Individual reflection on the module of system analysis - Essay Example

? Individual reflection on the module of system analysis Contents Contents 2 Background and overview of the project 3 2.Needs assessment and requirements analysis method 4 3.Method overview 5 4.Output example of the SSM approach 9 5.Critical evaluation of the SSM approach 10 6.UML Method used for the case study 11 7.Findings from the UML method 13 8.Output illustration 14 9.Critical evaluation of the method 17 10. Conclusion 18 References 20 1. Background and overview of the project E-commerce has opened new vistas of business opportunities that have redefined business and marketing strategies. The proposed e-commerce project will enable the clients, the owners of Pan Oceanic Sea Friends Pet Shop to reach out to an extended customer base through their website. The web application tool will allow the customers to browse through the different categories of pets sold online and select their desired pets to their shopping basket. The application tool will further enable the customers to pay for their purchases online and have their pets delivered to their doorstep. The website will also enable the customers to access a wide range of information related to pets and pet care besides offering them the facility to shop for related accessories for their pets. The overall objective of the website is to facilitate customers to find the desired information related to pets and shop for the desired pets online. It will serve as a one-stop solution for their pet needs. The paper provides an in-depth evaluation and assessment of the different dimensions of the proposed system design, its applications, and data flow in order to develop a streamlined software application system. The purpose of this exercise is to highlight and analyze the flow of information and activities through different inputs and its processing channels that will lead to the desired outcomes. The methodology used for this purpose is the Unified Modeling Language (UML) that is a graphical language used to construct and document the system design requirements. This approach is used to provide a system blueprint through database schemas and diagrams defining the flow and sequence of information in the proposed system (Douglass, 2004). These diagrams and sequences thus help in describing and developing software application tools (Fowler, 2004). The system analysis concept initiates with the problem definition or recognition of the end goals of the proposed system in this case. The requirements of the client or the end user form the key aspect for defining inputs, processes and outputs for the system. The system analysis process thus involves a deeper understanding of user requirements and in-depth perception of existing systems that helps in co-relating different components of the work process to streamline and integrate with the new system (Gupta, 2005). One of the vital factors driving the need for system analysis is the fact that most clients are not aware of all their requirements and this can create gaps in needs assessment and system design objectives. The system analysis takes into account the identification of individual components and modules, the definition of associations between these components and the specification of the logical flow of data across different modules. It is imperative to understand that a step by step analytical approach to systems design and development can help immensely in effective design of the proposed application tool. 2. Needs assessment and requirements analysis method The systems design and development process is riddled with complexity in terms of technology tools used and the ability to co-relate the operational processes with desired goals and objectives. The information development approach has been subjected to rapidly changing technology tools and systems that have aimed at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of end-products and its usability to customers (Barry, Conboy, Wojtkowski, Lang, & Wojtkowski, 2009). It often happens that the end product of the systems development process fails to meet the actual requirement of the customer or fails to streamline with the existing business processes. This is one of the primary reasons behind carrying out an in-depth assessment of client needs and requirements before beginning with the coding and development process. The objective of the systems analysis is to enable a perfect alignment of the proposed application tool with the specified business goals and objectives. There are number of approaches that can be taken to complete this assessment, such as CATWOE analysis and soft systems methodology. 3. Method overview The methodology we used in this case was the soft systems methodology (SSM) conceptualized by Peter Checkland. As per this methodology the analysis of user requirements and system specifications adopts a goal oriented approach that helps in defining the specific outcomes of the application tool. The key challenge in the design and development of information systems is identifying the requirements of different stakeholders (individuals who are the actual users of the proposed system tool). Each level of stakeholder has different needs and expectations from the system that plays an important role in determining the effectiveness of the tool in the long run (Vasilecas et al., 2005). It must be acknowledged in this context that the process of information systems development is a group activity the success of which depends on the extent to which the client and developer collaborate and communicate their requirements in clear and precise terms (Jackson, 2003). The SSM approach helps in identifying the key stakeholders and their specific requirements from the proposed application tool. The figure below illustrates the seven stages of the SSM approach used in this case – Fig 1. The SSM Model (Barry et al., 2009) 1. The problem definition: unstructured The goal is to develop an e-commerce portal that enables the customers of the pet shop store to browse for pet information and shop for pets online. 