Micro aided information system design

North-Holland Microprocessing and Microprogramming 16 (1985) 215-216

215

Micro Aided Information System Design Ldszl6 Fekete-Sz~cs

SzAMAL K, ComputerApplications and Service Company Budapest, Hungary

Micro aided information system design can make the work of the development staff more clarified both in time and in depths• This paper tries to point out the places where the micros can help the work of developers and to draw up an existing systems design methodology aided by micros.

THE PLACES

-

The Operational Areas

As a process, each development can be summarized in the following Fig. i. starting point

ial

c ~ n ~ t ~ u ~ ~ i ~ i _ _~

FEASIBILITY

s S oe

DESIGN I N P L E I ~ N T A T I ON

end point Fig. i. Development a~ a process

The major activities of each side is as follows /Fig.2./

I MANAGERIAL SIDE ] • resource planning and allocation • timing • preparation of contracts or cooperations • measure of job performance • evaluation • decision making • maintenance of standards of management • training of users

SIDE ] ICONSTRUCTION • fact finding-gathering • •

•

• •

and analysis of data/information data/information modelling specification and description of design units /systems-subsystems, process, data elements, entities, relationships, codes, programmmes, manual activities/ on-going tests optimization-tuning training of developers

Fig. 2. Major activities during the development

216

L. Fekete-Szuecs/ MA/D

Among the forelisted operational areas, as the main activities of system design, there are such methods and procedures or their use which can easily be automatized• E.g. networking, preference methods, budgeting formulas, standards of evaluation, making and handling preferences, evaluation of alternatives, setting-up data dictionary, users manual, I/O matrix, decision tables, structured data-flows, preparation of tests, i.e. different in managerial and development sense• These documentations are not only the final and formal end-products of a development but the media by which a project can go ahead• MICRO-AIDED

ISAC-MAI

ISAC is a systematic approach for information systems development carried out by a Swedish research group led by Prof. Lundeberg. ISAC means Information Systems Work and Analysis of Changes• ISAC concentrates on the following development stages: • • • • •

change analysis activity studies information analysis data systems design equipment adaptation

The main documentation, as standards of ISAC is as follows, in brief: • GRAPHS and their text pages /A=activity, I=information, C=component, D=data, E=equipment - graphs/ • STRUCTURES /as structures of data=D and programmes=P/ • DESCRIPTIONS /data set-record description, w o r k - t a s k description, layout description/ • TABLES /property, needs for changes, social and economic summary, process, processing tables/ • LISTS /interest groups, unsolved problems, change proposals not regarded this time, information systems-subsystems, cos~-benefit calculus for each information system, team catalogues, process catalogues, program-process operations/ • PLANS /chosen development measure, time schedule, resource schedule/ The micro adaptation steps:

to ISAC has two

• adaptation of different descriptions, tables, lists, then • adaptation of plans, graphs and structures• HW/SW needs IBM PC XT or APPLE Macintosh sized and capable PCs.

REFERENCES 1

Lundeberg, M., Goldkuhl, G., Nilsson, A., Information systems development - a systematic approach• The Royal Institute of Technics and the University of Stockholm, Sweden, 1978

2

Fekete-Sz0cs, L., Decision and startup. Proceedings of INTERNET '85 /North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1985 pp. 355-362/•