Systems Analysis and Design

Book: Systems Analysis and Design 6e Kendell & Kendall
Chapter 2 Understanding Orgaizational Style and its Impact on Information Systems

1. 1. Organizations as Systems
   Organizations can be thought of as separate units that work to benefit the whole of the organization. These separate systems work together to make a complex system.
   
   
   
   1. Interrelatedness and Interdependence of Systems
      All systems and subsystems affect all other systems and subsystems in the organization.
      Systems make output out of input. If nothing is being changed it may not be a system you are looking at.
      Systems (and organizations) have boundaries. They can be permeable or not but they are there.
      Feedback is a system control. Ideal system will do use this feedback without that human decisions are not needed. Feedback can come from inside or outside the system/organization. A similar concept is that of openness or closedness.
   
   
   2. Vitrual Organizations and Virtual Teams
      Many organizations have developed virtual components. This allows for working at things from many locations as if they were a team. One must be careful in this environment to keep a perspective that you are part of a team even when there is no socialization taking place.
      
   
   
   3. Taking a System Perspective
      Problems result when a subsystem in the organization sees itself as the main reason the company is where it is. It is the systems analyst job to see the subsystems as equally important and get them to work together.
      
   
   
   4. Enterprise Resource Planning: Viewing the Organization as a System
      ERP is software that helps with the sharing of information across an organization. They can be hard to fit into existing systems and building or rebuilding from scratch can wind up being rushed and not done right.
   
   


2. Depicting Systems Graphically
   
   
   1. Systems and the Context-Level Data Flow Diagram
      DFD use three shapes to show the data flow un the system. 1) Rectangle with rounded edges represents processes. 2) Square with 2 shadow edges represents entities. 3) An arrow represents the flow.
      
   
   
   2. Systems and the are Entity-Relationship Model
      Another way to look at things is an ERD. This uses rectangles with lines attached to show the relationships. The end of the lines can have a pair of parallel lines (=) on the end meaning one to one relationship, or a crows foot representing a many relationship. A zero on a line means that there can be 0 entities in a relationship with the other end. To these we add Associative entries (things that create an association with the entries) by drawing a diamond in the rectangle. We can also add attributive entries, round edges in rectangle, which represent descriptions of attributes. An ERD is used to show the relationships between different elements of the process and what attributes they can contain.
   
   


3. Levels of Management
   There are three levels of management. They are operational control (lower level), managerial planning (middle level) and Strategic management (top level). Operational level uses pre determined rules for decisions. Middle mangers do short term planning and make decisions on how company is controlled. High level managers make decisions to steer the future of the company.
   
   
   1. Implications for Information Systems Development
      Since different levels of management need different information to do their job, the systems analyst will need to tailor the information to the person using it. Some layers may overlap in the company so be prepared to give the users what they need.
   
   


4. Organizational Culture
   This is a new area of study. The culture can consist of many things including verbal, non-verbal, ceremonies and other things. An analyst needs to understand the culture in the organization to understand the true flow of things at times.