Modern Systems Analysis

and Design
 System Design
 Designing Databases
 Designing Forms and Reports
 Designing Interfaces and Dialogues
 Designing Distributed and Internet
Systems

3/30/2024Chapter 9 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 1

 Chapter 9
Designing Databases

FIGURE 9-1
Systems development
life cycle with design
phase highlighted

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Database Design
 File and database design occurs in two steps.
1. Develop a logical database model, which describes data using
notation that corresponds to a data organization used by a
database management system.
 Relational database model
2. Prescribe the technical specifications for computer files and
databases in which to store the data.
 Physical database design provides specifications

 Logical and physical database design in parallel with

other system design steps

Chapter 9 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 3

 FIGURE 9-2
Relationship between data modeling and the systems development life cycle

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The Process of Database Design
(Cont.)
 Four key steps in logical database modeling
and design:
1. Develop a logical data model for each known user interface for
the application using normalization principles.
2. Combine normalized data requirements from all user interfaces
into one consolidated logical database model (view integration).
3. Translate the conceptual E-R data model for the application into
normalized data requirements.
4. Compare the consolidated logical database design with the
translated E-R model and produce one final logical database
model for the application.

Chapter 9 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 5

 Relational Database Model
 Well-Structured Relation and Primary Keys
 Representing Entities
 Normalization and Rules of Normalization
 Transforming E-R Diagrams into Relations
 Designing Fields
 Choosing Data Types
 Controlling Data Integrity
 Calculated Fields

Chapter 9 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6

 Chapter 10
Designing Forms and Reports
As users often equate the quality of a
system to the quality of its inputs and
output methods.

FIGURE 10-1
Systems development life
cycle with logical design
phase highlighted

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Designing Forms and Reports
 Form: a business document that contains
some predefined data and may include some
areas where additional data are to be filled in
 An instance of a form is typically based on one
database record.
 Report: a business document that contains
only predefined data
 It is a passive document used solely for reading or
viewing data.
 A report typically contains data from many
unrelated records or transactions.
Chapter 10 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 8
Common Types of Reports:
 Scheduled: produced at predefined time intervals for
routine information needs
 Key-indicator: provides summary of critical
information on regular basis
 Exception: highlights data outside of normal operating
ranges
 Drill-down: provides details behind summary of key-
indicator or exception reports
 Ad-hoc: responds to unplanned requests for non-
routine information needs

Chapter 10 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 9

 The Process of Designing Forms
and Reports
 Is user-focused activity.
 Follows a prototyping approach.
 Requirements determination:
 Who will use the form or report?
 What is the purpose of the form or report?
 When is the report needed or used?
 Where does the form or report need to be
delivered and used?
 How many people need to use or view the form or
report?
Chapter 10 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 10
The Process of Designing Forms
and Reports (Cont.)
 Prototyping
 Initialprototype is designed from
requirements.
 Users review prototype design and either
accept the design or request changes.
 If changes are requested, the construction-
evaluation-refinement cycle is repeated
until the design is accepted.

Chapter 10 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 11

The Process of Designing Forms
and Reports (Cont.)
 A coding sheet is an “old” tool for
designing forms and reports, usually
associated with text-based forms and
reports for mainframe applications.
 Visual Basic and other development tools
provide computer aided GUI form and
report generation.

Chapter 10 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 12

The Process of Designing Forms
and Reports (Cont.)

FIGURE 10-3
A data input screen designed in FIGURE 10-2
Microsoft’s Visual Basic .NET The layout of a data input form
using a coding sheet
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Deliverables and Outcomes

• The major deliverable of form and report

design is the design specification.
• Involves three parts:
– Narrative overview: characterizes users, tasks,
system, and environmental factors
– Sample design: image of the form (from coding
sheet or from building development tool)
– Assessment: measuring test/usability results
(consistency, sufficiency, accuracy, etc.)

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General Formatting Forms and Reports
 Meaningful titles
 use clear, specific, version information, and current
date
 Meaningful information
 include only necessary information, with no need to
modify
 Balanced layout
 use adequate spacing, margins, and clear labels
 Easy navigation system
 show how to move forward and backward, and where
you are currently
Chapter 10 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 15
Formatting Forms and Reports
(Cont.)

