MAN5902 Business Systems Analysis and Design
Assessment 1: Report
Value: | 30% |
Format: | Microsoft Word document (No PDF permitted) 3000 words excluding title page, contents page and references 12‐point font, single spacing. |
Instructions: | 1‐ You are required to submit two drafts. 2‐ Drafts will not be marked, but it should reflect your progress toward this assessment. 3‐ Failing to submit drafts may affect assessment mark. 4‐ You are required to submit both parts: Part I and Part 2. 5- Failing to submit any of assessment parts can result to ‘zero’ mark. |
BACKGROUND
Systems analysis and design aims to identify the requirements for business to provide IS solutions that fit the business environment and address the identified requirements. Thus, systems analysis and design comprises sequential, iterative, or agile processes and activities of linking analysis and design phases in IS development endeavours.
Systems analysis and design approaches follow the currently dominant logic of business where requirements are analysed based on business environment’s dominant logic and how business ought to perform.
However, recent market research studies have given the rise of new approaches and techniques of systems analysis and design where the value of systems is determined by customers enforcing businesses to be more customer-centric. The new approach is called Service- dominant logic (S-D). Service in S-D logic is defined as applying specialized competencies, including knowledge and skills, through deeds, processes and performance to benefit either the actor or another. S-D logic is applied in identifying systems requirements for creating a service oriented systems that the customers expect.
PART 1: Report
For this assessment you will have to prepare a report that critically discusses the impact of the new systems analysis and design approach on requirements analysis.
Some aspects you may discuss in your report could include (but not limited to):
Kindly note the following:
MAN5902 BUSINESS SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
Part 1: Report
Introduction:
System analysis and design help understand the requirement for the organisation in offering solutions that can meet customer’s need and fit the business environment. However, for the system analysis and design, recent market research studies have developed different new techniques and approaches where the system values are determined by customers enforcing business to make it customer-centric. This new approach is called a service-dominant logic. S-D logic is the perspectives that introduce a new way to articulate and synthesise an alternative value creation through the exchange. S-D logic is applicable in identifying system requirements to develop a service-oriented system that a customer expects. Thus, for satisfying the need of the customers, S-D logic is important because it initiates requirement gathering from customers. This report discusses the impact of the new system analysis and design approach (S-D logic) on the requirement analysis.
Main body:
1) Recommended practice, methodologies or activities of system analysis and design:
Methodology:
The SAD (system analysis and design) methodology includes the process of system development and the ongoing maintenance process. The waterfall model is the classic SAD methodology. The waterfall model was conceived for the software development process which focuses on programming. The key phases of the waterfall model are the analysis and design phases. Though, it is obvious that there will be an operational and implementation phase. The analysis phase is associated to understand the need of users, whereas, the focus of the design phase is associated to design the physical aspects of a system for supporting the need of the organisation.
The reason behind failing of different project is the implementation of the system pursue without developing a clear understanding of the system in the first place which can be identified with the help of customers. S-D logic is the concept that needs to be followed here so that system requirement can be identified to develop a service-oriented system as per the expectation of the customers (Vargo, Lusch & Koskela-Huotari, 2018). This concept helps analyse how value will be created from a system (Sugiandi & Kerlooza, 2018). This concept is equivalent to purchase a new home by discussing the required style and size of the structure with the customers. Many IT projects are initiated by buying hardware and software without considering the need of the customers that can create a complete failure if customers do not like the system (Finnerty & Lacheca, 2020). Due to this reason, by considering S-D logic, system analyst must involve customers in the system analysis and development to describe how a system will generate value. In this regard, the system advocate must collect information from customers and develops a system that is recommended by the customers (Sugiandi & Kerlooza, 2018). There are many ways in developing an IT system like there are many ways for the development of SAD methodology. For example, extreme programming techniques or spiral methodology can also be considered in the place of the waterfall model. In the spiral model, steps are iterates so many times by including along with additional items. This model is built on the waterfall model but unlike the waterfall model; it is effective for a big software project. The spiral model is not effective for a small software project. On the other hand, the extreme programming technique is the agile development methodology that is utilised for a medium and small software project. Extreme programming is associated to streamline the development process but it does not eliminate the essential steps of analysis, planning and design.
