3.

9 Techniques and Tools for Systems

Development
1. What investigation techniques could be used in the
analysis phase of development?
2. What are the benefits of an interview?
3. How can you ensure on a successful interview?
4. Who is the questionnaire method appropriate for?
5. What are the benefits of observation?
6. What does ‘document analysis’ involve and what
would you look at?
7. Explain Joint Application Development (JAD)
8. Explain the term ‘Thought Shower’
9. Why is it important to record your findings?
10. What should you keep a record of during and after
your investigations?
11. When analysing the processes that go on in an organisation what
diagrams can be used to illustrate this?
12. What is SSADM?
13. What does an information flow diagram aim to illustrate?
14. Draw and label 3 symbols that are used in an information flow
diagram.
15. Draw an information flow diagram to illustrate a teacher buying books
for her class
16. What does a system flowchart aim to illustrate?
17. Label these symbols:

18. Draw a system flowchart to illustrate the processing of cheques at a

bank
19. What is the purpose of a decision table?
20. Create a decision table for the following scenario:
21. What does a data flow diagram illustrate?
22. Explain what these symbols show/represent:

23. Draw a DFD for this system

24. What are the 4 rules of DFD’s?
25. What is the purpose of an entity attribute diagram?
26. In relation to databases what is an entity? (Give an example)
27. What is an attribute? (Give an example)
28. In relation to databases what is a relationship? (Give an example)
29. What is the purpose of an entity relationship diagram?
30. state the 3 types of relationships that can be formed in an entity relationship
diagram
31. Give examples of each relationship and draw appropriate diagrams to represent
them
32. If there is a many to many relationship what would you tend to do?
33. What 6 techniques can be used to ensure thorough
testing takes place?
34. Explain the ‘test harness’ method and identify the
benefits of this
35. Explain the need and importance of ‘volume
testing’
36. Explain the need and importance of ‘scalability
testing’
37. Explain the processes involved with the
‘prototyping’ technique
38. Explain ‘Multi-platform testing’ and why it is
important
39. Explain why ‘simulated environments’ testing is
necessary
 Interviews
 Questionnaires
 Observation
 Document analysis
 Joint Application Development (JAD)
 Thought showers
 The are a form of open ended discussion
 Probing questions can be asked
 Unforeseen questions might stem from
conversation

 Group discussions can be conducted amongst

different levels (e.g. strategic, tactical,
operational)
 Careful preparation in advance

 Possibly providing the interviewee with possible

questions prior to the interview to allow them to
prepare responses

 Record the conversation (audio/written) so it can

be referred back to later on

 Produce a formal report of the interview and

share it with the interviewee(s)
 People in remote locations

 People whose role is minor but need to be

involved

 Appropriate for a large number of people

 To see first hand how a system is being used

 To see first hand the ability (or lack of) of the

end users

 To identify what happens when problems

occur

 To observe informal communication e.g.

telephone calls
 Studying of business materials e.g. policy
documentation, staff handbooks etc.

 Studying of documents used in a system (data

inputs and information outputs) e.g. data
collection forms, invoices, receipts

 This technique allows you to identify the data

that needs to be stored, the information that
needs to be produced and the format the
information needs to take
 Where a group of people get together until a
complete set of requirements are documented
and agreed.

 Useful for projects where a number of different

users are involved

 Benefits of this technique is that everyone

discussing the requirements together means that
they have to come to a joint agreement about
what is required
 A collaboration of many people contributing
to the solution of a problem via a simple
diagram method.

 Ideas might be extreme, innovative.

 It provides a permanent record

 Several people may need to work on the same

project and need access to the information

 Findings may need to be checked and

confirmed

 Provides structure and helps analyse

 All formal documents e.g. questionnaire
responses, interview reports, minutes of
meetings etc.

 Unstructured findings e.g. facts or opinions

give in meetings
 Information Flow Diagram
 System Flowchart
 Decision Tables
 Data Flow Diagrams
 Structured Sytems Analysis and Design
Methodology

 A standard method for analysis and design of

large scale applications for the UK
government

 It uses a combination of text and diagrams

 It aims to show how information moves
between the parts of an organisation, both
internally and externally
 Information Flow
Internal External
Department Organisation
 Teachers
7 Confirmation of
receipt
1 Order Sent 2 Order Confirmed
6 Receipt sent
Finance 3 Invoice sent
Supplier
Office

4 Payment
authorised by BACS
5 Confirms Payment

Bank
 It illustrates how data and information flows
through the system, including manual
operations and manipulation of information
Input or Output of data Process

Interaction Input e.g. by

keyboard, bar code reader Online data storage

Printed output as a single

document Magnetic disk data
storage

Printed output as multiple

documents Magnetic tape data
storage
Cheques MICR Validation
Customer
ccounts

Sort
Transaction Transaction
File File

Updated
Customer
Accounts

Statement
 Used to define the logic behind how a
decision is made.

