Aug 1999 SA205 : Systems Analysis (Question 4) Suggested Solutions

(a)	Identify and describe three general areas of requirements when considering a new system.	[6]
	Current requirements : the existing expectation of the system performance, quality, capacity, cost and control. Future requirements : the understanding of future needs to facilitate long-term growth. Management imposed requirements : these might be concerned with resource allocation and development time, and might encroach upon the design of the system.
(b)	Describe each of the following criteria which may be used when determining the merit of a system: (i) Goals (ii) Time (iii) Cost (iv) Reliability (v) Capacity (vi) Efficiency (vii) Productivity (viii) Accuracy	[1] [1] [1] [1] [1] [1] [1] [1]
	(i) Goals are concerned with whether the developed system meets its intended objectives. (ii) Time criteria encompass various timing aspects associated with the system, such as elapsed time, transaction time, overall processing time, etc. (iii) Cost criteria encompass various costs aspects associated with the system, such as the annual cost of the system, per unit cost, maintenance cost, etc. (iv) Reliability is concerned with whether the system suffers from fewer or more breakdowns or crashes than was previously the case. (v) Capacity is concerned with whether the system is able to handle average or peak workloads. (vi) Efficiency is concerned with the amount of resources used by the system compared to what was previously the case. (vii) Productivity is concerned with whether productivity has increased through use of the new system. (viii) Accuracy is concerned with whether the new system produces fewer processing errors than the previous one.
(c)	The structured walkthrough is a formal meeting which is organized to review the development of a system. (i) Who should be involved in a structured walkthrough? (ii) How should maintenance be addressed during a structured walkthrough? (iii) Why should management not be directly involved in a structured walkthrough?	[3] [2] [1]
	(i) A structured walkthrough should involve participants from the end-user departments, the developers of the system, and other personnel to organise the review and record the issues which are presented. (ii) Through enforcing common coding standards, modularity, and documentation. This will ensure a degree of consistency and availability of information which will help maintenance of the system. (iii) This could result in discouraging members of the review team from speaking honestly.