Practices:
In the system analysis phase, information about the exact need is gathered, analysed and validated. After that, requirements are defined and then the prototypes for the new system are generated. After that, different alternatives are evaluated to identify the best alternatives and then requirements are prioritised. After that, the information needs of the end-users are examined and then system goals are enhanced as per the requirements (Sugiandi & Kerlooza, 2018). Thus, system analysis focuses on which system is needed by analysing information from a viable source like the customers. Before, analysing the above-mentioned factors, a feasibility study is necessary where understanding technical, economic and operational feasibility must be assessed (Haki et al. 2019). In this step, identifying the constraint about system performance is highly important. Thus, the activities that must be associated with the system analysis are gathering information from different valid sources and customers, defining the requirements for a new system, building prototypes for the system, prioritising the requirements, evaluating different alternatives along meeting with management for discussing new options. In that case, organisations or enterprises can analyse information from the sources by utilising customer experience management solution (by involving S-D logic) along with big data management solution for transforming those data into actionable insights.
System design mainly includes the design of the application, database, network, user interface and system interface. After that, the SRS documents must be transformed into the logical structure that contained a complete as well as detailed specification set that is implemented in the programming language. According to Haris, Kurniawan & Ramdani (2020), the SRS document refers to the document that is associated to describe what software can do and how it can be performed. SRS document also describes how product-related need can fulfil the need of the stakeholders. System design is also involved in developing a contingency, maintenance, and training and operation plan. In the system design step, the logical and physical data model is necessary. The logical data model helps evaluate the contextual data model towards the technology of data management such as relational databases. On the other hand, the physical data model can be referred to as the representation of the data design which considers the facilities and constraints of a particular database management system (Haki et al. 2019). The physical data model helps represent how the model can be a built-in database, which is one of the important parts of system design. This phase must include the configuration or design of the network (operating system, hardware, programming and so on), system interfaces (for communicating with other systems), and user interfaces (forms, reports and so on) along with the security issues. The requirements for developing these interfaces must be collected from the customers so that the proposed system can effectively satisfy the need of customers. For measuring the effectiveness of the design, the proposed design must be tested to ensure that it meets the requirements outlined in the analysis phase with the help of S-D logic.
2) Proper identification of stakeholders and roles:
The term stakeholder refers to the people and the group of people who are affected by the software development project. Stakeholders of software development project belonging to both the inside and outside organisation. According to Hujainah et al. (2018), neglecting stakeholder in system analysis and design can be a risky proposition. The main aim of the analysis step understands the requirements. Avoiding the stakeholder’s identification can create an incomplete list of requirements. A human-made system is mainly supported by human roles with different agendas along with objectives that contribute to overall performance as well as longevity of the system throughout the life cycle. Different stakeholders associated with system analysis and design is shown below:
System advocate or proponent:
System advocate refers to the individual, enterprise or organisation that offers information about the cause, reason and mission of the system for existence. They are involved in deriving intangible as well as tangible benefits of their support regarding the system (Hans & Mnkandla, 2019). For SD logic, system advocates are involved in understanding the need of customers from a system so that they can satisfy customer’s need.
System shareholders:
System shareholders are the individual, enterprise or organisation that directly or indirectly own the equity shares associated with the system (Hujainah et al. 2018). Here the system shareholders will invest the money to make an effective service-oriented system.
System owner:
An individual, enterprise or organisation that is administratively as well as legally accountable and responsible for the system along with its operation, development, by-products, products, disposal and operation is called the system owner.
System architect:
System architect refers to the enterprise, individual and organisation that conceptualise, visualise as well as formulate a system, mission, system concepts, objectives and goals. The role of system architect manifests itself via software architect, hardware architect, and instructional architect and so on.
System users:
System users are the organisation or individual that achieves direct benefits from a system or the products, by-products or services. Users are involved in physically operating a system or providing inputs like materials, data, raw materials or pre-processed materials and so on for getting the intended outcome (Hans & Mnkandla, 2019). System users might directly include the system owner, system advocate or other users. In the case of service-dominant logic (SD-logic), customers are the system users who will ultimately use the system.
System acquirer:
System acquirer refers to the agency or agent that are selected by the user for serving as the technical representatives for specifying the system, selecting system developer, providing assistance regarding technology and offering contractual oversight about the execution of the contract.
System developer:
System developer refers to the enterprise or individual those are responsible to develop verified system solution based on operational capabilities and performance specified as well as bounded in system performance specification.
System analyst:
A system analyst is a person who applies the analysis as well as design techniques for resolving a business problem with the help of information technology (Hans & Mnkandla, 2019).
Production engineers:
Production engineers are involved in designing, deploying as well as managing software and hardware environment in which the system will be tested, built and run.
System support:
System support is the enterprise or individual that are responsible to support the system, its performance or capabilities at the sustainment level so that it can ensure the achievement of the objective as well as the mission of the system.
