Chapter 5 Systems Analysis True/False Questions

Chapter 5 Systems Analysis
True/False Questions 1. Systems analysis is a problem-solving technique that decomposes a system into its component pieces for the purpose of studying how well those component parts work and interact to accomplish their purpose. Answer: True Page: 160 LOD: Easy 2. Systems design is a complementary problem solving technique to systems analysis that reassembles a system's component pieces into a (hopefully improved) complete system. Answer: True Page: 160 LOD: Easy 3. Information systems analysis is defined as those development phases in a project that primarily focus on the business problem, independent of any technology that can or will be used to implement a solution to that problem. Answer: True Page: 160 LOD: Easy 4. A repository is a location (or set of locations) where systems analysts, systems designers and system builders keep the documentation associated with one or more systems or projects. Answer: True Page: 160 LOD: Easy 5. Model driven analysis emphasizes the drawing of pictorial system models to document and validate both existing and/or proposed systems. Ultimately the system model becomes the blueprint for designing and constructing an improved system. Answer: True Page: 161 LOD: Easy 6. Model driven analysis emphasizes the development of application prototypes to quickly implement a new system without the need for requirements analysis. Answer: False Page: 161 LOD: Easy Rationale: Model driven analysis emphasizes the drawing of pictorial system models to document and validate both existing and/or proposed systems. Ultimately the system model becomes the blueprint for designing and constructing an improved system.
Whitten/Bentley, Systems Analysis & Design Methods, Seventh Edition
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7. Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs) can only be used to depict proposed new processes in a system, along with their inputs, outputs and files. Answer: True Page: 162 LOD: Medium 8. CASE tools offer the advantage of consistency and completeness analysis as well as rule-based error checking. Answer: True Page: 162 LOD: Easy 9. Structured analysis is a traditional approach to system analysis and design. Answer: True Page: 162 LOD: Easy 10. Information engineering (IE) is a data-driven, process-centered, but model-sensitive technique to plan, analyze and design information systems. Answer: False Page: 163 LOD: Medium Rationale: Information engineering (IE) is a model driven and data-centered but process sensitive technique to plan, analyze, and design information systems. 11. Objected oriented analysis (OOA) is model-driven technique that integrates Data and Process concerns into constructs called Objects. OOA models are pictures that illustrate the system's objects from various perspectives such as structure and behavior. Answer: True Page: 163 LOD: Easy 12. The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is used in information engineering. Answer: False Page: 163 LOD: Medium Rationale: The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is used with the object-oriented approach. 13. Accelerated analysis approaches emphasize the construction of prototypes to more rapidly identify business and user requirements for a new system. Answer: True Page: 163-164 LOD: Easy 14. A prototype is a small-scale, incomplete, but working sample of a desired system. Answer: True Page: 163 LOD: Easy
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15. Discovery prototyping is used to identify the user's business requirements by having them react to a quick and dirty implementation of those requirements. Answer: True Page: 164-165 LOD: Easy 16. Many analysts use parts of structured analysis and information engineering in a complementary way to model an information system. Answer: True Page: 163 LOD: Medium 17. Rapid architecture analysis attempts to derive system models from existing systems or discovery prototypes. Answer: True Page: 165 LOD: Easy 18. Reverse engineering technology reads the program code for an existing database, application program, and/or user interface and automatically generates the equivalent system model. Answer: True Page: 165 LOD: Easy 19. Requirements discovery is the process of identifying system problems and solution requirements from the user community. Answer: True Page: 165 LOD: Easy 20. Analytical discovery includes those techniques to be used by a systems analyst to identify or extract system problems and solution requirements from the user community. Answer: False Page: 165 LOD: Medium Rationale: Requirements discovery includes those techniques to be used by a systems analyst to identify or extract system problems and solution requirements from the user community. 21. Examples of fact-finding techniques include: sampling of existing documentation; research of relevant literature; observation of the current system; questionnaires and surveys of the management and user community; and interviews of appropriate managers, users, and technical staff. Answer: True Page: 165-166 LOD: Easy
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22. Joint requirements planning (JRP) techniques use facilitated workshops to bring together all the system owners, system users, systems analysts and some systems designers and builders to jointly perform systems analysis. Answer: True Page: 166 LOD: Easy 23. Joint application development (JAD) is considered a part of Joint Requirements Planning (JRP), which is a more comprehensive application of the techniques to the entire system development process. Answer: False Page: 166 LOD: Medium Rationale: Joint requirements planning (JRP) is considered a part of joint application development (JAD), which is a more comprehensive application of the techniques to the entire system development process. 24. Business process redesign is the application of systems analysis methods to the goal of dramatically changing and improving the fundamental business processes of an organization, independent of information technology. Answer: True Page: 166 LOD: Easy 25. An agile method integrates various approaches of systems analysis and design.. Answer: True Page: 166 LOD: Easy 26. BPR is often triggerd by total quality management and continuous process improvement. Answer: True Page: 166 LOD: Easy 27. Business process redesign is often applied within the context of information systems development when the projects include a study of existing business processes to identify problems, bureaucracy and inefficiencies that need to be addressed in requirements for new and improved information systems. Answer: True Page: 166 LOD: Easy 28. The purpose of a context diagram is to analyze how the system interacts with the world around it. Answer: True Page: 178 LOD: Easy
