1 SYS366 Week 1 - Lecture 2 How Businesses Work

2 Today How Businesses Work What is a System Types of Systems The Role of the Systems Analyst The Programmer/Analyst

3 How Businesses Work Types of Businesses: Retail Financial Insurance Manufacturing etc

4 How Businesses Work Business Areas The organizational areas needed to support a business. These can to equate to departments. An organizational structure made up of executives, middle management, supervisory management and staff.

5 How Businesses Work Organizational Roles to Support the Business: Operational staff Management

6 Organizational Roles Operational people involved in the day to day processing of transactions e.g. Bank Tellers; Mutual Fund Sales People; Sales Associate; clerks attention span: right now, up to the end of the day

7 Organizational Roles Management Lower Management (Supervisors) make organizational and day to day decisions attention span: today, tomorrow Middle Management (someone to blame) make tactical and day to day decisions have the most stress attention span: this week, this month Executives (Top Management) make strategic and periodic decisions attention span: this month, this year or more

8 How Businesses Work The personnel in the organizational roles for each business area are the individuals who provide the information needed to understand what is required for development of automated computer systems.

9 Today How Businesses Work What is a System Types of Systems The Role of the Systems Analyst The Programmer/Analyst

10 What is a system? A combination of hardware and software that meets the needs of a business. A collection of inter-related components that collect, process, store and provide as output the information needed to complete business tasks and to make business decisions. A shared understanding of how things work.

11 Today How Businesses Work What is a System Types of Systems The Role of the Systems Analyst The Programmer/Analyst

12 Types of systems? Operational (Transaction Processing) Systems Take care of the day-to-day processing of the business Information about the transactions that affect the organization are captured and recorded

13 Types of systems? Management Information Systems Uses operational systems’ information to give management the information needed to make management decisions

14 Types of systems? Executive Information Systems Provide information to executives on how their company is doing relative to the industry

15 Types of systems? Decision Support Systems Systems that allow a user to explore the impact of available options or decisions ‘What if’ analysis

16 Types of systems? Expert Systems Simulate human reasoning and decision- making. Artificial Intelligence.

17 Types of systems? Office Systems Productivity tools available to employees on a desk top. Electronic Mail, Word Processing, Database Management, Spreadsheets, Desktop Publishing, Presentation Graphics and so on.

18 Information Systems IS Planning Level Type of planningTypical IS applications Organizational Unit Responsible for Developing StrategicStrategies in support of organizational long-term objectives Market and sales analysis, Product planning, Performance evaluation Senior Management/ Executives TacticalPolicies in support of short-term goals and resource allocation Budget analysis, Salary forecasting, Inventory scheduling, Customer service Middle Management OperationalDay-to-day staff activities and production support Payroll, Invoicing, Purchasing, Accounting Supervisors; Operational

19 Today How Businesses Work What is a System Types of Systems The Role of the Systems Analyst The Programmer/Analyst

20 Systems Analyst A business professional involved in the development of a computerized solution to a business problem Requires extensive technical, business and people knowledge, communication, business and technical skills Is fundamentally curious to explore how things are done with a desire to make them work better

21 Systems Analyst Focuses on understanding the business problem Focuses on the approach to be taken to solve the business problem

22 Systems Analyst “…must thoroughly understand the problems the system will solve” you might be the only person who understands the whole problem because you might be the only person who everyone talks to

23 Problem Solving Approach 1.Research and understand the problem 2.Verify that the benefits of solving the problem outweigh the costs 3.Develop a set of possible solutions (alternatives) 4.Decide which solution is best and make a recommendation 5.Define the details of the chosen solution 6.Implement the solution 7.Monitor to make sure that you obtain the desired results

24 Systems Analyst Skills Technical Knowledge and Skills Business Knowledge and Skills People Knowledge and Skills Integrity & Ethics

25 Systems Analyst Skills Technical Knowledge and Skills Computers and how they work Devices that interact with computers, including input devices, storage devices, and output devices Communications networks that connect computers Databases and database management systems Programming languages Operating systems and utilities Tools and techniques for developing systems

26 Systems Analyst Skills Technical Knowledge and Skills Tools and techniques for developing systems Tools are software products that help develop analysis or design specifications and completed system components Microsoft Access, PowerBuilder for developing systems Integrated development environments (IDE’s) for specific programming languages (Java, C++) CASE tools to store information about system specifications Program code generators, testing tools, project management tools (to name a few)

27 Systems Analyst Skills Technical Knowledge and Skills Tools and techniques for developing systems Techniques are used to complete specific system development activities Project planning techniques Systems analysis techniques Systems design techniques System construction and implementation techniques System support techniques

28 Systems Analyst Skills Business Knowledge and Skills What the specific organization does What makes it successful What its strategies and plans are What its traditions and values are

29 Systems Analyst Skills People Knowledge and Skills How people think How people learn How people react to change How people communicate How people work (in a variety of jobs and levels) Must be able to listen well

30 Typical Job Titles for Analysts Programmer/analyst Business systems analyst System liaison End-user analyst Business consultant Business systems consultant Systems consultant System support analyst System designer Software engineer System architect

31 Today How Businesses Work What is a System Types of Systems The Role of the Systems Analyst The Programmer/Analyst

32 The Programmer/Analyst job availability & descriptions check out Workopolis and search for Keywords: programmer/analystWorkopolis