3) Importance of user involvement and participation in system analysis and design:
In the case of SD logic, customers are considered as the operant resources that can act with other resources. They are the collaborative partner who helps in creating value for the firm. In SD logic contexts, customers have become active participants in the work of an organisation. According to Festa, Cuomo & Metallo (2019), in SD logic, constructive participation of customers is necessary for creating service and delivering the service to the actual users which are customers themselves. For the system analysis phase, gathering the entire requirement of the system is necessary. In this phase, getting information from the customer is necessary so that their opinion can be collected for designing the system. Customers need to be involved here for capturing as well as analysing the requirements (Chester Goduscheit & Faullant, 2018). In this case, system advocates must communicate with the users or customers to agree on the requirements. For analysing the requirements, utilising the standard tools is necessary so that baseline of the requirements can be understood. Once the customers concur with the system related requirements, the baseline needs to be generated (Festa, Cuomo & Metallo, 2019). Thus, here the customers are the formal requirement sources. As SD logic has been applied to create value by understanding the system requirements, thus user participation in the system analysis and design is important.
The idea surrounding the S-D logic is different from the traditional approaches based on goods-dominant logic. This is because, in the S-D logic, the value-creating process involves the customers in value co-creation. Thus, this approach highlights the relationship among customers and suppliers through dialogue as well as interactions. For analysis and design of the system, suppliers must closely interact with the customers so that the need of the customers can be understood and the system can be developed as per the customer's need (Chester Goduscheit & Faullant, 2018). As different customers wanted to develop different types of a system based on their business needs so the participation and involvement of the customers are necessary. Therefore, for addressing customer's need and achieving competitive advantage through innovation, a better understanding of how customers can be integrated and experienced service-related resources is important. However, various factors can involve the customers in the co-production processes like the expertise of customers on computer-based skills, economic benefits, experiential benefits and time. Moreover, when customers want more control over system design and analysis then they participate in the co-creation. User involvement or participation is not only important to understand the requirement regarding the system but it is also necessary to understand the budget requirements. Every customer has some fixed budget to develop a system that can be understood with the help of user involvement. If a supplier (system analyst of a company) become unsuccessful in understanding the budget to design the system then overhead costs can be increased which negatively affect the growth of an organisation.
4) Role of system analyst:
System analyst refers to the business technology analyst who is an IT (information technology) specialists who are specialised to design, analyse as well as an implement information system (IS). They are involved in assessing the suitability of IS by developing communication with the end-users, programmers or software vendors for achieving the outcomes. Although they are familiar with the different operating systems, programming languages as well as platform of computer hardware they do not involve them in developing hardware or software. They are responsible to develop design consideration, cost analysis along implementation timelines (Singh & Khushi, 2021). By receiving information from the customers through SD logic, system analyst must decide and develop system requirements. Therefore, the role of system analyst encompasses both the technological and business domain. System analyst also works as the change agent, thus, the work of analyst not only needed technological knowledge but also interpersonal as well as business skills (La Bella, 2017). Different interpersonal skills that are needed by a system analyst are vision as well as foresightedness, communication, sound temperament, selling, rationality as well as patience, presentation skills, leadership quality, problem-solving skills and so on (Singh & Khushi, 2021). Along with that, a system analyst also needed different management skills like employee management skill, team management skill, organising skill, time management skills, negotiation skills and project management skills.
A system analyst is confined to the given or assigned system and they often work with the business analyst of the organisation. Though, the role of system analyst and business analyst overlap but it is not the same. A business analyst is associated to evaluate the business need as well as identify the proper solution to address the need. Business analysts are also involved in designing a solution without considering the technical components (Singh & Khushi, 2021). For technological needs, business analysts are working with the system analyst. A system analyst is associated to modify as well as evaluate code and review scripting.
The role of a system analyst mainly includes:
5) Identification of user requirements as the success factor to develop system:
For building a successful IS, satisfying the need of the customers is highly important. For this purpose, it is necessary for identifying the user requirement by involving the users in the analysis phase. According to Davey & Saunders (2019), user requirement is a typically written document that is developed during discussing the use case for projects. It is more understandable, readable and offers a better sense of how the system can be operated. Even though the requirements lack specific information on what needs to occur in the system but it is highly valuable as it helps the system analyst in identifying the functional expectations of the users.
The user requirement is done with the help of product managers and customers that know how the embedded system will be used by the users. User requirements are deal with how a user will interact with the system and what and the user expects from a system (Ricci et al. 2020). If there are several human-machine interface or screen then the user requirement must be based on the consequences when the user selects an action on that screen. There may be a button press that not only start a new process but also switches to another screen with an audible notification. Thus, for developing an effective system according to the customers need, writing the user requirement by developing collaboration with the user is highly important.
