Systems analysis is "the process of studying a procedure or

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

to identify its goal and purposes and create

system A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its open system (systems theory), environment, is described by its boundaries, str ...

s and procedures that will efficiently achieve them". Another view sees systems analysis as a

problem-solving Problem solving is the process of achieving a goal by overcoming obstacles, a frequent part of most activities. Problems in need of solutions range from simple personal tasks (e.g. how to turn on an appliance) to complex issues in business an ...

technique that breaks a system down into its component pieces and analyses how well those parts work and interact to accomplish their purpose. The field of system analysis relates closely to

requirements analysis In systems engineering and software engineering, requirements analysis focuses on the tasks that determine the needs or conditions to meet the new or altered product or project, taking account of the possibly conflicting requirements of the v ...

or to

operations research Operations research () (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a branch of applied mathematics that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve management and ...

. It is also "an explicit formal inquiry carried out to help a

decision maker In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be either ra ...

identify a better course of action and make a better decision than they might otherwise have made." The terms

analysis Analysis (: analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (38 ...

and synthesis stem from Greek, meaning "to take apart" and "to put together", respectively. These terms are used in many scientific disciplines, from mathematics and logic to economics and psychology, to denote similar investigative procedures. The analysis is defined as "the procedure by which we break down an intellectual or substantial whole into parts," while synthesis means "the procedure by which we combine separate elements or components to form a coherent whole." System analysis researchers apply

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

to the systems involved, forming an overall picture. System analysis is used in every field where something is developed. Analysis can also be a series of components that perform organic functions together, such as systems engineering.

Systems engineering Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their Enterprise life cycle, life cycles. At its core, systems engineering uti ...

is an

interdisciplinary field Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...

of engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed.

Information technology

The development of a computer-based information system includes a system analysis phase. This helps produce the data model, a precursor to creating or enhancing a

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...

. There are several different approaches to system analysis. When a computer-based information system is developed, system analysis (according to the Waterfall model) would constitute the following steps: * The development of a feasibility study: determining whether a project is economically, socially, technologically, and organizationally feasible * Fact-finding measures, designed to ascertain the requirements of the system's end-users (typically involving interviews, questionnaires, or visual observations of work on the existing system) * Gauging how the end-users would operate the system (in terms of general experience in using computer hardware or software), what the system would be used for, and so on Another view outlines a phased approach to the process. This approach breaks system analysis into 5 phases: * Scope Definition: Clearly defined objectives and requirements necessary to meet a project's requirements as defined by its stakeholders * Problem analysis: the process of understanding problems and needs and arriving at solutions that meet them * Requirements analysis: determining the conditions that need to be met * Logical design: looking at the logical relationship among the objects * Decision analysis: making a final decision

Use case In both software and systems engineering, a use case is a structured description of a system’s behavior as it responds to requests from external actors, aiming to achieve a specific goal. It is used to define and validate functional requireme ...

s are widely used system analysis modeling tools for identifying and expressing the functional requirements of a system. Each use case is a business scenario or event for which the system must provide a defined response. Use cases evolved from the object-oriented analysis.

Policy analysis

The discipline of what is today known as policy analysis originated from the application of system analysis when it was first instituted by

United States Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense (acronym: SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the United States federal executive departments, executive department of the United States Armed Forces, U.S. Armed Forces, a ...

Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson ...

Practitioners

Practitioners of system analysis are often called up to dissect systems that have grown haphazardly to determine the current components of the system. This was shown during the year 2000 re-engineering effort as business and manufacturing processes were examined as part of the Y2K automation upgrades.Géza HUSI: Mechatronics Control Systems Employment utilizing system analysis include system analyst, business analyst,

manufacturing engineer Manufacturing engineering or production engineering is a branch of professional engineering that shares many common concepts and ideas with other fields of engineering such as mechanical, chemical, electrical, and industrial engineering. Manufac ...

, systems architect, enterprise architect, software architect, etc. While practitioners of system analysis can be called upon to create new systems, they often modify, expand, or document existing systems ( processes, procedures, and methods). Researchers and practitioners rely on system analysis. Activity system analysis has been already applied to various research and practice studies, including business management, educational reform, educational technology, etc.

References

Selected publications

* Bentley, Lonnie D., Kevin C. Dittman, and Jeffrey L. Whitten. ''System analysis and design methods.'' (1986, 1997, 2004). * Hawryszkiewycz, Igor T. ''Introduction to system analysis and design.'' Prentice-Hall PTR, 1994. * Whitten, Jeffery L., Lonnie D. Bentley, and Kevin C. Dittman. ''Fundamentals of system analysis and design methods.'' (2004).

External links