Input and Output Design

    The user interface is the most important part of the system to the user as it is the only part which the user can see and interact with the system. So design of user interface should be not only informative to the user but along with that it should be appealing, user friendly and attractive.

The steps for designing the interfaces are -

• Make the summary of the interfaces to be required for the system.
• Identify the human computer operational boundary in the data flow {means what to input as data and what to be computed by the computer}.
• Interface wise get the review of the data elements to be included in each screen, form document or report.

User interface design (UID) must take into account the needs, experience and capabilities of system’s users.( physical and mental limitations of the human being who uses the computer system. The most important need is to recognize the short term memory and avoiding overloading the user with information. Some of the design principles which should be embedded in any user interface design are-

1. Consistency:- The design should work uniformly in all parts of the system. This allows user to learn something once and apply that knowledge again and again. For example: windows interface.
2. Robustness:- The interface should not fail, because of some actions taken by the user or by a user’s errors. This requires check that prevents users from making incorrect entries.
3. Aesthetic integrity:- Design should not have loud graphics, dark backgrounds which can interrupt the user rater than helping.
4. Usability:- Effectiveness and efficiency are the best ways to evaluate the interfaces. For example: input must be well laid- out so that fewer keystrokes can bring desired result, names must be précised, abbreviations must not lead to confusions.
5. Visual effects for the interfaces:- Means documents on the screen must look in the same way they will look even when they are printed. e.g: when we want bold fonts we can see it on screen and get it in the same way when we print.
6. Provide immediate feedback: - Invalid message is displayed for wrong entry number.
7. Make interface forgiving:- Means user’s action should be easily reversed if we make a mistake we should be able to come back to initial position without causing any damage. This helps the user to learn by trials and error.
8. Avoid modes:- Means whenever user is in mode the user interface should make it obvious by providing good visual cues. e.g: in cut and paste mode that operation should be highlighted and at the same time all other modes are avoided i.e. other options become faint to show or express that it cannot be activated.

INPUT DESIGN

    To get the data into the computer an analyst has to design the form, design the input record and design methods for getting the data into the computer. The computer accepts the data which is in machine sensible form. If it is not it has to be brought in that form.

1 Input consists of data and instructions:

                                 So input design involves data capturing and data validation. Following are the important aspects of input design.

• Data collection: The process of getting the data to the computer for processing is called as data collection.
• Data capture: The objective of data capturing is to reduce the volume of input up to the extent possible and to minimize manual efforts. It involves
• Recording of data: It is collection of data at its source means preparation of source documents by applying manual checks.
• Data transmission: If main processor has many terminals, the transfer of data from a particular terminal to the main can be considered as data transmission.
• Data preparation: The transcription of source document on to an input media is referred as data preparation.
• Sorting; Sorting is the process of arranging the data into some desired format or sequence.
• Data validation: The objective of data validations to detect errors at the earliest possible stage of system development. It can be done up to certain extent by manual verification in data capturing stage. In spite of this, still there may be incorrect batches of input data, missing data or redundancy of data. So it is necessary that before the data is first input to the computer for processing different checks are carried out. These checks classify valid and invalid data. 
• Data entry: Is the process of translating the source document into machine readable format. 
• Data input: It comes to the computer only after the data has been entered into one of the machine readable format.

2.Validation checks: Various validation checks applied to data are:

    1. Field checks:

        Limit check-It ensures that every data item of record lies within predefined size.

        I) Picture check-It detects entry of incorrect characters in the field.

        II) Valid code check-It is used to validate input against predefined transaction code.

    2. Transaction checks:

        I) Sequence check-It is used to detect missing transaction.

       II)Combination check-Can be applied to various fields of a file especially to cross check the values.

       III) Password check- To detect unauthorized entry of data. or In input design screens and forms are       the main aspects of focus. Forms are the source documents to collect the data and data entry screens         are used to enter the data into computer files. 

    Format of data entry screen is as follows.

Guidelines for designing input for the system:

        Due consideration should be given to following features of input design.

1. Input specifications describe the manner in which the data enters the system. So proper selection method for inputting input into a form that the system can process should be done.
2. Input design also determines whether the user can interact efficiently with the system.
3. The design of documents and forms for the collection of data prior to submission for processing is  properly discussed.