2. The problem situation: expressed The interface and application design must meet the requirements of the key stakeholders – a) Customers a. Browse information related to pets b. Perform online transactions for pets and related accessories b) Client (the pet shop business) a. Increase revenues through extended outreach to potential customers b. A well integrated systems tool that can help in meeting business goals 3. Root definition of relevant systems Online pet shop portal features – Customer information processing Customer enquiry Customer order placement Customer online payment processing Customer order tracking 4. Conceptual models The conceptual model for the case study depicts the system model based on the preliminary understanding of the client requirements and processes involved. Fig 2 Conceptual model for the e-commerce website 5. Comparison of 4 with 2 A comparative assessment of the conceptual model with the problem situation expressed in the second stage of the SSM model highlights the role of the proposed system in helping the Pet Shop Company realize their business goals and objectives. The proposed system design takes into account the information and transaction needs of the customer that is strongly integrated with the business goals of the client. The overall goal of the system will be to streamline different activities and processes online towards an effective profit generating tool. Besides profit generation, the objective of the proposed system will be to enable effective administration of online activities and facilitate the managers of the company to generate business performance reports and sales statistics. The primary benefit of this assessment was its contribution to visualizing the system model in context of its key users and stakeholders. It also helped in highlighting the objectives of the system and the extent to which it can support user needs and requirements (Diwedi, Wade & Schneberger, 2011). 6. Definition of feasible desired changes The next stage was to identify any changes within the conceptual model and specify areas in which the system application can be developed further for effective results. Some of the key areas identified during this process were the inclusion of a payout system that can ensure the safety of online transaction for the customers. One of the major concerns of people shopping online has been the security of payment transactions. With increasing number of frauds and loopholes in technology this has been a matter of great concern both among the shoppers and the sellers. Secured online payment systems and the use of advanced technology to increase the security of online transactions is one of primary requirements of e-commerce business models. A second aspect pertaining to the enhancement of the proposed system was the addition of an order tracking service that enables customers who have made purchases online to track the status of their order delivery. This process will entail the generation of an automated order tracking number for each transaction made online. The customer can log onto his or her account and insert this number to get a status update on the delivery process. This number can be used by the customers for any future reference to purchases made through the website. This was an important step in the direction of value addition to the proposed web tool (Wasson, 2006). The system analysis team also felt at this stage that an individual login facility will be provided to each customer for accessing their shopping basket and any other transaction made through the website. The login account will enable the customer to view his activities on the website besides enabling him to access his shopping basket. 7. Action to solve the problem or improve the situation These suggestions from the system analytic team were incorporated into the subsequent design and development process of the website. 4. Output example of the SSM approach The figure below illustrates one of the outputs of the completed SSM method for system analysis. The preliminary phase of the approach helped in identifying the key inputs and processes of the proposed system application tool. This was useful in determining the different ways in which the system could be improved and worked upon to make it more efficient. The figure reflects the system requirements and deliverables from two perspectives – the customer and the client or the pet shop business. These two elements constitute the key stakeholders for the business and thus an in-depth understanding of their needs and expectations was a vital aspect driving the success of this application tool. 5. Critical evaluation of the SSM approach The SSM approach enabled the team to gain a deeper understanding of the key requirements and outputs desired by the stakeholders of the pet shop business. While the theoretical approach helped in providing a guideline for assessing and identifying the system elements and important modules of the proposed system tool. The vital aspects of the system design and development process was outlined and given a distinctive shape that helped in visualizing the proposed system architecture and design components (Karray & DeSilva, 2004). It was a useful exercise since it involved extensive communication and collaboration between the team members in order to assess different processes and identify ways in which the process could be streamlined further for increased efficiency. The focus of the team was on removing redundancy and creating a well-integrated system that can meet and exceed the needs and expectations of the customers and clients. System analysis methods and approaches have undergone widespread transformation to accommodate the rapid changes taking place in the field of information technology. The growing demands of the technology tools and the pressures of growing competitive business environment have triggered the need for efficient systems that can help businesses meet their profit goals and development objectives. Information systems in the present day encompass a more collaborative approach that allows the client and system developers to understand the scope and limitations of the proposed system. However, the effectiveness of such collaborative efforts is wasted in the face of limited user knowledge, understanding and awareness of the potentials of such application system. The initial system analysis process is underlined with challenges in the form of gaps in technical know-how and the limited knowledge of the extent to which such systems can be applied to support business goals (Mcleod & Schell, 2007). 