CP2236: Information Systems Design

Information Systems Development (ISD)

Systems Development Life Cycle Overview of Analysis Phase Overview of Design Phase

Information Systems Development (ISD)

A logical series of development phases followed in an organisation to conduct all the steps necessary to analyse, design, implement & maintain information systems. These logical series of development phases - known as System Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Scope & objectives Feasibility Analysis Design Waterfall Model Implement Proven approach Maintain Lacks flexibility Review Time lag Ensures points of review Time

Alternative Approaches (1)

Waterfall SDLC with iterations:
Scope & objectives

Feasibility

Analysis
Design Implement Maintain Review
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Alternative Approaches (2)

Beer mat and hack. Prototyping / Rapid Application Development.
Uses a different SDLC System developed in smaller units Iterative Analysis Less time lag User participation Review Design Code
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Alternative Approaches (4)

Spiral model includes best features of both the classic Waterfall SDLC and the Prototyping approach.
Planning

Risk Analysis

Evaluation

Development

Alternative Approaches (5)

Each spiral consists of four main activities:

Planning: setting project objectives; defining alternatives; further planning on the next spiral; etc.
Risk Analysis: analysis of alternatives & the identification & solution of risks. Development: designing, coding and testing etc. in increments. Evaluation: user evaluation of each spiral and then the final product.

SDLC Stages and Deliverables (1)

Scope & Objectives
Terms of Reference

Feasibility

Feasibility Report

Analysis Design

Requirement specification, Physical & Logical models

Logical models of required system, physical design and detailed design documentation
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SDLC Stages and Deliverables (2) Implementation: Code, Test & Install
Code - program documentation Test - Test plans from unit to system & acceptance testing Install - system changeover, installation of hw/sw, user & system documentation and training

Maintain Review

Maintenance procedures
Evaluation report
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Analysis - Overview (1)

Scope & Objectives Feasibility PRL RC current systems DFDs LDS I/Os Process desc.
Requirements Specification of req.System10

Analysis
Time

Design Implement Maintain Review

Analysis - Overview (2)

PHYSICAL ANALYSIS
Problem Requirements List Current Physical DFDs
Logicalisation

(Requirements Catalogue)
Current System LDS

Data Store Entity Cross Reference

Current Logical DFDs

LOGICAL ANALYSIS

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Analysis - Overview (3)

Analysis - gathering & documentation of information about the current system & the required system.

To achieve this - a number of techniques are used. Problem Requirement List feeds into Requirements Catalogue: contain information about current

problems & future requirements (logical: functional & physical: non-functional)

Data Flow Diagrams (Processing): contain

information about the processing, inputs and outputs and data stores to be accessed.

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Analysis - Overview (4)

Logical Data Structures (Data): contain information about the groups of data (entities) and their relationships. Input\Output Descriptions: contain information about data that flows into and out of the system. Process Descriptions: contain information about how the processes actually work & these can be specified using various techniques (e.g. Structured English, Decision Tables & Decision Trees).
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Analysis - Physical & Logical

Physical analysis includes all physical aspects
e.g. Filing cabinets, Locations, (Who, When, Where, etc).

Physical analysis become logical when all the physical aspects are removed by logicalisation.
Therefore there are 2 versions of the DFDs current physical and current logical.

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Analysis - Data & Processing

DFDs model information about the processing in the current system. LDS models information about the data in the current system. Data & Processing are two separate but essential components of an Information System.
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Analysis - Techniques
The techniques used to perform analysis are taken from Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology (SSADM). There are other techniques and ways of combining them in order to perform analysis.

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Design - Overview (1)

Scope & Objectives

Feasibility Analysis

Design
Time Implement Maintain Review

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Design - Overview (2)

PRL RC current systems DFDs LDS I/Os Process desc. Requirements Specification of req. System

Design
System Specification of req. System

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Design - Overview (3)

Design
Required Logical Design

Required Physical Design

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Design - Overview (4)

Logical Design: gives a detailed logical definition of the required system.

Physical Design: takes the products of the logical design and produces specifications for the target hardware and software.

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Design - Overview (5)

Logical Design:
No reference made to any technical environment. Capable of implementation on a variety of platforms. Act as a model of how the system will satisfy the user requirements. Reflect underlying business rules & activities rather than physical constraints.
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Design - Overview (6)

Logical Design - blueprint is the delivered product of the required system. It includes the following: Requirements Catalogue Required system DFDs Required system LDS Relational Data Analysis (normalised set of tables and rationalised set of tables)
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Design - Overview (7)

Physical Design:
Logical design translated into a physical design based on the technical environment selected, e.g. platform, programming language, database etc. Produces program specifications, physical files or database definitions and user interfaces for a selected target hardware & software.
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Design - Overview (8)

Physical design includes contents of the following components; Data design - (requirements for data to be stored in a database) Outputs design - (reports, displays) Inputs design - (forms, screens, dialogues) Programs design - (structure of programs to collect, transform & output data)
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Design Overview (9)

Requirements Catalogue Data Design Interface Design I/O Descriptions Program Design

DESIGN

System changeover strategies

Documentation: System & User

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Physical and Logical Models Analysis Current Logical Design

Required Logical

Current Physical

Required Physical
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