FIGURE 10-5 (continued) FIGURE 10-5

(b) Improved design for form Contrasting customer information forms
(Pine Valley Furniture)
Chapter 10 (a) Poorly designed form 16
 Highlighting Information

 Notify users of errors in data entry or

processing.
 Provide warnings regarding possible
problems.
 Draw attention to keywords, commands,
high-priority messages, unusual data
values.

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Highlighting Information (Cont.)
Highlighting can include use of
 upper case  allcapital letters
 bold  blinking
 italics  reverse video
 underlining  audible tones
 boxing  intensity differences
 size and color  offsetting nonstandard
differences information

Chapter 10 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 18

Highlighting Information (Cont.)

FIGURE 10-6
Customer account status
display using various
highlighting techniques

(Pine Valley Furniture)

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 Displaying Text
 Case: mixed upper and lower case, use conventional
punctuation
 Spacing: double spacing if possible, otherwise blank lines
between paragraphs
 Justification: left justify text, ragged right margins
 Hyphenation: no hyphenated words between lines
 Abbreviations: only when widely understood and
significantly shorter than full text

Chapter 10 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 20

Displaying Text (Cont.)

FIGURE 10-7
Contrasting the display of
textual help information

(a) Poorly designed help screen

with many violations of the
general guidelines for
displaying text

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Displaying Text (Cont.)

FIGURE 10-7 (continued)

(b) An improved design for

a help screen

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Designing Tables and Lists

• Use Meaningful Labels

 All columns and rows should have meaningful
labels.
 Labels should be separated from other
information by using highlighting.
 Redisplay labels when the data extend
beyond a single screen or page.

Chapter 10 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 23

 Designing Tables and Lists (Cont.)

FIGURE 10-8
Contrasting the display of tables
and lists (Pine Valley Furniture)

(a) Poorly designed form

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 Designing Tables and Lists (Cont.)

FIGURE 10-8 (continued)

(b) Improved design for form

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 Assessing Usability
 Usability:
 an overall evaluation of how a system performs in
supporting a particular user for a particular task.
 There are three characteristics:
 Speed — Can you complete a task efficiently?
 Accuracy — Does the output provide what you
expect?
 Satisfaction — Do you like using the output?

Chapter 10 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 26

Usability Success Factors

 Consistency — of terminology, formatting, titles,

navigation, response time
 Efficiency — minimize required user actions.
 Ease — self-explanatory outputs and labels.
 Format — appropriate display of data and
symbols.
 Flexibility — maximize user options for data
input according to preference.

Chapter 10 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 27

Usability Success Factors (Cont.)
 Characteristics for consideration when designing
forms and reports:
 User: experience, skills, motivation, education,
personality
 Task: time pressure, cost of errors, work durations
 System: platform
 Environment: social and physical issues

Chapter 10 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 28

Measures of Usability

 Time to learn
 Speed of performance
 Rate of errors
 Retention over time
 Subjective satisfaction

Chapter 10 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 29

 Chapter 11
Designing Interfaces and Dialogues
 Creation of a design specification
 A typical interface/dialogue design
specification is similar to form design,
 but includes multiple forms and dialogue
sequence specifications.

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 30

Deliverables and Outcomes (Cont.)

 The specification includes:

 Narrativeoverview
 Sample design
 Testing and usability assessment
 Dialogue sequence

 Dialogue sequence is the ways a user can

move from one display to another.

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 31

Interaction Methods and Devices

 Interface: a method by which users

interact with an information system.
 All human-computer interfaces must:
 have an interaction style, and
 use some hardware device(s) for supporting
this interaction.