6. UML Method used for the case study The next stage of our analysis focused on the use of UML to represent and highlight the associations between different modules and activities defined for the system. The system analysis process made use of UML approach to illustrate the case study modules and activity. The UML or the Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a standard approach used by system design and developers to define the existing co-relations and associations between various system components (Douglass, 2004). The key features of the UML approach is its ability to provide a model for a well structured system, define collaborative and individual behavior of components, and scalability of the model through different organizational contexts (Coleman, 1998). The use of this construct has enabled the developers and designers to visualize the system architecture and evaluate options to improve efficiency of individual work processes through increased streamlining and integration with other modules. Out of the various uses of the UML (Unified Modeling Language), the ease of sketching a use case diagram is one of them. They are used in the analysis part of the project to evaluate, distinguish and partition system functionality. In the field of software and systems engineering, use case can be described as a series or list of steps in the whole process between an actors and the system per se. The whole process is undertaken to achieve the goal smoothly and effectively (Sheldon et al., 2001). Here the actors would represent the work done or the role played by the users of the system. The users can be either tangible or intangible resources as well. They can be human being, the different hardware used, the software or any other computer .The basic characteristics would be that they should be an external element to that system. They would receive the result or the output from the system. The function of the use case would be to analyze the functioning and the nature of the system after one of these external elements sends any inputs to it. The behavior which is observed narrates the nature of the action which triggers the use case. It also studies the various inputs and the resultant output of different actors. The act is then described textually. The text also details the predictable wrongs or the errors during the course of the entire behavior and provides the suitable remedy to be undertaken by the system for its correction. The aim of any use case and the interrelationships would be to reduce any repetitious information and to structure the textual analysis in a function. If the relationship among the use cases and structure of the same is done suitably, then creating what a proposed system is to do, become simpler. The resultant software is not any way related to the total structural framework of the use case. 7. Findings from the UML method The use cases are not a design tool. The different software designs patterns cannot be interpreted on the basis of the relationships among the use cases. The various diagrams, structures and the relationships among the use cases are important as they contain the minimum number of repetitive information. This makes them comparatively easy to use and maintain. They are the functional descriptions are different from a software design (Pastor et al., 2002). A use case consists of a user function which the subject provides to the actors. An actor is associated with the use case with a binary association. An actor specifies the act by any external element, which interacts with the subject. When an external entity for example the human being, any other system or any hardware etc, interacts with the subject, they constitute the role of an actor. The roles played by the entity may be different and distinct. An actor is linked with one or more than one use cases. Each use case would consist of a unit of complete and useful functioning system which the subject is relating to its users. This type of functioning system which is started by the actor should be completed by the use case. It can be declared as completed task if after its execution the subject is in a state where it does not expect any input or output. In a nut shell, the behavior of a use case comprises of the methods required to analyze and define a particular behavior. The different behaviors may be interactions, different activities, the pre and post conditions of the systems, etc. The technique used by the different users to study and analyze the nature of the use case of course differs and varies (Fowler, 2004). 8. Output illustration During the course of our exercise we applied UML concepts to emphasize the functional aspect of each module and along with graphical illustration of logical information flow and activity flow between the actors and use cases identified for the project. Two actors were defined for this case study - 1) Customers 2) Company-representatives The use cases defined for the customers are listed as below – 1) Seeking information – Search Information 2) View pets online – View items 3) Purchase pets or accessories online – Make purchase 4) Paying for items ordered – Checkout and Make payment 5) Tracking orders placed – Track orders The use case for sales-person are listed as follows – 1) Handle customer query – Answer Query 2) Process orders placed – Process Orders 3) Generate reports for sales – Generate Report Based on the list of actors and specific use cases identified, the following use case diagram was drawn for this case study – Fig 3 - Use case diagram for customers and company representative The graphical representation of system components is helpful in exposing new possibilities of enhancing design elements, streamlining information flow and communicating the basic essentials of system development and deployment scenarios to the stakeholders of the proposed systems (Shoemaker, 2004). The application of use case diagrams provided the design and development team with a distinctive look and feel of the proposed system besides enabling the client to review the specific processes that will be taken care of by the system. The table below illustrates the use case documentation for one of the processes – Checkout and make payment. Name Checkout and make payment Actor(s) Customer Description Describes the process of checking out and making the payment for the orders placed through the website. Successful completion Customer enters the website; customer logs in to his shopping account on the website; Seeks the desired pets and accessories he wants to purchase; adds them to shopping basket; proceeds to payment section; fills in customer address for order delivery; provides payment details; payment authentication process verifies details; payment confirmed; order tracking number provided to customer; customer logs out. Alternate Customer enters the website; customer logs in to his shopping account on the website; Seeks the desired pets and accessories he wants to purchase; adds them to shopping basket; proceeds to payment section; fills in customer address for order delivery; provides payment details; payment authentication process verifies details; payment rejected due to incorrect details; customer tries again. Pre-condition Customer wants to shop for pets or related accessories supplied by the website. Post-condition Customer has made the payment for the orders placed and receives a confirmation with the order tracking number. Assumption Customer wants to make an online purchase of pets or accessories. 