Systems Analysis & Design

Sixth Edition

Chapter 10
Phase Description
● Systems Operation, Support, and
Security is the final phase in the
systems development life cycle
(SDLC)
● You will be supporting a
functioning information system
● You continuously will assess and
improve the system, and you will
be alert to any signs of
obsolescence
● You will also address multi-level
security issues
Chapter Objectives
● Explain how the systems
operation, support, and security
phase relates to the rest of the
system development process
● Describe user support activities,
including user training and help
desks
● Discuss the four main types of
system maintenance: corrective,
adaptive, perfective, and
preventive
Chapter Objectives
● Explain various techniques for
managing systems operation
and support
● Describe techniques for
managing system performance,
including workload
measurement and capacity
planning
● Assess system security at five
levels: physical security,
network security, application
security, file security, and user
security
Chapter Objectives
● List factors indicating that a
system has reached the end of its
useful life
● Assess future challenges for IT
professionals as technology
reshapes the workplace
Introduction
● Now that the system is
operational, the real key
question is whether or not the
system meets user expectations,
supports business objectives,
and is secure
● Systems must be maintained and
improved continuously to meet
changing business demands, and
users constantly require
assistance
Overview of Systems Support
and Maintenance
● The systems operation, support,
and security phase begins when a
system becomes operational and
continues until the system reaches
the end of its useful life
● After delivering the system, the
analyst has two other important
tasks: he or she must support
users and provide necessary
maintenance to keep the system
operating properly
User Support Activities
● User Training
– In addition to the initial training that is
performed when a new system is
introduced
– New employees must learn how to use the
company’s information systems
– User training package
– Training users about system changes is
similar to initial training
User Support Activities
● Help Desks
– Also called information center (IC)
– Enhance productivity and improve
utilization of a company’s information
resources
– Might have to perform the following
tasks:
• Show a user how to create a data query or
report that displays specific business
information
• Resolve network access or password
problems
• Demonstrate an advanced feature of a
system or a commercial package
• Help a user recover damaged data
User Support Activities
● Online Chat Support
– Interactive support also can be delivered
in the form of an online chat
– Virtual Classroom
Maintenance Activities
● The systems operation, support,
and security phase is an important
component of TCO (total cost of
ownership) because ongoing
maintenance expenses can
determine the economic life of a
system
● Operational costs
● Maintenance expenses
● Maintenance activities
Maintenance Activities
● Corrective Maintenance
– Diagnoses and corrects errors in an
operational system
– Can respond to errors in various ways,
depending on nature and severity of the
problem
– In a typical procedure, a user submits a
systems request that is evaluated,
prioritized, and scheduled
Maintenance Activities
● Adaptive Maintenance
– Adds enhancements to an operational
system and makes the system easier to
use
– The procedure for minor adaptive
maintenance is similar to routine
corrective maintenance
– Can be more difficult than new systems
development because the
enhancements must work within
constraints of an existing system
Maintenance Activities
● Perfective Maintenance
– Involves changing an operational system
to make it more efficient, reliable, or
maintainable
– Can improve system reliability
– Cost-effective during the middle of the
system’s operational life
Maintenance Activities
● Perfective Maintenance
– Software reengineering
– Depending on results of software
reengineering, the system might be
revised, migrated to a different
environment, or replaced altogether
– Programs that need a large number of
maintenance changes usually are good
candidates for reengineering
Maintenance Activities
● Preventive Maintenance
– Requires analysis of areas where trouble is
likely to occur
– IT department normally initiates
preventative maintenance
– Often results in increased user
satisfaction, decreased downtime, and
reduced TCO
– Sometimes does not receive the high
priority it deserves
Managing System Support
● Maintenance Team
– System administrator
– Systems analysts
• Analysis
• Synthesis
– Programmers
• Applications programmer
• Systems programmer
• Database programmer
• Programmer/analyst
Managing System Support
● Maintenance Team
– Organizational issues
• IT managers often divide systems analysts and
programmers into two groups: one group
performs new system development, and the
other group handles all maintenance
• Many analysts feel that maintenance work is
less attractive than developing new systems
• One disadvantage of rotation is that it increases
overhead costs
Managing System Support
● Managing Maintenance Requests
– Involves a number of steps
– Maintenance request
– Initial determination
– Role of the systems review committee
– Completion of the work
– User notification
Managing System Support
● Establishing Priorities
– Systems review committee separates
maintenance requests from new
systems development requests when
evaluating requests and setting
priorities
– Many IT managers believe that
evaluating projects together leads to
the best possible decisions
– Neither approach guarantees an ideal
allocation between maintenance and
new systems development
Managing System Support
● Configuration Management
– Configuration management (CM)
– As enterprise-wide information systems
grow more complex, configuration
management becomes critical
– Most maintenance projects require
documentation changes
Managing System Support
● Maintenance Releases
– Maintenance release methodology
– Maintenance release
– A numbering pattern distinguishes the
different releases
– Reduces the documentation burden
– New features or upgrades are available
less often
– Service packs
Managing Systems Support
● Version Control
– Version control is the process of tracking
system releases
– Systems librarian
– Archived
● Baselines
– Functional baseline
– Allocated baseline
– Product baseline
Managing System Performance
● A system’s performance directly
affects users who rely on it to
perform their job functions
● To ensure satisfactory support for
