basic concepts for understanding systems. agenda for today the need for frameworks & models...
TRANSCRIPT
Agenda for today
The need for frameworks & models Viewing businesses as systems Information systems and work systems Framework for thinking about systems Perspectives for viewing a work system Looking at an IT-enabled system from a
business perspective
The need for frameworks & models What is a framework? A set of ideas for organizing your thoughts
about a thing or situation... What is a model? A useful representation of a specific
situation or thing…
Framework & model, continued... Think about object oriented
programming…A framework is like a class definitionA model is like an instantiated object
Frameworks and models in action What are some frameworks that we
encounter? Now, let’s think about models…examples? Let’s turn to the Resumix case to see the
WCA framework in action
Resumix Case
Define the elements of this case using the WCA framework
What are the categories? They are
customer, product, business process, participants, information and technology
©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 1.3
Table 2.1 Processing Résumés Using Resumix
CUSTOMER
Manager who needs to hire an employee
Applicant who receives responses about a job application
Government agency that receives reports aboutcompliance to equal opportunity guidelines
©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 1.4
Table 2.1 Processing Résumés Using Resumix
PRODUCT
List of applicants who fit the criteria
Selected data items about each applicant
Automatically generated rejection letters
©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 1.5
Table 2.1 Processing Résumés Using Resumix
BUSINESS PROCESS
Major Steps:
•Define the criteria for selecting applicants
•Receive résumés
•Scan résumés and extract data
•Select applicants meeting criteria and forward their résumés to the hiring manager
•Send out rejection letters
•Track the hiring process
•Store applicant data for future searches
Rationale:
Instead of finding appropriate candidates by searching through paper résumés,extract the information on the résumés and do the search automatically.
©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 1.6
Table 2.1 Processing Résumés Using Resumix
PARTICIPANTS
Human resourcesemployees
Manager doing the hiring
INFORMATION
Description of jobopening
Scanned résumésconverted into adatabase format
List of qualifiedapplicants
TECHNOLOGY
Résumix software
Scanner
Unidentified computers
Business processes and functional areas of businesses Processes that cross functional areas Processes related to a specific functional
area Processes occurring in every functional
area
Information systems and work systems Where are the boundaries between
information systems and work systems? Is this changing?
Is this a reflection of the changes in the economy to focus on services?
Do you think that the trend will continue?
Framework for thinking about systems Customers
internalexternalwhat’s the difference?
Product the output of the work system
Business processWhat’s going on in the systemWe’ll model this with flow charts and DFD’s
Framework for thinking about systems Technology
This is the part that’s cool, but remember its place in the puzzle
Perspectives for viewing a work system You can use the WCA and the five
perspectives to gain a better understanding of the work system
Sort of a “drill down” approach When I ask you to give me a WCA diagram,
I’m looking for the overall analysis, not all perspectives -- you may want to do these perspectives as you develop your model
Perspectives for viewing a work systemARCHITECTURE•What are the components of the system that performs the work and who uses the work product?•How are the components linked?•How do the components operate together?
PERFORMANCE•How well do the components operate individually?•How well does the system operate? (How well is the work performed?)•How well should the system operate?
INFRASTRUCTURE•What technical and human infrastructure does the work rely on? •In what ways does infrastructure present opportunities or obstacles?
CONTEXT•What are the impacts of the organizational and technical context?•In what ways does the context present opportunities or obstacles?
RISKS•What foreseeable things can prevent the work from happening, can make the work inefficient, or can cause defects in the work product?•What are the likely responses to these problems?
Looking at an IT-enabled system from a business perspective Steps in systems analysis
defining the problemdescribing the situation in enough depthdesigning potential improvementsdeciding what to do
Looking at an IT-enabled system from a business perspective How the WCA can be used to drill down
on a problem...
Looking at an IT-enabled system from a business perspective The WCA method
©1999 Addison Wesley Longman Slide 1.51
Table 2.11The 10 Issues in the Work-Centered Analysis Method
Systems analysis step
1. Define the problem
2. Describe the current worksystem in enough depth
and
3. Design potentialimprovements
4.Decide what to do
Corresponding issues for thinking about a system
Issue 1: Problem Definition
Issue 2: Improvements from product changesIssue 3: Improvements from process changesIssue 4: Improvements related to work system participantsIssue 5: Improvements from better informationIssue 6: Improvements from better technologyIssue 7: Improvements from shared infrastructureIssue 8: Improvements related to the business contextIssue 9: Improvements from risk reduction
Issue 10: Recommendation
Limitations and issues with the WCAarchitecture
overemphasis on details confusion about roles
performance too often ignored
infrastructure you gotta have it! Don’t forget!
Looking at an IT-enabled system from a business perspective