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System In Organizations

Planning and System Installation​

Computer System​

A computer system is a broad term given to a system including the hardware, software, users, and the immediate environment.

System Life Cycle​

System life cycle is the stages carried out when developing a new system.

Organizational Issue Planning Aims to Eliminate​

Planning a system is an attempt to anticipate potential organizational issues:

  • Problems arise in guiding organization and business strategies
  • Insufficient stakeholder and end-user communication
  • Problems with ownership of the system
  • The lack of attention in required training

Feasibility Report​

Feasibility reports are the results of a feasibility study where the evaluation and analysis of a project and its potential is carried out based on:

  • Technical feasibility
    • Determining whether current technology sufficient to implement the system
  • Economic feasibility
    • Determining the cost effectiveness and whether funding is sufficient
  • Legal feasibility
    • Analyzing potential conflicts between the proposed system and the legal system
  • Operational feasibility
    • Determining whether the maintenance stage of the system is feasible
  • Schedule feasibility
    • Estimating the time required to create the system

Change Management​

Change management is the process of changing the state of the organization, involving shifting employee positions, replacing hardware equipment, etc.

Incompatibility​

System may include critical points built with legacy systems, where the new system is unable to replace by change, examples being:

  • Lack of ability to translate legacy format to new format.
  • User needs, where a lack of user training or the new system does not completely replace the functionality of the old system.

Business Merger​

Business merger is the process of combining business entities, where all subsystems are required to be compatible.

System Integration​

System integration is the process of combining subsystems, where there are four strategies:

  • Operate in redundancy
    • Develop both systems to have equivalent functionality
  • Replace both systems with a new system
  • Select the best subsystems from each company and combine them
  • Select the system of one company and terminating the alternative system

System Deployment Models​

On-premises Software​

On-premises software are software operate locally on an organization's own infrastructure.

SaaS​

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) are software provided by cloud service, where data and the software is operating in a remote datacenter.

Installation Process​

The installation process is the deployment of a new system on a premise.

Changeover Method​

When replacing the system currently used, strategies employed should consider the cost overhead and risk, common strategies include:

  • Parallel changeover
    • Operating both systems in redundancy for the duration of replacement.
    • Advantages:
      • Functionality of both systems can be compared live
      • IF the new system fails, the system can be reverted to the legacy system
    • Disadvantages:
      • Large cost overhead
      • Extra workload
  • Direct changeover
  • Pilot testing
  • Phased

Data Migration​

In order to satisfy the information system of the new system, legacy data formats need to be translated to the new data format, this is called data migration. In a data migration process, the following steps are carried out:

  • Extract data from legacy system
  • Transform data for new system
  • Load data into the new system
  • Validate the data loaded

Testing​

  • Functional testing
    • Testing conducted to validate the functionality of target commands.
  • Data testing
    • Testing conducted to validate the output of target commands by sets of normal, abnormal and boundary data.
      • Normal data refers to a input sequence set within the expected domain
      • Abnormal data refers to a input sequence set outside of the expected domain
      • Boundary data refers to a input sequence set at the boundary of the normal data set
  • Alpha testing
    • Testing carried out by the development team within the company and deployed on premises.
  • Beta testing
    • Testing carried out by assigned end-users outside of the company and deployed on user premises.
  • Dry-run testing
    • Testing carried out by examining the source code and determining the functionality by predicting the output.
  • Unit testing
    • Testing on individual subsystems modularly.
  • User acceptance testing
    • Testing for user satisfaction based on its usability and accessibility.
  • Debugging
    • Testing during development to discover malfunctions.

Data Validation​

Validation is the process of evaluating whether input sequence fit within the expected domain.

Data Verification​

Verification is the process of evaluating the consistency of the input sequence and the source data.

User Documentation​

User documentations are manuals design to explain the functionality of the system to the end-user.

Methods of Providing User Documentation​

The term user documentation does not restrict the form of access, where online and written documents are allowed, some methods of providing the user documentation include:

  • User Manuel
  • Embedded Assistance Subsystem
  • Real time assistance
  • Email Support
  • Web support
  • FAQ
  • Remote desktop connection

User Training​

In order to equip the workforce with a new system, user training is required to ensure the system is used for its full capacity, some methods include:

  • Self-study
  • Formal classes
  • Remote training

Data Loss​

Data loss is the error condition for which the information stored is destroyed. The cause of data loss can include:

  • Accidental deletion
  • Administrative errors
  • Poor storage system
  • Hardware damage
  • Computer virus
  • Data corruption
  • Natural disasters
  • Power failure

Data Loss Prevention​

  • Regular Backup (mirroring) with a remote datacenter or with SaaS
  • Firewall installation
  • Storing on printed copies
  • Usage of antivirus software
  • Failover system
    • A autonomous system on standby for switching to a parallel computer system upon a system failure

Software Deployment​

The versioning system of a system is usually divided by:

  • Patches
    • Bug fixes
  • Updates
    • Expansion by increasing functionalities
  • Upgrades
    • Large changes that normally lead to breaking changes (incompatibility between the new version and previous version)
  • Releases
    • Version released to end-users after testing stages.
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Last updated on by Wyatt Au