Systems Development Essentials

Prerequisites:

Those who are new to analysis and need to acquire and practise the fundamental skills of Systems Development.

Those wishing to attain the ISEB Certificate in Systems Development Essentials. (These delegates should also book course code SDEEX-2). Candidates with special examination requirements should consult the ISEB web site (www.iseb.org.uk) for the ISEB Special Needs policy. Note that the ISEB must be advised at least four weeks in advance of any special requirements.

No prior knowledge of analysis techniques is expected.

Course Description:

As people move into analysis, from either a business or technical background, they need to acquire a fundamental understanding of the systems development process, and the role and responsibilities of systems analysts and designers.

This course provides these essential foundations and goes on to focus on systems investigation and quality assurance, as these underpin all successful systems development projects. It also examines how the systems development effort could be organised, and distinguishes between generic lifecycle types, methods and approaches.

At the end of the course delegates may sit an examination to attain the ISEB Business Systems Development certificate in Systems Development Essentials. (These delegates should also book course code SDEEX-2). This course may be taken as part of the programme leading to the ISEB Diploma in Systems Development.

This is an intensive three day course that places emphasis on the practical application of the analysis skills covered. Delegates participate in exercises, and case study tasks.

Those delegates taking the ISEB certificate will need to spend 60-90 minutes each evening on revision and example examination questions.

The recommended combination and sequence of courses for delegates wishing to complete the programme leading to the ISEB Systems Development Diploma is (1) Systems Development Essentials, (2) either Systems Modelling Techniques (UML) or Systems Modelling Techniques (Structured), (3) Systems Design & Implementation Techniques, (4) Software Testing Foundation.

This course includes the following modules:

The Role of the Systems Analyst and Designer

• Identify the actors/roles and responsibilities within systems development and implementation
• Characteristics of the systems analyst/designer

Systems Architecture

• Different levels of architecture: Enterprise, Systems, Infrastructure
• Inputs at: Enterprise level, Systems level, Infrastructure level
• Impacts of design decisions

Development Approaches

• Component-based
• Evolutionary/iterative/agile
• Bespoke development
• Software package solutions
• Other appropriate approaches

Systems Development Lifecycles

• Waterfall
• V model
• Incremental
• Spiral
• Other appropriate lifecycles
• Structure and content of a chosen representative method

Methodologies

• How to interpret three representative models from the method, showing: Process perspective, Data perspective, Event perspective
• Products within the chosen method

Systems Investigation

• Interviewing
• Other fact finding approaches: Workshops, Prototyping, Questionnaires, Scenario analysis, Observation, Documentation Analysis
• Human aspects of systems investigation and introducing change

Defining Requirements

• Functional Requirements Definition
• Non-Functional Requirements Definition
• Documenting system requirements

System Design, Implementation and Maintenance

• Design principles and constraints (legal, ethical, financial)
• Sign off and hand over
• Aspects of the production environment
• Post-implementation reviews
• Different types of maintenance

Quality Assurance

• Definitions of quality.
• Requirements-driven testing
• Types of walkthrough and inspection
• Post-project reviews
• Service Level Agreements

CASE tools

• Features
• Lifecycle coverage
• Requirements traceability
• Advantages and disadvantages

Case Study

• Throughout the course a case study is used to reinforce and practise the topics discussed