 It is designed to help you make sure that all

possibilities are considered and to document
all the possible outcomes
 A college will offer a student a place if their interview is satisfactory, their school
reference is OK and they have the right GCSE grades. They will be placed on the
waiting list if their school reference is OK and their interview is satisfactory or they
have the right GCSE grades. Their application will be rejected if their interview is
not satisfactory and they do not have the right GCSE grades.
 A college will offer a student a place if their interview is satisfactory, their school
reference is OK and they have the right GCSE grades. They will be placed on the
waiting list if their school reference is OK and their interview is satisfactory or they
have the right GCSE grades. Their application will be rejected if their interview is
not satisfactory and they do not have the right GCSE grades.

Condition/Cause Value of Condition

Satisfactory interview

School reference OK

Right GCSE Grades

Action/Effect Value of Action

Place offered
Waiting List
Rejected
 A college will offer a student a place if their interview is satisfactory, their school
reference is OK and they have the right GCSE grades. They will be placed on the
waiting list if their school reference is OK and their interview is satisfactory or they
have the right GCSE grades. Their application will be rejected if their interview is
not satisfactory and they do not have the right GCSE grades.

Condition/Cause Value of Condition

Satisfactory interview Y Y Y Y N N N N
School reference OK Y Y N N Y N Y N
Right GCSE Grades Y N Y N N Y Y N
Action/Effect Value of Action
Place offered X
Waiting List X X X X
Rejected X X X
 They identify where the data comes from, the
processes it passes through and where the
data goes to.
 Data Source or
destination

 Duplicated Data
source or destination

 Process

 Data Store
  In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.

Step 1: Identify where data is captured from

Customer
  In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.

Step 2: Identify where data is distributed to

Customer

Support
Operator
Team
  In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.

Step 2&3: Describe the overall process, map these out in a diagram

Customer

0
Hospital Request

Support
Operator
Team
  In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.

Step 4: Link them with data flows that are labelled – Level 0 finished

Customer

Response Customer Request

0
Support Request
Hospital Request

Support
Operator Details of
request Team
  In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.

Step 5: Identify and draw the processes that make Level 0, Allocate descriptions to these

1 2
Receive and log
Create a job record
Support Request

3
Update Job record
  In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.

Step 6: Layout the data sources and data flows from Level 0 diagram

Customer
Customer 2
1 Request

Receive and log Create a job record

Support Request Response
Details of
Request

Operator Support Support

Request Request
Response

4 Support
Team
Add/Update
Customer Details

3
Update Job record
  In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.

Step 7: Draw in any data stores used in the process

Customer
Customer Customer 2
D1
Requests 1 Request

Receive and log Create a job record

Support Request Response
Details of
Request

Operator Support Support

Request
D2 Customer Details Request
Response

4 Support
Team
Add/Update
Customer Details

3
D3 Job Record
Update Job record
  In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.

Step 8: Link the new processes and data stores with the named data links
Customer
Request Customer
Customer Request Customer Job number 2
D1
Requests 1
Receive and log Create a job record
Support Request Support
Request
Numbered job
Operator record Numbered job
Customer
D2 Customer Details record
Details
Response

New/existing
4 Support
customer data Problem Dealt Team
Add/Update with
Customer Details

3
D3 Job Record
Update Job record Problem
Dealt with
1. There should be a data store for every entity
2. Information flows show data and not
physical items
3. Entities don’t link directly to data stores
4. What goes in must come out
 It shows the relationship between an entity
and the attributes that describe it
 Things that have data stored about them

 Example
◦ Systems concerning a school, entities would be:
 Student
 Teacher
 Courses
 Describes an individual data item within the
entity

 Attributes of a student would be:

◦ Student Surname
◦ Student Forename
◦ DOB
 Describes the link between two entities

 Example
◦ A student and a member of staff might be linked by
the relationship ‘tutor’
◦ One tutor can tutor many students
◦ One student can only have one tutor
 When building databases it shows how two or
more entities are related
1. One to one
2. One to many
3. Many to many
 One to one
Department Has
Department
Manager

 One to Many
Has
Employee Department

 Many to Many
Has
Employee Project
 Create a new entity and use this to join the
other entities as a one to many relationship

Employee role Project

1. Test harnesses
2. Volume testing
3. Scalability testing
4. Prototyping
5. Multi-platform testing
6. Simulated environments
 Through the use of specialist software and
test data this method allows some types of
testing to be automated.

 The software is setup to test the data under

specified conditions, comparing actual
outputs to expected outputs.

 Economical benefits with regards to time and

money
 Tests that a new system works with large
volumes of data.

 Tests the limits of the software under heavy

load
 Tests that a system will perform as required
even if the system has to deal with an
increased workload e.g. increased users,
larger amount of transactions
 Used to gather feedback throughout the
development process rather than just at the end

 You build a limited version of the solution and

show it to the client

 You make changes and then show it again

 Repeats until the solution meets the clients

requirements
 Tests to ensure that the system operates on a
variety of hardware specifications and
operating systems

 Must consider mobile devices

 It may not always be feasible to test a system
in every environment, so simulated
environments are used

 E.g.

◦ Testing it over the companies WAN may cause

disruption so you might simulate this process,
change conditions (bandwidth speeds, amount of
data transferred etc.) Simulating this would not
cause disruption.