SCSP2613-02 SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

In today's class we learnt about some methods in gathering information. Dr Hawaniah briefly recap the 7 phases of System Development Life Cycle (SDLC). We then discussed about phase 3 which is the analyzing stage. In order to analyze such system, we need to understand the current system needs before coming up with requirements of the new system functions. As a developer, we need to know the function of the system before starting to gather information from our clients.  System requirement consists of functional and non-functional requirement. Functional requirements describes the software's main function to be able to deliver a certain task needed by user while a non-functional requirement focus on the efficiency and more towards the effectiveness of system to deliver information at the shortest time possible.

After understanding the system, we then can come up with a proposal that consists of all the requirements and details needed in order to make the system work. The proposal must be clear and direct so that clients who may not come from an IT department would understand the project that is going to happen. Gathering information methods are through observation, interviews and also questionnaire. Among those three methods, we focused on interview and questionnaire in class. In order to come up with a system, the questions must be prepared to clients and also users so that we understand the current system issue. Before an interview, we need to have a certain information about our clients to get to know them briefly before meeting them in person. Set of questions needs to be prepared before the interview to ensure that we ask them the right questions and to avoid information missed when meeting the clients. We also need to understand that the clients are busy people that have a lot more commitment so it is crucial to respect their time and not drag the session that has been promised. Therefore, the limited time allocated should not be taken for granted and should get the solutions for problems proposed.  

When preparing a set of interview question, some guides that were discussed are the questions need to be arrange accordingly. For instance, general questions come first then closed questions or vice versa. Try to make the interview session less tense and comfortable instead of being too formal and uncomfortable.  This goes the same when delivering questionnaires. We must consider the person answering the questions. Questions given must be clear and specific enough in order to retrieve the correct information that we needed. At the end of the session, it is important to restate the client needs to ensure we understand the correct order and requirements needed by client. Follow up should be done by the team to update the client about our progress.