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29. The scope definition phase is the first phase of the classic systems development process. It is also known as initial study phase, survey phase, or planning phase. Answer: True Page: 167 LOD: Easy 30. The scope definition phase looks at the question "Is this project worth looking at?" Answer: True Page: 167 LOD: Easy 31. The scope definition phase looks at the economic and operational feasibility of the project under consideration. Answer: False Page: 167 LOD: Easy Rationale: The scope definition phase looks at the question "Is this project worth looking at?" 32. The final deliverable for the scope definition phases is the project charter.. Answer: True Page: 167 LOD: Easy 33. A problem statements matrix lists each problem, opportunity, or directive related to the project. Answer: True Page: 170-172 LOD: Easy 34. Scope defies the boundary of the project. Answer: True Page: 172 LOD: Easy 35. The final deliverable of the scope definition phase is a working prototype to demonstrate system requirements. Answer: False Page: 167 LOD: Medium Rationale: The final deliverable of the scope definition phase is the project charter. 36. The scope definition phase typically includes the following tasks: (1) identify baseline problems and opportunities; (2) negotiate baseline scope; (3) assess baseline worthiness; (4) develop baseline schedule & budget; (5) communicate the project plan. Answer: True Page: 169 LOD: Medium
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37. The first FAST phase is the problem analysis phase. Answer: False Page: 167 LOD: Hard Rationale: The first phase is the scope definition phase. 38. The PIECES framework can be used to categorize problems, opportunities, directives, and constraints. Answer: True Page: 172 LOD: Easy 39. During the scope definition phase, each problem, opportunity and directive is assessed with respect to urgency, visibility, tangible benefits and priority. Answer: True Page: 170-172 LOD: Easy 40. In the scope definition phase, urgency is used to represent what time frame the problem needs to be solved or the opportunity or directive to be realized. Answer: True Page: 170 LOD: Easy 41. In the scope definition phase, urgency is used to represent the prioritization and documentation requirements for the problem that needs to be solved, or the opportunity or directive to be realized. Answer: False Page: 170 LOD: Medium Rationale: Urgency is used to represent what time frame the problem needs to be solved or the opportunity or directive to be realized. 42. In the scope definition phase, visibility is used to assess the degree to which a project solution is made visual through the use of modeling tools such as data flow diagrams or entity relationship diagrams. Answer: False Page: 170 LOD: Medium Rationale: Visibility is used to assess the degree to which a project solution or new system would be visible to customers and/or executive management. 43. In the scope definition phase, benefits are measured in terms of how a new system could increase annual revenues, or reduce annual costs. Answer: True Page: 170 LOD: Easy
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44. In the scope definition phase, benefits need to be measured optimistically if the project is to be a success. Answer: False Page: 170 LOD: Medium Rationale: Benefits during the scope definition phase are often a guess, and if all participants are involved in that guess, it should be represented as sufficiently conservative. 45. In the scope definition phase, a consensus of priorities is arrived at to help adjust the project scope. Answer: True Page: 172 LOD: Easy 46. In the scope definition phase, possible solutions are expressed in simple terms to facilitate high level-discussion of options such as (a) leave well enough alone; (b) a quick fix; (c) a simple to moderate enhancement of the system; (d) redesign the existing system, or (e) design a new system. Answer: True Page: 172 LOD: Easy 47. In the scope definition phase, possible solutions need to be expressed in as much detail as possible so that an accurate picture of the feasibility of the project can be determined. Answer: False Page: 172 LOD: Hard Rationale: In the scope definition phase, possible solutions are expressed in simple terms to facilitate high level-discussion of options such as (a) leave well enough alone; (b) a quick fix; (c) a simple to moderate enhancement of the system; (d) redesign the existing system, or (e) design a new system. 48. Developing the baseline schedule and budget is the responsibility of the system owner. Answer: False Page: 173 LOD: Easy Rationale: It is the responsibility of the project manager. 49. Scope can change during the life cycle of a project, however, the initial project plan needs to establish the preliminary scope to provide a context for the budget and schedule. Answer: True Page: 172 LOD: Easy
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50. The preliminary master plan is also known as the baseline plan. Answer: True Page: 173 LOD: Easy 51. A steering body is a committee of executive business and system managers that studies and prioritizes competing project proposals to determine which projects will return the most value to the organization and thus should be approved for continued system development. Answer: True Page: 173 LOD: Easy 52. The facilitator for the joint requirements planning process determines which projects will return the most value to the organization and thus should be approved for continued system development. Answer: False Page: 173 LOD: Medium Rationale: A steering body is a committee of executive business and system managers that studies and prioritizes competing project proposals to determine which projects will return the most value to the organization and thus should be approved for continued system development. 53. The problem analysis phase is best described by the statement, "Don't try to fix it unless you understand it." Answer: True Page: 174 LOD: Easy 54. The goal of the problem analysis phase is to study and understand the problem domain well enough to thoroughly analyze its problems, opportunities and constraints. Answer: True Page: 175 LOD: Easy 55. The problem analysis phase typically includes the following tasks: (1) understand the problem domain; (2) analyze problems and opportunities; (3) analyze business processes; (4) establish system improvement objectives; (5) update or refine the project plan; (6) communicate findings and recommendations. Answer: True Page: 175 LOD: Easy
