Information Systems Analysis
Current Events Discussions and Announcements
 The final exam.
The Library requests that you complete this questionnaire about Raleigh Muns' talk about library resources earlier this semester. There will be a drawing for a Kindle Touch that will be awarded to one of the survey participants!
Interesting, but I am not sure how it fits in our Star Wars prototyping example.
All Late Projects Are the Same
The undergraduates pooled their efforts to create and distribute questionnaires to the parents and the staff. I have provided the results below fyi.
- Summary of responses of Parent Questionnaire
- More Summary of the Parent Questionnaire
- Completed Parent Surveys
- Completed Staff Surveys
The Girls Inc. Logo Guidelines.
Term Papers
- Using the System's Security Audit Process and Ethical Hacking to Protect Systems Vulnerabilities in Applications Such As Lotus Notes and SAP
- Various Approaches for Systems Analysis and Design
- A History Of Structured Systems Analysis & Design Methodologies
- Can Your Customer’s Requirements Be Too Agile?
- Role of Use Cases in System Analysis and Development
Mr. Craft's presentation.
More on creativity: Tim Brown on creativity and play, and shorthand for design process. (11/14/11)
Humor in Prototyping. (11/14/11)
Prototyping
- Introduction of Prototyping
- An analogy: Prototyping Star Wars Figures as an example of how different kinds of prototypes are used to answer different kinds of questions
- Lessons Learned
- Variations in interpretation of specifications (requires Power point: you must "run show" and turn on speakers to appreciate)
- Examples
- An example of how prototyping can be used to elicit user feedback: this example is replicated here for you to consider as a way of doing prototyping, and does not function
- The Analysis and Prototyping of Effective Graphical User Interfaces
(11/14/11)
Paper Prototyping
- The Paper Prototyping Website
- Paper Prototyping
- What is Paper Prototyping?
- Paper Prototyping: Getting User Data Before You Code
- How do we decide if we should use paper?
- Five Paper Prototyping Tips
- Checklist: Working Interface or Paper Prototype
- Paper Prototyping Methods
- Six Signs that you Should Use Paper Prototyping
- Pros and Cons of Paper Prototyping
- Using Paper Prototypes to Manage Risk
- Examples
- More References
(11/14/11)
Creative problem solving: The Dreaded Staircase
Search Engine Optimization
Feasibility
- Overview of Issues
- Feasibility
- To learn more about interacting with clients, read the article Know Thy Client
- Political Considerations in Requirements Analysis
- Managing Customer Expectations
- Screening Feasibility Issues
- Project Mix
- VIDEO: Roman Fountains
- VIDEO: Brydon vs. Not Brydon
(10/31/11)
 Please complete the survey on service learning projects for the campus. (10/27/11)
The Project Management lecture. (10/24/11)
Barack Obama - Computer Science Question
Questionnaires and Interviews
- Why Interview?
- Introduction to Interviews
- Interview Content
- Traditional Methods of Defining Rerquirements
- Be careful about jargon!
- VIDEO: IT Systems Analyst - Plan the Interview
- VIDEO: IT Systems Analyst - Conduct Interview
- Fables about Interviewing
- The King's Companion
- The Kingdom of Beal
(10/17/11)
Object Oriented Analysis
- VIDEO: Use Cases
- Overview
- Use Case Notation (view as a pdf)
- An Example
- VIDEO: Creating Use Case Diagrams in Visio 2007
(10/17/11)
The solution to the National Merchandising Case. (10/14/11)
A fitting tribute and a good reminder. (10/14/11)
The 25 Smartest Things Steve Jobs Ever Said. The two most relevant to this class are:
- 14. "You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new."
- 13. "A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them."
(10/13/11)
The Power of Taking the Big Chance (10/10/11)
Steve Job's Commencement Address at Stanford. The best visual tributes to Steve Jobs. (10/6/11)
IDE-O Philosophy (9/26/11)
Systems Theory at work: Using a Complex Systems Approach to Study Educational Policy (9/26/11)
Creativity!(9/26/11)
Data Flow Diagrams
- Process Modeling
- Introduction to Data Flow Diagram (DFD)
- Data Flow Diagram (DFD) Example (Context and Level 0 Diagrams)
- Data Flow Diagram (DFD) Example (Level 4 Explosion)
- An example
- VIDEO: Tools of Analysis (part 6 of 8) - Process & Data (DFD / Data Flow Diagram)
- VIDEO: Drawing a Context Diagram
- VIDEO: Using Visio to Draw Data Flow Diagrams
- VIDEO: Connect your Data to the Diagram
(9/26/11)
Data Dictionaries
- Data Dictionary
- VIDEO: Creating a Data Dictionary
- More samples (9/26/11)
Visio Demos
- Demo from Microsoft
- Visio Self Training
- How To Use MS Visio
- Visio: Using the Status Bar
- Using Autoconnect
- Applying a Theme
- Connect your Data to the Diagram
- Add and Customize Data Graphics
- Visio Demos
(9/19/11)
My stencil for use case diagrams.
