Task 1
One of the major problems that systems analysts face is the problem of communication with the end user who may not understand technical terms or they’re may be a misunderstanding to what the end user is actually asking for and what the systems analyst thinks that the end user is asking for. There may also be the problem that the end user is not sure exactly want the new system to do and so they may not be able to explain to the systems analyst what they want. There is also the problem that the end user may not understand what the systems analyst is telling them about what the new system will be capable of doing or what process will be involved in the system as there may be process in the old system that where not implemented properly or have been left out or the systems analyst may not have even known that they existed in the old system or where meant to be included in the new system. Also the end user may not be willing to read though large technical document either as he may not understand it fully, does not have the time or simply could not be bothered with reading the document.
Task 2
In order to overcome some of these problems a variety of diagrams are used to help overcome the communication problem between the systems analyst and the end user, natural language is subject to misinterpretation, omissions and ambiguities. Diagrams are used to help communication and understanding and are unambiguous. They are presented to the end user to help them understand how the new system will work and if there are any process that have been left out or any that may have been misunderstood and implemented incorrectly the systems analyst can then amend the diagrams and present them to the end user again to see if the proposed system is correct this process is repeated until the diagrams accurately match what the system is meant to do and to what the end user thinks that the system is meant to do and that the process in the current system are going to be implemented correctly in the new system.
They are used to represent simple decision processes however when the processes become more complex they can become large and unwieldy to use. Although they are easy for the end user to understand, they also will have a real value even if little hard data and they can be combined with other decision techniques.
They are similar to decision tables which contain a set of conditions which give rise to a set of actions covering all possible outcomes. Each decision is a procedure or operation to perform and the entry specifies which action to perform for the set of decisions that where made.
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They are easy to use and easy for the end user to understand however they can become large and unwieldy if the decision process is complicated.
Structure charts are also used to show the functions and sub functions of each part of the system and relationships between different modules in the system.
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They are able to show an overview of the functions and sub functions that it represents which would otherwise be difficult to interpret and understand especially for end users.
While structure charts can be useful in showing the functions and sub functions of each part of the system they can get quite complicated as the functions become more complicated and the end user may not be able to follow the structure chart as easily or may not understand it at all. Context diagrams can also be used to show the interfaces between external entities and the system and they represent the system at a high level of detail (the system is represented as a single box) and data flows between the external entities and the system. Entity Relationship diagrams can also be used to show the relationships between entities in a database they often use symbols to represent the different types of information.Flow charts can also be used to represent a process, using different symbols to show each step in the process. Flowcharts are easy to understand, they provide a graphical representation of the process. However they can be time consuming to produce and again if the process becomes very complex or large they can be unwieldy to use.
Diagrams are useful for showing complex process in a form that the end user can understand more easily however if the process is quite large they can get messy and unwieldy to use, and not every business regards them as useful enough to warrant using. They can also be time consuming as the end user has to review the diagrams and the systems analyst has to make amends to the chart if the end user finds any faults with them, this process then has to be repeated until the diagrams are correct and accurately model the proposed system and the process that will be required in the system.
Tags: context diagram, diagram, entity relationship, er, structure, systems analysts
