Summary

For courses in Systems Analysis and Design, Structured

A clear presentation of information, organized around the systems development life cycle model

This briefer version of the authors’ highly successful Modern System Analysis and Design is a clear presentation of information, organized around the systems development life cycle model. Designed for courses needing a streamlined approach to the material due to course duration, lab assignments, or special projects, it emphasizes current changes in systems analysis and design, and shows the concepts in action through illustrative fictional cases.

Teaching and Learning Experience
This text will provide a better teaching and learning experience–for you and your students. Here's how:

Features a clear presentation of material which organizes both the chapters and the book around The Systems Development Life Cycle Model, providing students with a comprehensive format to follow.
Provides the latest information in systems analysis and design
Students see the concepts in action in three illustrative fictional cases

Author Biography

Joseph S. Valacich is an Eller Professor of Management Information Systems in the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. He has had visiting faculty appointments at Buskerud College (Norway), City University of Hong Kong, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Riga Technical University (Latvia), and Helsinki School of Economics and Business. He received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Arizona (MIS), and M.B.A. and B.S. (computer science) degrees from the University of Montana. His teaching interests include systems analysis and design, collaborative computing, project management, and management of information systems. Professor Valacich cochaired the national task forces to design IS 2010: The Model Curriculum and Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Information Systems. He also served on the Executive Committee, funded by the National Science Foundation, to define the IS Program Accreditation Standards and on the Board of Directors for CSAB (formally, the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board), representing the Association for Information Systems (AIS). He was the general conference co-chair for the 2003 International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), and the co-chair for the Americas’ Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) in 2012.

Prior to his academic career, Dr. Valacich worked in the information systems field as a programmer, systems analyst, and technical product manager. He has conducted numerous corporate training and executive development programs for organizations, including AT&T, Boeing, Dow Chemical, EDS, Exxon, FedEx, General Motors, Microsoft, and Xerox.

Dr. Valacich is the co-Editor-in-Chief for AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, a senior editor at MIS Quarterly and was formerly an associate editor for Information Systems Research. He has published more than 200 scholarly articles in numerous prestegious journals and conferences. His scholarly work has had a tremendous not only on the field of information systems, but also on a number of other disciplines, including computer science, cognitive and social psychology, marketing, and management. In February 2014, Google Scholar lists his citation counts over 13,800, with an H-index of 54. He is also a coauthor of the leading Modern Systems Analysis and Design (Seventh Edition) and Information Systems Today (Seventh Edition).

Joey F. George is professor of information systems and the John D. DeVries Endowed Chair in Business at the Iowa State University College of Business. Dr. George earned his bachelor’s degree at Stanford University in 1979 and his Ph.D. in management at the University of California at Irvine in 1986. He was previously the Edward G. Schlieder Chair of Information Systems in the E. J. Ourso College of Business Administration at Louisiana State University. He also served at Florida State University as Chair of the Department of Information and Management Sciences from 1995 to 1998.

Dr. George has published dozens of articles in such journals as Information Systems Research, Communications of the ACM, MIS Quarterly, Journal of MIS, and Communication Research. His research interests focus on the use of information systems in the workplace, including computer-based monitoring, computer-mediated deceptive communication, and group support systems.

Dr. George is coauthor of the textbooks Modern Systems Analysis and Design, Seventh Edition, published in 2014, and Object-Oriented Systems Analysis and Design, Second Edition, published in 2007, both from Pearson. He has served as an associate editor and senior editor for both MIS Quarterly and Information Systems Research. He served three years as the editor-in-chief of the Communications of the AIS. Dr. George was the conference cochair for the 2001 ICIS, held in New Orleans, Louisiana; conference chair for the 2012 ICIS held in Orlando, FL; and the doctoral consortium cochair for the 2003 ICIS, held in Seattle, Washington. He is a Fellow of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) and served as President of AIS in 2010—11.

