Colegio de San Gabriel Arcangel

City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines

COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

Program Bachelor of Science in Information Technology

Course Code MITE7
Description Systems Analysis and Design

LEARNING SHEET NO. 1

Name Score
Date Section

Topic Introduction to Information Systems

Learning 1. Define a system and identify its components and elements.

Outcomes 2. Define business systems and information systems.
3. Identify the components in an information system.
4. Identify the reasons for the need of an information system.
5. Enumerate and describe the types of information systems.
6. Explain the general system principles.
7. Identify the players in a system.
8. Identify the roles of a systems analyst.
9. Describe the knowledge and skills required of a systems analyst.

References Hoffer, J., George, J.& Valacich, J. (2008), Modern Systems Analysis and Design (5 th Ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Shelly, G. & Harry, J. (2012), Systems Analysis and Design (9 th Ed.). Boston: Course
Technology Cengage Learning.
Valacich, J., George, J., & Hoffer, J. (2012), Essentials of Systems Analysis and Design (5 th
Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Whitten, J. & Bentley, L. (2007), Systems Analysis and Design Methods (7 th Ed.). Boston:
McGraw-Hill / Irwin.
Yeates, D. & Wakefield, T. (2004), Systems Analysis and Design (2 nd Ed.).Harlow, UK:
Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Discussion
What is a System?
A system is an interrelated set of components that function together to achieve an outcome. Basically there
are three major components in every system: input, process, and output.

Elements of a System
1. Purpose. It is the reason it exists or the reference point of measuring its success.
2. Subsystems. These are parts or elements which perform specific tasks that are compatible with the goals
of the larger system of which these are parts.
3. Environment. It is the people, facilities, rules, policies, and regulations that surround a system.
4. Boundary. It is the perimeter or line of demarcation, between a system and its environment.
5. Connections. It transmits the flow of material and information that coordinate the system’s components.
6. Control mechanisms. These are rules and logic that govern the individual subsystems and the
interactions among them.

Prepared by: JIMMY DE VERA ROLDAN, MSIT

 Colegio de San Gabriel Arcangel
City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

System Concepts
1. Business system is a collection of policies, procedures, methods, people, machines, and other elements
that interact and enable the organization to achieve its goals.
2. Information system is a collection of interrelated components that collect, process, store, and provide as
output the information needed to complete a business task.

Information Systems
Components
1. Work practice. These are the methods and procedures used by people and technology to perform work.
2. Information. It can include formatted data, text, images, and sounds.
3. People. These are the persons who enter, process, and use data.
4. Information technology. This includes hardware and software that performs one or more data processing
tasks.

Reason for the Need of an Information System

1. Growing size of an organization and the number of competitors
2. Growing ability of computers to process large amounts of data with great speed
3. Dramatic increase in volumes of data generated
4. Advances in communication technologies to permit faster data transmission
5. Increase in pace of business transactions
6. Much more sophisticated technology today

Types of Information Systems

Organizations and individuals use different types of systems for different purposes. Here are some of the main
types of information systems and their uses.
1. Transaction Processing Systems (TPS). TPS processes large amounts of data for routine business
activities or transactions. A transaction in an event that generates or modifies data that is eventually
stored in an information system. TPS is very important for the organization since they gather all the input
necessary for other types of information systems.
2. Management Information Systems (MIS). MIS provides standard reports for managers about transaction
data. MIS works on the purposeful interaction between people and computers. It supports a broader
range of organizational tasks to include not only TPS but also decision analysis and decision making. Its
output information is used in decision making processes. Also, MIS helps unite some of the computerized
information functions of a business, although it does not exist as a structure anywhere in the business.
MIS is designed to take the relatively raw data available through a TPS and convert them into a
summarized and aggregated form for managers, usually in a report format. The different types of reports
that can be produced include summary report, exception report, ad-hoc report, and on-demand report.
3. Decision Support Systems (DSS). DSS are designed to help organizational decision makers identify and
choose between options and decisions. Instead of providing summaries of data, as with MIS, DSS
provides an interactive environment in which decision makers can quickly manipulate data and models of
business operations. DSS depends on databases as a source of data.
4. Office Automation Systems (OAS). OAS support general office works for handling and managing
documents and facilitating communication. Familiar aspects of OAS include word processing,
spreadsheets, desktop publishing, electronic scheduling, and communication through voice mail, email,
and video conferencing.
5. Expert Systems (ES). Expert systems (also called knowledge-based systems) perform a task that would
otherwise be performed by a human expert. Some expert systems are designed to take the place of
human experts, while others are designed to aid them. ES is part of a general category of computer
applications known as Artificial Intelligence (AI).
6. Executive Information Systems (EIS). EIS provides a generalized computing and communication
environment to senior managers to support strategic decisions. These rely on the information generated
by MIS and allow communication with external sources of information. EIS is designed to facilitate senior
manager’s access to information quickly and effectively.