Copy this file to C:\Documents and Settings\user name\My Documents\My Shapes
To open the stencil, on the File menu, point to Shapes, point to My Shapes, and then click the use_case.
(9/19/11)
Soft Systems Methodology
- A video
- An Outline
- Flux
- Learning
- Modeling
(9/19/11)
Business Analysts Need Creative Questioning for Better Requirements: What Are Your Best Questions?
Creative problem solving? Using computers to better meet the systems goals?
- Nine Restaurants Sent Back From the Future to Destroy Us (With Good Eats)
- Worm hits computers of staff at Iran nuclear plant
IDEO: Big Innovation Lives Right on the Edge of Ridiculous Ideas (09/16/11)
An overview of Methodologies (09/13/10)
Some information about Methodologies
- Software Development Life Cycle
- Cost of Software
- A Comparison of Methodologies
- The Life Cycle
- Application Lifecycle Management
(09/12/11)
Creativity and Systems Analysis
- The Future of Design is Human-Centered
- An interview with Tim Brown, CEO of IDE-O
- Tim Brown - From Design to Design Thinking
- Stanford Design Thinking Process
- Sustainability -- Part 1
- Sustainability -- Part 2
- Sustainability -- Part 3
- IDE-O comes to St. Louis
- IDE-O's Website
(09/12/11)
We will break into groups and look
at some creativity exercises today.
- A man walked into a bar and asked the barman for a glass of water. They had never met before. The barman
pulled a gun from under the counter and pointed it at the man. The man said "Thank you" and walked out. Why
should that be so?
- Two brothers were having a drink in a bar. Suddenly one of the brothers got into a heated argument with the
barman. He pulled out a knife and, despite his brother's attempts to stop him, stabbed the barman in the chest. At
the trial, he was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and grievous bodily harm. At the end of the trial, the
judge said, "You have been found guilty of a vicious crime. However, I have no choice but to set you free." Why
should that be so?
- A traveller came to a small town. He had never visited it before, he knew no one there, and knew nothing about the
town or its inhabitants. He needed a haircut. There happened to be two barbershops close to each other on the
main thoroughfare -- the only barbershops in town. The man studied each of them with care. One shop was very
neat and tidy. Everything about it was smart. The barber was sweeping away the last traces of hair from the floor
while waiting for his next customer. The other barber's shop was very untidy. Everything looked rather run down
and ramshackle. The scruffylooking barber within was lolling on a chair waiting for his next customer. Both shops
charged the same amount for a haircut. After careful consideration, the traveler decided to go to the scruffy barber
for his haircut. Why?
(9/12/11)
The Hive Mind Needs More Women (8/30/11)
Information
- Measures of the value of information
- alternate syllabus (an example of data, not information)
- Information Comparison (View pdf version)
- Building Blocks of IS
(8/29/11)
Quotes from Steve Jobs. (8/25/11)
A Systemic Perspective from the Systemic Perspective Series. (8/22/11)
- Habits of a Systems Thinker
- Systems Thinking in Schools
- Systemic Perspective Intent
- Systemic Perspective
- Systemic Perspective Situation
- Assumptions
- Boundary
- Insight Maker/Boundaries
- Leverage Points
Systems and Systems Thinking
- Definition of a System
- A system definition courtesy of the Pentagon. This is the actual image used by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the leader of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, to portray the complexity of American military strategy.
- Horizonwatching: A Smarter Planet --- aka a system!
- Systems and Systems Thinking
- Dr. Ackoff talk about his views of thinking, check out his YouTube video, Exploring Systems Thinking. See Part 2 and Part 3.
(8/22/11)
Systems Analysis
- What Does A Systems Analyst Really Do?
- What is Systems Analysis
- Systems Development Life Cycle
- Process v. Data Orientation
- Different Types of Systems
- Stage Deliverables
- Deliverables
- More about Deliverables
- Six 'Soft Skills' Every Analyst Needs to Know
- Agile Methods
- Soft Systems Methods
- Benefits of Systems Analysis
- Cost of software repair by lifecycle stage
- unintended consequences in systems analysis
(8/22/11)
An example consultant's analysis report: Strider and Cline evaluate UM's implementation of PeopleSoft. (8/22/11)
The previous edition of your textbook had a chapter entitled "Succeeding as a Systems Analyst." It is available here with permission of the publisher. (8/22/11)
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