9. Critical evaluation of the method In today’s world, businesses operate in considerably different way as it used to be. The concept of E-commerce and the different web applications have also enabled the business to behave and regulate differently. This has helped the business to improve the quality of the goods and helps increases the speed of the service delivery. This helps in reducing the cost of the business operations as well. The problem arises when the systems being used are very complicated and complex, to be used by the user. The improper communication between the user and the developer also poses a problem. The solution to all these would be analyzes and visually models the system’s structure and functioning or the architecture. The visual modeling acts a bridge between the end user and the development team (Wasson, 2006). Visual modeling is the method of analyzing the problem based on the views pertaining with today’s world. There are various advantages of modeling. They are used for understanding the problem, transforming the same to the customers, the team members, the experts etc. Modeling enables good understanding of the needs and the requirements and it eliminates the not so needed details. Those software systems which are based on a good and structured modeling system are easier to maintain. The modeling structure comprises of designing programs and databases, and making the proper documents. In an information system, the role of a system analyst is of the utmost important. They help in analyzing the business, looks for any scope of betterment, and designing the required information system in order to practice the ideas. The analysis process consists of the following steps: the analysis of the system, taking and collecting relevant information, process modeling, modeling based on the dataset etcetera are two roles of an analyst which are business analyst and systems analysts. The business analyst details and studies the important business terms of the system, predicts the business value of the system and framing policies and new business processes and policies for the same. The role of systems analysts is to find and analyzing the importance of technological advances to improve business, designing the information system and the new business process and also see that system works in tandem with the information system standards. 10. Conclusion The e-commerce web application design and development process involves a basic understanding of such business models and how it can contribute to business goals. Compared to a regular brick and mortar store the electronic-store is available for service 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The consumer can log onto these stores at any point of time according to their convenience and make purchases from the comfort of their desktops at home or office. Moreover, the consumers have a wide range of choice shopping online with various online stores available for browsing. This allows them to compare products and prices before they make a purchase decision. This feature has provided the consumers the benefit of convenience and wasting of unnecessary time in commuting to the stores. This essentially provides the consumers with better customer service and increased value for their money. There are number of websites offering similar products or services to the targeted customer segment. Hence the focus of the proposed website application must be on offering an effective portal that makes the whole experience of purchasing pets online memorable. The security and privacy issue plays a significant role in drawing customers to shop online. Most customers are paranoid about divulging their personal information online for the fear of misuse. Online payment transactions with the use of credit cards and personal bank account information also raise a concern with regards to security. Moreover, there are many customers who are paranoid about dealing with a faceless seller. The lack of trust and concerns about secured payment options online along with privacy of information divulged causes most consumers to avoid online shopping. The focus of the systems design and development team hence must be on addressing these issues in order to provide an effective online interface for the pet shop business. References 1. Barry, C., Conboy, K., Lang, M., Wojtkowski, G. & Wojtkowski, W. 2009, Information systems development – challenges in practice, theory and education, Volume 1, Springer. 2. Coleman, D. 1998, A use case template: draft for discussion, Hewllet Packard Software Initiative. 3. Diwedi, Y.K., Wade, M.R., & Schneberger, S.L. 2011, Information systems theory – explaining and predicting our digital society, Vol 1, Springer. 4. Douglass, B.P. 2004, Real Time UML – advances in the UML for real time systems, 3rd edition, Pearson Education Inc. 5. Fowler, M. 2004, UML Distilled – a brief guide to the standard object modeling language, 3rd edition, Pearson Education Inc. 6. Gupta, P. 2005, Structured system analysis and design, Firewall Media. 7. Jackson, M.C. 2003, Systems thinking: creative holism for managers, John Wiley & Sons. 8. Karray, F.O. & DeSilva, C.W. 2004, Soft computing and intelligent systems design – theory, tools and applications, Pearson Education. 9. Mcleod, R. & Schell, G.P. 2007, Management information systems, 10th edition, Pearson Education Inc. 10. Pastor, O., Abrahao, S. & Fons, J. 2002, Building e-commerce applications from object oriented conceptual models, Valencia University of Technology. 11. Sheldon, F.T., Jerath, K., Pilskalns, O., Kwon, Y., Kim, W. & Chung, H. 2001, Case study: B2B e-commerce system specification and implementation employing Use case diagrams, digital signatures and XML, University paper. 12. Shoemaker, M. 2004, UML applied: a .NET perspective, Springer. 13. Vasilecas, O., Caplinskas, A., Wojtkowski, W., Wojtkowski, G., Zupancic, J. & Wrycza, S. 2005, Information systems development – advances in theory, practice and education, Springer. 14. Wasson, C.S. 2006, System analysis, design, and development – concepts, principles and practices, John Wiley & sons. Read More