systems analyst key role
solve business problems using info systems technology
systems analyst skills
technical
business
people
technical skills
skills that involve the ability to perform tasks in a specific discipline or department
business skills
?Understanding the way an organization performs its procedures
people skills
the ability to work well with others by using polite communication procedures
importance of problem solving skills
being able to look into the problem in great detail, understand everything about the problem, generate several alternatives for solving the problem, and then pick the best solution.
automation boundary
the separation between the automated part of a system and the manual part of a system
system boundary
the separation between a system and its environment that inputs and outputs must cross
information system
includes hardware, software, inputs, outputs, data, people, and procedures.
tools
a software application that assists developers in creating models or other components required for a project
techniques
strategies for completing specific system development activities
systems analysis
the process of understanding and specifying in detail what the information system should accomplish
systems design
the process of specifying in detail how the many components of the information system should be physically implemented
agile development
an information system development process that emphasizes flexibility to anticipate new requirements during development
iterative development
an approach to system development in which the system is "grown" piece by piece through multiple iterations
subsystem
a system that is part of a larger system
project
a planned undertaking that has a beginning and end and that produces some definite result
systems development life cycle
-Identify the problem or need and obtain approval
-Plan and monitor the project
-Discover and understand the details of the problem or need
-Design the system components that solve the problem
-Build, test, and integrate system components
-Complete system
key documents used in planning on Agile projects
-System Vision document
-user stories
-product backlog
-sprint backlog
-domain model class diagram
-activity diagram
key documents used in systems analysis and design
-Screen layout
-Database schema:
system development process
...
Systems Development Life Cycle
The overall process for developing information systems from planning and analysis through implementation and maintenance
Activity Diagram
a UML diagram that describes user (or system) activities, the person or component that completes each activity, and the sequential flow of these activities
executive stakeholders
persons who don't interact directly with the system but who either use information produced by the system or have a significant financial or other interest in its operation and success
External Stakeholders
people or groups in the organization's external environment that are affected by it
Functional Requirements
the activities that the system must perform
FURPS
Functionality
Usability
Reliability
Performance
Supportability
Internal Stakeholders
employees, owners, board of directors
model
A pattern, plan, representation, or description designed to show the structure or workings of an object, system, or concept
Nonfunctional Requirements
required system characteristics other than the activities it must perform or support
operational stakeholders
Persons who regularly interact with the system as part of their jobs
Performance Requirements
the requirements that describe operational characteristics related to measures of workload, such as throughput and response time
Reliability Requirements
requirements that describe system dependability
Security Requirements
requirements that describe how access to the application will be controlled and how data will be protected during storage and transmission
Stakeholders
any persons or groups who will be affected by an action
Unified Modeling Language
Widely used method of visualizing and documenting software systems design
usability requirements
operational characteristics related to users, such as the user interface, related work procedures, online help, and documentation
Workflow
describes the internal steps of a use case
Acceptance Criteria
A set of conditions that is required to be met before deliverables are accepted.
Actor (UML)
a role played by a user or any other system that interacts with the subject.
event
something that occurs at a specific time and place, can be described, and should be remembered by the system
event decomposition technique
a technique to identify use cases by determining the external business events to which the system must respond
external event
an event that occurs outside the system, usually initiated by an external agent
perfect technology assumption
the assumption that a system runs under perfect operating and technological conditions
state event
an event that occurs when something happens inside the system that triggers some process
temporal event
an event that occurs as a result of reaching a point in time
Use Case
an activity that the system performs, usually in response to a request by a user
use case diagram
A picture showing system behavior, along with the key actors that interact with the system
User Goal Technique
a technique to identify use cases by determining what specific goals or objectives must be completed by a user
User Story
one short sentence in the everyday language of the end user that states what a user does as part of his or her work
abstract class
a class that only exists in a model so subclasses can inherit from it
Association (UML)
relationship between two entities
association class
An association that is treated as a class in a many to many association because it has attributes that need to be remembered (such as grade)
attribute
characteristic
brainstorming technique
a technique used to identify problem domain classes in which developers work with users to identify classes by thinking about different types of things they use in their work
cardinality
A measure of the number of links between one object and another object in a relationship
Class (UML)
individual entity
compound attribute
an attribute that consists of multiple pieces of information but is best treated in the aggregate
concrete class
a class that allows individual objects or instances to exist
data entities
the term used in ERD modeling to describe things about which the system needs to store information
domain classes
classes that describe objects from the problem domain
domain model class diagram
a class diagram that only includes classes from the problem domain and documents info requirements in new system
Entity Relationship Diagram
a technique for documenting the entities and relationships in a database environment
generalization/specialization relationship
based on the idea that people classify things in terms of similarities and differences.?
identifier
A candidate key that has been selected as the unique, identifying characteristic for an entity type.
