MAN 561 - Systems Analysis and Design

MIST 4620 - Systems Analysis and Design Course Syllabus for Fall Semester, 2002

Instructor: Dale Goodhue

Office: 309 Brooks Hall

Phone: 542-3746 (my office); 542-3336 (Management Information Systems Department office); 583-0037 (fax). Office Hours: TH 10:00-11:30 F 10:00-11:30, and by appointment Time and Classroom: MWF 9:05-9:55, Sanford 112 Email: The best way to communicate with me is through e-mail at: [email protected]. Course Web Page: http://www.cba.uga.edu/~dgoodhue/mist4620.htm

Textbook and Materials: 1. Systems Analysis and Design: An Applied Approach by Dennis and Wixom, 2000, Wiley. 2. "Essential Systems Analysis" by John Satzinger. Available on the web. Instructions in class.

Prerequisites: MIST4600 and MIST 4610. These are not suggested – they are required. They may not be concurrent.

Dropping MIST 4620: Please note that for any MIS major courses, if students drop their course during one Semester there is no guarantee they can get into the class the next term and their ability to finish the MIS major in three semesters will be jeopardized.

Course Objectives: This course should be viewed as the cornerstone upon which all subsequent MIS activities are based. Skills you learn in this class will be applied again and again throughout your college and IS careers. Consequently, you should expect to work hard in this course to develop these skills. It is expected that students will spend at least 7-10 hours per week reading and working on assignments and projects. This course introduces the concepts and methods of information systems analysis and design, with an emphasis on systems analysis methods and tools. A major focus of the course is a group project.

A systems analyst shall be responsible for studying the problems and needs set forth by an organization and for determining how people, methods, and computer technology can best accomplish improvements. When computer technology is used, the analyst shall be responsible for the efficient capture of data from its business source, the flow of that data to the computer, the processing and storage of that data by the computer, and the flow of useful and timely information back to business users.

After an overview of the entire systems development lifecycle, the question of how systems development projects are identified is discussed. Then the focus of the course shifts to the analysis phase where the requirements for an information system are defined using graphical models and supporting documentation. Coverage of system design emphasizes what is often called external design (or user interface design) rather than software design. In the first part of the course we focus on traditional methods, with an emphasis on process modeling with data flow diagrams. We will briefly discuss object oriented analysis at the end of the course.

The course focuses on the issues and management techniques involved in the analysis, design, and implementation of information systems. Most businesses expect their systems analysts to be knowledgeable in three general areas:

 Interpersonal skills: The systems analyst should be effective in both verbal and written communications, should be able to facilitate meetings, and should be a competent change agent.

Goodhue – MGMT 4620 Page 1  Information Systems: The systems analyst should be familiar with the general IS concepts such as the Systems Development Life Cycle, CASE tools, prototyping, process and data modeling tools and techniques, rapid and joint application development, and programming.  Functional Business Areas: The systems analyst should be familiar with the accounting, marketing, and customer service areas.

This course will focus on items 1 and 2 above to achieve the following outcomes. Upon completion of this course, you should be able to effectively:  understand the concepts and principles of the systems development life cycle (SDLC), including systems planning, project management, and computer-aided systems engineering (CASE) tools.  use the tools and techniques of the structured systems analysis methodology to model systems requirements, including an addition to structured analysis called essential systems analysis.  design and prototype forms, reports, screens, and user-computer dialogs which convey the look and feel of a new systems to end-users.  be familiar with trends affecting the analysis and design of information systems, including alternative methodologies such as object oriented analysis and design.  understand object oriented analysis concepts in terms of utilization, design, and implementation.

Specifically, upon completion of this course, you should be able to effectively:  define the systems analyst’s role and responsibilities in a typical organization.  define systems planning, systems analysis, systems design, systems implementation, and systems support.  describe a phased approach to information systems development and describe cross-life activities that overlap the entire life cycle.  compare and contrast the systems development life cycle and system development techniques, including structured programming, modern structured analysis, structured design, information engineering, and prototyping.  define and perform data modeling and process modeling, and explain why they are important.