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56. The scope definition phase typically included the following tasks: (1) study the problem domain; (2) analyzed problems and opportunities; (3) analyze business processes; (4) establish system improvement objectives; (5) update the project plan; (6) present findings and recommendations. Answer: False Page: 175 LOD: Hard Rationale: The problem analysis phase typically includes the following tasks: (1) understand the problem domain; (2) analyze problems and opportunities; (3) analyze business processes; (4) establish system improvement objectives; (5) update or refine the project plan; (6) communicate findings and recommendations. 57. The deliverables of the problem analysis phase include an understanding of the problem domain and business vocabulary. Answer: True Page: 177 LOD: Medium 58. Cause-and-effect analysis leads to true understanding of problems and can lead to notso-obvious, but more creative and valuable solutions. Answer: True Page: 180 LOD: Easy 59. Cause-and-effect analysis is an out-of-date technique that is unnecessary today given the complete nature of the scope definition phase that makes such problems and their solutions obvious. Answer: False Page: 180 LOD: Medium Rationale: Cause-and-effect analysis leads to true understanding of problems and can lead to not-so-obvious, but more creative and valuable solutions. 60. An objective is a measure of success. It is something that you expect to achieve, if given sufficient resources. Answer: True Page: 182 LOD: Easy 61. An objective is something that will limit your flexibility in defining a solution to your constraints. Essentially, objectives cannot be changed. Answer: False Page: 182 LOD: Medium Rationale: An objective is a measure of success. It is something that you expect to achieve, if given sufficient resources. A constraint is something that will limit your flexibility in defining a solution to your objectives. Essentially constraints cannot be changed.
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62. Objectives fall into four categories: schedule, cost, technology and policy. Answer: False Page: 183 LOD: Medium Rationale: Constraints fall into four categories: schedule; cost; technology; and policy. 63. The final deliverable for the problem analysis phase is the completion of an updated project plan, including problem analyses, any system models, the system improvement objectives, and any other documentation that was produced during this phase. Answer: True Page: 183 LOD: Easy 64. Interpersonal and communication skills are critical to the problem analysis phase. Answer: True Page: 183 LOD: Easy 65. Interpersonal and communication skills are not essential to the problem analysis phase. Answer: False Page: 183 LOD: Medium Rationale: Interpersonal and communication skills are critical to the problem analysis phase. 66. One of three possible decisions are made at the end of the problem analysis phase: (1) authorize the project to continue to the next phase (requirements analysis); (2) adjust the scope, cost and/or schedule for the project, and then continue with the next phase (requirements analysis); OR (3) cancel the project due to either the lack of resources or the realization that the problems and opportunities are not simply as important as anticipated. Answer: True Page: 184 LOD: Easy 67. The requirements analysis phase comes after the problem analysis phase and defines the business requirements for a new system. Answer: True Page: 185 LOD: Easy 68. The requirements analysis phase comes directly after the scope definition phase and is used to specify the model for the existing system, as well as the business requirements for the new system. Answer: False Page: 185 LOD: Medium Rationale: The requirements analysis phase comes after the problem analysis phase and defines the business requirements for a new system.
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69. The requirements analysis phase answers the question, "What do the users need and want from a new system?" Answer: True Page: 185 LOD: Easy 70. The requirements analysis phase answers the question, "Is this system worth looking at?" Answer: False Page: 185 LOD: Medium Rationale: The requirements analysis phase answers the question, "What do the users need and want from a new system?" 71. The final deliverable and milestone of the requirements analysis phase is the production of a business requirements statement that will fulfill the system improvement objectives identified in the prior phase. Answer: True Page: 185 LOD: Easy 72. The requirements phase typically includes a task to update or refine the project plan. Answer: True Page: 187 LOD: Easy 73. Security is an example of a functional requirement. Answer: False Page: 185 LOD: Medium Rationale: Security is an example of a nonfunctional requirement. 74. A nonfunctional requirement is a description of other features, characteristics and constraints that define a satisfactory system. Answer: True Page: 185 LOD: Easy 75. A nonfunctional requirement is a description of other features, characteristics and constraints that will make the system unsatisfactory. Answer: False Page: 185 LOD: Medium Rationale: A nonfunctional requirement is a description of other features, characteristics and constraints that define a satisfactory system. 76. The deliverables of the requirements analysis phase are the draft functional and nonfunctional requirements. Answer: True Page: 187 LOD: Easy
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77. Use cases evolved out of object-oriented analysis but have become common in many other methodologies. Answer: True Page: 188 LOD: Medium 78. Requirements are often documented with use cases. Answer: True Page: 188 LOD: Medium 79. All desirable requirements should be included in version 1.0. Answer: False Page: 188 LOD: Medium Rationale: All mandatory requirements should be included in version 1.0 80. Requirements analysis never really ends. Answer: True Page: 189 LOD: Medium 81. Prototyping is an alternative to system modeling. Answer: True Page: 192 LOD: Easy 82. Test cases (or acceptance tests) used to test the completed system should be planned during the logical design phase. Answer: True Page: 192 LOD: Medium 83. The logical design phase further documents business requirements. Answer: True Page: 189 LOD: Medium 84. Software tools exist to reverse engineer system models. Answer: True Page: 192 LOD: Medium 85. When using timeboxing the first version of the system to be delivered returns little immediate value to the user. Answer: False Page: 188 LOD: Easy Rationale: Each version returns immediate value to system owners and users.
