Systems Designers and System Builders - SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN WITH UML

System designers are technology specialists for information systems. Referring to the chart , system designers are interested in information technology choices and in the design of systems that use chosen technologies. Today's system designers tend to focus on technical specialties. Some of you may be educating yourselves to specialize in one of these technical specialties, such as:

Database administrators: specialists in database technologies used to design and coordinate changes to corporate database.

Network architects: specialists in network and telecommunications technologies who design, install, configure, optimize, and support local and wide area networks, including connections to the internet and other external networks.

Web Architects: specialists who design complex websites for organization, including public websites for the internet, internal websites for organization, including public websites for the internet, internal websites for organizations (called intranet), and private business to business websites (called extranets).

Graphics artists: relatively new in today's IT worker mix, specialists in graphics technology and methods used to design and construct compelling and easy-to-use interfaces to systems, including interfaces for PCs, the Web, hand-helds, and smart phones.

Security experts: specialists in the technology and methods used to ensure data and network security (and privacy).

Technology specialists: experts in the application of specific technologies that will be used in a system (e.g.  a specific commercial software package or a specific type of hardware).

System Builders are another category of technology specialists for information systems. Their role is to construct the system according to the system designers specifications. Some of you may be educating yourselves to specialize in one of their technical specialties, such as:

Applications programmers: specialists who convert business requirements and statements of problems and procedures into computer languages. They develop and test computer programs to capture and store data and to locate and retrieve data for computer applications.

Systems programmers: specialists who develop, test, and implement operating systems-level software, utilities, and services. Increasingly, they also develop reusable software components, for use by applications programmers (above).

Database programmers: specialists in database language and technology who build, modify, and text database structure and the programs that use and maintain them.

Network administrators: specialists who design, install, troubleshoot, and optimize computer networks.

Security administrators: specialists who design, implement, troubleshoot, and manage security and privacy controls in a network.

Webmasters: specialists who code and maintain web servers.

Software integrators: Specialists who integrate software package with hardware, networks, and other software packages.

Although this book is not directly intended to educate the system builders, it is intended to each system designers how to better communicate design specifications to system builder.

• Information Systems (IS) - SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN WITH UML
• System Stakeholders - SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN WITH UML
• Internal System Users
• External System USers

External System Users - SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN WITH THE UML

External System Users the Internet has allowed traditional information system boundaries to be executed to include other business or direct consumers as system users. These external system users make up and increasingly large percentage of system users for modern information systems. Example include:

Customers: any organization individuals that purchase our product and services. Today, our customers can become direct users of our information systems when they can directly execute order and sales transactions that used to require intervention by an internal user. For example, if purchased a company's sales information system.(There was no need for a separate internal user of the business to input your order.)

Suppliers: any organization from which our company may purchase supplies and raw materials. Today, these suppliers can interact directly with our company's information systems to determine our supply needs and automatically crate orders to fill those needs. There is no longer always a need for an internal user to initiate those orders to a supplier.

Partners: any organization from which our company purchases services or with which it partners. Most modern businesses contract or outsource a number of basic services such as ground maintenance, network management, and many others. An businesses have learned to partner with other businesses to more quickly leverage strengths to build better products more rapidly.

Employees: Those employees who work on the road or who work from home. For example, sales representatives usually spend much of their time on the road. Also, many businesses permit workers to work from home. to reduce cost and improve productivity. As mobile or remote users, these employees require access to the same information systems as those needed by internal users.

External system users are increasingly referred to as emote users and mobile users. they connect to out information systems through laptop computers, handheld computers, and smart phones-either wired or wireless. Designing information systems for these devices presents some of the most contemporary of challenges.

• Information Systems (IS) - SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN WITH UML
• System Stakeholders - SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN WITH UML
• Internal System Users
• External System USers

Internal System Users - SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN WITH UML

Internal System users are employees of the business for which most information system are built. Internal users make up the largest percentage of information system users in most business. Example include:

Clerical and service workers: Perform most of the day-to-day transaction processing in the average business. They process eiders, invoices, payments, and the like. The type and file correspondence. The fill the orders in the warehouse. And they manufacture good on the shop floor. Most of the fundamental data in any business is captured of created by these workers, many of whom perform manual labor in addition to processing data. Information system that target these workers tend to focus on transaction processing speed and accuracy.

