Glossary of key terms and concepts accosiated with project work:
Bench testing – checking each component of the new
information system against the design specifications to determine that it meets
each goal
Boundary– The delineation between a system and its
environment
Completeness – success measure, were all the specifications and functionality
met?
Constraint– Any factor that may prevent an information system
from achieving its goals
Context diagram (aka. black box) – A graphical method of
representing an information system as a process with inputs and outputs
[Conversion types] – Parallel, direct, phased, pilot
Cost– success measure, was the final system cost
in-range of what was planned?
Data dictionary – A comprehensive description of each
field or attribute in a database. This commonly includes: field name, number of
characters (field width), data type, number of decimal places (if applicable)
and a description of the purpose of each field
Data flow diagrams (aka. white box) – A diagram which
shows the logical flow of data through a system or subsystem using processes,
inputs, outputs and data flow arrows
Decision table – A table created during the analysis phase
of the system development cycle showing possible decisions and their resulting
actions
Decision tree – Similar to a decision table except that it
is drawn as a tree diagram
Economic feasibility – measures the cost-effective ness of a
project or solution
Environment – Any aspect that is not directly part of a system but impacts in some way on that information system
Ethics – A set of moral principles accepted by society as a standard against which individual behaviour can be
judged
Evaluation– the deciding if any further modifications are
needed to the system
Evolutionary prototyping – continually improving a prototype
until it is ready to be finalised
Feasibility study – An activity carried out during the system
development cycle in which the nature of the problem is clearly described,
alternative solutions investigated and recommendations are made as to whether a
proposed solution is practicable.
Gantt chart – A chart showing timelines for different stages of a system development project
Human-centred – System where participants and users are most important and the machine is just the tool
Implementing – The process whereby a design is actually constructed
Information system – An arrangement of components that are integrated to accomplish the purpose of fulfilling the
information needs of an organisation
Machine-centred – System where the tasks of the machine have priority over the human user
Maintenance – Part of the system development cycle where all required
adjustments or corrections are carried out as a result of the continuing
evaluation of the system.
Operational feasibility – measures how well the solution will
work within the organisation it is intended to help
Operators – participants who will use the system daily
Participant development – An information system developed by
the people who will use it
Participant testing – those familiar with the processes testing
the capacity of the system
Problem definition – a definition for the current need of the new information system, results in a list of requirement
that determine the objectives of the plan
Problem statement – problem definition
Project – Any undertaking that sets out to achieve a specific objective
Project management – The use of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques in order to meet the requirements of a
particular project
Project plan – The structure of a project including tasks,
people, time, costs and resources
Prototyping– Used to demonstrate to users/customers to ensure
that the final program will meet their needs
Quality – success measure, how well dose it fulfil its purpose, stability?
Report generators – quickly organise and format the
specific date required
Requirements report – An organised, formatted view of data that
outlines the needs of the system
Screen generators – create GUI’s using 4th gen.
programming languages very rapidly.
Schedule– success measure, was the project delivered on
time?
Schedule feasibility – measures whether the problem can be
solved within a reasonable time frame
Stress testing – using loads that will stretch the
capacity of the system to its limits so that any problems can be detected
before they become critical
System flowcharts – A diagram representing the flow of
data and the logic of a system including storage media.
System managers – Those responsible for assisting and
training other sin the use of the system
Technical feasibility – measures the availability of
practical technical resources and skills to solve the problem
Users – People who use the computer system. They are usually employees
and customers
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