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86. Timeboxing divides the total project into subsets that can each be delivered within a one-week time frame. Answer: False Page: 188 LOD: Medium Rationale: Timeboxing often uses a time frame of six to nine months. 87. A desirable requirement is one that is not essential to the first version of the system, but may still be essential to the vision of some future version. Answer: True Page: 188 LOD: Easy 88. A mandatory requirement is one that is essential for the system, but not necessaryily for the first version of the system. Answer: False Page: 188 LOD: Easy Rationale: A mandatory requirement is one that must be fulfilled by the minimal system. The system is useless without it. A desirable requirement is one that is not essential to the first version of the system, but may still be essential to the vision of some future version. 89. Agile methods often require more modeling than other methods. Answer: False Page: 191 LOD: Easy Rationale: Agile methods usually require "just enough" documentation. 90. The decision analysis phase identifies candidate solutions, analyzes those candidate solutions, and recommends a target system that will be designed, constructed, and implemented. Answer: True Page: 192 LOD: Easy 91. The requirements analysis phase identifies candidate solutions, analyzes those candidate solutions, and recommends a target system that will be designed, constructed, and implemented. Answer: False Page: 192 LOD: Easy Rationale: The decision analysis phase identifies candidate solutions, analyzes those candidate solutions, and recommends a target system that will be designed, constructed, and implemented.
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92. The final deliverable and milestone for the decision analysis phase is to produce a system proposal that will fulfill the business requirements identified in the previous phases. Answer: True Page: 194 LOD: Easy 93. The decision analysis phase typically included the following tasks: (1) identify candidate solutions; (2) analyze candidate solutions; (3) compare candidate solutions; (4) update the project plan; and (5) recommend a solution. Answer: True Page: 194 LOD: Easy 94. Each candidate solution must be analyzed for feasibility. Answer: True Page: 195 LOD: Easy 95. The feasibility analysis should be performed on each individual candidate solution without regard to the feasibility of the other candidates. This approach discourages the analyst and users from making a premature decision about which candidate is the best. Answer: True Page: 195 LOD: Easy 96. The feasibility analysis should be stopped as soon as the analyst identifies an ideal solution. This will save valuable time that can be put to better use during the implementation phase. Answer: False Page: 195 LOD: Medium Rationale: The feasibility analysis should be performed on each individual candidate solution without regard to the feasibility of the other candidates. This approach discourages the analyst and users from making a premature decision about which candidate is the best. 97. Once the feasibility analysis has been done on each candidate solution, a comparison can now be made among all of the candidate solutions to determine which ones to recommend to the system owners and users. Answer: True Page: 197 LOD: Easy
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98. In the future, with the improvement of CASE tools, we will no longer need systems analysts to investigate business problems; the procedure will be completely automated. Answer: False Page: 199 LOD: Medium Rationale: In the future, we will continue to need systems analysts who understand how to fundamentally investigate and analyze business problems and define the logical business requirements as a preface to system design. Multiple Choice Questions 99. A system proposal may be presented as a: A) report B) verbal presentation C) walkthrough D) all of these E) none of these Answer: D Page: 198 LOD: Medium 100. Which of the following is not a category of constraints? A) schedule B) technology C) priority D) cost E) policy Answer: C Page: 183 LOD: Medium 101. The study of a current business and information system application and the definition of user requirements and priorities for a new or improved information system is part of which phase? A) problem analysis phase B) scope definition phase C) requirements analysis phase D) decision analysis phase E) none of these Answer: A Page: 174 LOD: Medium
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102. Which of the following is NOT a phase in systems analysis? A) scope definition phase B) design analysis phase C) requirements analysis phase D) decision analysis phase E) none of these Answer: B Page: 161 LOD: Hard 103. A problem solving technique that decomposes a system into its component parts while focusing on the business problem independent of technology is: A) systems design B) systems analysis C) cause-and-effect analysis D) joint application design (JAD) E) none of these Answer: B Page: 160 LOD: Medium 104. A problem solving technique that reassembles a system's component pieces into a complete, new and improved system is: A) systems design B) systems analysis C) cause-and-effect analysis D) joint application design (JAD) E) none of these Answer: A Page: 160 LOD: Medium 105. Data flow diagrams are used in: A) model-driven analysis B) traditional approaches C) structured analysis D) object oriented analysis E) a, b, and c Answer: E Page: 161-162 LOD: Hard
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106. Which of the following is a model-driven, data-centered, but process-sensitive technique to plan, analyze and design information systems? A) cause-and-effect analysis B) information engineering C) data flow diagrams D) object oriented analysis E) none of these Answer: B Page: 163 LOD: Medium 107. A small-scale, incomplete, but working sample of a desired system is: A) an entity relationship diagram B) a prototype C) a data-flow diagram D) a unified modeling language diagram E) none of these Answer: B Page: 163 LOD: Easy 108. The application of systems analysis methods to the goal of dramatically changing and improving the fundamental business processes of an organization, independent of technology is: A) total quality management B) continuous process improvement C) cause-and-effect analysis D) business process redesign E) none of these Answer: D Page: 166 LOD: Medium 109. Which of the following is not part of the scope definition phase? A) identify problems, opportunities and directives B) negotiate baseline project scope C) assess project worthiness D) propose candidate solutions E) all of these are part of the scope definition phase Answer: D Page: 167 LOD: Medium
