Week 1a: Introduction to the Module Graham Logan Building 303, Room 30 CO5021 Systems Development

Module Aims  To explore quality assurance methods and principles.  To provide the student with an awareness of the alternative approaches available to systems analysis practitioners.  To extend the student's fact-finding, analysis and modelling skills.  To give the student realistic experience of the development of an IS to meet specific requirements; where possible, linking this with the student's parallel acquisition of database, website design and programming skills in a holistic study.  To encourage an awareness of practicalities of the real-life issues inherent in the implementation and operation of computing systems.

Learning Outcomes 1. Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the system life- cycle, and discuss the critical success factors of various approaches to systems development. 2. Interpret requirements, produce system and quality assurance requirements, determine feasibility and present a proposal. 3. Employ suitable techniques for fact finding, analysis and modelling an application. 4. Construct specifications and prototypes that confirm an application solution will meet user requirements using UML or WebML. 5. Discuss the functional elements needed to ensure that an application is usable, robust, secure, and maintainable. 6. Reflect critically on the practicalities of application, implementation and operation of a system.

Module Content Understanding the System Life Cycle. The development project. Feasibility and justification. Authorisation. Planning, control and risk management. Handling timescale, resource and quality issues. Handover. Post-project support. Systems maintenance – support materials and services. Version control. Selecting an approach to development and maintenance. The evolving roles and responsibilities of users and computing professionals. In-house versus external resources. Agile and Agile web development versus waterfall methodologies. The problem space. Fact Finding. Analysis. Data, process and behaviour modelling - techniques and tools.

The solution space. Requirements definition - prototypes and specifications. Prototyping techniques and tools – iterations, time boxes, priorities and backtracking. Interaction with legacy systems. Acquiring the software solution. Bought-in versus in-house solutions. Selecting and installing an application package. Application development utilising database and office software. Programming environments. Developing functionality - HCI, data structures, processes. Developing the non-functional aspects of systems. Data capture, data entry, validation, control and audit. Networking and concurrent user capability. Fallback and recovery. Security and access control. Capacity and performance. Data management. Usability, transportability and re-use.

Preparing for implementation. Responsibilities of users and developers. Functional and non-functional aspects of the system. Preparing the operational environment and platform. Job definition, staff selection and training. Implementation. Implementation strategies. Data conversion. Acceptance testing and handover. Maintenance and enhancement. Issues relating to documentation, familiarisation, testing, implementation.

Assessment Attendance: It is expected of students that they will attend all timetabled sessions, appointments and arranged activities. Assignment (63%) testing L.O.s 3, 4, 5 & 6. Examination (37%) testing L.O.s 1, 2, 3 & 6.