Course Requirements: Due Dates: All assignments are due at the beginning of class on the allocated due date. Due dates are subject to change by the instructor.

Individual Work: Assignments in this category are to be accomplished individually. This means that you are not to solve problems together or compare answers prior to turning in the work. Cooperative efforts on individual work are violations of academic honesty, and will result in referal to the appropriate university body. Please refer to the University's academic honesty policy for more details.

Group Work: Assignments in this category are to be accomplished as members of a team. Team members are to be there to help each other. If a team member must miss class, then the other team members are to make sure that the person receives notes and handouts from that class and is informed of any assignments or activities discussed during class. All team members must participate in all team activities, and it is the responsibility of the team to ensure that all team members understand all concepts related to the completed projects and presentations. Early in the quarter (start thinking about it today) students in the class must form their own teams. Your team must be self-managing, and you will have the opportunity to grade your team members on their contributions.

Group Project: The purpose of the major group project is to provide the opportunity to apply the tools and techniques demonstrated in class to a real world problem, within a project team environment. Your individual grade will depend on the overall quality of the project, how well the project satisfies the required tasks, and a peer evaluation. It is possible to receive a grade better or worse than the team grade.

There will be three group presentations during the quarter. There will be deliverables that are due throughout the quarter as well. More detailed information concerning the group project will be available on the course web pages.

Goodhue – MGMT 4620 Page 2 Note on Grading: Group project grades will not be counted if other (individual) grades are not at least at the C level. If you do not have acceptable performance on the process modeling tested in class, your project work will not help you. You must learn the process modeling skills!

Attendance: This class relies on participation. Since you cannot participate unless you are in attendance, I take attendance very seriously. Absences in excess of 4 will result in a 0 for your attendance grade. The class participation and group project grades may also be affected by excessive absences. Students are expected to attend classes and are responsible for obtaining information from missed classes from other students (this includes handouts and changes to due dates). Please inform the instructor and your group ahead of time of an expected absence.

Attendance at Presentations: Attendance at presentations (given by your own group and by other groups) is extremely important. You may loose one point on your final grade for each presentation you miss without an acceptable excuse. Leaving early for a vacation is not an acceptable excuse. Plan your vacations accordingly.

Tests: Three exams will be given. In the case of documented illness or an emergency causing a student to miss an exam, a special makeup exam may be given at the end of the quarter, but the makeup exam will be comprehensive and may be more difficult than the regular exams. The exams will include a combination of objective questions, applied problems, and short answer/essays.

PopQuizes. PopQuizes are intended to test whether students are keeping up with the reading, and are intended to be easy if the reading has been done, and difficult if it has not been done. A PopQuiz is possible on any day there is reading assigned.

Homework Exercises: Because there is no better way to learn the various modeling techniques we cover than working on a problem on your own, there will be frequent homework exercises. These are short problems which will be turned in. Grading is lenient if you have made an honest attempt – the grade is not very important but the learning is! Grades are included in the quiz grades.

Grade Reporting: Given the difficulty of project presentation grading, I typically have not had grades available much before the cutoff time for turning in grades. Since the university system makes these grades available to students soon after they are turned in, I typically have not posted grades. I am open to other ways of doing of this, but will have to be convinced.

Grading: Class Part./Attendance 5% 90% - 100% A Pop Quizes on Readings/ 15% 80% - 89% B Homework Exercises Group Project 30% 70% - 79% C Three Exams 50% 60% - 69% D Total 100% Below 60% F

Note on Grading: Group project grades will not be counted if other (individual) grades are not at least at the C level.

Goodhue – MGMT 4620 Page 3 Tentative Course Schedule: This course syllabus provides a general plan for the course; deviations may be necessary. Topics, assignments, and due dates are subject to change. The chapter numbers below refer to the Dennis and Wixom textbook.

