I did not find that the systems analysis module was very useful for me as the majority of the module I had already covered at A-level and the module did not go into much more detail than what I had already covered and it was mainly just going over material that I already knew, however I feel that the module would be useful to those who did not study ICT at A-level as they would have no existing understanding of the module.
I am not sure of the usefulness of having a systems analysis module in the computer science and software engineering courses, especially as there module specifications move away from the business IT side and concentrate more on the software development side of IT.
I think that it would be very beneficial if a systems analysis module was included in the business and management courses as it would lead to a better understanding of how IT systems are developed and why they are not always on time or budget and the difficulties in changing a system to include new features or functions. It would also lead them to a better understanding of how IT systems work and when investing in a new IT system may not be the best solution to their problems or why their new IT system has not fixed all their problems.
The topic I found the most useful in the systems analysis module was on drawing/designing DFD’s as this was not covered to a great extent at A-level however I feel that this part of the course could be done in more detail with particular emphasis on drawing/designing DFD’s. I also feel that too much emphasis was put on economic feasibility during the feasibility study topic.
The topics that I feel where the least useful was the fact finding techniques as again I had covered this topic in detail at A-level (both in ICT and sociology) and a lot of it could be labelled as common sense, such as questionnaires and interviews, but again some of this would be useful to people who have not covered this at A-level as some techniques such as covert and overt observation may not be obvious and they would not have come across some of the other factors such as the Hawthorn effect.
Something I feel that could be covered would be giving examples of existing systems and problems with the systems and how they can be solved using systems analysis techniques to recommend what type of system the business actually needs and where the current system is flawed.
Tags: how useful is systems analysis, systems analysis, university of ulster, UU, UUJ