Jeffrey A. Hoffer is the Sherman—Standard Register Professor of Data Management for the Department of MIS, Operations Management, and Decision Sciences in the School of Business Administration at the University of Dayton. He also taught at Indiana University and Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Hoffer earned his B.A. from Miami University in 1969 and his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1975.

Dr. Hoffer has coauthored all editions of three college textbooks: Modern Systems Analysis and Design, with George and Valacich; Managing Information Technology: What Managers Need to Know, with Brown, DeHayes, Martin, and Perkins; and Modern Database Management, with Ramesh and Topi, all published by Pearson Prentice Hall. His research articles have appeared in numerous journals, including the MIS Quarterly—Executive, Journal of Database Management, Small Group Research, Communications of the ACM, and Sloan Management Review. He has received research grants from Teradata (Division of NCR), IBM Corporation, and the U.S. Department of the Navy.

Dr. Hoffer is cofounder of the International Conference on Information Systems and Association for Information Systems and has served as a guest lecturer at the Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, and the Helsinki School of Economics and Business in Mikkeli, Finland.

Preface xix

PART I FOUNDATIONS FOR SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT 2

Chapter 1 The Systems Development Environment 2

What Is Information Systems Analysis and Design? 4

Systems Analysis and Design: Core Concepts 4

Systems 6

Definition of a System and Its Parts 6

Important System Concepts 7

A Modern Approach to Systems Analysis and Design 10

Your Role in Systems Development 11

Developing Information Systems and the Systems Development Life Cycle 12

Phase 1: Systems Planning and Selection 14

Phase 2: Systems Analysis 14

Phase 3: Systems Design 15

Phase 4: Systems Implementation and Operation 15

Alternative Approaches to Development 18

Prototyping 18

Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) Tools 18

Joint Application Design 19

Rapid Application Development 19

Participatory Design 21

Agile Methodologies 21

Key Points Review 21

Key Terms Checkpoint 22

Review Questions 23

Problems and Exercises 23

Discussion Questions 24

Case Problems 24

Chapter 2 The Sources of Software 26

Introduction 27

Systems Acquisition 27

Outsourcing 28

Sources of Software 29

Choosing Off-the-Shelf Software 33

Reuse 36

Key Points Review 39

Key Terms Checkpoint 39

Review Questions 40

Problems and Exercises 40

Field Exercises 40

Case: Petrie’s Electronics 40

Chapter 3 Managing the Information Systems Project 42

Pine Valley Furniture Company Background 44

Managing the Information Systems Project 45

Initiating the Project 49

Planning the Project 53

Executing the Project 60

Closing Down the Project 63

Representing and Scheduling Project Plans 64

Representing Project Plans 66

Calculating Expected Time Durations Using PERT 67

Constructing a Gantt Chart and Network Diagram at Pine Valley Furniture 68

Using Project Management Software 71

Establishing a Project Starting Date 72

Entering Tasks and Assigning Task Relationships 72

Selecting a Scheduling Method to Review Project Reports 73

Key Points Review 74

Key Terms Checkpoint 75

Review Questions 76

Problems and Exercises 76

Discussion Questions 78

Case Problems 79

Case: Petrie’s Electronics 80

PART II SYSTEMS PLANNING AND SELECTION 82

Chapter 4 Systems Planning and Selection 82

Identifying and Selecting Projects 84

The Process of Identifying and Selecting Information Systems Development Projects 84