Technical and Professional staff: Consist largely of business and industrial specialists who perform highly skilled and specialized work. Example include lawyers, and statisticians. Because their work is based on well-defined bodies of knowledge, they are sometime called knowledge workers. Information system that target technical and professional staff focus on data analysis as well as generating timely information for problem solving.

Supervisors, Middle Managers, and Executive Managers: are the decision makers. Supervisors tend to focus on day to day problem solving and decision-making. Middle manager are more concerned with tactical (short-term) operations problems and decision-making. Executive managers are concerned with strategic (long-term) planning and decision-making. Information systems for managers tend to focus entirely on information access. Managers need the right information at the right time to identify and solve problems and make good decisions.

• Information Systems (IS) - SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN WITH UML
• System Stakeholders - SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN WITH UML
• Internal System Users
• External System USers

System Stakeholders - SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN WITH UML

The players - System Stakeholders :- Let's assume you are in a position to help build and information system. Who are the stakeholders in this system? Stakeholders for information systems can be broadly classified into the five groups shown on the left hand side of the given chart. Notice that each stakeholder group has different perspective of the same information system.

Stakeholders perspective of an information system.

The system analyst is a unique stakeholder in this given chart. The systems analyst serves executive information as a facilitator or coach, bridging the communications gap that can naturally develop between the non-technical system owners and users and the technical system designers and builders.

All the above stakeholders have one thing is common - They are what the U.S. Department of labor calls information workers. The livelihoods of the information workers depend of decision made based on information. Today more than 60 percent of the U.S. labor force is involved in producing, distributing, and using information. Let's examine the five group of information workers in greater details.

Let's briefly examine the perspectives of each group. But before we do so, we should point out that these group actually define "role" played in systems development. In practice, any individual person may play more than one of these roles. For example, a system owner might also be a system user, Similarly, a system analyst may also be a system designer, and a system designer also be a system builder. Any combination may work.

Systems Owners:
For any information system, large of small, there will be one of more System Owners. System owners usually come from the ranks of management. For medium to large information system, system owners arc usually middle or executive managers. For the smaller systems, system owners may the middle manages or supervisors. System owners tend to be interested in the bottom line how much will the system cost? How much value or what benefits can be measured in different ways, as noted in the margin checklist.

System Users:
System user make up the vast majority of the information workers in any information system.Unlike system owners, system users tend to be less concerned with the costs and benefits of the system. Instead, as illustrated in chart, they are concerned with the die functionality the system provides to their jobs and the system's ease of learning and ease of use. Although users have become more technology-literate over the years, the primary concern is to get the job done. Consequently, decisions with most users need to be kept at the business requirements level as opposed to the technical requirements level. Much of this site is dedicated to teaching you how to effectively identify and communicate business requirements for an information system.

There are many classed of system users. Each class should be directly involved in any information system development project that affects them lets briefly examine these classes.

1. Internal System Users
2. External System USers

Information Systems (IS) - SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN WITH UML

Information systems (IS) in organizations capture and manage data to produce useful information that supports and and its employees, customers, suppliers, and partners. Many organizations consider information systems to be essential to their ability to compete or gain competitive advantage. Most organizations have come to realize that all workers need to be participate in the development of information system. therefore, information systems development is a relevant subject to you to regardless of whether or not your are studying to an information systems professional.

Information systems comes in all shapes and sizes. They are so interwoven into the fabric of the business systems they support that it it often difficult to distinguish between business systems and their support information systems. Suffice it to say that information systems can be classified according to the functions they serve.

Transaction processing systems (TPSs) process business transactions such as orders, time cards, payments, and reservations.

Management Information Systems (MISs) use the transaction data to produce information needed by managers to run the business.

Decision Support Systems (DSSs) help various decision makers identify and choose between options or decisions .

Executive information Systems (EISs) are tailored to the unique information needs of executive need of executives who plan for the business and assess performance against those plans.

Expert systems capture and reproduce the knowledge of an expert problem solver or decision maker and then simulate the "thinking" of that expert.

Communication and collaboration systems enhance communication and collaboration between people, both internal and external to the organization. Finally, office automation systems helps employees create and share documents that support day-to-day office activities.

Information system can be viewed from various prospective, including:

The players in the information system ("the team").
The Business drivers influencing the information System.
The process used to develop the information system.

The Player - System Stakeholders - SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN WITH UML

• Internal System Users
• External System USers