1. Review Questions List and describe the purpose of the four phases of Systems Analysis. The preliminary investigation phase quickly determines whether or not a system is worth looking at? The problem analysis phase results in an understanding of the current system and its problems and their causes and effects The requirements analysis phase defines the business requirements for a new and improved system The decision analysis phase identifies candidate system solutions and assesses the feasibility of those candidate solutions for the purpose of recommending a solution

2. Review Questions What important question is addressed during the problem analysis phase? The problem analysis phase answers the question, “ Are the problems and opportunities really worth solving? ”

3. Review Questions –Model-driven analysis approaches »Structured analysis ( Data Flow diagrams ) »Information engineering (ER-diagrams) »Object-oriented analysis –Accelerated analysis approaches »Discovery prototyping –Requirements discovery methods »Interviews, Questionnaires, Observation, JRP.. –Business process redesign methods What are different approaches to systems analysis?

4. Review Questions What is cause-and-effect analysis? Cause-and-effect analysis is the task of breaking a problem down to understand its root causes and the net effect on the business

5. Review Questions Differentiate between an objective and constraint. An objective is a measure of success. A constraint is something outside of your control that may limit your ability to achieve an objective.

6. Review Questions The requirements analysis phase answers the question, “ What must the system be able to do independent of how it will do it? ” What important question is addressed during the requirements analysis phase?

7. Review Questions The decision analysis phase answers the question, “ What is the best solution to the users ’ requirements? ” What important question is addressed during the decision analysis phase?

8. Review Questions Technical feasibility determines whether the technology is appropriate and we have (or can get) the technical expertise to implement it Briefly describe four types of feasibility criteria. Operational feasibility determines if the solution makes business sense Economic feasibility measures whether the benefits of the solution will exceed the costs of building and maintaining it Schedule feasibility determines whether the system can be implemented on an acceptable timetable

9. Review Questions Reverse engineering uses technology to automate the translation of databases and programs into their equivalent system models. What is reverse engineering?

10. Review Questions The limitation of reverse engineering is its dependence on the quality of the program code that it is trying to reverse into models. Poor or incomplete designs will reverse into poor or incomplete models. Ironically, it ’ s a matter of “ garbage out, garbage in. ” Reverse engineering has one limitation that can render its models as valueless. What is that limitation?

11. Review Questions It is usually impossible to include all users in a project. Somebody has to “ run the store ” during the project. And not everyone on a project team works full-time for the team. Finally, other members of the business community may be affected by a system even though they don ’ t currently use it, or they may simply be interested. For this reason we communicate project news and milestones to all interested parties Why did several systems analysis phases conclude with a presentation task when appropriate systems owners and users were included in all the systems analysis tasks?

12. Review Questions During the course of any project, scope may change. Even if scope does not change, our understanding of the complexity can change. For this reason, as our knowledge of the system, requirements, and solution increase with each passing phase, we need to reevaluate scope, budget, and schedule to make sure that they are still accurate. If necessary, the project plan has to be adjusted, and system owners must agree to (or at least accept) those adjustments Several systems analysis phases included a task to “update the project plan”. Why is it necessary to continually monitor and update the project plan?

13. Review Questions Sometimes, it is best to redesign business processes prior to designing an information solution to ensure that we don ’ t merely automate bureaucracy and inefficiency. Sometimes, if a packaged software system is purchased, business processes must be redesigned to work with the purchased solution Name two situations when business process re-design might be performed in the context of a traditional information systems development project.

14. Review Questions Because the preliminary investigation answers the question, “ Is this project or system worth looking at? ” There is a possibility that this question may have already been addressed in a prior project. When might a preliminary investigation phase be skipped?