        The objectives guiding design of input focuses on

         I. Controlling the amount of input required since the cost of preparing and entering the data is directly proportional to the human ware factor of system reducing the amount of data means  reducing lobour cost.

    II. Avoiding delays: By using turnaround type of documents can avoid bottlenecking situations means in tern avoiding delays which directly affects the profit in tern.

        III. Avoiding errors in data: This can be achieved

                                            i) by reducing volume of data

                                            ii) Checking and detecting errors as they do occur.

                                            iii) By input validation technique

                                            iv) Taking efforts and effectively on way (manner) the data is entered.

4. What not to enter is equally important .Input produced should not require entry of the  following type of data such as constant dater means the data that are same for every entry.{ since the date of the transaction is identical for every transaction, one can use clock/calendar from  computer or it can be system generated data element.

OUTPUT DESIGN

Output design principles:

1. Principle of simplicity: Format of the output should be self explanatory & should be as simple as             possible.

2. Principle of acceptability: End-user’s participation should be there in output design phase to get             greater response of acceptability to the reports.

3. Principle of timeliness: An output in time leads to the success of the overall system.

4. Principle of promoting the decision making process: Output should be designed in such a manner that     it should help in decision making and accelerate the process of decision making.

5. Principle of economy: Reports should be precise, should avoid redundancy of information which in      tern reduces cost of processing and achieves the principle of economy.

Output Design Objectives:

1. An output must convey information about past activities, current status as well as future projections.

2. An output can be designed to confirm an action.

3. An output should be used to trigger an alarm(to remind an immediate activity to be used)

4. It may be utilized to signal events (such as to focus on variance between the planed & expected result     and actually experienced output)

Types Of Output:

System requires following types of output.

1. Operational outputs: These are the normal routine reports based on day to day functions or  activities.
2. External outputs: Such reports or documents are to be submitted to the authorities outside the  organization.
3. Internal outputs: These are to be carefully designed as they act as main interface within the organization.
4. Periodic outputs: Such type of reports are required to be generated timely such as weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly.
5. Turnaround outputs: For these reports data is added to the document before it is returned for further processing.

Guidelines For Output Design:

Due consideration should be given to the following features before designing the output.

1. Objective of the output {that has been already discussed.
2. Type of the output {according to the need of the system.}
3. Contents :{ data fields, heading, data types etc.}
4. Format of the output {arrangement of the information, its presentation in vertical or horizontal form etc.}
5. Frequency: It focuses on the fact that how many times it is required to be generated, within a particular span.
6. Volume: It considers number of documents required to be generated within a particular span.
7. Medium of output: It determines whether the output is in form of hard copy, audio, audiovisual, interactive screen or microfilm.
8. Location of output: Whether it is to be processed, transported, local, transmitted, or stored.

FORM DESIGN

OBJECTIVE : Form is important mean of communication. The basic purpose of form is to collect and convey the information quickly and completely to the respected authority.

Forms are used for both input and output purpose.

1. Principles of form design:

1. Simplicity: Form should be simple to understand.
2. Logical sequence of the entries should be maintained.
3. Usability: ease of use should always be there to fill the form quickly and correctly.
4. Data redundancy should be avoided wherever possible.

2. Guidelines for form design:

1. Objective of the form should be well defined.
2. Specification of data contents helps the design process.
3. Format and layout of the form are determined.
4. Due consideration should be given to participation of user for quantifying the data and  submission for approval.

Illustrative example: Design a form of common entrance test conducted by XYZ University for admission to various management courses.

Turing Machine : Introduction

   Turing Machine [TM]

This machine was introduced by Alan Turing in 1936. Turing machine can be constructed to accept a given language or to carry out some algorithm. Unlike of computer, TM has no limitation on the amount of time or memory available for a computation. 

We can compare different machines which are -

Language defined by	Acceptor or recognizer	Non-determinism = Determinism?	Ex. Of application
1.   Regular Expression	Finite Automata	Yes	Text editors
2.   Context free grammar	Pushdown Automata	No	Programming languages, statements, compilers
3.   Type 0 grammar (Unrestricted)	Turing Machine	Yes	Computers

 

Turing Machine Model :

          Fig. shows TM model. The TM model consists of a finite control, an input tape which is divided into cells and a tape head that scans one cell of the tape at a time. Tape is infinite to right. Each cell can contain maximum one-tape symbols. TM works as follows :

           Tape contains input-string w. Let |w| = n ( n symbols) and remaining tape cells contains blank symbol, which is a special tape symbol and not an input symbol.