Conclusions:
SAD requires the contribution of the different developmental team that also includes the system analyst who analyses how the users will interact with the business function and technology by examining the processing as well as inputting of data and outputting of the information to improve the organisational process. Many improvements are needed here to offer better support to the users so that a system analyst plays a role as the consultant, change agent along supportive expert. For developing a better system as per the user requirements, it is important in involving S-D logic as it develops a system according to the customer's expectation. Thus, it can be said that for satisfying need, collecting information about user expectation is necessary.
Part 2: Scripts:
1) Different parts of the report:
1st slide:
The first part of the report offers a better recommendation about the practices and methodology of system analysis and design (SAD). System analysis and system design are the two most important phase of the software development life cycle. The system analysis phase associated to identify the customer's need and the system design phase is involved in designing the physical aspect of the system. For understanding the need of users, applying S-D logic is necessary that mainly demonstrates how value can be generated. The system analyst must consult with the customers to understand their requirements and expectation so that an effective design of the system can be offered to them in satisfying their needs effectively.
2nd slide:
The second part of the report includes stakeholders involved in the SAD. The main stakeholders of SAD as per S-D logic are the system analyst and the system users. System analyst analyzes the system requirements that are collected from the system users so that a better design can be developed. System advocate is important stakeholders who are involved in collecting information from different source or users. System shareholders are the users who invest their money in developing system. Along with that, system support, production engineers, system developer, system acquirer and so on.
The third part is involved in identifying the importance of user involvements. S-D logic helps in understanding the system's value. According to the S-D logic concept, the requirement for the system needs to be collected by developing collaboration with customers because it can help the customers in understanding the value of the system. Only a customer can demonstrate their exact requirements, thus for successfully developing the system as per customer's need, active participation of customer is necessary.
3rd slide:
The fourth part of the report mainly includes the role of a system analyst. A system analyst is a person who is specialized in data analysis, design and implements a system. A system analyst is one of the main stakeholders who is involved in identifying technical requirements, planning the system, developing interaction with the users to collect and analyze data. They are also involved in developing collaboration with other stakeholders so that an effective system can be developed. They also act as the change agent of a system that continuously collaborates with users and updates the system requirement documents.
The fifth part is intended to identify the effectiveness of user requirements. User requirement refers to the written documents that are developed by discussing the use cases. As the entire system is dependent on the user requirement, thus, collecting effective information from the user is necessary.
2) Outcome of the report and suggest guidelines as well as recommendation to the business analyst in meeting customers need:
4th slide:
Report outcome:
S-D logic helps identify the system requirements effectively so that a service-oriented system can be developed. According to the concept, involving the users in the system analysis process is necessary because it helps in collecting customer's expectation from a system. According to S-D logic, the most important stakeholders of a system are the users, system advocates along system analyst. This is because; system advocates and the analyst collect information from the system users regarding their expectation so that system can be developed according to their needs. In the system analysis and design, system analyst plays an important role. They are not only involved in analyzing the business requirements and plan the entire system but they are also involved in acting as the change agent as per the requirement of the users.
5th slide:
Recommendation for the business analyst:
For understanding the need and expectation of the customers, the business analyst must encourage feedback from the customers. The business analyst must develop regular communication with the customers so that the customers might know what he or she can get from a project. After collecting information from the customers, business analysts must determine the relevance of the information so that the entire system can be developed based on it. The business analyst must provide information, eliminate obstacles, and answer questions with the development team so that the expectation of the stakeholders can be satisfied with efficiencies. The business analyst must act as the bridge between the business users and business developers so that it can reduce the chances of any kind of project delays. The business analyst must work actively so that any kind of miscommunication cannot be raised in the system.
6th slide:
Guidelines for the business analyst:
The business analyst must develop and maintain an effective relationship with the customers. The business analyst must listen to the idea behind the entire business project so that it can increase the success of the business. The business analyst must speak in a language that the customers can understand effectively. The business analyst must communicate with both the IT staff and the customers so that the IT staff can develop and design a system according to the need of customers. For developing the IS project effectively, a business system analyst must conduct a regular meeting with the developer team to satisfy customer's expectation from the system.
3) Approach to write the report:
7th slide:
For this report, the mainly peer-review journal has been considered. The researchers have identified different relevant peer-reviewed journal, websites along with some important books so that data can be collected from these sources. The researcher has conducted good research on Google with the help of some important keywords so that the relevant result can be retrieved from it. After getting the information from the search engine, the data has been collected and analysed effectively so that the report can be prepared. The researcher has collected 13 academic journal articles for this research.
8th slide:
Conclusions:
From the presentation, it can be concluded that business analyst plays an important role in understanding the need of the customers and then demonstrate the requirement with the development team so that a better system can be developed for the customers. It can be also concluded from the discussion that for developing a good report, conducting better research is necessary.
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Pages: 4
Words: 890