Systems Analysis -- FAQ

Systems Analysis FAQ
Final Exam
These questions and answers are representative of those from Fall, 2001.

Changes since the original posting:

1. Complete any four of the assigned five questions

2. On question 1a, only identify ten (10) data structures for which you would have data dictionary entries.

3. On question 1b, only identify ten (10) data elements for which you would have data dictionary entries.

What do you want justified on Question 1?

You must justify why you believe the items stated in 1a are data structures and why the items stated in 1b are data elements.

What needs to be justified in question 1c?

There is no justification in question 1 c, only the data dictionary entry.

When you refer to the sample format we discussed in class, what do you mean?

The data dictionary entries we studied in class are on the web at http://www.umsl.edu/~sauter/analysis/dfd/DATA_DIC.HTM.

How do we interpret the 2 pages/ question for number 1?

You may have up to 2 pages of answer for each part of each question. So, you may have up to 2 pages for 1 a, up to 2 pages for 1 b and up to 2 pages for 1 c, or a total of 6 pages.

What is the goal of question 2?

It is a prototyping question.

Should we assume we work for a company that has the capability of generating my.site kinds of pages?

Yes! You should assume that you not only can but are implementing them, and are able to track the changes that are made in the individuals' pages.

Should we assume the tool already exists?

Yes, you are to assume you already have the tool that does this. Your goal is to determine what you can glean by examining usage statistics.

What do the my.site pages do?

They allow the user to customize what he or she will see on a page -- in the case of netscape's page, what weather, what stocks and what kinds of news stories.

On Question 3, what if we used our prototype as the method by which we questioned our users for the project?

That is fine, then critique how you used it and whether or not you belive you should have also generated a questionnaire.

What if we liked about 80% of what we did on the questionnaire/interviewing?

Then tell me why you liked what you did and why you disliked what you did, and how you would do the latter better next time.

Do you want us to identify our project team on Question 3?

Yes.

Does the company need to be a real company for our answer to Question 4?

No, it can be a totally fictional company.

What if the company we want to discuss already has CMM or ISO certification?

That is fine. Answer the question from the perspective of why it was or was not a good reason to pursue certification.

Do we need to justify our answer to Question 5>?

No, this is strictly a technical question.

What do you mean by data modeling?

An ERD.

Where can I find the answers for the question #4?

Try Mr. Craft's presentation and the references on the analysis links page.

On the E-R Diagram, can we draw the entities with the attributes listed in a schema format, or do we need to put the attributes in bubbles attached to the entity?

Put the attributes in bubbles attached to the entity.

On question 4, do we have to answer both CMM and ISO or one of them?

The question is whether either or both of them would be useful to the company. So, you must consider both of them.

On question 5, should I follow your notes or the book to draw the ERD and do I draw based only on the imformation in the paragraph or have to assume for some relationship that is not decribed?

The book and my notes should be fairly consistent... the book goes further than my notes. I don't understand what assumed relationship you are discussing.

On question 4, how much detail do you want in the answer?

I want enough detail to demonstrate that you understand what ISO and CMM mean -- what they are, why they are important, what the benefits are of getting certified, what the costs are of getting certified and what it means to the end user. So, I don't just want a superficial answer ... I want something that tells me what you understand about the two types of certification.

By assumed relationship, I mean that like a PATIENT is treated in a WARD or a DOCTOR is WORKING in a WARD. Do we have to draw the those relationships, which is not stated in the narrative or we just look at the big picture (HOSPITAL is MAINTAINING RECORDS)?

But, that relationship was stated in the example:

Patients are treated in a single ward by the doctors assigned to them. Usually each patient will be assigned a single doctor, but in rare cases they will have two.

As far as I can tell, you need not make any leaps of judgement. But if you consider your example a leap in judgement, then the answer is probably yes.

Can this company we focus on be a company we already work for? Or perhaps a specific department?

Sure.

In an E-R diagram, can relationships have attributes?

Yes.

In the E-R diagram, do we need to represent cardinality?

Yes. Indicate if the relationships are 1-1, 1-many, many-1, many-many, etc.

Do we need to use the "crows feet" to indicate cardinality?

No, you can use the letter designation for it.

The following is an excerpt from question #2 of our final exam:

"Discuss the role such a tool might play in designing a web page for a company."

Am I to assume that I am "designing a Web page" for the same company that already has this tool in operation? If that's true, then they already have a site, and this is more of a redesign, yes?

Yes.

On question #5, do we need to worry about whether or not the attributes are atomic? That is, do we need to worry about subdividing Patient_Name into Patient_firstname, Patient_lastname, and Patient_Initial? Or, will "Name" get the job done to your satisfaction?

For the purposes of the exam, you can just use name.

Also, do we have to worry about whether or not these structures are normalized? Because I don't think they are. Or can we just show them as they currently exist.

Just take them as they are -- do not worry about the normalization issue. (If you do not know what normalization is, and you have not yet taken ba212, don't worry about what this question even means.)