Systems Management

Cost-Benefit Analysis in Information Systems Development

Since cost plays quite an important role in deciding the new system, it must be identified and estimated properly. Costs vary by type and consist of various distinct elements. Benefits are also of different type and can be grouped on the basis of advantages they provide to the management. The benefits of a project include four types:

  • Cost-savings benefits
  • Cost-avoidance benefits
  • Improved-service-level benefits
  • Improved-information benefits

Cost-savings benefits lead to reduction in administrative and operational costs. A reduction in the size of the clerical staff used in the support of an administrative activity is an example of a cost-saving benefit.

Cost-avoidance benefits are those, which eliminate future administrating and operational costs.… Read the rest

Abey Francis

Feasibility Analysis in System Development Process

Objectives of Feasibility Analysis

  • The main objectives of feasibility analysis are —
  • To identify the deficiencies in the current system.
  • To determine objectives of the proposed system.
  • To acquire a sense of scope of the system.
  • To identify the responsible users.
  • To determine whether it is feasible to develop the new system.

Steps in Feasibility Analysis

Feasibility analysis is carried out in following steps:

  1. Form a Project Team and Appoint a Project Leader: First of all project management group of the organization forms separate teams for independent projects. Each project team comprises of one or more systems analysts and programmers with a project leader.
… Read the rest
Abey Francis

Role of a Systems Analyst in Organizations

Who is Systems Analyst?

A systems analyst is a person who conducts a study, identifies activities and objectives and determines a procedure to achieve the objectives. Designing and implementing systems to suit organizational needs are the functions of the systems analyst He plays a major role in seeing business benefit from computer technology. The analyst is a person with unique skills. He uses these skills to coordinate the efforts of different type of persons in an organisation to achieve business goals.

What a Systems Analyst does?

A system analyst carries out the following job:

  • The First and perhaps most difficult task of systems analyst is problem definition.
… Read the rest
Abey Francis

System Development Life Cycle

To understand system development, we need to recognize that a candidate system has a life cycle, much like a living system or a new product. Systems analysis and design are based to the system life cycle. According to Dennis, Wixom, and Tegarden(2009) “the systems development life cycle (SDLC) is the process of understanding how an information system (IS) can support business needs by designing a system, building it, and delivering it to users.”  The stages are described below. The analyst must progress from one stage to another methodically, answering key questions and achieving results in each stage.

Step 1: Recognition of Need — What is the Problem?… Read the rest
Abey Francis

Computer Based Information Systems (CBIS) – Meaning and Types

Computer Based Information System (CBIS) is an information system in which the computer plays a major role. Such a system consists of the following elements:

  • Hardware: The term hardware refers to machinery. This category includes the computer itself, which is often referred to as the central processing unit (CPU), and all of its support equipment’s. Among the support equipment’s are input and output devices, storage devices and communications devices.
  • Software: The term software refers to computer programs and the manuals (if any) that support them. Computer programs are machine-readable instructions that direct the circuitry within the hardware parts of the Computer Based Information System (CBIS) to function in ways that produce useful information from data.
… Read the rest
Abey Francis

Types of Systems

Systems have been classified in different ways. Common classifications are:

  1. Physical or abstract systems
  2. Open or closed systems
  3. Deterministic or probabilistic systems
  4. Man-made information systems

Physical or Abstract Systems: Physical systems are tangible entities that may be static or dynamic in operation. Abstract systems are conceptual or non-physical entities which may be as straightforward as formulas of relationships among sets of variables or models – the abstract conceptualization of physical situations.

Open or Closed Systems: An open system continually interacts with its environments. It receives inputs from and delivers output to the outside. An information system belongs to this category, since it must adapt to the changing demands of the user.… Read the rest

Abey Francis