Systems Analysis And Design

Chapter Five: Implementation and

Operation
Learning Objectives
 Describe the process of coding, testing, and installing an
organizational information system and outline the deliverables and
outcomes of the process.
 Apply four installation strategies: direct, parallel, single location, and
phased installation.
 List the deliverables for documenting the system and for training
and supporting users.
 Discuss the issues of providing support for end users.
 Explain why systems implementation sometimes fails.
 Explain and contrast four types of maintenance.
 Describe several factors that influence the cost of maintaining an
information system.

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System Implementation and
Operation
 Seven major activities:
 Coding
 Testing
 Installation
 Documentation
 Training
 Support
 Maintenance
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System Imp’n and Oper’n (Cont.)
 Purpose:
 To convert final physical system
specifications into working and reliable
software
 To document work that has been done
 To provide help for current and future
users
 To modify the system to entertain
changes

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 The Process of Coding, Testing,
and Installation
 Coding
 Physical design specifications are turned into working
computer code.
 Testing
 Tests are performed using various strategies.
 Testing is performed in parallel with coding.
 Installation
 The current system is replaced by a new system.

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Documenting the System, Training
Users, and Supporting Users

 Two audiences for final documentation:

 Information systems personnel who will maintain
the system throughout its productive life
 People who will use the system as part of their
daily lives
 User Training
 Application-specific
 General for operating system and off-the-shelf
software
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The Process of Maintaining
Information Systems
 Four major activities occur within maintenance:
 Obtaining maintenance requests
 Transforming requests into changes
 Designing changes
 Implementing changes
 Deliverables and outcomes of this process are:
 the development of a new version of the software
 new versions of all design documents
 training materials developed or modified during the
maintenance process.
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Software Application Testing
 A master test plan is developed during the
analysis phase.
 During the design phase, unit, system and
integration test plans are developed.
 The actual testing is done during
implementation.
 Written test plans provide improved
communication among all parties involved in
testing.

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 Seven Different Types of Tests
 Static or dynamic techniques
 Static testing means that the code being tested
is not executed.
 Dynamic testing involves execution of the code.
 Test is automated or manual
 Automatedmeans computer conducts the test.
 Manual means that people complete the test.

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Seven Different Types of Tests
 Inspection: a testing technique in which
participants examine program code for predictable
language-specific errors
 Walkthrough: a peer group review of any product
created during the systems development process,
including code
 Desk checking: a testing technique in which the
program code is sequentially executed manually by
the reviewer

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Seven Different Types of Tests (Cont.)

 Unit testing: each module is tested alone

in an attempt to discover any errors in its
code
 Integration testing: the process of
bringing together all of the modules that a
program comprises for testing purposes
 Modulesare typically integrated in a top-down
incremental fashion.
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Seven Different Types of Tests (Cont.)

 System testing: the bringing together of

all of the programs that a system
comprises for testing purposes
 Programs are typically integrated in a top-
down, incremental fashion.
 System testing is also about testing if the
system meets its objective.

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Seven Different Types of Tests (Cont.)

 Stub testing: a technique used in testing

modules, especially where modules are
written and tested in a top-down fashion,
where a few lines of code are used to
substitute for subordinate modules

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The Testing Process
 The purpose of testing is to confirm that
the system satisfies the requirements.
 Testing must be planned.
 Testcase is a specific scenario of
transactions, queries or navigation paths.

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The Testing Process (Cont.)
 Test cases represent either:
 Typical system use
 Critical system use, or
 Abnormal system use.
 Test cases and results should be
thoroughly documented so they can be
repeated for each revision of an
application.

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Test case results form 19
Testing Harness
 Automated testing environment
 Reviews code for:
 Errors
 Standards violations
 Other design flaws
 Expand the scope of the tests beyond the
current development platform

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Combining Coding and Testing
 Coding and testing often go together.
 Big companies have dedicated test staff.
 With eXtreme programming (XP) a
common technique is refactoring.
 Refactoring = making a program simpler
after adding a new feature
 RGR ( Red-Green-Refactor)- is the common
approach
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Acceptance Testing by Users
 Acceptance testing: the process whereby
actual users test a completed information
system, the end result of which is the
users’ acceptance of it

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Acceptance Testing by Users
(Cont.)
 Alpha testing: user testing of a completed
information system using simulated data
 Beta testing: user testing of a completed
information system using real data in the
real user environment
 Regression Testing: ?

