3. 1. What investigation techniques could be used in the
analysis phase of development?
2. What are the benefits of an interview?
3. How can you ensure on a successful interview?
4. Who is the questionnaire method appropriate for?
5. What are the benefits of observation?
6. What does ‘document analysis’ involve and what
would you look at?
7. Explain Joint Application Development (JAD)
8. Explain the term ‘Thought Shower’
9. Why is it important to record your findings?
10. What should you keep a record of during and after
your investigations?
4. 11. When analysing the processes that go on in an organisation what
diagrams can be used to illustrate this?
12. What is SSADM?
13. What does an information flow diagram aim to illustrate?
14. Draw and label 3 symbols that are used in an information flow
diagram.
15. Draw an information flow diagram to illustrate a teacher buying books
for her class
16. What does a system flowchart aim to illustrate?
17. Label these symbols:
18. Draw a system flowchart to illustrate the processing of cheques at a
bank
19. What is the purpose of a decision table?
20. Create a decision table for the following scenario:
5. 21. What does a data flow diagram illustrate?
22. Explain what these symbols show/represent:
23. Draw a DFD for this system
24. What are the 4 rules of DFD’s?
25. What is the purpose of an entity attribute diagram?
26. In relation to databases what is an entity? (Give an example)
27. What is an attribute? (Give an example)
28. In relation to databases what is a relationship? (Give an example)
29. What is the purpose of an entity relationship diagram?
30. state the 3 types of relationships that can be formed in an entity relationship
diagram
31. Give examples of each relationship and draw appropriate diagrams to represent
them
32. If there is a many to many relationship what would you tend to do?
6. 33. What 6 techniques can be used to ensure thorough
testing takes place?
34. Explain the ‘test harness’ method and identify the
benefits of this
35. Explain the need and importance of ‘volume
testing’
36. Explain the need and importance of ‘scalability
testing’
37. Explain the processes involved with the
‘prototyping’ technique
38. Explain ‘Multi-platform testing’ and why it is
important
39. Explain why ‘simulated environments’ testing is
necessary
7. Interviews
Questionnaires
Observation
Document analysis
Joint Application Development (JAD)
Thought showers
8. The are a form of open ended discussion
Probing questions can be asked
Unforeseen questions might stem from
conversation
Group discussions can be conducted amongst
different levels (e.g. strategic, tactical,
operational)
9. Careful preparation in advance
Possibly providing the interviewee with possible
questions prior to the interview to allow them to
prepare responses
Record the conversation (audio/written) so it can
be referred back to later on
Produce a formal report of the interview and
share it with the interviewee(s)
10. People in remote locations
People whose role is minor but need to be
involved
Appropriate for a large number of people
11. To see first hand how a system is being used
To see first hand the ability (or lack of) of the
end users
To identify what happens when problems
occur
To observe informal communication e.g.
telephone calls
12. Studying of business materials e.g. policy
documentation, staff handbooks etc.
Studying of documents used in a system (data
inputs and information outputs) e.g. data
collection forms, invoices, receipts
This technique allows you to identify the data
that needs to be stored, the information that
needs to be produced and the format the
information needs to take
13. Where a group of people get together until a
complete set of requirements are documented
and agreed.
Useful for projects where a number of different
users are involved
Benefits of this technique is that everyone
discussing the requirements together means that
they have to come to a joint agreement about
what is required
14. A collaboration of many people contributing
to the solution of a problem via a simple
diagram method.
Ideas might be extreme, innovative.
15. It provides a permanent record
Several people may need to work on the same
project and need access to the information
Findings may need to be checked and
confirmed
Provides structure and helps analyse
16. All formal documents e.g. questionnaire
responses, interview reports, minutes of
meetings etc.
Unstructured findings e.g. facts or opinions
give in meetings
17. Information Flow Diagram
System Flowchart
Decision Tables
Data Flow Diagrams
18. Structured Sytems Analysis and Design
Methodology
A standard method for analysis and design of
large scale applications for the UK
government
It uses a combination of text and diagrams
19. It aims to show how information moves
between the parts of an organisation, both
internally and externally
21. Teachers
7 Confirmation of
receipt
1 Order Sent 2 Order Confirmed
6 Receipt sent
Finance 3 Invoice sent
Supplier
Office
4 Payment
authorised by BACS
5 Confirms Payment
Bank
22. It illustrates how data and information flows
through the system, including manual
operations and manipulation of information
23. Input or Output of data Process
Interaction Input e.g. by
keyboard, bar code reader Online data storage
Printed output as a single
document Magnetic disk data
storage
Printed output as multiple
documents Magnetic tape data
storage
25. Used to define the logic behind how a
decision is made.
It is designed to help you make sure that all
possibilities are considered and to document
all the possible outcomes
26. A college will offer a student a place if their interview is satisfactory, their school
reference is OK and they have the right GCSE grades. They will be placed on the
waiting list if their school reference is OK and their interview is satisfactory or they
have the right GCSE grades. Their application will be rejected if their interview is
not satisfactory and they do not have the right GCSE grades.
