INFS 503 Systems Analysis and Design Fall 2000
Lecturer Dr June Verner
Office Hours: Wed 5-6, and Thursday 5-6 or by appointment. Phone (215) 895 2447, email
Our aim in this course is for you to understand the fundamentals of systems analysis and design and why we have to be systems thinkers to produce good information systems. To facilitate your understanding you will be involved in a major group assignment in which you will use the concepts, methods and techniques discussed in the course. In class and homework exercises will be given to help students with their understanding of systems analysis building blocks.
Text book Systems Analysis and Design Methods, Whitten and Bentley 4th Edition (5th edition)
Course Outline
- Fact finding and information gatheringAppendix B (Chapter 6)
- Introduction to systems analysis and systems analysts Chapters 1 & 2
- Process modeling6 (8)
- Information Systems building blocks2&3
- Process modeling (further) 6 (7)
- Systems analysis4 (5)
- Data modeling5 (7)
- Data modeling5 (7)
- Info systems development 3&4
- Systems implementation, systems support, presentations17,18 (16, 17)
Assessment
1Homework20
2Group assignment-Final completed report due week 10 30
But see later for interim hand ins.
3Examination 40
4Attendance and class participation10
You can expect deductions for late assignments.
You must make sure that your work has been received. If your work is not returned with the rest of the class’ assignments you should check with me or your tutor regarding its receipt. I have found that some assignments apparently disappear into thin air. You should expect to receive your marked work in you folder on level one no more than 2 weeks after it was due. If it is not returned enquire. When you hand in your work avoid putting it into bulky folders; for most, a staple in the corner should be sufficient. However, you may want to put your group project into a more substantial folder. Marks will be deducted for work that is poorly presented.
When you hand in your group project make sure that you also hand in an assessment of the percentage contribution that you made to the project and the estimated contribution made by each of the other group members.
Homework
#DUE WEEK
12Problem outline and unresolved questions
25Interim report (not part of the assessment but a check to see that you are on the right track)
36Data flow diagramming
48Data modeling
INFO 530 Systems analysis and design fall 2000
Group project
I do not believe that you properly understand the tools and techniques used in this course unless you apply them to a project. Accordingly I want you to work in groups of 4 to produce a report, based on your requirements analysis of the following:
Both your uncle and father are retired. As a hobby they have both always been interested in woodworking. Since their retirement they have turned their hobby into a business and have been supplying a number of craft shops in the area with wooden articles such as:
salad bowls
salad servers
flat platters and plates
trays and wooden stands
butter knives, serving utensils, kitchen utensils etc
They make all of the above in a number of sizes, styles and woods.
The business has been going well and is successful far beyond their expectations.. However recently your father has been contacted by a largish kitchen chain and has been asked to supply them with some salad bowls. They have ordered 250 all up of salad bowls. If these sell well there will be more orders forthcoming. Both men realize that the way they are running their business now is not suitable if they are to have this kind of expansion.
You have been contacted to advise them about how to computerize their business systems including orders, inventory, suppliers (this is where they buy the wood from), shipping and anything else that you consider is important if they are to both expand the business and keep control over their situation. They don’t want to become too big as they still want to make sure that they deliver quality, hand made goods.
Your report to your clients should consist of the following:
- Statement of the problem.
- This should be followed by an outline of the functions that your new system will cover for the client.
You should explicitly state what the system will do and how it will help the clients in their business dealings. You should include a discussion of what functions will be computerized and which functions will be manual.
3Include a section which describes feasibility of the alternate solutions you considered and a justification for the solution you ultimately chose. A cost benefit analysis is also required. A discussion of the hardware you recommend and a cost benefit analysis would be useful here as well.
Anything else you feel you need to include to describe your system, the choices you made etc.
An appendix should be included. This should contain a context diagram of your solution plus data flow diagrams that document your solution in sufficient detail for someone to actually design and implement the system. You will also need to include an entity relationship diagram that shows all the data elements required in the system database; this will show the appropriate keys for each of the entities.
Homework for the first week is to find out what you can about wooden utensils. The WWW could be helpful here and to develop a list of questions that you need to ask the client in an interview. You may however ask me these questions in discussions in week 2 of the class. When you get to know each other better we will form the groups so do this first homework on your own. Homework to be handed in week 2 in class.