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Basic Concepts for Understanding Systems

Basic Concepts for Understanding Systems. Agenda for today. The need for frameworks & models Viewing businesses as systems Information systems and work systems Framework for thinking about systems Perspectives for viewing a work system

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Basic Concepts for Understanding Systems

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  1. Basic Concepts for Understanding Systems

  2. Agenda for today • The need for frameworks & models • Viewing businesses as systems • Information systems and work systems • Framework for thinking about systems • Perspectives for viewing a work system • Looking at an IT-enabled system from a business perspective

  3. The need for frameworks & models • What is a framework? • A set of ideas for organizing your thoughts about a thing or situation... • What is a model? • A useful representation of a specific situation or thing…

  4. Framework & model, continued... • Think about object oriented programming… • A framework is like a class definition • A model is like an instantiated object

  5. Frameworks and models in action • What are some frameworks that we encounter? • Now, let’s think about models…examples? • Let’s turn to the Resumix case to see the WCA framework in action

  6. Resumix Case • Define the elements of this case using the WCA framework • What are the categories? • They are • customer, product, business process, participants, information and technology

  7. Viewing businesses as systems

  8. Viewing businesses as systems • Businesses as systems consisting of business processes

  9. Viewing businesses as systems • Value Chain • for a “sit down” restaurant, not fast food...

  10. Viewing businesses as systems • Business processes and functional areas of businesses • The silo model

  11. Business processes and functional areas of businesses • Processes that cross functional areas • Processes related to a specific functional area • Processes occurring in every functional area

  12. Information systems and work systems

  13. Information systems and work systems • What kind of system? • Information system • Work system

  14. Information systems and work systems • Where are the boundaries between information systems and work systems? • Is this changing? • Is this a reflection of the changes in the economy to focus on services? • Do you think that the trend will continue?

  15. Framework for thinking about systems The WCA

  16. Framework for thinking about systems • Customers • internal • external • what’s the difference? • Product • the output of the work system • Business process • What’s going on in the system • We’ll model this with flow charts and DFD’s

  17. Framework for thinking about systems • Participants • Who’s involved… • Information

  18. Framework for thinking about systems • Technology • This is the part that’s cool, but remember its place in the puzzle

  19. Perspectives for viewing a work system

  20. Perspectives for viewing a work system • You can use the WCA and the five perspectives to gain a better understanding of the work system • Sort of a “drill down” approach • When I ask you to give me a WCA diagram, I’m looking for the overall analysis, not all perspectives -- you may want to do these perspectives as you develop your model

  21. Perspectives for viewing a work system • ARCHITECTURE • What are the components of the system that performs the work and who uses the work product? • How are the components linked? • How do the components operate together? • PERFORMANCE • How well do the components operate individually? • How well does the system operate? (How well is the work performed?) • How well should the system operate? • INFRASTRUCTURE • What technical and human infrastructure does the work rely on? • In what ways does infrastructure present opportunities or obstacles? • CONTEXT • What are the impacts of the organizational and technical context? • In what ways does the context present opportunities or obstacles? • RISKS • What foreseeable things can prevent the work from happening, • can make the work inefficient, or can cause defects in the work product? • What are the likely responses to these problems?

  22. Looking at an IT-enabled system from a business perspective

  23. Looking at an IT-enabled system from a business perspective • Steps in systems analysis • defining the problem • describing the situation in enough depth • designing potential improvements • deciding what to do

  24. Looking at an IT-enabled system from a business perspective • How the WCA can be used to drill down on a problem...

  25. Looking at an IT-enabled system from a business perspective • The WCA method

  26. Looking at an IT-enabled system from a business perspective • Limitations and issues with the WCA • architecture • overemphasis on details • confusion about roles • performance • too often ignored • infrastructure • you gotta have it! Don’t forget!

  27. Looking at an IT-enabled system from a business perspective • Limitations and issues with the WCA (cont.) • context • ignoring incentives/disincentives, organizational culture, etc. • risks • things don’t always go as planned… • contingency • disaster recovery

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