Business Application System free essay sample

Business Application System University of Phoenix BSA 411, Systems Analysis Methodologies September 6, 2010 Introduction There are many different business problems or business opportunities in today’s business world that need to be corrected. I have been a part of a few project teams that were responsible for correcting a few of these business problems at some of the different companies I have worked for. In this paper I will discuss the one that I feel was the biggest success due to how it helped the company. Business Application System Many years ago I worked for the hydraulic parts division of Dana Corporation particularly in the machining area. During this time there arose the need for a better business system to track what parts we had on hand and what parts we needed to make to fill the incoming orders. Being that I had a lot of experience in my department I was asked to be a part of the project team to create the system. We will write a custom essay sample on Business Application System or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The new business system would need to be able to track, in real time, what parts were needed to fill customer orders, what parts we currently had on hand in storage, and what parts were currently in the process of being machined. In order to make this business system happen there were several barriers we would have to overcome. Some of the barriers included assessing the current business situation and the business systems needs, designing the new business system that would be used to replace the old system and fix the business problem, and implementation of the new business system with as little interruption to the company output as possible. Assessing the Business System There are several different methods that can be used to gather information for analyzing requirements, some of which are more effective than others. One of those methods of information gathering for analyzing requirements is to survey to all of the employees that you can within the company. The major drawback to the survey method is that you must be very careful about the question you ask so that you get back the most useful information. Another drawback with the survey method is that many people that receive a survey might not fill it out and send it back to you. Another method of information gathering for analyzing requirements is to interview people and departments about their daily activities and needs. The biggest drawback to this method is the time that it can take to conduct all these interviews. Also some people may not want to talk in groups and some people may only feel comfortable talking when they are in a group setting. A third method of information gathering is to go around to the different areas in a corporation and get as much information about their processes as you can and then look at the standard operating procedures for the process the corporation has. This can be one of the better methods to use because you will not have to worry about people telling one thing and the company procedures saying to do it another. When you look at the company’s standard procedures you will find the approved method of doing business within company. A very good way to gather information in this third method is to go around a company and watch people and make as many notes as possible on how business is done on a day to day basis. In the end there is no one correct or incorrect method for gathering the required information. In fact the best method for gathering information for analyzing requirements is a combination of the multiple methods. The one thing to keep in mind is that the method used should be the one that is best suited for the type of information you are trying to gather. Once the information is gathered you will then move into designing the business system. Designing the Business System In the past most of the software development cycles followed a waterfall type technique. In this type of technique every step was dependant on the one before it and one step could not occur without the other. In today’s developments, this type of mentality has shown to be more of a burden than an asset on the development process. Development methodologies like the Rational Unified Process concentrate more on getting the information right the first time instead of a structured development cycle. It is important to remember when designing a business system to include feedback from all end users as much as possible. User feedback is one of the most important factors in any system and this is especially true with software. Knowing how information is going to flow through the system is very important to the mapping of the business process. Rational Unified Process gathers requirements for data flow through use cases. The requirements are then separated into two groups which are either physical or logical components to the system. Physical components are made up of anything that can be touched, seen, or heard. The physical model lays out how the components of the system are to be organized. The model is also important when trying to troubleshoot issues within the system. Physical diagrams are usually made up of network topologies. These designs show the location of network components and how they interact with one another. When using the physical diagram it is possible to follow the whole system to see how data interoperates with the physical components of the system. In the cases of system failures the physical diagram can help to determine where breakdowns have occurred and what will be needed to fix the issue. Logical components map out the relationship of the logical components in the system. Software systems are most often broken up into different tiers which are responsible for specific purposes. This separates the components from each other and provides a higher level of reusability. Software logical tiers can include data, business logic, and presentation but outside of operating systems software cannot exist by itself. This means that another component of the logical design must be the mapping out of how the software will reside in the physical system. This will include the platform on which the software runs as well as any necessary middleware components and the software itself. The logical design can be much more intensive when compared to a physical design because it covers everything from entity relationship diagrams for the data to object modeling of the software. The logical design also maps out the processes by which the different components interact. Every company handles business processes in their own unique way. Mapping the business process flow is a very important step in any system design and knowing how the data is stored in the database is not much help if the business rules defining the data are not known. Once you have the new business system designed then you will be ready to move on to the implementation of the new system. Implementation of the Business System There are two main methods that a person could use to implement a business system. These two methods for implementation include parallel and cut-over. In the parallel method the new system is brought up next to the old system and both systems are running the same data at the same time. The parallel method is helpful if an analyst thinks that there might be an issue with the new system and how the old systems data will be handled by the new system. The parallel method would also allow for data integrity checking between the old and new systems. The second method is referred to as the cut-over method. In the cut-over method the new system is brought on line and the old system is dropped off line pretty much all at the same time. The major drawback to this method is there is no way to check to see if the new system and old system handle the data the same way and there is no the chance for integrity checking of the data. The number one reason for using a cut-over method is that there is not a current system in place. There are also many different tools that can be used to implement a business system. One of the tools available is a graphical user programming environment, or GUE, that can be used to modify the source code in order to change the end users windows to comply with the company’s wants and needs. Another tool that is available is one that is specific to the program used and comes with the business system software. With the business system software tool a programmer can use it to modify the business system software so the business process matches the company’s requirements and add a level of customization to the business system software. Conclusion The business system that we as a project team designed and implemented for Dana Corporation was a huge success. It helped them to not only keep better track of what parts we had on hand it also helped the company to actually decrease the amount of time it took to fill customers orders which related to a higher customer satisfaction. Without proper assessment, design, and implementation we would not have been able to overcome the barriers that we faced. References Blaha, M. Rumbaugh, J. (2005). Object-Oriented Modeling and Design with UML (2nd ed. ). Prentice Hall. Curran, T. Ladd, A. (2000). SAP R/3 Business Blueprint: Understanding Enterprise Supply Chain Management. Prentice Hall. Stockley, D. (1996-2010). Implementing new business systems successfully. Retrieved September 5, 2010, from http://derekstockley. com. au/lgpro. html