business operations, the IT
department monitors current
system performance and
anticipates future needs
● Benchmark testing
Managing System Performance
● Performance and Workload
Measurement
– Response time
– Bandwidth and throughput
• Kbps (kilobits per second)
• Mbps (megabits per second)
• Gbps (gigabits per second)
Managing System Performance
● Performance and Workload
Measurement
– Turnaround time
● Capacity Planning
– What-if analysis
– You need detailed information about
the number of transactions; the daily,
weekly, or monthly transaction
patterns; the number of queries; and
the number, type, and size of all
generated reports
Managing System Performance
● Capacity Planning
Managing System Performance
● System Maintenance Tools
– Many CASE tools include system
evaluation and maintenance features
– In addition to CASE tools, you also can
use spreadsheet and presentation
software to calculate trends, perform
what-if analyses, and create attractive
charts and graphs to display the results
System Security
● Physical Security
– First level of security concerns the
physical environment
– Computer room
– Physical access to a computer represents
an entry point into the system and must
be controlled and protected
System Security
● Physical Security
– Computer room security
• Biometric scanning systems
• Motion sensor
– Servers and desktop computers
• Keystroke logger
• Tamper-evident cases
• BIOS-level password
• Boot-level password
• Power-on password
System Security
● Physical Security
– Notebook computers
• Select an operating system that allows secure
logons and BIOS-level passwords
• Mark or engrave the computer’s case with the
company name and address, or attach a
tamper-proof asset ID tag
• Universal Security Slot (USS)
• Back up all vital data
System Security
● Physical Security
– Notebook computers
• Use tracking software
• While traveling, try to
be alert to potential
high-risk situations
• Establish stringent
password protection
policies
System Security
● Network Security
– Network
– Traffic
– Network interface
– Encrypted
System Security
● Network
Security
– Encrypting
network traffic
• Unencrypted –
plain text
• Public key
encryption (PKE)
• Public key
• Private key
• Wi-Fi Protected
Access (WPA)
• Wired Equivalent
Privacy (WEP)
System Security
● Network Security
– Private networks
– Virtual private networks
• Virtual private network (VPN)
• Tunnel
System Security
● Network Security
– Ports and services
• Port
• Destination port
• Service
• Port scans
• Denial of service (DOS)
• Distributed denial of service (DDOS)
System Security
● Network Security
– Firewalls
• Firewall
• Rules – protocols
• Firewalls can be configured to detect and
respond to DOS attacks, port scans, and other
suspicious activity
System Security
● Application Security
– Services
• Security hole
• Administrator – super-user
• Permissions
– Input validation
– Patches and updates
• Patches
• Third-party software
• Automatic update service
System Security
● File Security
– Safety and protection of files is a vital
element in any computer security program
– Permissions
– User Groups
System Security
● User Security
– Privilege escalation attack
– Identity management
– Password protection
• AOL PassCode®
– Social engineering
– User resistance
Backup and Disaster Recovery
● The heightened focus on disaster
recovery has spawned a whole
new disaster recovery industry,
which includes many new tools
and techniques
System Obsolescence
● Even with solid support, at some
point every system becomes
obsolete
● Signs:
1. The system’s maintenance history
indicates that adaptive and corrective
maintenance is increasing steadily
2. Operational costs or execution times are
increasing rapidly, and routine perfective
maintenance does not reverse or slow
the trend
System Obsolescence
● Signs:
1. A software package is available that
provides the same or additional services
faster, better, and less expensively than
the current system
2. New technology offers a way to perform
the same or additional functions more
efficiently
3. Maintenance changes or additions are
difficult and expensive to perform
4. Users request significant new features to
support business requirements
System Obsolescence
● Systems operation and support
continues until a replacement
system is installed
● At some point in a system’s
operational life, maintenance
costs start to increase, users
begin to ask for more features
and capability, new systems
requests are submitted, and the
SDLC begins again
Facing the Future: Challenges
and Opportunities
● Predictions
– It is clear that companies will continue
to face intense competition and global
change, especially in the wake of
economic, social, and political
uncertainty
– It is interesting to note that some
observers, such as Bill Joy, wonder
whether technology is moving so fast
that humans will be left behind
– What does seem clear is that the future
world of IT must be envisioned, planned,
and created by skilled professionals
Strategic Planning for IT
Professionals
● An IT professional should think of
himself or herself as a business
corporation that has certain
assets, potential liabilities, and
specific goals
● Working backwards from your
long-term goals, you can develop
intermediate mile- stones and
begin to manage your career just
as you would manage an IT project
● Planning a career is not unlike
planting a tree that takes several
years to reach a certain height
IT Credentials and Certification
● Credentials
● Certification
● Many IT industry leaders offer
certification, including Microsoft,
Cisco, Novell, Oracle, and Sun
Microsystems
Chapter Summary
● Systems operation, security, and
support covers the entire period from
the implementation of an information
system until the system no longer is
used
● A systems analyst’s primary
involvement with an operational system
is to manage and solve user support
requests
● A maintenance team consists of one or
more systems analysts and
programmers
Chapter Summary
● Systems analysts need the same
talents and abilities for maintenance
work as they use when developing a
new system
● Configuration management is
necessary to handle maintenance
requests
● System performance measurements
include response time, bandwidth,
throughput, and turnaround time
● All information systems eventually
become obsolete
Chapter Summary
● An IT professional should have a
strategic career plan that
includes long-term goals and
intermediate milestones
● An important element of a
personal strategic plan is the
acquisition of IT credentials and
certifications that document
specific knowledge and skills

● Chapter 10 complete