System Analysis

1
System Analysis

• Sometimes called requirements analysis
• Three steps
• Understand as-is system gathering info about
  the current system
• Identify improvements identify strengths and
  problems of the current system
• Develop concept for the to-be system analyze
  the strengths and problems to produce a concept
  for the new system

Contd..
2

• The steps are tightly coupled and are often
  iterative
• The analysis phase ends with a basic plan
  analysis plan for the to-be system that is
  described via a process model and a data model
• So, analysis includes info gathering thro
  interviews, DFD modeling, and ER Modeling

3
The Analysis Process

• Analyzing IS requirements is both a business task
  and an IT task
• Early days presumption SA is an IT job did
  not address the true business needs
• Then business experts did the SA automation of
  existing inefficient systems without using IT to
  fullest
• Ideal approach balance the business expertise
  of the users and systems expertise of the
  analysts
• General ideas for the to-be system was developed
  in the initiation phase

Contd..
4

• The product of the analysis phase is a system
  concept for the to-be system
• This concept is then refined in the design phase
  and then built and delivered in the
  implementation phase
• A business process is simply a set of activities
  that are performed to achieve some goal
• E.g., a typical store
• While developing ISs, it is important to
  understand the scope of the business process
  under study entire store, or just one component

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Three Analysis Strategies

• Business Process Automation (BPA) using IT to
  do some of the work, basic operation is
  unchanged, least impact on business
• Business Process Improvement (BPI) moderate
  changes w.r.t. organizational operations using
  IT, or to copy competitors
• Business Process Reengineering (BPR) changing
  the fundamental way in which organization
  operates, making major changes taking advantage
  of new business ideas and IT

Contd..
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• No one approach is better than others?
• Regardless of the analysis strategy the project
  flows thro the three fundamental steps
• Understanding the as-is system
• Identifying improvements, and
• Developing concept for the to-be system

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Understanding the As-Is System

• In most cases, the system under development
  replaces an existing system
• So, first understand its strengths and
  weaknesses
• Apply good info gathering techniques
• If the as-is system is computerized, review the
  analysis and design docs of the previous system
• Develop a detailed process model and data model

Contd..
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• Caution
• Do not to jump into conclusions about the new
  system
• Temptation to focus only on what the users want
• Users may know what theyd like in a new system
• That may not truly reflect what they really need
• Analyst may have a predetermined system concept
• Focus only on understanding the as-is system,
  whether computerized or not

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Identifying Improvement Opportunities

• Identify ways to improve the current system
• Again, info-gathering techniques are used
• Requires technology skills and business expertise
• Analyst and/or external consultant and/or users
  will work on identifying improvements

10
Developing the To-Be System Concept

• Analysts and users develop the components for the
  to-be system
• The system concept starts as a fuzzy set of
  possible improvement ideas
• These are gradually worked reworked into a
  viable concept for the to-be system
• The system concept is reasonably well understood
• A business process model and a data model are
  created

Contd..
11

• Analysis ends with a system proposal for the new
  system
• Presents an overview of one or more recommended
  alternatives
• Presents a vision for the new system and outlines
  its basic design
• Each alternative will present outline of the
  new system, process model, and a data model
• Analysts will develop revised work plan for each
  alternative, will again examine the expected
  costs and benefits, and present a more detailed
  version of the feasibility analysis

Contd..
12

• The system proposal is presented to the approval
  committee
• A walk-through may be conducted for clear
  understanding of the alternatives
• With the go ahead the project transitions from
  analysis into the design phase

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Outline of a Typical System Proposal

1. Table of contents
2. Executive summary A summary of all the essential
   info in the proposal so a busy executive can read
   it quickly and decide what parts of the plan to
   read in more depth
3. System request The original system request that
   initiated the project, with revisions as needed
   after the analysis phase
4. Work Plan The original work plan, revised after
   completion of the analysis phase

Contd..
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1. Analysis strategy A summary of the activities
   performed during the analysis phase, such as the
   analyses performed, and how the info was gathered
   (e.g., the questionnaires used, the persons
   interviewed)
2. Recommended system A summary of the concept for
   the recommended system, as well as the key facts
   justifying the decision. A discussion on the
   alternatives considered is also included
3. Feasibility analysis A revised feasibility using
   the info from the analysis phase

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1. Process model A set of process models and
   descriptions for the to-be system, including the
   process model of the current as-is system that
   will be replaced
2. Data model A set of data models and descriptions
   for the to-be system
3. Appendices Contain additional material relevant
   to the proposal, might include results of
   questionnaire survey, interviews, industry
   reports and statistics, possible hardware and
   software considerations