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 32

Methods of Interacting

 Command line
 Includes keyboard shortcuts and function keys
 Menu
 Form
 Object-Based Interaction
 Natural language

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 33

 Command Language Interaction

 Command language interaction:

a human-computer interaction method whereby
users enter explicit statements into a system to
invoke operations

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 34

Menu Interaction

A list of system options is provided and

specific command is invoked by user
selection of a menu option
Two common menu types:
 Pop-up: menu placed near current cursor
position
 Drop-down: access point to menu placed at
top line of display, menu drops down when
access point clicked

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 35

Menu Interaction (Cont.)
 Guidelines for Menu Design
 Wording — meaningful titles, clear command
verbs, mixed upper/lower case
 Organization — consistent organizing principle
 Length — all choices fit within screen length
 Selection — consistent, clear and easy selection
methods
 Highlighting — only for selected options or
unavailable options

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 36

Menu Interaction (Cont.)

FIGURE 11-8
Menu building with
Microsoft Visual Basic
.NET

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Form Interaction

 Form interaction:
a highly intuitive human-computer interaction
method whereby data fields are formatted in a
manner similar to paper-based forms
 Allows users to fill in the blanks when working with
a system.

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 38

 Form Interaction (Cont.)

FIGURE 11-9
Example of form
interaction from the
Google Advanced
Search Engine
(Source: Google.)

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Object-Based Interaction

 Object-based interaction:
a human-computer interaction method in
which symbols are used to represent
commands or functions
 Icons:
 Graphical pictures that represent specific
functions within a system
 Use little screen space and are easily
understood by users
Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 40
 Object-Based Interaction (Cont.)

FIGURE 11-10
Object-based
(icon) interface
from Microsoft
Visual Basic
.NET

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 41

Natural Language Interaction
 Natural language interaction:
a human-computer interaction method whereby
inputs to and outputs from a computer-based
application are in a conventional spoken
language such as English

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 42

Designing Interfaces
 Forms have several general areas in common :
 Header information
 Sequence and time-related information
 Instruction or formatting information
 Body or data details
 Totals or data summary
 Authorization or signatures
 Comments
 Use standard formats similar to paper-based
forms and reports.
 Use left-to-right, top-to-bottom navigation.
Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 43
Designing Interfaces (Cont.)

 Flexibility and consistency:

 Free movement between fields
 No permanent data storage until the user
requests
 Each key and command assigned to one
function

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 44

Designing Interfaces (Cont.)
 Designing Layout (of text, and table data)
 Structuring Data Entry
 Controlling Data Input (validation and format controls)
to Reduce data entry errors
 Providing Feedback (prompting, status, warning, and
error messages)
 Providing Help

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 45

Designing Dialogues

 Dialogues:
 the sequence of interaction between a user
and a system
 Dialogue design involves:
 Designing a dialogue sequence.
 Building a prototype.
 Assessing usability.

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 46

Guidelines for the Design of Human-
Computer Dialogue
 Consistency
 Shortcuts and Sequence
 Feedback
 Closure (clear start, and end)
 Error Handling
 Reversal
 Control
 Ease

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 47

 Graphical Interface Design Issues
(Cont.)

FIGURE 11-20
Highlighting graphical
user interface design
standards

Chapter 11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 48

 Chapter 12
Designing Distributed and Internet
Systems
 Is similar to designing single-location systems.
 Due to multi-location deployment, numerous
design issues must be considered.
 There is more opportunity for failure due to
number of components.
 Main issues involve ensuring reliability,
availability, survivability, performance.

Chapter 12 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 49

Designing Distributed Systems

 Distributed systems use:

LAN-based file server architecture.
Client/server architecture.

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Designing Systems for
Local Area Networks (LANs)
 LAN: the cabling, hardware, and software
used to connect workstations, computers,
and file servers located in a confined
geographical area
 Typicallywithin one building or campus
 File server: a device that manages file
operations and is shared by each client PC
attached to a LAN

Chapter 12 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 51

 FIGURE 12-3
File server model

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Designing Systems for a
Client/Server Architecture
 Client/server architecture: a LAN-based
computing environment in which central
database server or engine performs all
database commands sent to it from client
workstations, and application programs on
each client concentrate on user interface
functions

Chapter 12 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 53

Designing Systems for a
Client/Server Architecture
 Application processing is divided between
client and server.
 Client manages the user interface.
 Database server is responsible for data
storage and query processing.

Chapter 12 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 54

 FIGURE 12-8
Thin clients used to access the Internet

FIGURE 12-9
Thin clients typically have a limited
screen size

Chapter 12 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 55