CHAPTER VI

DESIGN OF NEW SYSTEMS

6.1. System design areas

Output design
Output is information delivered to users through the information system by way of intranets,
extranets, or the World Wide Web. Some data require extensive processing before they become
suitable output; other data are stored, and when they are retrieved, they are considered output
with little or no processing. Output can take many forms: the traditional hard copy of printed
reports and soft copy such as display screens, microforms, and video and audio output. Users
rely on output to accomplish their tasks, and they often judge the merit of the system solely by its
output. To create the most useful output possible, the systems analyst works closely with the user
through an interactive process until the result is considered to be satisfactory.
Because useful output is essential to ensuring the use and acceptance of the information system,
there are six objectives that the systems analyst tries to attain when designing output:
1. Designing output to serve the intended purpose.
2. Designing output to fit the user.
3. Delivering the appropriate quantity of output.
4. Making sure the output is where it is needed.
5. Providing the output on time.
6. Choosing the right output method.

Relating Output Content to Output Method

The content of output from information systems must be considered as interrelated to the output
method. Whenever you design output, you need to think of how function influences form and
how the intended purpose will influence the output method that you choose.
Output should be thought of in a general way so that any information put out by the computer
system that is useful to people in some way can be considered output. It is possible to
conceptualize output as either external (going outside the business), such as information that
appears to the public on the Web, or internal (staying within the business), such as material
available on an intranet.

External output is familiar to you through utility bills, advertisements, paychecks, annual reports,
and myriad other communications that organizations have with their customers, vendors,

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suppliers, industry, and competitors. Some of this output, such as utility bills, is designed by the
systems analyst to serve double duty as a turnaround document. Figure 11.1 is a gas bill that is a
turnaround document for a gas company’s data processing. The output for one stage of
processing becomes the input for the next. When the customer returns the designated portion of
the document, it is optically scanned and used as computer input.

External output differs from internal output in its distribution, design, and appearance. Many
external documents must include instructions to the recipient if they are to be used correctly.
Many external outputs are placed on preprinted forms or Web sites bearing the company logo
and corporate colors.

Internal outputs include various reports to decision makers. They range from short summary
reports to lengthy, detailed reports. An example of a summary report is a report summarizing
monthly sales totals. A detailed report might give weekly sales by salesperson.

Other kinds of internal reports include historical reports and exception reports that are output
only at the time an exception occurs. Examples of exception reports are a listing of all employees
with no absences for the year, a listing of all salespeople who did not meet their monthly sales
quota, or a report on consumer complaints made in the last six months.

Output Technologies
Producing different types of output requires different technologies. For printed output, the
options include a variety of printers. For screen output, the options include attached or stand-
alone displays. Audio output can be amplified over a loudspeaker or listened to on a variety of
speakers, ranging from small to surround sound–capable on a PC. Audio output may also be
designed for mobile phones. Electronic output is created with special software tools. As you can
see, the choices are numerous. Figure 6.1 is a comparison of output methods.

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Figure 6.1 is a comparison of output methods
Factors to Consider When Choosing Output Technology
There are several factors to consider when choosing output technology. Although the technology
changes rapidly, certain usage factors remain fairly constant in relation to technological
breakthroughs. These factors, some of which present trade-offs, must be considered. They
include the following:
1. Who will use (see) the output (requisite quality)?
2. How many people need the output?
3. Where is the output needed (distribution, logistics)?
4. What is the purpose of the output? What user and organizational tasks are supported?
5. What is the speed with which output is needed?
6. How frequently will the output be accessed?
7. How long will (or must) the output be stored?
8. Under what special regulations is the output produced, stored, and distributed?
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9. What are the initial and ongoing costs of maintenance and supplies?
10. What are the human and environmental requirements (accessibility, noise absorption,
controlled temperature, space for equipment, cabling, and proximity to Wi-Fi transmitters or
access points—i.e., hot spots) for output technologies?

Input design
Users deserve quality output. The quality of system input determines the quality of system
output. It is vital that input forms, displays, and interactive Web documents be designed with this
critical relationship in mind. Well-designed input forms, displays, and interactive Web fill-in
forms should meet the objectives of effectiveness, accuracy, ease of use, consistency, simplicity,
and attractiveness. All these objectives are attainable through the use of basic design principles,
the knowledge of what is needed as input for the system, and an understanding of how users
respond to different elements of forms and displays.

Effectiveness means that input forms, input displays, and fill-in forms on the Web all serve
specific purposes for users of the information system, whereas accuracy refers to design that
ensures proper completion. Ease of use means that forms and displays are straightforward and
require no extra time for users to decipher. Consistency means that all input forms, whether they
are input displays or fill-in forms on the Web, group data similarly from one application to the
next, whereas simplicity refers to keeping those same designs uncluttered in a manner that
focuses the user’s attention. Attractiveness implies that users will enjoy using input forms
because of their appealing design.

