Transitions in System Analysis and Design Methodology

Abstract

Systems Analysis and Design is an exciting endeavour as well as an active field in which analysts continually learn new techniques and approaches to develop systems more effectively and efficiently. Any organization that wants to have a long-lasting impact on its target market, must be ready to invest its resources in planning and research, to ascertain whether a new project is viable, partially viable or impracticable. This will either show the survival tendencies of the organization as it relates to the project or its weaknesses in handling the project. Every system development inadvertently follows four phases, which are: planning, analysis, design, and implementation. All complex systems can be decomposed into a nested hierarchy of subsystems because the different facets of every individual organization are either a system, part of a system or a subsystem. For an embodiment of various singular interconnected parts to be considered a system, it must have followed through with a methodology or an approach. This paper utilizes expository methodology and drives towards giving a concise overview of the various approaches to be adopted while developing a system. It begs to give more insight to the current methodologies in systems development, the emerging approaches and the pros and cons. The authors investigate from inception to the current methodologies, knowing full well that many occurrences in life happens in correspondence to dispensations, times and seasons; just like winter and summer, the authors understudy the various dispensations to pin the prevalent methodologies in certain time spaces, the advances or improvement as well as the advantages and disadvantages they have over others as time progresses. In the process, old systems methodologies are improved to serve a larger target and the amount of work needed per time reduces as new system methodology are developed over time.