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110. A committee of executive business and system managers that studies and prioritizes competing project proposals to determine which projects will return the most for an organization, and should be approved is: A) joint application committee B) joint requirements committee C) steering body D) prototyping body E) none of these Answer: C Page: 173 LOD: Medium 111. The problem analysis phase typically includes which of the following tasks? A) negotiate baseline scope B) establish system improvement objectives C) prioritize system requirements D) analyze candidate solutions E) all of these Answer: B Page: 175 LOD: Hard 112. Which of the following phases defines the business requirements for new systems? A) scope definition phase B) systems analysis phase C) requirements analysis phase D) decision analysis phase E) none of these Answer: C Page: 185 LOD: Medium 113. A description of activities and services that a system must provide is A) non-functional requirement B) functional requirement C) prototype D) physical requirement E) none of these Answer: B Page: 185 LOD: Medium
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114. A description of features, characteristics, and constraints that define a satisfactory system, but are not required in the initial version of the system is known as: A) non-functional requirement B) functional requirement C) prototype D) physical requirement E) none of these Answer: A Page: 185 LOD: Medium 115. A diagram that depicts how the system interacts with the world around it and specifies the system inputs and outputs is a(n): A) use case diagram B) entity relationship diagram C) context diagram D) object diagram E) none of these Answer: C Page: 178 LOD: Medium 116. Which of the following is NOT shown in a context diagram? A) the system B) actors or agents C) system inputs D) system outputs E) all of these are shown Answer: E Page: 179 LOD: Medium 117. Which of the following phases identifies candidate solutions, analyzes them, and recommends a target solution? A) scope definition phase B) systems analysis phase C) requirements analysis phase D) decision analysis phase E) none of these Answer: D Page: 192 LOD: Medium
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118. Technical feasibility asks the following question(s): A) Is the solution technically practical? Does the staff have the technical expertise to design and build the system? B) Will the solution fulfill the users' requirements? To what degree? How will the solution change the users' work environment? C) Is the solution cost-effective? D) Can the solution be designed and implemented within an acceptable time period? E) none of these Answer: A Page: 195 LOD: Medium 119. Operational feasibility asks the following question(s): A) Is the solution technically practical? Does the staff have the technical expertise to design and build the system? B) Will the solution fulfill the users' requirements? To what degree? How will the solution change the users' work environment? C) Is the solution cost-effective? D) Can the solution be designed and implemented within an acceptable time period? E) none of these Answer: B Page: 195 LOD: Medium 120. Economic feasibility asks the following question(s): A) Is the solution technically practical? Does the staff have the technical expertise to design and build the system? B) Will the solution fulfill the users' requirements? To what degree? How will the solution change the users' work environment? C) Is the solution cost-effective? D) Can the solution be designed and implemented within an acceptable time period? E) none of these Answer: C Page: 195 LOD: Medium 121. Schedule feasibility asks the following question(s): A) Is the solution technically practical? Does the staff have the technical expertise to design and build the system? B) Will the solution fulfill the users' requirements? To what degree? How will the solution change the users' work environment? C) Is the solution cost-effective? D) Can the solution be designed and implemented within an acceptable time period? E) none of these Answer: D Page: 195 LOD: Medium
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122. The project plan needs to be updated during what phase of the systems development life cycle? A) problem analysis phase B) logical design phase C) requirements analysis phase D) decision analysis phase E) all of these Answer: E Page: 177, 187, 191, 194 LOD: Medium 123. Which of the following are not in the classical set of techniques for fact-finding?: A) sampling of existing documentation, reports, forms, files, databases and memos B) research of relevant literature, benchmarks and site visits C) prototyping the preliminary system requirements D) observation of the current system E) all of these Answer: C Page: 165-166 LOD: Medium Fill in the Blank Questions 124. ____________________________ is a complementary problem solving technique to systems analysis that reassembles a system's component pieces into a (hopefully improved) complete system. Answer: Systems design Page: 160 LOD: Medium
125. _________________________________ is defined as those development phases in a project that primarily focus on the business problem, independent of any technology that can or will be used to implement a solution to that problem. Answer: Information systems analysis Page: 160 LOD: Medium
126. A(n) __________________________ is a location (or set of locations) where systems analysts, systems designers and system builders keep the documentation associated with one or more systems or projects. Answer: repository Page: 160 LOD: Hard
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127. ___________________________ and ____________________________ are examples of traditional approaches to systems analysis. Answer: Structured analysis and information engineering LOD: Hard 128. The processes of an object are called _____________. Answer: methods Page: 163 LOD: Hard Page: 162-163
129. _______________________________________ is a model-driven technique that integrates data and process concerns. Answer: Objected oriented analysis (OOA) Page: 163 LOD: Hard
130. _________________________________ approaches emphasize the construction of prototypes to more rapidly identify business and user requirements for a new system. Answer: Accelerated analysis Page: 163 LOD: Hard
131. __________________________________ is used to identify the user's business requirements by having them react to a quick and dirty implementation of those requirements. Answer: Discovery prototyping Page: 164 LOD: Hard
