubled.
,ailure of the computeri*ed system at the early stage does not affect the orking of the
organi*ation! because the manual system continues to ork! as it used to do.
(iii) Pilot run$ In this type of run! the ne system is run ith the data from one or more of the previous
periods for the hole or part of the system. #he results are compared ith the old
system results. It is less e-pensive and risky than parallel run approach. #his strategy builds the
confidence and the errors are traced easily ithout affecting the operations. #he documentation of the
system is also one of the most important activity in the system development life cycle. #his ensures the
continuity of the system. #here are generally to types of documentation prepared for any system. #hese
are$
8ser or Operator Documentation
System Documentation
#he user documentation is a complete description of the system from the users point of vie detailing
ho to use or operate the system. It also includes the ma"or error messages likely to be encountered by
the users. #he system documentation contains the details of system design! programs! their coding!
system flo! data dictionary! process description! etc. #his helps to understand the system and permit
changes to be made in the e-isting system to satisfy ne user needs.
(i) 1aintenance
1aintenance is necessary to eliminate errors in the system during its orking life and to tune the system
to any variations in its orking environments. It has been seen that there are alays some errors found in
the systems that must be noted and corrected. It also means the revie of the system from time to time.
#he revie of the system is done for$
knoing the full capabilities of the system
knoing the re0uired changes or the additional re0uirements
studying the performance.
If a ma"or change to a system is needed! a ne pro"ect may have to be set up to carry out the change.
#he ne pro"ect ill then proceed through all the above life cycle phases.