Business Systems Analysis

Business systems analysis is developing processes and procedures to make an organization more efficient and productive.  Business systems analysis is the process of evaluating the business systems with the goal of making improvement to meet organizational objectives.  Depending on the business objectives, the analysis and design can be simple or extensive for a new system based on the budget.

The system includes the what, how and when of the following aspects:-

• human procedures and inter-actions,
• computer software applications,
• phone systems, computer and other office hardware,
• access to and utilization of the internet,
• reports generated to manage the business
• anything else that contributes to the organizational objectives.

The business analysis documents the problems and opportunities and the potential solutions to reach the business objectives.  Then the solutions are evaluated and options chosen for final implementation.

The Improved System:  The proposed new system is drawn after all the issues are addressed and alternative solutions have been accepted by the management.  The new system may need the development custom software like a data-base.  New forms and procedures may be developed or a combination of possible solutions.  The purpose is to meet business objectives and to address the issues identified.

The software depends on the scope of the project.  Most of the time, in 80 to 90%, off the shelf software could meet the requirements of the organization; otherwise the organization could go far a “custom application development” project.

If the custom application development is needed, the system proposal must be converted into a form that communicates the requirement of this application to programmers in an unambiguous way.  Data entry procedures and data structure user inter- face, reports, control and back-up procedures and the data structure of the application must be defined, so that no critical detail is left out, or left to the interpretation of the programmers who may not be fully aware of the needs of the organization.  This procedure is called the “program specifications packet” and may contain input and output layout file specification, processing details, decision trees(tables), data flow diagram, a system flow chart, and any legacy code which can be used as a starting point.  The analyst may require additional tools to communicate an accurate description of the logic or business rules and the application to the programmers.

The details and the program all depends upon the scope of the project; if it is large and complex or simple applications, the design process of the system depends upon the short and long term cost involved and the awareness of the owner over the cost.

The system has to be implemented with user training, successful conversion of data from the old to the new;  evaluation must be constant in every phase of design and analysis, and maintenance of the new system involves need for bug fixing, hard and software updates and implementing additional features required by the users or management.