Move of TM :

i. Changes state

ii. Prints a symbol on the tape cell scanned, replacing previous symbol.

iii. Moves head to left(L) or right(R).

Definition :

         A Turing Machine is a 7-tuple, M = ( Q, Σ,  Γ, δ, q₀ , B, F) 

where, 

i.        Q is the set of states

ii.       Σ is the input alphabet not containing the special blank symbol and Σ ⊆ Γ - {B}

iii.      Γ is a finite set of tape symbols where   B ∈ Γ and Σ ⊆ Γ

iv.      δ is a transition function mapping the states of FA and tape symbols to states, tape symbols and              movement of the head i.e  δ: Q × Γ → Q × Γ × {L, R} 

v.       q₀ ∈ Q is the initial state

vi.      B ∈ Γ is the blank symbol

vii.     F ⊆ Q is a set of final states

Instantaneous Description (ID) 

        Instantaneous Description of TM M, is a string α q: β where q: ∈ Q is present state of M. α β ∈ Γ* is input string and if the first symbol of β is current symbol a, tape head is scanning, then α is a substring formed by all symbols to the left of a.

Consider the fig. We can write ID as  a b a q3 a b b then α = aba and β = abb where head is scanning a.

We assume Q and Γ are disjoint and tape head assumed to be scanning leftmost symbol of α2. If α2 = ∈ the head is scanning blank.

Moves in TM  

      Let x₁x₂…..x_n is an input string to be processed and present symbol under tape head is x_i. 

Let δ(q, x_i) = (p, y, L)

So ID before processing x_i  is x₁ x₂…..x_i-1 , q x_i x_i+1….x_n   after processing  x_i , the resulting ID is x₁ x₂…..x_i-2 , p x_i-1….yx_i+1…..x_n   

This change of ID is represented as

x₁ x₂…..x_i-1 qx_i…. x_n  |-   x₁…..x_i-2 px_i-1 yx_i+1…..x_n    

If δ(q, x_i) = (p, y, R) then change of ID is represented as

x₁ x₂…..x_i-1 qx_i…. x_n  |-   x₁ x_i-1 y p x_i+1…..x_n  

The Language Accepted by TM :

L(M) = { w | w ∈ Σ*   and  q₀w Ͱ* α1 p α2 for some p in F and  α1, α2 ∈ Γ* }

We assume that TM halts whenever the input is accepted. So TM has no next move when it enters in the final state. But if string is not accepted, it may go into infinite loop.  

Toolbar in Joomla

In this we will learn about the various toolbar options in Joomla. Given below is a list of toolbars −

• Article Manager Toolbar
• Category Manager Toolbar
• Media Manager Toolbar
• Menu Manager Toolbar
• Module Manager Toolbar
• User Manager Toolbar
• Global Configuration Toolbar
• Template Manager Toolbar

Articles Toolbar :

Click on Content → Articles in Joomla administrator control panel. In Articles, you can create the standard pages that consist of images, text and hyperlinks. The following figure depicts the Articles Toolbar.

• New − Create a new article.

• Edit − Edit any specific article.

• Publish − Publish the article to the user on the website.

• Unpublish − Unpublish the article to the user on the website.

• Featured − Selected article is featured. Multiple articles can also be featured.

• Unfeatured - Selected article is unfeatured. Multiple articles can also be unfeatured.

• Archive − It can change the status of the articles to published or unpublished by selecting archived in the select status filter.

• Check In − Check-in the selected article. Multiple articles can be checked-in.

• Trash − Delete the selected article permanently.

• Batch − Selected articles are processed by batch.

• Help − Help button is used to open the help screen.

• Option − It opens the setting window where you can change the setting of the articles.

