Week 9

*Sigh*.... Just a few more weeks to go before i will complete this unit..... but i must admit the last hurdle is always the toughest one and i would have to deal with it to pass this unit. I just can't wait to get quickly to the end of week 12 somehow because it means no more boring lectures.... :)

Today, i was late for class and i was welcomed this morning with an array of even more complex diagrams that i have not seen before in my earlier lectures. Unfortunately the study guide 9 was a mere few pages and were not useful. Thus, i ended up reading the lecture notes and try paying more careful attention to the lecture.

Lecture 9 titled - "Structured Design" introduced me to system flowcharts and structured charts. System Flowcharts happen to be representations of various computer programs, files, databases, and associated manual processes that make up a complete system. In short, they show data movement within a system.

While Structured charts describes functions and subfunctions of each part of system and it also shows relationships between modules of a computer program. A Structured chart is developed using Transaction Analysis and Transform Analysis.

One difference between these two steps that i understood from the lecture was that:

• Transform Analysis uses Data flow diagrams (DFD) fragments for inputs, while Transaction Analysis uses system flowcharts and event tables for inputs

That was pretty much what i could grasp from the lecture for week 9.

Few hours later.......Tutorial 9 class begins.....

Tutorial 9 happened to be a continuation of week 8 tutorial because last week, learning to write the use case descriptions took up the whole class to understand so we couldn't do the Activity diagrams and sequence diagrams. So our work for tutorial 9 class was to make activity diagram and sequence diagrams. It was quite interesting and i learned the usage of different symbols used in Activity diagrams and Sequence diagrams.

So with the completion of week 9, i have learnt so far how to make context diagrams, data flow diagrams, use cases, use case descriptions, sequence diagrams, activity diagrams, event tables and class diagrams. Frankly speaking, i am still not an expert at making these diagrams but i guess the whole ideas of the tutorial was to get an idea of how to go about making the diagrams anf the tutor has been helpful in facilitating how to make these diagrams step by step.

Like I said before in my previous blogs, I would've appreciated if i had some more practice questions on these diagrams apart from the book and tutorials to master my skill at constructing these diagrams. An example has been while doing my Assignment1a and now currently while doing Assignment 1b, I have so many doubts because there are so many possibilities that i can't decide what to choose and I end up not knowing what should be done.

ARGGH!!!.....I will just have to trust my judgement, understanding and ability that what i am doing is the right way to go.

In conclusion this is what Analysis is all about challenging yourself to go deep and trust your judgement based on the knowledge and ability that you possess.

Time to work again on Assignment 1b with a new zeal and perspective. Thanks to this blog facility, i am able to reflect and revitalize myself again that i can perform well in this unit.

Week 8

Wow! this week went so fast that i did not realize it. Probably it's just that time of the semester where the workload is at its peak and we end up being SUPER BUSY!!

Despite of all the time pressure, i managed to find some time at the end of the week to reflect on what was Week 8 all about for System Analysis and Design.

Thinking back to lecture 8, we have now reached the Design Stage. We learnt about the 7 Design Phase activities:

1. Design and integrate network
2. Design the application architecture
3. Design user interface
4. Design system interfaces
5. Design and integrate the database
6. Prototype for Design Details
7. Design and integrate the system controls

An important difference i learnt was that Analysis is focussed on what the system should perform, referring to business requirements whereas Design is more towards how system will be built i.e. defining structural components. By definition, Design is actually a process in which the system components at architectural and detailed level are described, organized and structured.

Besides that the learning objectives of the lecture were about knowing different architectural designs such client-server architecture, single, clustered, multi-computer architecture and centralised and distributed architecture. Similarly, different types of computer networks such LAN, WAN and Internet , their network configuration and network design were mentioned during the lecture. As usual, another lecture that turned out to be boring for me.

Honestly, this unit is getting more complex and boring as we progress towards the end of this unit. I just see complex diagrams, topics and text nowadays in lectures and unfortunately my workload is so much that i don't have much time to go through the book for more details. The study guide again was a good friend helping me understand what is actually in the lecture slides. The lecture slides is just full of brief information and diagrams which not enough for understanding.

Anyways my prime focus is getting all remaining assignments done and thinking about the exam instead of criticizing the unit. That's why i love this blog facility, i get to vent my frustrations on this unit and reflect on my experience so far to motivate myself to improve my understanding for this unit.

Oops! i forgot to mention that my event table was approved and all main requirements were present. I just lost marks on representation and professionalism. Now i can progress with my Assignment 1b with not much changes to make so time to speed up work!

Fast Forward...... to tutorial class!

The tutorial class was all about learning to make Use Case Descriptions. Our tutor was very helpful and needs some praise for making sure we understood the whole concept step by step. It was after a long time that i actually felt i was not much lost in both classes.

A nice way to end week 8 of my System Analysis and Design (SAAD) Journey.