132. ____________________________________ technology reads the program code for an existing database, application program, and/or user interface and automatically generates the equivalent system model. Answer: Reverse engineering Page: 165 LOD: Medium
133. _________________________ is a classical set of techniques used to collect information about system problems, opportunities, solution requirements and priorities. Answer: Fact finding Page: 165 LOD: Hard
134. ________________________________ techniques use facilitated workshops to bring together all the system owners, system users, systems analysts and some systems designers and builders to jointly perform systems analysis. Answer: Joint requirements planning (JRP) Page: 166 LOD: Medium
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135. Joint requirements planning (JRP) is considered a part of ____________________________________________ which is a more comprehensive application of the techniques to the entire system development process. Answer: Joint application development (JAD) Page: 166 LOD: Hard
136. _______________________________________ is the application of systems analysis methods to the goal of dramatically changing and improving the fundamental business processes of an organization, independent of information technology. Answer: Business process redesign Page: 166 LOD: Medium
137. The _________________________________________looks at the question "Is this project work looking at?" Answer: scope definition phase Page: 167 LOD: Medium 138. The context for the scope definition phase is primarily concerned with the ________________________________________ perspectives. Answer: system owners' Page: 167 LOD: Medium
139. A __________________________________ defines the project scope, plan, methodology, and standards for a project. It is the first major milestone. Answer: project charter Page: 174 LOD: Medium
140. _____________________ involve the integration of various approaches of systems analysis and design as deemed appropriate to the problem being solved. Answer: agile methods Page: 166 LOD: Medium
141. In the scope definition phase, _____________________________ is used to represent what time frame the problem needs to be solved or the opportunity or directive to be realized. Answer: urgency Page: 170 LOD: Medium
142. In the scope definition phase, __________________________ is used to assess the degree to which a project solution or new system would be visible to customers and/or executive management. Answer: visibility Page: 170 LOD: Hard
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143. In the scope definition phase, _________________________ are measured in terms of how a new system could increase annual revenues, or reduce annual costs. Answer: benefits Page: 170 LOD: Medium
144. A _____________ is a business scenario or event for which the system must provide a define response. Answer: use case Page: 188 LOD: Medium 145. A _________________ requirement is one that does not have to be included in version 1.0. Answer: desirable Page: 188 LOD: Medium
146. __________________________ defines the boundary of the project those aspects of the business that will and will not be included. Scope can change during the life cycle of a project, however, the initial project plan needs to establish the preliminary scope to provide a context for the budget and schedule. Answer: Scope Page: 169 LOD: Medium 147. A(n) __________________________________ is a committee of executive business and system managers that studies and prioritizes competing project proposals to determine which projects will return the most value to the organization and thus should be approved for continued system development. Answer: steering body Page: 173 LOD: Medium
148. The _____________________________phase is best described by the statement, "Don't try to fix it unless you understand it." Answer: problem analysis Page: 174 LOD: Hard
149. The _____________________________phase typically includes the following tasks: (1) study the problem domain; (2) analyze problems and opportunities; (3) analyze business processes; (4) establish system improvement objectives; (5) update the project plan; (6) present findings and recommendations. Answer: problem analysis Page: 175 LOD: Medium
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150. ___________________________________ analysis leads to true understanding of problems and can lead to not so obvious, but more creative and valuable solutions. Answer: Cause-and-effect Page: 180 LOD: Hard
151. _________________________________ fall into four categories: schedule; cost; technology; and policy. Answer: Constraints Page: 183 LOD: Medium
152. The deliverable for the ______________________________ phase is the completion of an updated project plan, including problem analyses, any system models, the system improvement objectives, and any other documentation that was produced during this phase. Answer: problem analysis Page: 183 LOD: Hard
153. The ___________________________________ phase, comes after the problem analysis phase, and defines the business requirements for a new system. Answer: requirements analysis Page: 185s LOD: Medium
154. The _____________________________________ phase typically includes prioritizing system requirements. Answer: requirements analysis Page: 185 LOD: Medium
155. A ________________________________ is a description of activities and services a system must provide. Answer: functional requirement Page: 185 LOD: Medium
156. A _________________________________ is a description of other features, characteristics and constraints that define a satisfactory system. Answer: nonfunctional requirement Page: 185 LOD: Medium
157. _______________ is a technique that delivers the information system in multiple versions. Answer: timeboxing Page: 188 LOD: Medium
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158. A __________________________________ at a high level how the system interacts with the world. Answer: context diagram Page: 178 LOD: Easy
159. One approach to logical design is to structure ___________________________ solutions. Answer: structure the functional requirements. Page: 191 LOD: Hard
160. All systems documentation is kept in a _________________________. Answer: repository Page: 160 LOD: Medium
161. __________________________________ is a problem-solving technique that decomposes a system into its component pieces for the purpose of studying how well those component parts work and interact to accomplish their purpose. Answer: Systems analysis Page: 160 LOD: Medium
Entity Life Histories (ELH)

