To understand System Analysis and Design, one has to first understand what exactly are
systems. In this session, we explore the meaning of system in accordance with analysts
and designers. This session gives the reader basic concepts and terminology associated
with the Systems. It also gives the overview of various types of systems.
In the broadest sense, a system is simply a set of components that interact to accomplish
some purpose. They are all around us. For example, human body is a biological system.
We experience physical sensations by means of a complex nervous system, a set of parts,
including brain, spinal cord, nerves, and special sensitive cells under our skin, that work
together to make us feel hot, cold, itchy, and so on.
Language is another example of a system. Each language has got its set of alphabets,
vocabulary and grammar rules. Combination of all these make possible for one person to
convey thoughts to other persons.
An organization may also be viewed as a system where all the employees interact with
each other and also with the employer to make the organization a functional unit. The
organization also interacts with their customers to make a complete business system.
In today’s world most of the people study. To make this possible, there are education
systems. Each education system contains educational institutes like preparatory schools,
middle and high schools and colleges. It also contains governing bodies, people (teachers
and students) and some commercial bodies, which fulfill the other needs like stationery,
transportation, furniture, etc.
In our day to day life, we see many business systems. These businesses have varied
objectives, which range from producing a notebook to producing aircraft. These systems
have their information needs. It can be for maintaining the records for employee for their
wages calculations, keeping track of their leave status, maintaining company’s expenses,
inquiries from customers in case the business provide some service, or for keeping track
for some particular function. So maintaining data is an important and essential activity in
any business. The overall data maintained constitutes what is known as Information
system.
Information system is the means by which data flow from one person or department to
another and can encompass everything from interoffice mail and telephone links to a
computer system that generates periodic reports for various users. Information systems
serve all the systems of a business, linking the different components in such a way that they effectively work towards the same purpose. These information systems are dealt in
detail in section 1.1.3.
