sfsuISYS 899 

Fall 2008
Special Study: Information Systems Analysis & Design

 

 

Instructor
Brenda Mak bmak@sfsu.edu      Office: Sci 345,   Telephone: 415-405-0595

Office Hours
Tuesday  Thursday 4:50pm-5:30pm, 6:10pm-6:45pm, Thursday 1:50pm-3:20pm, and by appointment


Class Schedule
:
ISYS    0899-04   (schedule # 19429 ) Thursday 7:00pm-9:45pm (BUS 116)


Required Texts:

Systems Analysis & Design in a Changing World by Satzinger, Jackson, and Burd, Course Technology, Thompson Publishing 2009, 5th edition, ISBN: 1-4239-0228-9 (amazon's website on 4th edition)

References:

1. Modern Structured Analysis by Yourdon, Prentice Hall 1989, ISBN 0-13-598624-9, (amazon's website on structured analysis )
2. Practical Guide to Structured Systems Design by Page-Jones, Prentice-Hall 1988, ISBN: 0-13-690769-5.
3. Use Cases --Requirements in Context, by Kulak and Guiney, Addison-Wesley, Pearson Education, 2nd edition, 2004, ISBN 0-321-15498-3.
4.Use Case Modeling, by Kurt Bittner and Ian Spence, Addison-Wesley, Pearson Education, 2003, ISBN 0-201-70913-9.
5. UML and the Unified Process by Jim Arlow and Ila Neustadt, Addison-Wesley, Pearson Education, 2002, ISBN 0-201-77060-1.


Grading
:

Exam 1 20% 
Exam 2 35%
Assignment (individual)
4%
Group Project:
Proposal  5%
Progress report  15%

Final Deliverable 20%
40%
Participation
1%

Project:
1. Focus is on improvement: the result of your project proposal and progress report can be improved by the result of your final deliverable. For example, if you get 70% for the proposal, 80% for the progress report and  90% for the final deliverable. Then your proposal and progress report are upgraded to 90%.

2. Participation: students are to work in groups of 3 or 4. Each student will evaluate the contribution of the others in the group. For example, for a group of 4, each should contribute 25%. However, if student B, C, D all claim that student A only contributes 10%, then the grade of student A will be adjusted accordingly. If the group is getting 35 points for their project, student A would only get 14 points (=10/25 multiplied by 35).

3. Visible Analyst is used for the project. The student version of visible analyst is available for purchase at $49.00. INSTALL VISIBLE ANALYST in Windows XP PROFESSIONAL (HOME EDITION XP or Windows of other languages or VISTA will not work). A copy of the manual is put on reserve in the library. It is also available at http://www.visible.com/Products/Analyst/manual.pdf. Further information can be available at www.visible.com , and http://www.infoadvisors.com/VisibleAnalystBoard.htm.   (where you can find solutions to solving problems associated with using visible analyst e.g.,  locating a point/un-named data flow)

 

Philosophy of Teaching :

The objective of this course is to examine the process of system analysis and design. Both the structured and object-oriented techniques of analysis and design are studied. The system development life cycle is introduced to gain an overall perspective on system development.

Topics covered in the course: (i) determining organizational information requirements through interviews and company document analysis, (ii) current structured methodologies for systems analysis and design of information systems -- data flow diagrams, entity relationship diagrams, data dictionaries, structured chart (iii)  current object-oriented  techniques for analysis and design -- use cases, class diagrams, sequence diagrams. These topics will be approached using a combination of lectures, readings, systems analysis exercises, and class discussions. Students are encouraged to apply the concepts learned in class to analyze systems in the real world. Students are to conduct a project to analyze and design a system in an area of their choice.The computer-aided  software, VISIBLE ANALYST, is used to help students to develop the systems.