This information was originally published as part of a course offering on the web site of Manchester Metropolitan University. Firstly a recap ... there are many system development methods advertised. (Ignoring the object-oriented paradigm) these methods tend to focus on one of 3 possible views of system data. Either the 'functional' view of the system by examining the various functions undertaken by the system and the flow of information between those functions (usually diagrammatically represented in some form of Data Flow Diagram). Or the 'structural' view of the system by examining the structure of the data and the relationships between the various items of data (usually diagrammatically represented in the form of an Entity-Relationship diagram - known as a Logical Data Structure in SSADM). In the case of ER modelling, data normalisation, also known as Relational Data Analysis, is usually performed on the various entity attributes to reduce the functional dependency between entities. The third view examines the system from a time-based perspective, considering the sequence in which events occur. Whilst most methods focus on one of these views, SSADM incorporates or 3 perspectives. This lecture introduces the third perspective 'time'. In a subsequent lecture we will examine how we combine these three views into a set of complementary models in which any conflict has been resolved. The philosophy upon which SSADM is based suggests that by examining a
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proposed system from all three perspectives there is less risk of missing important features of the system under investigation.
1. Introduction to Entity Life Histories

ELHs provide us with the third view of the system, the dynamic sequence or time-based view. It shows the processing cycle of an entity from creation to deletion. It models all possible changes to the values of the attributes (or data items) of the entity during its life and the sequence in which the updates take place. To diagrammatically represent an ELH we use 'structure diagram notation', also known as Jackson diagrams. These diagrams are mainly used with the Jackson Structured Programming (JSP) and Jackson System Development (JSD) methodologies as developed by Michael Jackson (in the computing world he is the Michael Jackson !). JSP is used for developing single programs whilst JSD is used for developing a suite of communicating programs. An example is given below:
Figure 1: Nomenclature of JSP/JSD The structure diagram consists of three main simple constructs: 'sequence', 'selection' and 'iteration'.
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Sequence:
Figure 2: Sequence Construct The order of the boxes indicates sequence. Events must occur in the sequence account opened, account life (the transactions which occur) and finally account closed.
Selection:
Figure 3: Selection Construct The 'o' in the box indicates alternatives. A transaction is either a deposit or a withdrawal.
Figure 4: Null Selection Construct A null box is used when a no selection option is required.
Iteration:
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Figure 5: Iteration Construct The asterisk represents iteration. Transactions can occur in succession. Note that an iteration of zero is allowed, so this construct can indicate that a state may or may not occur. The constructs are grouped together into tree-like structures, the single box at the top indicating the entity:
Figure 6: The Full Diagram for Bank Account The meaning of the above structure diagram is that, given any bank account, the first event is the 'open' event, the 'account lifetime events can only occur after an 'open' event and before a 'close' event. Similarly, a 'close' event can only occur after an 'open' event and the 'accounts lifetime'. From the structure chart we can also observe that 'account lifetime' is also decomposed in to an iteration of 'account transactions'. Strictly, the iteration can occur zero or more times therefore no 'account transaction' is required to take place between the 'Bank Account' being 'opened' and 'closed'. Finally, the 'account transactions' can be one of two events: 'deposit', or 'withdrawal'. There is no time-ordering to selectable components so in this representation a 'withdrawal' could precede a 'deposit'. Note that an event can affect two entities e.g. the event account opened would also be on the ELH for the entity customer.
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Also note that the different constructs are not mixed on the same level e.g. the box Account Lifetime has been introduced so that the iteration transaction is not on the same level as the sequence boxes. Intermediate boxes have no significance other than to show sequence.
1.1 Entity Definition & Identification