Control Panel in Joomal

 

Joomla - Control Panel

        The Control Panel provides default features and functions of Joomla to access through clickable icons, menu bar etc. When you login to the Joomla administrative panel, you will get the screen as shown below. Important icons of control panel and their functions are marked in the following screen −

Article Content

There are four icons under the CONTENT section as shown below −

• Add New Article − It creates a new article page.
• Articles − It manages all your present articles.
• Categories − It creates new categories and helps in publishing/unpublishing the categories.
• Media − It manages the files by uploading various new files or deleting the existing ones on your web server.

Structure Format

In STRUCTURE section, there are two groups of icons −

• Menu(s) − Menu manager allows creating custom menus for your website and navigating through your website.
• Modules − It manages the modules such as location and function of modules that are installed on site.

User Information

Under USERS section, there is one icon located −

• Users  − It manages the user information, which allows creating or deleting the user, changing passwords, time and languages. You can also assign the user to User Groups.

Set the configuration

Three icons are located under the CONFIGURATION section as given below −

• Global  − This is an important part in the Joomla back-end. Any changes made in this configuration, will affect the entire website.
• Templates − It manages the templates used in the website.
• Languages  − It manages installed language by setting the default language for your site.

Install Extension

There are many Extensions available in Joomla. You can install different types of extensions to extend the functionality of the site.

Maintenance

In MAINTENANCE section, there are two icons located −

• Joomla is up-to-date − It views the current update status of the Joomla installation.
• All extensions are up-to-date − It views the current update status of the Joomla extension.

Logged-In User

It shows the administrator name who has logged in to the Joomla site.

Published Articles

It shows the published articles and also shows the present article, that you have published.

Information of Sites

It displays the details of the site such as OS name, version of PHP and MySQL etc. and also shows the number of users that are using this site.

Analysis and design tools : DFD ( physical and logical)

DATA FLOW DIAGRAM (DFD)

Data flow diagram represents flow of data through system. 

1. DFD is a graphic tool which defines input , output and processes of the system. 

2. It helps analyst to explain his understanding of the system to user. 

Symbols used:- Different symbols represent different system elements. But use of symbol associated with each element depends upon which approach is used. There two types of popular symbol ling styles.

Rules For Constructing Data Flow Diagrams

1. Procedures should be named and numbered for easy reference. 

2. Process should be numbered if exploded into lower level. 

3. Names of data sources, destination &stores should be in capital letters. 

4. Process and data flow names should have first letter capital. 

5. The direction of flow is from left to right and top to bottom. Traditional flow of data is from source (upper left corner ) to the destination (lower right corner)

Guide lines for drawing context level (0th level diagram) :

a) It contains and represents single process and determines the boundary of the system. 

b) Name of the process usually represents the name of the system. 

c) All entities are shown at context level and should remain the same (even the name )through all the level. 

do’ s and dont’s in data flow diagram:

 Dataflow should reflect the data not the documents on which it resides 

 Process name should fully describe the action taking place and should be able to explain inflows & out flows of the data. 

 Avoid usage of vague names to the activity such as Review, Handle. 

 Assign unique process names to the activity. 

 Data stores should represent logical names indicating what kind of data is stored. 

 Don’t assign program specific names like STUDENT.DBF to document names. 

 No new entity or data store at any level which does not papers at a level previous to that level. 

 No data flow should cross over through all the levels in the DFD. 

Important guide lines for data stores and entities: 

Data stores mainly are of two types 

                    1. Master 

                    2.Transaction. 

Data store should have only related data stored in them. 

 All data stores appearing at the first level should also appear at lower levels. 

 Entities which get repeated right from context level to the lower levels are shown by -

 Data stores which are used to access stored data more than once are shown by

 Data flows going onto a process and coming out of a process should have different names 

 For example 

                    Verify student’s details 

                    Students –mast student details verified student’s details

Case Study: Draw context level, first level DFD for following system. A xyz company procures the material against the requisition received from stores. Purchase department prepares a purchase order and sends a copy of it to stores for ready reference. Stores department receives the material from the vendor and prepares GRN [goods receipt note].Stores department updates the stock of the items for the accepted quantity mentioned in GRN. 

Solution : Context Level DFD

First Level DFD For Purchase Order System :

Module 3: Information and Network Security : Ch.2. Server Management and Firewalls

 Module 3: Information and Network Security : Ch.2. Server Management and Firewalls

• Firewall Concept

• Firewall implementation

• Firewall types

• DMZ

Firewall  : 

            Firewall is a "choke point/guard box" of controlling and monitoring the network traffic. It allows interconnection between different networks with some level of trust. It imposes restrictions on network services (only authorized traffic is allowed). It enforces auditing and controlling access(alarms of abnormal behavior can be generated). It provides perimeter defence.

