What follows is essentially a checklist of elements of systems and the attributes that these elements may have. Most systems have all of the seven major elements, but not all the attributes are necessarily relevant to every system.
This checklist has been prepared for the use of people engaged in the kind of careful analysis of systems, existing or planned, that is implied by the label "systems analysis." As a systems analyst works his or her way through the many aspects of a typical system that is being studied (i.e., analyzed and/or designed), the analyst can use the attributes in the checklist as reminders of questions that need to be asked about the aspects under study.
Data
Equipment
Personnel
Data Vehicles
Information Stores
Procedures and Programming
Training
Unambiguous name: Does each type of data have an unambiguous name within the system?
Relevance to system tasks: To which task(s) is each type of data relevant? is the type of data under consideration relevant to only one task or to two or tasks?
Grain: How narrowly defined, i.e., how specific, is the type of data? E.g., volume number only? volume number and issue number? all books? or just out-of-print books?
Source: What is the source of this type of data? what is the reliability of the source? what is the authenticity of the source?
Processing needed
Destination
Logical relationships, if any: E.g., have both the invoice for the book and the physical book arrived?
Format
Accuracy required: Should this type of data be rounded off to 2 decimal places? Does this type of data require double-precision numerical storage?
Cost
Functions performed by humans: What functions are performed by humans? should be performed by humans?
Human-decision points: stated vs. actual
Nature of human decisions: Could some of the decisions be made programmatically? Could some of the decisions be made by lower-level staff members?
Authority and information links with other personnel, both formal and informal
Extra-system responsibilities of staff members: committees assigned to? community involvement?
Attitudes toward system and fellow workers, especially toward fellow workers as grouped by departments or other administrative units
Reliability
Turnover
Functions performed by machines: What functions are performed by machines? should be performed by machines?
Machine-decision points
Data-storage size
Data input and output rates
Format requirements
Compatibility
Reliability: includes MTBF (mean time between failures), preventive maintenance, backup alternatives, recovery from breakdown)
Modifiability
Physical requirements: light, power supply, weight, size, noise, air-conditioning (temperature and humidity) needs
Location, and provision for possible need to move equipment in future
Future availability of this type of equipment? of equipment performing the same function(s)?
Interface with users and/or operators
Cost: lease, purchase, maintenance (including comparison of the costs of maintenance on purchased equipment vs. the costs of leasing)
Warranties and maintenance arrangements
Security (against accidental and/or willful damage)
Note: Attributes in this category need to be checked against those of personnel and equipment, since data vehicles share many attributes with those categories.
Degree of aggregation: how many items are handled together?
Format (for both human and machine use): machine coding; human coding (e.g., maps, charts, tables, prose)
Timeliness: how up-to-date must the data be? are only current data desired? or current data plus historical data (e.g., to show trends)?
Selection criteria: all data? summary data? exceptions only? how filtered?
Initiation or access: routine? when and as scheduled? as accumulated? on demand only? who initiates access?
Transduction: mechanism(s) involved in changing the form of data (microcomputer, computer printer, typewriter, terminal, copier, camera, etc.)
Correctness: what are the chances for error? how can errors be detected and corrected? how much error is tolerable?
Cost: physical costs of vehicle? costs of preparing data in vehicle?
Appropriateness of data vehicle to data items?
Retention and security
Source, handler(s), and destination
Relation to other data vehicles
Size, measured in various ways
Input and output rates desired and/or expected
Growth rate expected
Logical format(s) used
Physical format(s) used
Equipment needed for storage
Equipment needed for input and output
Location
Permanence: what happens if lost? security measures?
Accessibility and privacy considerations
Importance or value (cost)
Replacement and/or backup
Interpret functions in terms of specific sequences of tasks to be performed by
Detail procedures for personnel in terms of
Detailed procedures for use of equipment (e.g., specifications for computer programs) in terms of
Definitions of tasks in terms of
Definition of externally acquired skills and knowledge (e.g., qualifications for being hired for the task)
Definition of skills and knowledge to be provided though internal training
Quantities of training needed, as an effect of turnover and of system rate of change
Possibilities of cross-training or re-training of present skills
Procedures for providing training, including staff needed and equipment needed
Training to be provided by manufacturers of equipment or vendors of software systems
Go to Guide to Course Materials for LIS 387.5
Last revised 1998 September 27