In SSADM the entities will have been defined in the Logical Data Structure (also known as the Entity Relationship Diagram). In other methodologies the definition is more vague: 'something of interest in the problem domain', ' a thing about which information is held'. An entity can be either physical or conceptual i.e. a person or a project.
1.2 Event Definition & Identification

An event is something that happens in the real world to cause a change of state to the database. The 'trigger' that causes the event to occur may be as a result of three things: i) Externally generated, such as a training officer placing bookings for staff to attend a course; ii) Internally generated, such as course numbers falling below a critical level, so canceling the running of a course; iii) Time-based, such as the automatic rising of invoices at a set time of the month. In SSADM, the lowest level of the DFD should show us the events that will constitute the ELH. However, different naming conventions should be employed as more than one trigger may be required to activate the DFD process, each trigger being a different event. It therefore follows, that the same event can occur in more than one ELH.
1.3 Parallel Life

The ELH maps out the events that can impact upon an entity in the sequence in which they will occur. However, whilst most events can be modelled in such a sequence, some will happen at random. For example, a customer can change address whilst orders are still being processed: the customer record will need amending & so will the order record to show the new delivery address. Therefore, some updates to an entities attributes can occur at any point in the life history, the timing of such events can not be predicted and so cannot be placed in any particular sequence on the ELH diagram. Similarly, when such events do occur, they will not impact on the main sequence of events in the life history. These sorts of events are frequently concerned with the alteration of reference information to the entity. The structure we use to record this is a 'parallel life'. The construct is used when the sequence of events is not predictable or can occur concurrently. The notation to show a parallel life is
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the double horizontal bar (see below). There are no limits to the number of parallel lives allowed. Consider the following example
Figure 7: Parallel Life Construct The parallel life indicates that transactions and overdrafts can occur at the same time..
1.4 Quits and Resumes

In the example below an account may be suspended and at some later point re-opened in which case it continues its account life. Note the use of the null selection - it is not an inevitable part of Bank Account that the account will be suspended.
Figure 8: Illustration of the Use of Quits and Resumes
The Q1 indicates the points at which the diagram is left and the R1 where it is re-joined. There may be more than one quit and resume on a diagram hence the number following the letter.
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If it is possible to quit from anywhere on a diagram a separate diagram can be created for the resume section.
2. How to Derive Entity Life Histories

In order to create Entity Life Histories SSADM suggests the following activities:
2.1 Create Entity / Event Matrix

A grid is created. Down the side of the grid we list all the entities identified during the creation of the entity-relationship diagram. Along the top of the grid we list all the events identified. An event is an action within a process which provides an update to a data store on the lowest level of the logical DFDs. Consider the following partial entity/event matrix for the entities 'Fossil'.
Catalogue Addition Loaned Returned Damaged Returned Not Damaged Lost
Fossil etc.
The entity/event matrix shows how many times an event can occur (1, many or none). From this the ELH can be drawn.
2.2 Draw First Cut ELH

We can now draw the ELH. Start with details entities from the LDS. Use constructs to represent the life of the entity.
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Figure 9: ELH Derived from the Entity/Event Matrix of Figure 8
2.3 Review Entity Life History

Consider the following:

interaction between entities, particularly their disconnection and reconnection; abnormal death events (use separate Q and R); reversions i.e. resumption of normal life; random events using parallel life structure.
2.4 Add Operations

The end leaf of an entity represents the effect or action (see figure 1). The operations provide a way of describing these effects. The logical operations which should be documented are:

Store <attribute>, keys, remaining attributes, <attribute> using <expression>; Replace <attribute>, <attribute> by <expression>;
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Tie to <entity> (establish relationship with master); Cut from <entity> (remove relationship with master); Gain <entity> (establish relationship with detail); Lose <entity> (remove relationship with detail).
The addition of operations can be illustrated by the following example:
Figure 10: Illustration of Addition of Operations
2.5 Adding State Indicators

In the logical design stage of SSADM state indicators are added to ELHs. By adding state indicators to ELHs we can see which event occurred last and which event can occur. A state indicator is a numeric value which identifies the completion of an event. The following information is added to the end leaves of the ELH:

valid previous values is a list of values a state indicator can have for the event to be allowed; value a state indicator is set to by the event.
State indicators are added by:

first adding set to values; then considering the sequence of events to determine the valid previous values.
An example is shown below:
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Figure 11: Illustration of the Addition of State Indicators
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Whitten/Bentley, Systems Analysis & Design Methods, Seventh Edition