Good Form Design

The systems analyst should be capable of designing a complete and useful form. Unnecessary
forms that waste an organization’s resources should be eliminated.

Forms are important instruments for steering the course of work. They are preprinted papers that
require people to fill in responses in a standardized way. Forms elicit and capture information
required by organizational members that will often be input to the computer. Through this

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process, forms often serve as source documents for users or for input to ecommerce applications
that humans must enter.

To design forms that people find useful, four guidelines for form design should be observed:
1. Make forms easy to fill in.
2. Ensure that forms meet the purpose for which they are designed.
3. Design forms to ensure accurate completion.
4. Keep forms attractive.
Good Display and Web Forms Design
Much of what we have already said about good form design is transferable to display design and

the design of Web sites and Web pages. Once again, the user must remain foremost in the
analyst’s thoughts during the design of displays.

There are differences, however, and systems analysts should strive to realize the unique qualities
of displays rather than to adopt blindly the conventions of paper forms. One big difference is the
constant presence of a cursor on the display, which orients the user to the current data entry
position. As data are entered onscreen, the cursor moves one character ahead, pointing the way.

Another major difference among electronic, Web, and static forms is that designers can include
context-sensitive user help in any electronic fill-in form. This practice can reduce the need for
instructions being shown for each line, thus reducing the clutter of the form and cutting down on
calls to Technical Support. Using a Web-based approach also permits the designer to take
advantage of hyperlinks, thus ensuring that the forms are filled out correctly by providing users
with hyperlinked examples of correctly completed forms.

In this section, we present guidelines for effective display design. They are presented in order to
aid the attainment of the overall input design goals of effectiveness, accuracy, ease of use,
simplicity, consistency, and attractiveness.

1. Keep the display simple.

2. Keep the display presentation consistent.
3. Facilitate user movement among display screens and pages.
4. Create an attractive and pleasing display.

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 CHAPTER VII
SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION

7.1 Systems Implementation and Operation

 Is the most expensive and time-consuming phase of the en-tire life cycle.
 Physical design specifications must be turned into working computer code.
 Code is tested
 The system is installed,

The seven major activities under implementation and operation phase are coding, testing,
installation, documentation, training, support, and maintenance.
These seven steps are often done by other project team members besides analysts, although analysts
may do some programming and other steps. We briefly discuss these activities in three groups:
1. Activities that lead to the system going into operation—coding, testing, and installation

2. Activities that are necessary for successful system operation— documenting the
system and training and supporting users
3. Activities that are ongoing and needed to keep the system working and up to date—
maintenance

7.1.1. The Processes of Coding, Testing, and Installation

Coding is the process through which the physical design specifications created by the design
team are turned into working computer code by the programming team. Once coding has begun,
the testing process can begin and proceed in parallel. As each program module is produced, it
can be tested individually, then as part of a larger program, and then as part of a larger system.

Installation is the process during which the current system is replaced by the new system. It
includes conversion of existing data, software, documentation, and work procedures to those
consistent with the new system. Users must give up the old ways of doing their jobs, whether
manual or automated, and adjust to accomplishing the same tasks with the new system.

Deliverables and Outcomes from Coding, Testing, and Installation

The most obvious outcome is the code itself, but just as important as the code is documentation of the code.
Modern programming languages, such as Visual Basic, are said to be largely self-documenting.

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7.1.2. The Processes of Documenting the System, Training Users, and Supporting Users
Although the process of documentation proceeds throughout the life cycle, it receives formal
attention now, because once the system is installed, the analysis team’s involvement in system
development usually ceases. As the team is getting ready to move on to new projects, you and
the other analysts need to prepare documents that reveal all of the important information you
have learned about this system during its development and implementation. The two audiences
for this final documentation are ;
(1) the information systems personnel who will maintain the system throughout its productive
life, and
(2) the people who will use the system as part of their daily lives.

7.1.3. The Process of Maintaining Information Systems

Throughout this course, we have drawn the systems development life cycle as a circle where one
phase leads to the next, with overlap and feedback loops. This means that the process of
maintaining an information system is the process of returning to the beginning of the SDLC and
repeating development steps, focusing on the needs for system change, until the change is
implemented.
Four major activities occur within maintenance:
1. Obtaining maintenance requests
2. Transforming requests into changes
3. Designing changes
4. Implementing changes

7.2. Software Application Testing

Different Types of Tests

Software application testing is an umbrella term that covers several types of tests. Tests can
be done with or without executing the code, and they may be manual or automated.

unit testing;each module (roughly a section of code that per-forms a single function) is tested
alone in an attempt to discover any errors that may exist in the module’s code.