Inheritance
the concept that subclasses classes inherit characteristics of the more general superclass
multiplicity
the number of associations between classes: 1 to 1 or 1 to many (synonym to cardinality)
multiplicity constraints
the actual numeric count of the constraints on objects allowed in an association
noun technique
a technique to identify problem domain objects by finding and classifying the nouns in a dialog or description
problem domain
the specific area of the user's business need that is within the scope of the new system
relationship
naturally occurring association among specific things
subclass
the subordinate or more specialized class in a generalization/specialization relationship
Superclass
the superior or more general class in a generalization/specialization relationship
Context Diagram
summarizes all processing activity within the system in a single process symbol..
data flow
the movement of data among processes, stores, sources, and destinations
Data Flow Diagram
illustrates the movement of information between external entities and the processes and data stores within the system
data store
a file or part of a database that stores information about a data entity.
Data Flow Definition
a textual description of a data flow's content and internal structure
DFD fragment
a DFD that represents the system response to one event within a single process symbol
External Agent
a person or organization, outside the system boundary, that supplies data inputs or accepts data outputs
Levels of Abstraction
modeling technique that breaks the system into a hierarchical set of increasingly more detailed models
process
A series of actions or steps taken to achieve an end
supportability requirements
how a system is installed, configured, monitored, and updated
?Functional Decomposition
the division of a system into processes or subsystems.
?human resource management system
?A system that is subject to many external laws and regulations
?collaboration support system
A type of information system that allows geographically distributed personnel to work together on projects and tasks
A business intelligence system supports
?strategic planning and executive decision making
?A knowledge management system
supports the storage of and access to documents within an organization.
?A process in which an organization commits to using an integrated set of software packages for key information systems is called
enterprise resource planning
One common element of all types of business information systems is that they all _______.
use database technology
?Highly integrated systems that support company-wide operations and data, often combining aspects of many other systems is a(n) ____.
enterprise resource planning application
What is the purpose of an iteration recap??
to review the project processes
An information system consist of
software, database, and manual processes
Design Class Diagram
includes method signatures
Programming is included in which Core Process?
5
One important reason for prioritizing requirements is to
avoid scope creep
Which two of the following are activities of Core Process 3?
-Develop user-interface dialogs?
-Gather detailed information
The term "I'll know it when I see it" refers to what method of requirements definition.?
collecting active user comments
client
person funding the development of new system
most time consuming and resource expensive operation
interviewing stakeholders
Application Architecture
the organization and construction of software resources to implement an organization's information systems
Looping in an activity diagram is best represented using what??
synchronization bars
In using the event decomposition technique, which of the following is NOT a type of event that is considered??
event initiated by a user login
In UML notation, the guillemets character is used to show what kind of notation??
stereotypes
User stories are different than use cases in what way??
differ in the amount of detail captured
When making a list of nouns to determine what are the important "things" for the new system, there are three question that should be asked about each noun. Which of the following is one of those questions??
should it be researched further
A relationship between a "sports team" and the players, coaches, and sponsor would be described as what kind of relationship??
aggregation
Which of the following is NOT true about a UML class.?
it has multiplicity
unary association
0..
to 0...
If we modeled a "sale" and the "sale items" with a whole-part relationship, it would best be described as a _______ relationship.?
composite
?Which of the following data flow diagram (DFD) symbols represents the communication between an external agent and a process while the process is executing?
real-time link
?A data flow diagram (DFD) that models system requirements using a single process for each event in a system or subsystem is called a(n) ____.
event-partitioned system model
?Minimization of interfaces is directly related to the rule of ____.
?7 � 2
?Activity-location matrix
describes the relationship between processes and the locations in which they are performed