PArt 2

• Systems analysis and design

  A study that looks into ensuring that the IS projects are executed successfully by making use of certain methodologies and ensuring that the role of a systems analyst is appreciated throughout the System Development Life Circle (SDLC)
• System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

  The process that deals with planning the development of an information system through understanding and specifying in detail what a system should do and how the components of the system should be implemented and work together
• Organisations across the globe invest in systems but the benefits associated with systems are mostly not achieved due to various reasons
• IS projects are abandoned before completion and systems that are not abandoned are delivered to the users/client late, cost more than planned, and have fewer functionalities developed than originally planned or required
• Challenges faced by organisations when it comes to system development

  • IS projects are abandoned before completion
  • Delivered to the users/client late
  • Costs more than planned
  • Fewer functionalities developed than originally planned or required
• Requirements Phase


  1. Business Analysts collect requirements from the client as per the business needs and documents them in the Business Requirements Document (BRD)

  2. After the Business Requirements are collected and gathered, the product requirements are defined and are approved by the client

  3. BRD is submitted by the Business Analyst to the Development Team
• Requirements Phase


  • Most important phase in the SDLC
  • Key people involved: Project Manager, Business Analyst, Senior Developers
• Analysis Phase


  1. The team elicit information to learn about the problem domain

  2. The output document produced is the System requirements specification (SRS) document and its approved by the client

  3. SRS consists of all product requirements to be designed and developed during the project
• Analysis Phase


  • Another important phase in the SDLC
  • Key people involved: Project Manager, Systems Analyst, Senior Managers
• Design Phase


  1. Provides details of how each feature of the product should work

  2. Consists of High Level and Low-Level Design

  3. High Level Design - gives an architecture of the system or product to be developed

  4. Low level Design - gives the internal logical design of the actual program code and is created based on the high level design
• Design Phase


  • Key people involved: Senior Developers, Architects
• Coding/Development Phase


  1. Actual system is built by writing code using the chosen programming language

  2. Tasks are divided into units or modules and assigned to the various developers
• Coding/Development Phase


  • It is the longest phase of the SDLC process
  • Key people involved: Senior Developers, Developers, Systems Analyst
• Testing Phase


  1. When the system, software/product is ready for deployment, it is first tested for bugs

  2. Test is done either manually or automatically

  3. How software/product/system will be tested is defined in the Testing Life Cycle document
• Testing Phase


  • Ensures that the system works fine holistically and is bug or error free
  • Key people involved: Business Analysts, Quality Analysts, Developers, Software Testers
• Deployment Phase


  1. Puts the system into production

  2. The system is handed over to the client

  3. Includes deployment preparation and procedures, product deployment, transferring ownership of the product, and closing the deployment phase
• Deployment Phase


  • Final Phase of the SDLC
  • Key people involved: Deployment Engineers, Implementing Engineers, Project Team, Client
• Maintenance Phase


  1. Maintenance of system can include software upgrades, repairs, and fixing of the software if it breaks

  2. System maintenance is done as per the agreed Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Maintenance Phase


  • Occurs after the system is in full operation
  • Key people involved: Deployment Engineers, Implementing Engineers, Developers, Project Manager, Business, System and Quality Analyst, Client
• The development of a system follows a software development life cycle and each phase of the SDLC is unique and cannot operate in isolation
• According to the nature of the project, a particular methodology has to be agreed upon
• 291/313 (93%) Completed the Quiz
• Average % pass = 85%
• Quiz 1 results


  • 85
  • 59
  • 59
  • 30
  • 23
  • 13
  • 10
  • 7
  • 1
  • 1
  • 1
  • 1
• 36 students got full marks (100%) - Well done!
• Only one student used the full duration of the quiz and got 80%
• Most students completed the quiz between 20-30 minutes and still got an average of >75%
• The students who failed took between 2-8 minutes to complete the quiz, and got an average of 20%
• Total number of students 313
• The primary goal of a system analyst is to

  create value for the organisation
• Ensures that the new system conforms to organisational standards

  Business analyst
• The first four phases of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) of an Information System are

  Requirements, Analysis, Design, development
• The project sponsor is


  the person or department that requested the system
• Reporting in a system development project

  A Project Manager reports directly to the Project Sponsor
• The low-level design gives an architecture of the system to be developed
• Systems analysis and design is a study that looks into ensuring that the IS projects are executed successfully by making use of certain methodologies; and ensuring that the role of a systems analyst is appreciated throughout the System Development Life Circle (SDLC)
• System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

  Process that deals with planning the development of an information system through understanding and specifying in detail what a system should do; and how the components of the system should be implemented and work together
• Organisations across the globe, invest in systems
• Benefits associated with systems are mostly not achieved
• IS projects are abandoned before completion