Education is a cooperative effort that involves active participation from both the instructor and the students.  Students are expected to engage actively in the learning process and to provide feedback on what they have expected to learn in the course and whether the materials covered in classes and homework assignments are helping them achieve their desired outcomes. As such, students should participate actively in going through the lecture materials, reading the texts and extra handouts, and doing the assignments and projects. Please do not hesitate to ask the instructor if there are questions on the lecture materials, assignments or projects, even during the course of a lecture. If you are confused, it is likely that someone else is also confused. To facilitate this process of  mutual learning and growth, we do not allow any behavior that would disrupt the classroom learning process.  Students should respect the rights of others seeking to learn.  All cellular phones or pagers should be turned off, or put on vibrant mode if they are needed for emergency purposes.  There should not be any talking during lectures and presentations.  If there are questions, bring them to the class. Our goal is to allow every student to devote his or her attention on learning.

Academic Honesty :
Students are expected to follow the highest principles of academic honesty. Any work a student turns in should be the work of the student, and no answers to homework assignments or examinations should be "given away". Students may, however, discuss with one another, but each group should develop their own final version of the assignment. Students may borrow models (codes or concepts) for the assignments, but must cite the models (codes or concepts) taken from elsewhere with comments that specifies the original author, the date and version of the model, a summary of the modifications made to the model, and instructions for getting the original model. This applies to the models (codes or concepts) obtained from the web, the lectures, the text and elsewhere. Under no circumstances will cheating or plagiarism be allowed. Penalties for academic misconduct range from F for the course to expulsion from the university. For more information, refer to the University Catalog (Policies and Regulations).

Services for Students with Disabilities :
The University is committed to providing reasonable academic accommodation to students with disabilities. Individuals with physical, perceptual, or learning disabilities (as addressed in the Americans with Disabilities Act
) who need reasonable accommodations are encouraged to contact the instructor. The Disabilities Resources Center (Student Services Building 110, telephone: 415-338-2472) is available to facilitate the reasonable accommodations process.

Class Schedule

Week
Material Readings Homework/Remarks
1: 8/28
Introduction : . Definition of system, Approaches to system development.
Teaming of groups, System Life Cycle
Text 1,2

Project example: Petsmart Progress Report Presentation , Petsmart Progress Report Document


2: 9/4

Project Management.  Feasibility study

CASETOOL: Using VISIBLE ANALYST for Data flow diagram

Text 3, 4, notes
Installing visible analyst , Sally's case
3: 9/11

The survey phase. Information gathering and interviewing

Tools of structured analysis: data flow diagrams (DFD)

Text 5, 6

solution to Sally's case, partitioning exercise

4: 9/18

Events and Data Stores, Entity Relationship Diagram, Data dictionary

Text 5, 6
Assignment 1 due 9/18
5: 9/25
Process specification, Proposal presentation

Text 6 Project Proposal due 9/25
Presentation of Project proposal 9/25
6:10/2 Take home exam 1 Text 1-6 and notes  
8:10/9

Using Visible Analyst to create ERD, RMO, evaluating alternatives for requirement

Text 2, 5, 6, 8

cost and benefit analysis (sample) progress report specification

9: 10/16 working on progress report    
10: 10/23 Presentation of Progress report   Progress report due 10/23
11: 10/30
The object-oriented approach to requirements: Class diagram
The object-oriented approach to requirements: Use cases and activity diagrams
Using Visible Analyst for Class diagrams, Use Cases
Text 5, 7
References: Kulak & Guiney  3, 4; Bitter and Spence 5, 10, 11; Arlow and Neustadt 5
12: 11/6 Structured Design, Transform Analysis, Using visible analyst to create structure chart Text 9( p.316-327), 10 structure chart example
visible analyst files for sample structure chart and use cases
14: 11/13 Qualities of a good Design: programming simplicity and system morphology Qualities of a good Design: coupling Qualities of a good Design: cohesion Text 10 Module Specification example
15:11/20 Object oriented design Text 11  
16:11/27 Thanksgiving Holiday    
17: 12/4 Review session and Project discussion    
18: 12/11 Final deliverable presentation   Final deliverable due 12/11
12/18 Take home exam 2 Text 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 and notes  
Note: The teaching plan is subject to change depending on the background, interests and feedback of students taking the course.

Important Dates : Sept 9 (last day to add with permit, last day to request audit grading); Sept 23 (last day to drop, without "W"); Oct 21(CR/NC deadline); Nov 21 (Last day to withdraw, "W" appears on transcript, signatures of instructor is required)