System Analysis Phase

In this phase, we begin to move toward the future; the team analyzes the desired system, not the current system. This is where new ideas, features, and design changes should be introduced. The team focuses more closely on the transactions and events that make up the process in order to create the Activity Flow Models and the Transaction Sequence descriptions, and then extends the Entity Object Model to include aggregates and inheritance.

In the final steps of this phase, the team focuses on creating or refining the plan for the completion of the project. This is when the requirements are developed, the remaining project phases are scheduled, the resources are identified and scheduled, and the deliverables are identified.

The primary participants in this phase are the members of the core facilitation team, with the extended team identified for the system analysis phase during the previous phase. The extended team may be the same as that for the business analysis phase, or it may be different, but it should include extended team members who are knowledgeable about the business function, the systems that interface with this system, or the architecture or data requirements for the system.

Deliverables
Updated Business Process Model
This model shows the triggering event, the primary and secondary outputs, and the inputs of the desired system. It can be updated from the original Business Process model, or created fresh using Visio templates available on the M drive.

Note: If you do not have Visio on your machine, the template will be displayed as gibberish. If this happens, use the PC in the hallway where Visio is installed.
Updated Business Process Document
This document is the text companion to the Business Process Model. You can update the original document, or create a new one by clicking on the Template button.

Click on the Sample button to see an example of a Business Process Document. Click on the Template button to save the template on your C drive, where you can use it to open a new Business Process document in Word. Click here for complete instructions for using a template in Word.
Activity Flow Diagrams
This diagram documents the flow of activities for a business process or sub-process. The activity flow diagram can be created using Visio templates available on the M drive. You can add descriptive text either in the diagram itself, or in an attached Word document. There is no template for the Word document, since it is optional.
Extended Entity Object Model
The extended object model includes aggregates and inheritance, as needed. This model is updated or created in Visio.

Note: Clicking on the Template button will open a new entity object model diagram in Visio. To update an existing model, you must open the file in Visio, not from here.
Object Life Cycle Models
If new objects have been added, or an inherited object has a different life cycle than the parent object, new models may be required. These models are created in Visio.
Updated Business Activity Models, as needed
If needed the Information Event Map and Business Event Map can be updated as a completeness check. There is no template available for these models at this time.
Project Plan (initial or updated)
This document is the Initiation Plan, which becomes the Project Plan when it is updated with the Communication Plan, the Quality Plan, and the Resource Plan. The attached Gantt chart should show the high level timeline for the entire project, and the detailed plan for the next phase. This plan will be modified as needed in subsequent phases.

The Initiation Plan template includes a button to add the new sections that make this a Project Plan. You may also need to add additional information to existing sections of the Initiation Plan at this time.

Methodology Compliance Form
This form is initialized by the project team, and completed by a methodology representative who has reviewed the project documentation and found it acceptable. It is completed in Word.

At this time, no sample is available.

Recommendation Form
This form is completed by the project team, and contains the recommendation to the project sponsor on whether or not the project should continue. The form is completed in Word.

At this time, no sample is available.

 

Steps

  1. The extended team reviews the Business Context model and all the models from the business analysis phase, and verifies that the problem statement is still an accurate reflection of the business problem to be resolved.
  2. The extended team meets to determine what is required from the system to be developed. To facilitate this discussion, use a large-scale medium to update the Business Process models. Then provide more details by modeling the activity flow for each business process and sub-process. The modeling process provides the means to see whether business requirements are incorporated into the actual system design. (See pages 4B-5 through 4B-13 in the OOA&D class materials for information on developing transaction sequences.)

    3. Warning:

    The team must stay focused on system analysis, not design decisions, especially screen design or content. These will be included in the Logical Design phase.

  3. When the team agrees on the model, the scribe creates the electronic version of the diagrams and models, and enters the textual information about the transaction sequences in the activity flows using the Transeq template, and distributes the resulting models and documents to the team.
  4. The team meets to extend the Entity Object Model to account for the new system, using the adjusted business processes from the transaction sequences. This involves adding any new classes, introducing associations such as inheritance and aggregation, refining static relationships, and determining subject areas. This process may require multiple iterations at multiple meetings.
  5. If desired, the team can start to keep textual records of object class definitions, explicit relationship definitions, and attribute definitions during this phase. However, in this phase, such records are more for the purpose of remembering points as they come up than for actual documentation of the new system. If you do start this documentation now, use the templates (to be provided), and include them in the packet of documentation distributed to the team for review.
  6. The team reviews the Object Life Cycle diagrams. If new objects have been added, the team may need to develop object life cycle diagrams for the new objects. For inheritance objects, if the cycle is different from the parent, the team must develop a new object life cycle model for the new object. If the cycle is the same as the parent, no new life cycle model is necessary; the object inherits the life cycle from its parent.
  7. The scribe copies and distributes all diagrams developed during this phase.
  8. The entire team reviews the documentation produced in this phase (the documentation includes models and text documents), making any changes that seem necessary.
  9. The documentation packet is forwarded to the methodology unit representative with the compliance form (use the Compform template), and a methodology walkthrough is scheduled with the core team and the methodology representative. At the walkthrough, the methodology representative can ask any questions and raise any issues about compliance with the methodology, or suggestions for improvement.

    10. If any changes are required, the team must complete the required step(s) and schedule a follow-up walkthrough with the methodology representative. When the walkthrough is completed successfully, the methodology representative completes the compliance form, and the project continues with the next step.

  10. The team updates the proposed solution statement generated in the Business Analysis phase with the following information (for a purchased package, this information pertains only to the Package Selection and Purchase phases of the Selection stage):

    11. Gantt charts should be developed as part of this step, making sure to include milestones, especially for those project prerequisites that may be outside the scope of DMS responsibilities.

  11. A member of the core team updates the Initiation Plan, adding the information required to make it a Project Plan, using the PPMM Initiation Plan template.
  12. The team meets to review the Project Plan.
  13. Any agreed upon revisions are made to the Project Plan, and the documentation packet, with the Project Plan and compliance form, is forwarded to the methodology representative for the final review in this phase.
  14. The methodology representative reviews the documentation packet and completes the compliance form before returning the documentation packet to the project team.
  15. The core team writes a recommendation on whether or not to proceed. Use the Recommendation template, which includes space for the actual recommendation, and for the pros and cons associated with the recommendation.
  16. The recommendation is forwarded to the project sponsor with the project plan for review, and the project sponsor decides whether or not to take the project forward. If the project plan has changed significantly from the Initiation Plan, in resources, deliverables, schedule, or budget, the updated plan must be forwarded to the approval authority (defined in the Proposal phase description) for review and approval.