Firewall Properties :

1. All traffic between the networks must pass through it.
2. Only authorized traffic, as defined by the local security policy, is allowed to pass through a firewall.
3. The firewall machine/system itself should be immune to penetration.

Limitation of firewall :

1. A firewall cannot prevent users or attackers with modems from dialing into or out of the internal network, thus bypassing the firewall and its protection completely.
2. Firewalls cannot enforce your password policy or prevent misuse of passwords. Your password policy is crucial in this area because it outlines acceptable conduct and sets the ramifications of noncompliance.
3. Firewalls are ineffective against nontechnical security risks such as social engineering i.e " There be hackers here."
4. Firewalls cannot stop internal users from accessing websites with malicious code, making user education critical.
5. Firewalls cannot protect you from poor decisions.
6. Firewalls cannot protect you when your security policy is too lax.

Software Engineering-I : Analysis and design tools-Decision tree and decision tables

Analysis and design tools-Decision tree and decision tables

Whenever a system analyst or programmer is required to take a logical decision for the case where there are repetitive situations, then they take the help of the tools like decision table and decision tree that leads or concludes to the appropriate solution for the particular problem.

 DECISION TABLE

In order to find out solution of a problem which demands logical decision for the situation this involves various conditions and possible actions can be represented in form of table, called as decision table. Physical layout of decision table is as follows.

CASE 1: Consider a case of a bank which grants loan to the customer under the following conditions 

        1] If a customer has an account with the bank and has no previous loan outstanding, the loan will               be granted. 

        2] If a customer has an account with the bank but some amount is outstanding from previous loans             then new proposal’s loan will be granted if special management approval is there. 

       3] In all other situations loan applications are rejected. Draw decision table and decision tree for the             same. 

       Decision table: 1] List of conditions:- Customer has an account. 

                                                                   - Customer had no dues. 

                                                                    -Customer has management approval.

                                2] Action list:- 

                                                   Grant loans. 

                                                   Reject loans.

 DECISION TABLE TYPE

1. Limited Entry Decision Table  :

    This type of decision table expects ‘YES ’ or ‘NO’ answer for the condition statements as well as action statements are marked by symbols representing write or wrong. 

Case 2: The discount policy of a manufacturer producing two products 

                    1. Mechanical typewriter and 

                2. Electronic typewriter and who has three types of customers(R) Retailers,(D) Dealers,(I) institutes is given below. 

Rules: Incase of mechanical typewriter 

                 1] If the order is from retailer for amount up to Rs.5000/, allow 6% discount. 

                 2] If the order is from Dealer for amount up to Rs. 5000/ 7.5 discount is given. 

                 3] On retail order exceeding Rs. 5000/- 7.5 % discount is given. 

                4] If the order is from Dealer for an amount exceeding Rs.5000/-,11% discount is allowed. 

                5] In all the above cases flat discount of 7.5% is given to institutes. 

                6] In case of electronic typewriter a flat discount of 6% is given regardless of amount or                            customer. 

LIMITED ENTRY DECISION TABLE FOR DISCOUNT POLICY FOR CASE 2

2. Extended Entry Decision Table :

    In such type of decision table the statements made in stub portion are incomplete. Both the stub and entry portion of any particular row in the table must be considered together to decide if a condition or action is relevant to a given rule. An extended entry is either descriptive or quantified. 

    Now we will solve case number 2 by extended entry decision table method. 

    Extended Entry Decision Table For Case 2:- 

3.MIXED ENTRY DECISION TABLE :

Limited entry format and extended entry format can both be used in a single table for individual conditions and actions, where a table contain both types of formats is called as mixed entry decision table.

DECISION TREE

Decision tress is graphical representation of decision tables. Actually decision tables and decision trees are the means of expressing process logic. This tool is used especially when number of alternatives is less. Starting point of the decision sequence is the root of the tree which is shown at left hand side. The conditions and actions are represented sequentially, where the branches represent conditions and action for each relationship is given at the end of the branch.

