1.7 System Design and Analysis Flashcards
1
Q
who are stakeholders?
A
individuals, teams, groups or organizations that have an interest in the realization of a project or might be affected by the outcome of a project
2
Q
methods of obtaining information (3)
A
- interviewing stakeholders
- questionnaires
- direct observation of current procedures
3
Q
types of interviews
A
- structured
- unstructured
4
Q
what is an interview?
A
a time-consuming conversational process
5
Q
what does an interview provide the researcher with?
A
- opportunity to clarify questions
- opportunity to observe verbal and non-verbal behaviours of stakeholders
6
Q
characteristics of a structured interview
A
strictly standardized and prescribed
7
Q
what does a structured interview consist of?
A
set of prepared questions that is presented in the same manner and order to each stakeholder
8
Q
characteristics of unstructured interviews
A
flexible
9
Q
advantage of unstructured interviews
A
stakeholders are encouraged to express their thoughts and personal beliefs freely
10
Q
a disadvantage of unstructured interviews
A
often yields data too difficult to summarize , evaluate or perform any form of statistical analysis on them
11
Q
process of interviews
A
- transcribing
- assigning categories - adding tags to transcription
12
Q
types of questionnaires
A
- closed/restricted
- open/unrestricted
13
Q
when is a questionnaire most effective?
A
when questions are carefully constructed as to elicit ambiguous responses
14
Q
pros of questionnaires
A
- guarantees uniformity of questions
- yields data that is more comparable than interview information
- time-saving
- cost-efficient method
- faster process
15
Q
cons of questionnaires
A
- stakeholders may misinterpret the questions
- respondents’ behavior is difficult to asses
16
Q
what do closed/unrestricted questionnaires involve?
A
- yes/no answers
- short response questions
- box checking
17
Q
what do open/unrestricted questionnaires involve?
A
free response questions
18
Q
what do open questionnaires allow?
A
a grater depth of repsonses
19
Q
what does direct observation involve?
A
spending time in different departments
20
Q
pros of direct observation
A
independent of user bias
21
Q
cons of direct observation
A
- time-consuming
- people will change their behaviour when being observed: Hawthorne effect
22
Q
what is the hawthorne effect?
A
people will perform better/ make the system look better when being observed
23
Q
techniques for gathering information
A
- examining current systems
- examining competing products
24
Q
what does research about the current system involve?
A
- a detailed examination of current system
- analysis of its functions and procedutres
- studying the business and system documents
25
what may research of competing products involve?
- their benefits
- their vulnerbailities
- their successful characteristics
- their design features
- user and stakeholder acceptance
- breakthroughs they introduce
26
what should a modern information system do?
1. increase client trust
2. preserve brand strength
3. preserve organization reputation
4. maintain corporate resiliency
5. enhance organizational piece
27
what is a requirements specification document?
a document used to illustrate system requirements
28
types of processing
1. online (interactive)
2. real-time
3. batch
29
what is online processing
data performed by a single processor through the use of equipment that it controls
30
example of online processing
airline reservation
31
what is real-time processing?
data processing performed on-the-fly in which the generated data influences the actual process taking place
32
example of real-time processing
aircraft control
33
what is batch processing?
data processing performed on data that have been composed and processed as a single unit
34
example of batch processing
- payroll
- credit card billing
35
what are system flowcharts
the description of a data processing system
36
what does a system flowchart include?
the description of the flow of data through any individual programs involved
37
what does a system flowchart exclude?
the description of the details of such programs
38
what can system flowcharts show?
batch, real-time and online processing
39
why are system flowcharts special?
they are the only way to refer to hardware
40
what does DFD stand for?
data flow diagram
41
what is a data flow diagram used for?
to describe the problem to be solved (i.e. analysis of problem-solving)
42
what doe a data flow diagram show?
1. how data moves through a system
2. how the data stores what the system uses
43
what does a data flow diagram not do?
1. specify the type of data storage
2. specify the data type
44
what do structure charts do?
describe functions and sub-functions of a system,and the relationship between modules of a computer program
45
what does a structure chart consist of?
modules and layers
46
what does a module in a structure chart do?
perform specific functions
47
what does a layer do in a structure chart?
perform specific activities
48
advantage of a structure chart
makes the modular design development much easier
49
what is top-down design?
a software design and problem-solving technique that involves the partition of a problem into smaller sub-problems
50
what is another word for top-down design?
stepwise refinement
51
how does top-down design work
each sub-problem is further broken down until all subproblems are detailed enough and no more partition is required
52
what is pseudocode?
an artificial language that is not directly related to any particular hardware and is used to describe algorithms
53
how is pseudocode different to normal programming languages
- it does not follow the grammar of any specific computer language
- requires conversion to a computer language
54
what is a module
a complete and independent part of a program or an algortihm
55
what is modular programming
the method of partitioning a computer program into sperate sub-programs
56
what is another word for modular programming?
modularity
57
what is the main advanatge of modular programming
each sub-porgram can be easily modififed and maintained without the necessity to alter other sub-programs of the program
58
what is a modular language?
a language that supports modular programming
59
purposes of prototypes
1. attract the attention of the client (by enoucraging them to use it and "get a feel for it"
2. provide enough information to attract investors
3. encourage active participation between users and devlopers
4. give an idea of the final product
5. help in the identification of problems with the efficiency or the design
6. increase the system development speed
60
what is an interation?
the repitition of a set of instructions fro a specific number of times or until the operations yield desired results
61
what does iterative development of software involve?
steady improvement of the designed based on various evaluation and testing methods (e.g. user testing)
62
possible consequences of failing to involve the end-user in the design process
the developed system may either solve different problem, or deal with issues that are outside of the project's scope
1. program doesn't work
2. program doesn't do everything the users want
3. program does too much (bloat ware)
63
social and ethical issues in system design and analysis
1. ATM replaced bank tellers
2. E-pass systems replaced highway toll collectors
3. internet travel sites replaced small travel agencies
4. automated voice systems replaced service represntatives
5. email replaces mail carriers
6. reporters being replaced by blogs and "citizen journalists" and social media users
64
what does ATM stand for?
automated teller machines
65
impacts of advances in robotics and AI
may eventually replace and increasingly large amount of workers with smart robots --> create social disturbance like that of the Infdustrial revolution
66
counterargument to unemployment caused by advances in tech
jobs don't vanish; they change
67
consequences of new improved information systems in buisnesses
place more stress on the personnel because they ahve to stufy the new system while completing regular duties
68
consequence of automated environments
deprive people of socialzation and interaction opportunities that these tasks once offered them
69
consequence of computerized systems
may absorb people and cause them to drift apart form the physical world and become enclosed in virtual environments
