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…..

• 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

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…..

• 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

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…..

• 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

Understanding the As-Is System:

• In most cases, the system under development replaces an existing system

• So, first understand it’s 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…..

•Caution

• Do not to jump into conclusions about the new system

• Temptation to focus only on what the users want

• Users may know what they’d 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

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

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…

..

• 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…..

• 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

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…..

5.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)

6.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

7.Feasibility analysis: A revised feasibility using the info from the analysis phase Contd…

..

8. 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

9. Data model: A set of data models and descriptions for the to-be system

10. Appendices: Contain additional material relevant to the proposal, might include results of questionnaire survey, interviews, industry reports and statistics, possible hardware and software considerations

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

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 system’s documentation

• Detailed process modeling

• Detailed data modeling

Identifying Improvements:

With BPA, most of the improvement opportunities come from problems in the current system.

Two general techniques to identify improvements –

• 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

• 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

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

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

Understanding the As-Is System:

Some of the business processes will be quite different.

 

• Extensive info gathering

• Detailed process modeling

• Detailed data modeling

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…..

• 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

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

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

Understanding the As-Is System:

• Minimal info gathering

• Basic understanding of the essence of the as-is system

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’ accountContd…..

• 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

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

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 sponsorContd…..

• 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

BPA BPI BPR

Potential Low/Mod Moderate HighBusinessValue

Project Low Low/Mod HighCost

Breadth of Narrow Narrow/Mod Very broadAnalysis

Risk Low/Mod Low/Mod Very high