ADVANTAGES: 

    1. Decision table is powerful tool of documentation that can be easily prepared, changed or updated. 

    2. DT is summarized form to represent standard and structured decisions. 

    3. It is a powerful mean of communication for the team working on project. 

    4. It can give relief up to certain extent to management from routine decision making procedure.

Ex. Decision tree for case-1 as

Software Engineering-I : Analysis and design tools : E-R analysis

 Analysis and design tools : E-R analysis 

E-R MODEL

E-R Model means entity relationship model represents conceptual way of data modeling. For every business system conceptual modeling is the intermediate phase that leads to physical data base design. First step of conceptual data modeling is semantic analysis which focuses on entities and their relationships. Some important basic concepts for drawing E-Diagrams are as follows. 

        1. Entity: - An entity is an object that has its own unique identity. For example: Any car, book,                     person, dream.[Important: Entity can be concrete or abstract.] 

        2. Attribute: - An attribute is an aspect, characteristic or quality of either an entity or relationship.                For example: color, size shape of a car can be the attributes. 

       3. Relationship: - A relationship is a meaningful association, linkage or connection between entities.        4. Entity set: - Entity set is a set of entities of same kind. For example: Accounts holder of same bank          can form an entity set. 

       5. Relationship set:- A relationship set is collection of relations of same type.

Symbols of E-R diagram :

Technically if a relationship set contains a primary key it is called a strong entity set otherwise it is called weak entity set. An entity may appear in 

                I. One- one relationship 

                II. One – many relationship 

              III. Many –many relationship (m-n) 

1] One- one relationship: (1:1) 

    For a given occurrence of an entity there is exactly one occurrence of another entity. 

For example: - Any one employee of an organization is identified by identity card.

2] One - many relationships: (1: M) 

    For a given (value) occurrence of any entity there can be more than one (value) occurrences of another entity.

For example: A branch of bank has much number of customers. So it is 1-m relationship.

3] Many to many relationship: (m:n) 

    There can be multiple occurrences of both the entities that are being related 

For example: Subjects opted by students for a particular course.

example : 1. Production tracking is important in many manufacturing environments (e.g., the pharmaceuticals industry, children’s toys, etc.). The following ER diagram captures important information in the tracking of production. Specifically, the ER diagram captures relationships between production lots (or batches), individual production units, and raw materials.

Software Engineering - I : Role of System Analyst

Role of System Analyst

 The system analysis is concerned with:

        1. Investigating 

        2. Analyzing 

        3. Designing 

        4. Implementing 

        5. Evaluating information system in organizations. 

The system analyst is the key person who is brain of the system development life cycle who acts as interface between user (client) and the organization. System analyst is not a mere programmer of the system but more like a manager who 

                 I. Determines the design of the overall system 

                 II. Obtains the necessary technical help from programmers, specialist and equipment engineers.                   III. Follows the system through design, implementation and evaluation.

MULTIFUNCTIONAL ROLE OF SYSTEM ANALYST

System analyst is a multitasking personality. He has to perform different roles at different stages of the system development. His task can be divided into five important areas of efforts where he has to do various roles. 

1. Problem identification: System analyst is the middle man between end user and the development team. So he has to communicate between the two ends as well as to understand customer’s needs, identify the exact nature of the problem. Then he discusses it with the development team in order to have different solution alternatives.

2. Evaluation & synthesis: After having various alternatives from the development team a good analyst should be able to evaluate the solution on the basis of cost, time and technology which is called as feasibility test. 

3. Modeling: Once a proper choice of the alternatives is done by end user a model or prototype is prepared by system analyst with the help of development .Good logical and analytical mind helps him to understand the information contents of the data, functional processing, and behavioral operations and control flow of the system in order to model the system.

4. Verification of the model: The system analyst evaluates the length of the model with respect to cost & time required for the implementation of the system and these parameters are checked with the customer & then testing details are sent to the development team. Once the model is accepted by the user, the development team sends the tested system to the analyst for verification of the result. 

5. Modification: Then the system is sent to the user for acceptance. Many times it happens that at the beginning the user is not very clear about all of his needs. So after acceptance of the system when the user starts working on it he requests the analyst for the modifications. Here again the analyst has to evaluate the request on the scale of same parameters. Then the modification specifications are prepared and sent to the development team. Again the team works on the system and the modified & tested system is sent to the analyst for verification. And after having verified the modified system is finally delivered to the client.