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Analysis Strategy Business Process Automation
(BPA)

• BPA leaves the existing business process
  essentially the same but puts in place a new
  system that makes the processes more efficient
• Automates an existing manual process, or
• Improves an existing computerized system
• Simplifies interactions with the system
• Provides improved efficiency to users
• Least impact on jobs, fundamental business
  process remains unchanged, new tools may be used

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Understanding the As-Is System

• Do the same thing in better ways
• Extensive info gathering
• Observation of the system in operation
• Interviews with all stakeholders
• Review current systems documentation
• Detailed process modeling
• Detailed data modeling

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Identifying Improvements
With BPA, most of the improvement opportunities
come from problems in the current system. Two
general techniques to identify improvements
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• Problem Analysis
• Straightforward BPA analysis technique
• Identify problems with the as-is system from
  users and managers
• Come out with possible solutions
• Most changes tend to solve problems rather than
  capitalize on opportunities
• Provide only minor improvements in business value

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• Root cause analysis
• Problem analysis is solution oriented based on
  assumptions
• Solutions may not always be appropriate
• In root cause analysis instead of the symptoms,
  the root causes of problems are addressed

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Developing the To-Be System Concept

• Minimal info gathering
• To-be process and data models are very close to
  as-is process and data models
• Revise the as-is process model into the to-be
  model
• Revise as-is data model into the to-be model

22
Analysis Strategy Business Process Improvement
(BPI)

• Improve business processes by introducing
  moderate changes that are incremental or
  evolutionary in nature
• The to-be system implements these changes and
  creates value not only by increasing efficiency
  but also by changing the what is done

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Understanding the As-Is System

• Some of the business processes will be quite
  different.
•  
• Extensive info gathering
• Detailed process modeling
• Detailed data modeling

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Identifying Improvement Opportunities

• BPI focuses on business improvement
• Ideas can come from problem analysis or root
  cause analysis but more powerful techniques are
  used
• Duration analysis detailed examination of
  amount of time taken to process inputs to outputs
  in the as-is business process
• Total time can be 10 to 100 times longer than the
  sum of the parts (say for home mortgage)
• Think in terms of process integration and process
  parallelization

Contd..
25

• Activity-based costing examines the cost of
  each major process rather than the time
• Identify the costly processes, and focus
  improvement efforts on them
• Informal benchmarking fairly common for
  customer facing business processes
• Study other organizations processes
• Formal benchmarking thorough and costly
  benchmarking strategy
• Team of analysts study processes of many
  organizations

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Developing the To-Be System Concept

• Moderate info gathering
• Revise the as-is process model into the to-be
  model
• Revise as-is data model into the to-be model

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Analysis Strategy Business Process Reengineering
(BPR)

• Fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of
  business processes to achieve dramatic
  improvements in critical, contemporary measures
  of performance, such as cost, quality, service,
  and speed Michael Hammer and James Champy,
  Reengineering the corporation
• Appealing but risky and time-consuming

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Understanding the As-Is System

• Minimal info gathering
• Basic understanding of the essence of the as-is
  system

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Identifying Improvement Opportunities

• Complete rethinking of the business processes,
  creatively
• Six BPR techniques
• Outcome analysis from customers perspective
• Insurance company
• Breaking assumptions how to break each and
  every business rule, and benefit by doing so
• Non-sufficient Funds in customers account

Contd..
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• Technology analysis application of new
  technology
• Achieve JIT inventory thro announcing production
  schedule
• Activity elimination
• Proxy benchmarking similar to informal
  benchmarking, except the target of the
  benchmarking is a different industry having
  similar structure
• Process simplification separate complex
  operations (exceptions) from the normal
  operations
• A separate process handles complex inputs

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Developing the To-Be System Concept

• Very different to-be process
• Requires extensive info gathering after deciding
  on the changes
• Detailed to-be process model
• Detailed to-be data model

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Developing an Analysis Plan

• The plan for activities that the project team
  will conduct during the analysis phase
• Outlines what activities will exactly be done in
  each of the analysis phases
• Which analysis strategy will be pursued
• No strategy is better than others
• Combination of strategies may be used
• Decided by the project sponsor

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33

• Project team provide important inputs to the
  sponsor
• BPA may be used on most of the business processes
  and BPI on some key parts
• Strengths and weaknesses of analysis strategies
  on four parameters
• Potential business value
• Project cost
• Breadth of analysis boundary of analysis
• Risk

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BPA BPI BPR Potential Low/Mod
Moderate High Business Value Project Low
Low/Mod High Cost Breadth of Narrow
Narrow/Mod Very broad Analysis Risk Low/Mo
d Low/Mod Very high