Information Systems Design 3 UFIE8V

Admin –StaffingStaffing –UWE OnlineUWE Online –AssessmentAssessment Themes Case studies Changes from Workshops –Next weekNext week –Following weekFollowing week

Staff Chris Wallace –Module leader, Friday tutorial, most of the lectures Kevin Doyle –Some lectures, Thursday tutorial and linkage with ISD2 Prakash Chatterjee (VL) –2 Tutorials on Monday and XML

Changes from More emphasis on Development and Design More on XML and native XML databases Coursework introduced Better use of UWE Online

Assessment 75% Exam, 25 % coursework –Change from last year due to popular demand –Coursework due end of this semester –Individual work to develop a small web application using PHP and MySQL Summer Exam had marks from 85-14, 21% 1 st, 11% fails – after resits 94% pass (of those participating) Exam structure will be the same as the last 2 years: –3 hour –One compulsory short, technical questions 25% –3 out of 7 problem-based, topic-based questions 25% each

UWE Online Module set up and should be visible – if not you are not enrolled! Will be used for –Notices –Tutorial reminders –Discussion groups –teaching material and links to teaching material – slides, notes, applications –Key is the schedule which links to supporting documents.schedule

ISD Information Requiring System (IRS) Information Providing System (IPS) People, Organisations, Society, Machines People, Computers, Networks, Databases, Software Information Systems Development (ISD) John Banbury ( ) Children and Mothers Child Support Agency Sainsbury Supply Chain Sainsbury Stock control

Some observations IPS is not just a computer system, it, like the IRS, is a human activity system In general, both IRS and IPS are ‘complex’ systems. –The behaviour is unknowable –The boundary is problematic –The systems are adaptive –The range of systems is increasing rapidly – new technologies, new information needs –IRS and IPS co-evolve

Information Requiring Systems Businesses still need information for operational, tactical and strategic control but: –Operations are distributed over the supply chain, not localised in a single organisation –Customers are part of the operations layer as e-buyers –Scope of tactical control increased for large companies Other organisations have become major providers of information: –Government (NHS, Work and Pensions, Inland revenue, MOD) –Local Government –The Voluntary sector –Media organisations Information has become democratised –Social systems like wikipedia –Blogs, plogs and podcasts

Information Providing Systems Human activity systems and thus include Work processes, training, instructions, documentation.. We are mainly concerned with IPSes which contain a significant Computer-based information system. Most attention is paid to the CBIS component: –Technologies for implementing CBIS are changing more rapidly than humans, so our attention is drawn to this movement. –The CBIS is a symbolic system and in theory is predictable (in practice, human cognition and limited resources mean that complete knowledge is impossible) –Our needs are often driven by emerging technology – the mobile phone, the internet have both reshaped societies needs for information. Core business functions largely met by Commercial Off- the Shelf Software (COTS)

‘New’ possibilities for CBIS 3-tier web-based systems Presentation - (IE, Mozilla + HTML, Javascript) Application layer (PHP) Persistence layer or Data store (MySQL, Oracle) SMS and MMS as alternative presentation layers Web services for connection between applications XML and related technologies Using and designing XML ‘applications’ XQuery for querying XML databases Business process modelling and integration Workflow modelling Process enactment System integration and Process orchestration

Information Systems Development IDS is about the ‘relationship’ between the two –not just a one shot development process but one of continual maintenance of ‘fitness’ between IRS and IPS in functionality in quality of information Design methods guide the structure of the IPS –we need help to choice the right approach and components in the face of widening choice Development methods and methodologies guide the structure of the development process Can current methods meet the needs of the changing nature of both the IRS and IPS? –Methods solve old problems (but most problems are old!)

Development Methods The study of the process of IS development and a critical analysis of ISD process models –Alternative process models – agile and XP processes in contrast to waterfall-based SSADM –Alternative ways of viewing ISD: knowledge-based – recurrent problems and their solution information management social engagement learning a ‘conversation with materials’ … –‘Total systems development’ development of the whole IPS in context, not just the CBIS

Design Methods Describing Structure –Extended ER modelling, realisation in an RDBMS –Hierarchical structures – Jackson notation, XML –Using a Case tool : QSEE Describing Processes –User stories, use cases, sequence and activity diagrams, state transition models, RAD Problem – solution patterns –Communication –Classification Terminology, taxonomy construction, testing and use –Matching Fuzzy matching, fitness functions Making design choices

Case studies 3-tier PHP and SQL –SMS Straw Poll – workshops 3 and 4 –Coursework XML –Travel information –Faculty Information system Business Process –CEMS academic processes – exam moderation

Workshops Next week: –An introduction to PHP programming – simple Client- server interaction using Forms Following week: The SMS Poll system –PHP and MySQL with SMS interface –Understand base application ER model the database Hand execute the SQL queries –Design modifications for the application –What issue to take a poll on?