Deliverables and Outcomes 87

Initiating and Planning Systems Development Projects 88

The Process of Initiating and Planning Systems Development Projects 88

Deliverables and Outcomes 89

Assessing Project Feasibility 90

Assessing Economic Feasibility 92

Assessing Other Feasibility Concerns 98

Building the Baseline Project Plan 99

Reviewing the Baseline Project Plan 105

Pine Valley Furniture WebStore: Systems Planning and Selection 108

Internet Basics 108

Pine Valley Furniture WebStore 110

Key Points Review 113

Key Terms Checkpoint 114

Review Questions 116

Problems and Exercises 116

Discussion Questions 117

Case Problems 117

Case: Petrie’s Electronics 119

PART III SYSTEMS ANALYSIS 122

Chapter 5 Determining System Requirements 122

Performing Requirements Determination 124

The Process of Determining Requirements 124

Deliverables and Outcomes 125

Requirements Structuring 126

Traditional Methods for Determining Requirements 126

Interviewing and Listening 126

Directly Observing Users 131

Analyzing Procedures and Other Documents 132

Modern Methods for Determining System Requirements 135

Joint Application Design 136

Using Prototyping during Requirements Determination 139

Radical Methods for Determining System Requirements 140

Identifying Processes to Reengineer 141

Disruptive Technologies 142

Pine Valley Furniture WebStore: Determining System Requirements 143

System Layout and Navigation Characteristics 143

WebStore and Site Management System Capabilities 144

Customer and Inventory Information 145

System Prototype Evolution 145

Key Points Review 146

Key Terms Checkpoint 147

Review Questions 148

Problems and Exercises 148

Discussion Questions 148

Case Problems 149

Case: Petrie’s Electronics 150

Chapter 6 Structuring System Requirements: Process Modeling 152

Process Modeling 154

Modeling a System’s Process 154

Deliverables and Outcomes 154

Data-Flow Diagramming Mechanics 155

Definitions and Symbols 156

Developing DFDs: An Example 158

Data-Flow Diagramming Rules 161

Decomposition of DFDs 162

Balancing DFDs 164

Using Data-Flow Diagramming in the Analysis Process 166

Guidelines for Drawing DFDs 166

Using DFDs as Analysis Tools 168

Using DFDs in Business Process Reengineering 169

Logic Modeling 171

Modeling Logic with Decision Tables 172

Pine Valley Furniture WebStore: Process Modeling 175

Process Modeling for Pine Valley Furniture’s WebStore 175

Key Points Review 177

Key Terms Checkpoint 178

Review Questions 179

Problems and Exercises 179

Discussion Questions 183

Case Problems 184

Case: Petrie’s Electronics 185

Chapter 7 Structuring System Requirements: Conceptual Data Modeling 188

Conceptual Data Modeling 190

The Process of Conceptual Data Modeling 191

Deliverables and Outcomes 191

Gathering Information for Conceptual Data Modeling 195

Introduction to Entity-Relationship Modeling 197

Entities 197

Attributes 199

Candidate Keys and Identifiers 199

Multivalued Attributes 200

Relationships 201

Conceptual Data Modeling and the E-R Model 201

Degree of a Relationship 202

Cardinalities in Relationships 203

An Example of Conceptual Data Modeling at Hoosier Burger 206

PVF WebStore: Conceptual Data Modeling 209

Conceptual Data Modeling for Pine Valley Furniture’s WebStore 209

Selecting the Best Alternative Design Strategy 213

The Process of Selecting the Best Alternative Design Strategy 213

Generating Alternative Design Strategies 214

Developing Design Strategies for Hoosier Burger’s New Inventory Control System 216