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Acceptance Testing by Users
(Cont.)
 Types of Alpha Test:
 Recovery testing — forces software (or environment) to fail
in order to verify that recovery is properly performed
 Security testing — verifies that protection mechanisms
built into the system will protect it from improper
penetration
 Stress testing — tries to break the system
 Performance testing — determines how the system
performs on the range of possible environments in which it
may be used

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Installation
 Installation: the organizational process
of changing over from the current
information system to a new one
 Four installation strategies:
 Direct Installation
 Parallel Installation
 Single-location installation
 Phased Installation

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Direct Installation
 Direct installation: changing over from
the old system to a new one by turning off
the old system when the new system is
turned on

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Parallel Installation
 Parallel installation: running the old
information system and the new one at the
same time until management decides the
old system can be turned off

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Single-Location Installation
 Single-location installation: trying out an
information system at one site and using
the experience to decide if and how the
new system should be deployed
throughout the organization
 Also known as location or pilot installation
( piloting).

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Single-Location Installation
(cont.)

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Phased Installation
 Phased Installation: changing from the
old information system to the new one
incrementally, starting with one or a few
functional components and then gradually
extending the installation to cover the
whole new system

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Phased Installation (cont.)

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Planning Installation
 Considerations
Data conversion
 Errorcorrection
 Loading from current system

Planned system shutdown

Business cycle of organization

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Documenting the System
 System documentation: detailed
information about a system’s design
specifications, its internal workings, and its
functionality
 User documentation: written or other
visual information about an application
system, how it works, and how to use it

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Documenting the System (Cont.)

 Internal documentation: system

documentation that is part of the program
source code or is generated at compile
time
 External documentation: system
documentation that includes the outcome
of structured diagramming techniques
such as data flow and E-R diagrams
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Training and Supporting Users
 Support: providing ongoing educational
and problem-solving assistance to
information system users
 For in-house developed systems, support
materials and jobs will have to be
prepared or designed as part of the
implementation process.

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Training Information Systems
Users
 Potential training topics
 Use of the system
 General computer concepts
 Information system concepts
 Organizational concepts
 System management
 System installation

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Types of Training Methods
 Resident expert
 Traditional instructor-led classroom training
 E-learning, distance learning
 Blended learning (instructor plus e-
learning)
 Software help components

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Training Information Systems
Users (Cont.)
 Electronic performance support system
(EPSS): component of a software package
or an application in which training and
educational information is embedded
 An EPSS can take several forms,
including a tutorial, an expert system shell,
and hypertext jumps to reference
materials.
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Supporting Information Systems
Users
 Support is important to users.
 Providing support can be expensive and
time-consuming.
 Organization tend to rely on Vendors for
support as they move towards using
sophisticated systems.

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Automating Support
 Oneapproach is through
automation.
Internet-based online support
forums
Voice response systems
Knowledge bases

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Providing Support Through a Help
Desk

 Help desk: a single point of contact for

all user inquiries and problems about a
particular information system or for all
users in a particular department

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Providing Support Through a Help
Desk (Cont.)
 Requires
Technical skills: extensive knowledge
about how to use the system and
typical problems that can be
encountered
People skills: good listening and
communication, dealing with complaints
and frustrations
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Organizational Issues in Systems
Implementation
 Why does implementation sometimes fail?
 Traditional wisdom of primary success factors:
 Management support
 User involvement
 But these are not enough
 Other important factors
 Commitment to project
 Commitment to change
 Extent of project definition and planning

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Factors Influencing System Use
 Personal stake of users
 System characteristics
 User demographics
 Organizational support
 Performance
 Satisfaction

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Project Close-Down
 Evaluate team.
 Reassign members to other projects.
 Notify all affected parties that the
development project is ending and that you
are switching to operation and maintenance
mode.
 Conduct post project reviews.
 Close out customer contract.
 Formal signoff

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Conducting Systems
Maintenance
 Maintenance refers to changes made to a
system to fix or enhance its functionality.
 A significant portion of an organization’s
budget for information systems goes to
the maintenance of existing systems.

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The Cost of Maintenance
 Information systems maintenance costs
are a significant expenditure.
 Maintainability is the ease with which
software can be understood, corrected,
adapted, and enhanced.
 Systems with low maintainability result in
uncontrollable maintenance expenses.

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 The Cost of Maintenance
cont’d..
 Factors influencing the maintainability of a
system:
 Latent defects: This is the number of unknown errors
existing in the system after it is installed.
 Number of customers for a given system: In general, the
greater the number of customers, the greater the
maintenance costs.
 Quality of system documentation: Without quality
documentation, maintenance effort can increase
exponentially.
 Maintenance personnel
 Tools
 Well-structured programs 49
Other Maintenance Issues
 Measuring maintenance effectiveness
 Number of failures
 Time between each failure
 Type of failure
 Controlling maintenance requests
 Categorization
 Prioritization
 Configuration management: the process of ensuring
that only authorized changes are made to a system

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