Week Date Topic Preparation Due Introduction to SDLC; Course Project; How 1 19-Aug to Form Groups Chapter 1, and Chapter 1 21-Aug SDLC; Systems Dev Methods Minicase #1

Group Formation; Complete Group Member Get your Group membership 23-Aug List, GROUP PICTURES, More on Project settled Business Value (vs. technical accomplishment); Business as Processes; 2 26-Aug feasibility; Chapter 2 workplan, staffing; Identifying IS Projects— 28-Aug TPS vs DBS; Chapter 3 Team Contract, Code of Conduct Intro to Process Modeling; As-Is vs To-Be 30-Aug models; BPR Chapter 4 3 2-Sep Labor Day Break Requirements Determination; Gathering 4-Sep Information Chapter 5 Process Modeling; Data Flow Diagrams; 6-Sep Levels Chapter 6 Request for Systems Services 4 9-Sep More on DFDs DFD Exercise #1 (2 Copies!) Satzinger: Essential Events and Use Cases; Essential Systems Systems Analysis (on the 11-Sep Analysis web) 13-Sep DFDs, continued; structured English 5 16-Sep DFD Practice DFD Exercise #2 (2 Copies!) Deliverable 1; Presentations 18-Sep Group Presentations (Deliverable 1) (three slides only!) 20-Sep Group Presentations (remainder); Presentations 6 23-Sep ESA (cont.) / Leveling DFDs DFD Exercise #3 (2 Copies!) 25-Sep Exam I (a) Exam I -- Multiple choice 27-Sep Exam I (b) Exam I -- DFD 7 30-Sep ERDs Chapter 7; 2-Oct ERDs, continued; Normalization Chapter 12 (p 346-353) ERD Exercise #1 (2 Copies!) 4-Oct ERDs ERD Exercise #2 (2 Copies!) 8 7-Oct DFDs, Generic Business Processes 9-Oct DFDs & Case Tools DFD Exercise #4 (2 Copies!) 11-Oct DFDs & Reengineering DFD Exercise #5 (2 Copies!) 9 14-Oct DFD and ERD wrapup DFD Exercise #6 (2 Copies!) 16-Oct Project Day 18-Oct Group Presentations (Deliverable #2) Presentations, Deliverable 2 10 21-Oct Group Presentations (Deliverable #2) Presentations, Deliverable 2 23-Oct Group Presentations (Deliverable #2) Presentations, Deliverable 2 Project: The Final Push; 25-Oct Review: DFD and ERD 11 28-Oct Exam II(a) Exam II -- ERD 30-Oct Exam II(b) Exam II -- DFD 1-Nov Fall Break

Goodhue – MGMT 4620 Page 4 Program and Process Design; 12 4-Nov Logic Modeling Chapter 13 6-Nov Interface Design Chapter 10 8-Nov Interface Design Chapter 11 13 11-Nov Implementation Options Chapter 8 (pp. 215-228) Chapter 9 (pp. 246-255; 263- 13-Nov Architecture Design 267) 15-Nov Construction, and Testing Chapter 14 14 18-Nov Installation Chapter 15 20-Nov Object Oriented Analysis Chapter 16 22-Nov OOA, Continued OOA Exercise #1 (2 Copies!) 15 25-Nov OOA, Continued OOA Exercise #2 (2 Copies!) 27-Nov Thanksgiving Break 29-Nov Thanksgiving Break 16 2-Dec Review; DFD, ERD and OOA practice DFD Exercise #7 (2 Copies!) 4-Dec Exam III(a) Exam III -- ERD and DFD 6-Dec Exam III(b) Exam III -- OOA 17 9-Dec Group Presentations (Deliverable 3) Presentations, Deliverable 3

(Final Exam Period -- 8:00- 11-Dec Group Presentations (Deliverable 3) 11:00 AM) Presentations, Deliverable 3

Goodhue – MGMT 4620 Page 5