To analyze and design appropriate information systems, systems analysts need to comprehend the organizations they work in as systems shaped through the interactions of three main forces: the levels of management, design of organizations, and organizational cultures. Organizations are large systems composed of interrelated subsystems. The subsystems are influenced by three broad levels of management… [Continue Reading]
Understanding and Modeling Organizational Systems
Organizations as Systems
Organizations and their members are usefully conceptualized as systems designed to accomplish predetermined goals and objectives through people and other resources that they employ. Organizations are composed of smaller, interrelated systems (departments, units, divisions, etc.) serving specialized functions. Typical functions include accounting, marketing, production, data processing, and management. Specialized functions (smaller systems) are eventually reintegrated… [Continue Reading]
Virtual Organizations and Virtual Teams
Not all organizations or parts of organizations are visible in a physical location. Entire organizations or units of organizations can now possess virtual components that permit them to change configurations to adapt to changing project or marketplace demands. Virtual enterprises use networks of computers and communications technology to bring people with specific skills together electronically… [Continue Reading]
Taking a Systems Perspective
Taking a systems perspective allows systems analysts to start broadly clarifying and understanding the various businesses with which they will come into contact. It is important that members of subsystems realize that their work is interrelated. Notice in the first figure illustrated below that the outputs from the production subsystems serve as inputs for marketing… [Continue Reading]
Enterprise Systems: Viewing the Organization as a System
Enterprise systems, often referred to as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, is a term used to describe an integrated organizational (enterprise) information system. Specifically, ERP is software that helps the flow of information between the functional areas in the organization. It is a customized system that, rather than being developed in-house, is usually purchased from… [Continue Reading]
Systems and the Context-Level Data Flow Diagram
A system or subsystem as it exists within the corporate organization may be graphically depicted in several ways. The various graphical models show the boundaries of the system and the information used in the system. The first model is the context-level data flow diagram (also called an environmental model). Data flow diagrams focus on the… [Continue Reading]
Systems and the Entity-Relationship Model
Another way a systems analyst can show the scope of the system and define proper system boundaries is to use an entity-relationship model. The elements that make up an organizational system can be referred to as entities. An entity may be a person, a place, or a thing, such as a passenger on an airline,… [Continue Reading]
Use Case Modeling / Use Case Symbols
Originally introduced as a diagram for use in object-oriented UML, use cases are now being used regardless of the approach to systems development. It can be used as part of the SDLC or in agile modeling. The word use is pronounced as a noun (yoos) rather than a verb (yooz). A use case model describes… [Continue Reading]
Use Case Relationships
Active relationships are referred to as behavioral relationships and are used primarily in use case diagrams. There are four basic types of behavioral relationships: communicates, includes, extends, and generalizes. Notice that all these terms are action verbs. Table below illustrates the arrows and lines used to diagram each of the four types of behavioral relationships…. [Continue Reading]
Developing Use Case Diagrams & Use Case Scenarios
Developing Use Case Diagrams The primary use case consists of a standard flow of events in the system that describes a standard system behavior. The primary use case represents the normal, expected, and successful completion of the use case. When diagramming a use case, start by asking the users to list everything the system should… [Continue Reading]
Use Case Levels (Use case Modeling)
You may want to create use cases for different levels. One method (defined by Alistair Cockburn) uses the following altitude metaphors: White is the highest level, like clouds. This is the enterprise level, and there may only be four to five for the entire organization. Examples might be to advertise goods, sell goods to customers,… [Continue Reading]
Levels of Management
Management in organizations exists on three broad, horizontal levels: operational control, managerial planning and control (middle management), and strategic management, as shown in the figure illustrated below. Each level carries its own responsibilities, and all work toward achieving organizational goals and objectives in their own ways. Operational control forms the bottom tier of three-tiered management…. [Continue Reading]
Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is an established area of research that has grown remarkably in the last generation. Just as it is appropriate to think of organizations as including many technologies, it is similarly appropriate to see them as hosts to multiple, often competing subcultures. There is still little agreement on what precisely constitutes an organizational subculture…. [Continue Reading]