Integration testing is gradual. First you test the highest level, or coordinating module, and only
one of its subordinate modules.
System testing is a similar process, but instead of integrating modules into programs for testing,
you integrate programs into systems

A c c e p t a n c e T e s t i n g b y U s e r s ; testing the system in the environment where it will

eventually be used. Acceptance refers to the fact that users typically sign off on the system and

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“accept” it once they are satisfied with it. The purpose of acceptance testing is for users to
determine whether the system meets their requirements.

7.3. System Installation

The process of moving from the current information system to the new one is called installation.
All employees who use a system, regardless of whether they were consulted during the
development process or not, must give up their reliance on the current system and begin to rely on
the new system. Four different approaches to installation have emerged over the years:
 Direct
 Parallel
 Single location
 Phased

7.4. Documenting the System

System documentation records detailed information about a system’s design specifications, its
internal workings, and its functionality. System documentation can be further divided into
internal and external documentation.

 Internal documentation is part of the program source code or is generated at compile

time.
 External documentation includes the outcome of all of the structured diagramming
techniques you have studied in this book, such as data-flow and entity-relationship dia-
grams.
 User documentation is written or other visual information about how an application
system works and how to use it.
7.5. Training and Supporting Users
Training and support help people adequately use computer systems to do their primary work.
Without proper training and the opportunity to ask questions and gain assistance/consultation when
needed, users will misuse, underuse, or not use the information system you develop.

Why Implementation Sometimes Fails

Despite the best efforts of the systems development team to design and build a quality system and
to manage the change process in the organization, the implementation effort sometimes fails.

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Sometimes employees will not use the new system that has been developed for them, or if they do
use the system, their level of satisfaction with it is low.
The conventional wisdom that has emerged over the years is that at least two conditions are
necessary for a successful implementation effort: management support of the system under
development and the involvement of users in the development process. Yet, despite the support
and active participation of management and users, information systems implementation still
sometimes fails.
Let’s review some insights about the implementation process:
� Risk. User involvement in the development process can help reduce the risk of failure when
the system is complex, but it can also make failure more likely when financial and time
constraints affect the development process.
� Commitment to the project. The system development project should be managed so that
the problem being solved is well understood and that the system being developed to deal
with the problem actually solves it.
� Commitment to change. Users and managers must be willing to change behaviors,
procedures, and other aspects of the organization.
� Extent of project definition and planning. The more extensive the planning effort,
the less likely is implementation failure.
� Realistic user expectations. The more realistic a user’s early expectations about a new
system and its capabilities, the more likely it is that the user will be satisfied with the new
system and actually use it.
Whether a system implementation fails or succeeds also depends on your definition of success.
Although determining whether an implementation has been successful can be done in a number of
ways, the two most common and trusted are the extent to which the system is used and the user’s
satisfaction with the system. Whether a user will actually use a new system depends on several ad-
ditional factors:
1. How relevant the system is to the work the user performs.
2. Systems ease of use and reliability.
3. User demographics, such as age and degree of computer experience.
4. The more users can do with a system and the more creative ways they can develop to benefit
from the system, the more they will use it. Then the more people use the system, the more
likely they are to find even more ways to benefit from the system.
5. The more satisfied the users are with the system, the more they will use it. The more they
use it, the more satisfied they will be.

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T ype s of M a i n t e n a n c e
Corrective maintenance refers to changes made to repair defects in the design, coding, or
implementation of the system.
Adaptive maintenance involves making changes to an information system to evolve its
functionality to changing business needs or to migrate it to a different operating environment.

Perfective maintenance involves making enhancements to improve processing performance,

interface usability, or to add desired, but not necessarily required, system features (“bells and
whistles”).
Preventive maintenance involves changes made to a system to reduce the chance of future system
failure.

The Cost of Maintenance

For some organizations, as much 60–80 percent of their information systems budget is allocated
to maintenance activities.

 Latent defects: This is the number of unknown errors existing in the system after it is
installed. Because corrective maintenance accounts for most maintenance activity

 Number of customers for a given system: In general, the greater the number of
customers, the greater the maintenance costs.
 Quality of system documentation: Without quality documentation, maintenance effort
can increase exponentially.
 Maintenance personnel: Highly-skilled programmers are needed because the
maintenance programmer is typically not the original programmer and must quickly
understand and carefully change the software.
 Tools: Tools that can automatically produce system documentation where none exists
can also lower maintenance costs.
 Well-structured programs: Well-designed programs are easier to understand and fix.

The end

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