Selecting the Most Likely Alternative 218

Key Points Review 220

Key Terms Checkpoint 221

Review Questions 222

Problems and Exercises 222

Discussion Questions 225

Case Problems 225

Case: Petrie’s Electronics 229

PART IV SYSTEMS DESIGN 232

Chapter 8 Designing the Human Interface 232

Designing Forms and Reports 234

The Process of Designing Forms and Reports 234

Deliverables and Outcomes 236

Formatting Forms and Reports 238

Designing Interfaces and Dialogues 246

The Process of Designing Interfaces and Dialogues 246

Deliverables and Outcomes 247

Designing Interfaces 247

Designing Dialogues 258

Pine Valley Furniture WebStore: Designing the Human Interface 262

General Guidelines for Designing Web Interfaces 262

General Guidelines for Web Layouts 262

Designing the Human Interface at Pine Valley Furniture 263

Menu-Driven Navigation with Cookie Crumbs 264

Lightweight Graphics 265

Forms and Data Integrity 265

Template-Based HTML 265

Key Points Review 266

Key Terms Checkpoint 267

Review Questions 267

Problems and Exercises 268

Discussion Questions 268

Case Problems 269

Case: Petrie’s Electronics 270

Chapter 9 Designing Databases 272

Database Design 274

The Process of Database Design 274

Deliverables and Outcomes 276

Relational Database Model 279

Well-Structured Relations 280

Normalization 281

Rules of Normalization 281

Functional Dependence and Primary Keys 282

Second Normal Form 282

Third Normal Form 283

Transforming E-R Diagrams into Relations 284

Represent Entities 285

Represent Relationships 286

Summary of Transforming E-R Diagrams to Relations 288

Merging Relations 289

An Example of Merging Relations 289

View Integration Problems 290

Logical Database Design for Hoosier Burger 291

Physical File and Database Design 293

Designing Fields 294

Choosing Data Types 294

Controlling Data Integrity 296

Designing Physical Tables 297

Arranging Table Rows 299

Designing Controls for Files 303

Physical Database Design for Hoosier Burger 304

Pine Valley Furniture WebStore: Designing Databases 306

Designing Databases for Pine Valley Furniture’s WebStore 307

Key Points Review 309

Key Terms Checkpoint 311

Review Questions 312

Problems and Exercises 312

Discussion Questions 314

Case Problems 314

Case: Petrie’s Electronics 315

PART V SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION AND OPERATION 318

Chapter 10 Systems Implementation and Operation 318

Systems Implementation and Operation 320

The Processes of Coding, Testing, and Installation 321

Deliverables and Outcomes from Coding, Testing, and Installation 321

The Processes of Documenting the System, Training Users, and Supporting Users 322

Deliverables and Outcomes from Documenting the System, Training Users, and Supporting Users 323

The Process of Maintaining Information Systems 323

Deliverables and Outcomes from Maintaining Information Systems 324

Software Application Testing 325

Seven Different Types of Tests 325

The Testing Process 327

Acceptance Testing by Users 329

Installation 330

Planning Installation 330

Documenting the System 333

User Documentation 334

Preparing User Documentation 335

Training and Supporting Users 336

Training Information System Users 336

Supporting Information System Users 338

Support Issues for the Analyst to Consider 340

Why Implementation Sometimes Fails 341

Project Closedown 342

Conducting Systems Maintenance 343

Types of Maintenance 343

The Cost of Maintenance 344

Measuring Maintenance Effectiveness 345

Controlling Maintenance Requests 346

Configuration Management 347

Role of Automated Development Tools in Maintenance 348

Web Site Maintenance 348

Maintaining an Information System at Pine Valley Furniture 349

Pine Valley Furniture WebStore: Systems Implementation and Operation 350

Systems Implementation and Operation for Pine Valley Furniture’s WebStore 351

Key Points Review 353

Key Terms Checkpoint 354

Review Questions 356

Problems and Exercises 356

Discussion Questions 357

Case Problems 357

Case: Petrie’s Electronics 358

Appendix A Object-Oriented Analysis and Design 361

The Object-Oriented Modeling Approach 361

Use-Case Modeling 362

Object Modeling: Class Diagrams 365

Representing Associations 366

Representing Generalization 368

Representing Aggregation 370

Dynamic Modeling: State Diagrams 371

Dynamic Modeling: Sequence Diagrams 372

Designing a Use Case with a Sequence Diagram 374

Moving to Design 375

Key Points Review 376

Key Terms Checkpoint 377

Review Questions 378

Problems and Exercises 378

Appendix B Agile Methodologies 381

The Trend to Agile Methodologies 381

Agile Methodologies 382

eXtreme Programming 384

The Heart of the Systems Development Process 385

Requirements Determination 386

Design Specifications 389

Implementation 391

What We’ve Learned about Agile Methodologies 391

Key Points Review 392

Key Terms Checkpoint 393

Review Questions 393

Problems and Exercises 393

References 395

Glossary of Acronyms 401

Glossary of Terms 403

Index 409

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