Page 256 - DMGT505_MANAGEMENT_INFORMATION_SYSTEM

Unit 13: Redesigning the Organization with Information Systems

 Innovator: The systems analyst must separate the symptoms of the user’s problem from Notes
the true causes. With his or her knowledge of computer technology, the analyst must help
the user explore useful, new applications of the computer.
 Mediator: The system analyst who often finds himself in the midst of users, managers,
programmers, auditors and various other players, all of whom frequently disagree with
one another.
 Project Leader: Because the systems analyst is usually more experienced than the
programmers on the project and since he is assigned to the project before the programmers
begin working, there is a natural tendency to assign project management responsibilities
to analyst. Which means, as a systems analyst, you need:

 More than just the ability to draw flowchart and other technical diagrams;
 Skills to interview users, mediate disagreements;
 Application knowledge to understand and appreciate the user’s business;
 Computer skills to understand the potential uses of computer hardware and software
in the user’s business;

 Able to view a system from different perspectives;
 Able to partition it into levels of subsystems;
 Able to think of a system in abstract terms as well as physical terms.

Example: Library Management System
A library management system is required to receive books and magazines number or code
them, store and manage them, and produce index of document. The library manages two main
kinds of documents - books and magazines. Whenever a new document is received, the librarian
writes down all information about it into a register of document and lists it into the list of
document in library for readers to look up If it is a new book, the librarian lists on three fields
(in a card): book name , book number, and author name. If it is a magazine, the librarian lists on
these fields: magazine name, magazine number, and magazine volume. These cards will be
stored in the library, and the readers will look up documents by these cards. There is only one
book number, and only one magazine number.
Only the staff of the Institute is served by the library. Each staff member should belong to a
department in the Institute, and is provided with his/her own number which never coincides
with number of other staff. Whenever a reader borrows a document, the librarian writes down
this information: reader number, reader name, document number, document name, borrowing
day and returning deadline into the register of borrowing readers. When a reader returns a
document, the librarian looks up for the reader’s number, document number in the register of
borrowing readers, and deletes it. At the end of each month, each quarter, or each year, the
librarians have to make report of the all new documents in the library , the borrowing and
returning status, the list of readers who did not meet deadline and did not return the document.
After surveying the library management system with interviewing method, we can conclude
that all the functions the system has to perform are:
 Receiving new documents and store all information about it;
 Establish document numbers and looking up fields;
 Manage readers;
 Mahina library cards/tickets for borrowing and returning;

 Report situation about the documents and readers in the library.

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