27. A college will offer a student a place if their interview is satisfactory, their school
reference is OK and they have the right GCSE grades. They will be placed on the
waiting list if their school reference is OK and their interview is satisfactory or they
have the right GCSE grades. Their application will be rejected if their interview is
not satisfactory and they do not have the right GCSE grades.
Condition/Cause Value of Condition
Satisfactory interview
School reference OK
Right GCSE Grades
Action/Effect Value of Action
Place offered
Waiting List
Rejected
28. A college will offer a student a place if their interview is satisfactory, their school
reference is OK and they have the right GCSE grades. They will be placed on the
waiting list if their school reference is OK and their interview is satisfactory or they
have the right GCSE grades. Their application will be rejected if their interview is
not satisfactory and they do not have the right GCSE grades.
Condition/Cause Value of Condition
Satisfactory interview Y Y Y Y N N N N
School reference OK Y Y N N Y N Y N
Right GCSE Grades Y N Y N N Y Y N
Action/Effect Value of Action
Place offered X
Waiting List X X X X
Rejected X X X
29. They identify where the data comes from, the
processes it passes through and where the
data goes to.
30. Data Source or
destination
Duplicated Data
source or destination
Process
Data Store
31. In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.
Step 1: Identify where data is captured from
Customer
32. In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.
Step 2: Identify where data is distributed to
Customer
Support
Operator
Team
33. In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.
Step 2&3: Describe the overall process, map these out in a diagram
Customer
0
Hospital Request
Support
Operator
Team
34. In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.
Step 4: Link them with data flows that are labelled – Level 0 finished
Customer
Response Customer Request
0
Support Request
Hospital Request
Support
Operator Details of
request Team
35. In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.
Step 5: Identify and draw the processes that make Level 0, Allocate descriptions to these
1 2
Receive and log
Create a job record
Support Request
3
Update Job record
36. In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.
Step 6: Layout the data sources and data flows from Level 0 diagram
Customer
Customer 2
1 Request
Receive and log Create a job record
Support Request Response
Details of
Request
Operator Support Support
Request Request
Response
4 Support
Team
Add/Update
Customer Details
3
Update Job record
37. In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.
Step 7: Draw in any data stores used in the process
Customer
Customer Customer 2
D1
Requests 1 Request
Receive and log Create a job record
Support Request Response
Details of
Request
Operator Support Support
Request
D2 Customer Details Request
Response
4 Support
Team
Add/Update
Customer Details
3
D3 Job Record
Update Job record
38. In a hospital system the user will make a request for support by calling a central number. The
operator will take details of the request, create a numbered job record and send it to the
appropriate support team who will then respond. The user will be given the job number so that
they can track progress if they need to and the support team will update the job record as they
deal with the problem.
Step 8: Link the new processes and data stores with the named data links
Customer
Request Customer
Customer Request Customer Job number 2
D1
Requests 1
Receive and log Create a job record
Support Request Support
Request
Numbered job
Operator record Numbered job
Customer
D2 Customer Details record
Details
Response
New/existing
4 Support
customer data Problem Dealt Team
Add/Update with
Customer Details
3
D3 Job Record
Update Job record Problem
Dealt with
39. 1. There should be a data store for every entity
2. Information flows show data and not
physical items
3. Entities don’t link directly to data stores
4. What goes in must come out
40. It shows the relationship between an entity
and the attributes that describe it
41. Things that have data stored about them
Example
◦ Systems concerning a school, entities would be:
Student
Teacher
Courses
42. Describes an individual data item within the
entity
Attributes of a student would be:
◦ Student Surname
◦ Student Forename
◦ DOB
43. Describes the link between two entities
Example
◦ A student and a member of staff might be linked by
the relationship ‘tutor’
◦ One tutor can tutor many students
◦ One student can only have one tutor
44. When building databases it shows how two or
more entities are related
49. Through the use of specialist software and
test data this method allows some types of
testing to be automated.
The software is setup to test the data under
specified conditions, comparing actual
outputs to expected outputs.
Economical benefits with regards to time and
money
50. Tests that a new system works with large
volumes of data.
Tests the limits of the software under heavy
load
51. Tests that a system will perform as required
even if the system has to deal with an
increased workload e.g. increased users,
larger amount of transactions
52. Used to gather feedback throughout the
development process rather than just at the end
You build a limited version of the solution and
show it to the client
You make changes and then show it again
Repeats until the solution meets the clients
requirements
53. Tests to ensure that the system operates on a
variety of hardware specifications and
operating systems
Must consider mobile devices
54. It may not always be feasible to test a system
in every environment, so simulated
environments are used
E.g.
◦ Testing it over the companies WAN may cause
disruption so you might simulate this process,
change conditions (bandwidth speeds, amount of
data transferred etc.) Simulating this would not
cause disruption.
