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General Notes: The first chapter covers an enormous array of topics, none of them in enough detail for you really to get comfortable with them. I suggest reading it carefully and making notes. The most crucial sections for this course are the descriptions of the Systems Development Methods on pages 18-24 and the descriptions of IT jobs and the systems analysis role on pages 26-30. The rest of the chapter is mostly taken up with background on IT and short definitions of some of the ideas that will be important later in the course, such as business process. You'll need to read these carefully to tackle the group assignments. In preparing for class, please spend a little time thinking about the following questions and jot down some points to answer them with. Discussion Topics: 1) Which, if any, of the IT department jobs outlined on pages 26-27 would you most like to have, and why? Does the systems analyst position as described on pages 28-30 sound attractive to you? 2) How would you answer the "Case in Point 1.3" question on page 28? 3) We will try to write the job advertisement for the position discussed in "Case in Point 1.4: Just-in-time Airfreight" on page 28. Please come to class with a printed job advertisement for a systems analyst position (NB, the job is often called "business systems analyst" these days). We will discuss and compare these and then use them to write a new advertisement. 4) The article "Anatomy of a Failure" discusses a project that failed to follow an orderly process of systems analysis. What mistakes do you think were made by the company involved in the project, and how might careful systems analysis and attention to the Systems Development Life Cycle and System Development Guidelines explained on pages 21-25. |
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