Functions of system analyst 

 Collects the facts of the existing system

 Analyses the collected information, basic methods and procedures of current system 

 Determines and specifies the needs 

 Designs the information system 

 Prepares the model 

 Modify redesigns, verifies and integrate according to required specifications. 

Thus the main objective of a system analyst is to provide right type of information at right time in right quality and right quantity in right way and right cost to the management and the client. 

MULTIFACED ROLE

In order to perform all these tasks at every functional level of system development system analyst has to perform many roles such as 

            1. Architect 

            2. An agent of change 

            3. Investigator & motivator 

            4. organizer 

            5. Motivator & Psychologist 

1. An architect: An analyst is creator of physical design of the system as per user requirements. He formulates the abstract ideas of user into detailed format of the system which in turn helps the development team to build the end product. So he is the brilliant architect of the system. 

2. An agent of change: System analyst works towards the future which is uncertain. The only thing which is permanent is the change. So analyst has to prepare model in this changing environment. The strong hurdle is the resistance of the user. So system analyst has to secure user’s acceptance through the participation from designing till implementation phase of the system. Since an analyst is responsible for bringing the change in system, he is an agent of the change. 

3. Investigator & monitor: An analyst should have fair capacity to investigate the problem. He should be able to go to the root cause of the problem. In other words he should have digging attitude to uncover the problematic trends that have direct impact on an organization. 

Monitor: In order to complete the task the analyst must have leading capacity, technical skills and project management capacity so that, right from understanding the information contents of data till functional processing and behavioral operations , he can control the flow of the system and thereby monitor the system as a ‘whole’. 

4. An organizer: Analyst should have clear idea of all the activities of the system rather he should be able to put all the activities in sequence & clear about their purpose and the consequences. He is responsible for execution of the activities and hence the result. He himself is an evaluator of the system. 5. Motivator & psychologist: System acceptance is achieved through user participation right from the beginning that is from designing phase to implementation stage. This can be made possible by effective training & proper motivation to use the system. Physiologist: Good motivator has to be good physiologist because he has to reach people, understand the client’s environment, dig out the exact nature of the problem, and interpret it correctly to the developer team, asses the behavior draw the conclusion.

SKILLS REQUIRED BY SYSTEM ANALYST

In order to fulfill the responsibilities an analyst must have: 

1. Abroad & flexible outlook. 

2. An orderly mind 

3. Disciplined approach & logical neatness 

4. Ability to express thoughts, ideas & proposals clearly both orally & in writing. 

The skill sets required by system analyst can be observed under two categories:-

             I. Interpersonal Skills         II. Technical Skills 

I. Interpersonal Skills: 

i] Initiative & good communication skill 

      Since analyst has to gather maximum information in less time, he should have initiative attitude to ask detailed queries and should have good communication skill so as to interact with managerial level people as well as team members & end users. 

ii] Well understanding capacity: 

    Analyst should be able to identify the exact problem of customer and should have fair understanding of organization structure, system techniques. policies & control. 

iii] Teaching: 

    For providing perfect solutions of a problem an analyst must have ability to train the development team members. Also must be able to train users of the system to operate the system efficiently. 

iv] Motivation: 

    By active participation & moral building techniques analyst must motivate the users as well as development team members to give effective results. 

II. Technical Skills: 

i] Creativity: Analyst must have ability to give innovative ideas in designing system, screen reports. 

ii] Logical reasoning: 

        Analyst must move forward towards the problem logically and should solve it using computer system .For that he should have fair knowledge of data processing, computer operations and programming languages. 

iii] Project management: 

        Analyst must be aware of various management techniques. He should design the system, develop the system with proper modification (such as by updating or deletion of existing subsystem or procedure) and thereby prepare planning and controlling policies and procedures, also should be able to implement the system within time limit. 

iv] Computing: 

       Analyst should have working knowledge of equipment's used in the system. He should be conversant with the information regarding various computer systems available In market, their cost benefits versatility. 

v] Knowledge of fact finding methods: 

        System analyst must be aware of fact finding methods and capable of proper use of them, to gather the required information from the customer.