Prepared by: JIMMY DE VERA ROLDAN, MSIT

 Colegio de San Gabriel Arcangel
City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

General System Principles

There are a few general principles that are of particular interest to people building automated information
systems. These include the following:
1. The more specialized a system is, the less able it is to adapt to different circumstances.
2. The more general-purpose a system is, the less optimized it is for any particular situation. But the more
the system is optimized for a particular situation, the less adaptable it will be to new circumstances.
3. The larger the system is, the more of its resources that must be devoted to its everyday maintenance.
4. Systems are always part of a larger system and they can always be partitioned into smaller systems.
5. Systems grow. This principle could not be true, but many of the systems with which we are familiar do
grow, because we often fail to take it into account when we begin developing the system.

Players in the System Game

There are different classes of actors in an information system. These are the system stakeholders which are
classified into five groups namely:
1. System sponsors / owners. These pay for the system to be built and operate and set the vision and
priorities of the system. They view information in terms of costs and benefits to solve problems and
exploit opportunities. System sponsors may also be system users and they generally come from the
ranks of executives and managers.
2. System users. These are people who actually use the system on a regular basis to support the operation
and management of the organization. They define the business requirements and expectations for the
system. System users are also internal system customers and they come from all levels of the
organization.
3. System designers. These are technical specialists that translate the business requirements into a feasible
technical solution. They view the information system in terms of a design blueprint to guide the
construction of the final system.
4. System builders. These are technical specialists who build, test, and deliver the information system.
They view an information system in terms of the actual working hardware and software to implement the
system.
5. System analysts. These are people who determine the requirements that must be met by the information
system.

Roles of the Systems Analyst

The systems analyst serves as a facilitator or coach, bridging the communication gap that can naturally
develop between non-technical system owners and users and the technical system designers and builders. There are
three primary roles of the systems analyst and these are as follows:
1. Systems Analyst as Consultant. Most of the time, the systems analyst acts as a consultant to a business
and therefore, may be hired to address specific information system issues within a business.
2. Systems Analyst as Supporting Expert. In this role, the systems analyst draws on professional expertise
concerning computer hardware and software and their uses in the business. The analysts are merely
serving as a resource for those who are managing the project.
3. Systems Analyst as Agent of Change. This is considered as the most comprehensive and responsible
role of the systems analyst. They are an agent of change whenever they perform any of the activities in
the SDLC and are present in the business for an extended period. Also, as an agent of change, the
systems analyst advocates a particular avenue of change involving the use of information systems.

Required Skills of the Systems Analysts

Systems analysts should have a variety of special skills. They need to have an understanding on how to build
an information system that requires technical knowledge. Also, they have to understand the business they are working
for and how the business uses each of the types of systems. Moreover, systems analysts need to understand people
and the way they work because they will use the information systems.

Technical Knowledge and Skills

Here are the fundamentals that a systems analyst should understand:
1. Computers and how they work
Prepared by: JIMMY DE VERA ROLDAN, MSIT
 Colegio de San Gabriel Arcangel
City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

2. Devices that interact with computers, including input devices, storage devices, and output devices
3. Communication networks that connect computers
4. Databases and database management systems
5. Programming languages
6. Operating systems and utilities
7. Software packages
8. Integrated development environments (IDEs) for specific programming languages
9. Computer-aided system engineering (CASE) tools that store information about system specifications
created by analysts and sometimes generate program code
10. Program code generators, testing tools, configuration management tools, software library management
tools, documentation support tools, project management tools, and others

Business Knowledge and Skills

Systems analysts should have an understanding of the business organization in general since the problem to
be solved is a business problem. A systems analyst with deep understanding of a specific industry can solve complex
problems for companies in that industry. Being familiar with a specific company also provides important guidelines on
system needs and changes. Here are some specifics the systems analyst needs to know about the company:
1. What the specific organization does
2. What makes it successful
3. What its strategies and plans are
4. What its traditions and values are

People Knowledge and Skills

Systems analysts need to understand a lot of people since they usually work on development teams with
other employees. They should possess many interpersonal skills. It is critical that the analyst understand how people:
1. Think
2. Learn
3. React to change
4. Communicate
5. Work

Review Questions
1. What is a system?
2. Enumerate and explain briefly the elements of a system.
3. Differentiate a business system from an information system.
4. Enumerate the components of an information system.
5. State the reasons for the need of an information system.
6. What are the different types of information systems? What are their uses?
7. Who are the players in the system game? What are their roles in the game?
8. Name the roles of a systems analyst.
9. What are the required skills of a systems analyst?

Activities
1. Form a group composed of a minimum of two members and a maximum of four members.
2. Each group will be given a copy of Attachment A to be used as reference for the project this semester.
3. Groups may use any but not limited to the following:
a. Payroll System
b. Inventory System
c. Library System
d. Enrolment System
e. Accounting System
f. Patient Information and Billing System

Prepared by: JIMMY DE VERA ROLDAN, MSIT

 Colegio de San Gabriel Arcangel
City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

g. Others
4. Groups must choose an organization where they will conduct requirements and problem analysis on its
existing system and propose an improved system.
5. Discuss and submit a ¼ sheet of paper the following information:
a. Group name
b. Group members
c. Type of propose system
6. Submit a narrative on the company background of the chosen company next meeting.

Prepared by: JIMMY DE VERA ROLDAN, MSIT