Systems Life Cycle

Know why it is necessary to evaluate a new system

Understand the need to evaluate in terms of ease-of-use, appropriateness and efficiency

Be able to describe a variety of evaluation strategies

Sometimes problems with a system will not be found until it is being used by a large number of people or an unusual situation occurs.

Evaluation is really re-analysing - starting the same systems analysis process all over again.

Once the new system has been implemented and is in full use, the system should be evaluated : this means that we take a long, critical look at it.

The purpose of an evaluation is to assess the system to see if it does what it was supposed to do, that it is working well, and that everyone is happy with it.

When the systems analyst evaluates the new system, the following questions will be asked:

Is the system efficient? Does it operate quickly, smoothly

and with minimal waste? Is the system saving time, and

resources?

Is the system easy to use? Are all of the system's

users able to use the system easily and effectively?

Can new staff understand and use the system with minimal training?

Is the system appropriate? Is the system

suitable for the particular business / organisation?

Does the system actually meet the needs of the business / organisation?

The systems analyst will use a number of techniques to evaluate the system.

Many of these are very similar to the techniques originally used to analyze the system.

1 : Check against the Requirements Specification

During the Analysis phase, the old system was analysed, and a checklist of targets was drawn up for the new system.

This list was called the Requirements Specification.

The systems analyst uses this document to check the new system. Going through the requirements one-by-one the analyst will check if they have been met.

2: Check the Users' Responses

It is essential to get feedback from the users of the system - Do they like it? Does it make their work

easier? What, if anything, could

be improved?

2b: Checking Users' Responses

The systems analyst can get this feedback in the same way they collected information about the original system: Questionnaires Interviews Observations

The outcome of the evaluation will be to identify any limitations or problems with the new system.

The system analyst will then need to begin the task of system analysis from the beginning, but this time analyzing the new system, and then designing, testing and implementing improvements.

Compare the final solution with the design objectives i.e the original task requirements.

A good evaluation will always start by comparing the system which has been produced with the original problem and requirements of the solution.

Ensure that the solution does the job it’s meant to do in the way it’s meant to do it, as recorded in the analysis and the requirements specification

Evaluate the users‘ responses to the system. As well as testing the system with data, the future users of this system need to have the opportunity to test it out and identify problems which the systems analyst might have failed to spot.

Establish any limitations of the system and any improvements that may need to be made to the system. This is the point at which faults with the system (found during the testing stage) are identified. There should then be suggestions as to how these faults should be rectified.