LITERATURE REVIEW, ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

DATA COLLECTION
Literature review, analysis and design are an output from data. There are two types of data:
• Primary Data
• Secondary Data

Secondary Data
It is a type of data that is pre-existing such as books, journals, government records, etc.
Research questions guide this secondary data.
Research questions are answered deeply in literature and require different views from different
authors.
Appropriate research questions include those that involve:
• Principles in the particular field of research
• Standards defined by ISO, IEEE, among others
• Testing techniques/approaches of the area of research
These are broad areas of research that cause you to write in-depth. These questions should be done
exhaustively from different authors and citations.
After getting various authors views on the research, discuss your personal views on the same. Your
own personal contribution should be included in the content.
Citations should not be older than 5 (five) years.

Conclusion
Have a conclusion section that states which technique you will use to implement your system from
all that you have read.

Primary Data Collection

Primary data is data that is collected by a researcher from first-hand sources, using methods like
questionnaires, interviews, observation, among others.
You are required to do a questionnaire as one of the tools to collect primary data.
Establish the type of population sampling technique you will use. For more about choosing a
sample population, visit https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/sampling-methods/ or any other
site of your choice.
The primary data collection focuses on obtaining:
Requirements Specification
The focus on obtaining the functional (what the system shall – without telling you how) and non-
functional
Conducting a feasibility study
Feasibility study establishes if a project is viable or not. The following are the most common
components in feasibility study, according to Simplilearn (2020a):
• Technical Feasibility: This assessment focuses on the technical resources available within
the organization.
• Economic Feasibility: This assessment typically involves a cost/ benefits analysis of the
project, helping organizations determine the viability, cost, and benefits associated with
the project.
• Legal Feasibility: This assessment investigates whether any aspect of the proposed project
conflicts with legal requirements like zoning laws, data protection acts or social media
laws.
• Operational Feasibility: This assessment involves undertaking a study to analyze and
determine whether—and how well—the organization’s needs can be met by completing
the project.
• Scheduling Feasibility: In scheduling feasibility, an organization estimates how much
time the project will take to complete.

If you ask 2 (two) questions in every one of the 5 (five) sections of feasibility study, you already
have 10 questions. Then you ask other questions to establish the user requirements.s
Questions such as “Are the customers happy?” are not relevant. We want the solution of the
problem, so the questions asked will focus on establishing the solution not the challenges.

ANALYSIS
Establish who the users of the system are.
Some users/stakeholders are external entities so the researcher must have questions for all these
users in their questionnaire. For instance, when developing a payroll system, you must identify
which deductions the system should make such as NSSF, Salary Advance, NHIF, Welfare, etc.
Once you establish who the users of the system are, you will know who to gather data from and
the appropriate questions to ask each user(s). Their responses (obtained data) will help you craft a
precise list of what the new system must do to provide the needed value to the business/
organization. This means, when you determine ways in which the new system can support user
needs, you will be formulating functional requirements.
As an example, let’s say that a user states that the new system should “eliminate inventory stock-
outs.” You need to think about this statement critically in order to formulate the statement in terms
of useful requirements. Ask the users questions about circumstances leading to stock-outs (e.g.,
supplier orders are not placed in a timely way, on-hand inventory levels are updated only once a
week; delays occur in identifying the best supply source for the items; delays occur in receiving
approval of the supply order, etc.). By focusing on these issues, you are in a better position to
develop new business processes that address these concerns. The new requirements will then be
based on the issues that truly need to be fixed. In this case, the requirements might include, in part:
i). The system shall update on-hand inventory levels twice per day.
ii). The system shall produce an out-of-stock notification immediately when an item quantity
on hand reaches the item reorder point.
iii). The system shall include a recommended supplier with every out-of-stock notification.
iv). The system shall produce a supply purchase order that is sent to the appropriate manager
for approval.
v). The system shall send an approved supply purchase order to the supplier via secure
electronic communication.
The key is establishing the users of the system, gathering the right data and crafting functional
requirements.
Analysis phase will end when you generate requirements specifications that include user
requirements, functional requirements and non-functional requirements.
In general, analysis should be a report of how you gathered data and how you generated
requirements specifications.
DESIGN
What guides the design is what the system will do (Functional Requirements)
There are 3 (three) major Methodologies in system development which have models/processes
within. These are:
• Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology (SSADM): this uses the top-
down design. It uses Context Diagrams, Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs), Flow Charts,
Decision Trees, Decision Tables.
• Object Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD): this methodology uses UML Diagrams
such as Activity Diagrams (equivalent to Flow Charts), use-case diagrams, sequence
diagrams, class and object diagrams, deployment and component diagrams, state diagrams
among others. NB: Each diagram model system behaviors or configurations.
 • Agile Methodology: includes Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP), Lean & Kanban
Software Development, Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), Feature Driven
Development (FDD). (Simplilearn, 2020b)
Types of Design
Logical Design: shows the steps of the functionality. Use appropriate diagrams for the type of the
methodology you are using. As the name suggests, this design model the logic behind how your
system functions. For example, if functional requirement is “The system shall update on-hand
inventory levels twice per day.”, then model how the system will achieve this (logic behind getting
inventory levels and determining the appropriate time to update it during the day without
exceeding 2 times).
Physical Design: Use tools such as SmartDraw, E-Draw, MS Visio among others, to come up
with the physical design. They should have the look and feel of the system. Include this tools as
part of your software requirements. This design should model user interfaces and overall
configuration of your system.
NB: It is not actual parts of the system like User interfaces (you have not yet coded your system)
but mock-ups of how system is intended/ or expected to look like or be configured. The above
mentioned tools will help you in generating these mock-ups.
Database Design: you need to establish which data you need to capture. The starting point is
determining the data that will be used and created by system, e.g. customer information, order
information etc.). Include Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) which shows the logical
organization of data and how they are related, without indicating how data are stored, created or
manipulated. You can use some CASE tools such as ERwin by Platinum Technology, Oracle
Designer, MS Access Designer, Visible Analyst Workbench etc. to help you create and maintain
your database design. You also need to ensure that data will be stored efficiently and retrieved
easily. Therefore, normalize your database and show how you did it. The table below helps you
move from 0 Normal form to 3rd Normal form.
REFERENCES
FormPlus (n.d.) What is Secondary Data? Retrieved from: https://www.formpl.us/blog/secondary-
data, on 30th August 2020
Statistics How To (2018) Primary Data & Secondary Data: Definition & Example, Retrieved from
https://www.statisticshowto.com/primary-data-secondary/ on 30th August 2020
Simplilearn (2020a) Feasibility Study: Types and Importance in Project Management, Retrieved
from https://www.simplilearn.com/feasibility-study-article on 30th August 2020
Simplilearn (2020b) What is Agile: Understanding Agile Methodology and Its Types
https://www.simplilearn.com/tutorials/agile-scrum-tutorial/what-is-agile on 30th August 2020
McCombes, S. (2020) Understanding different sampling methods, Retrieved from
https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/sampling-methods/ on 30th August 2020
Dennis, Alan. (2016) Systems analysis and design. 6th Edition