Systems Investigation

System Investigation

The System investigation is the part of the System Development Life Cycle which analyses the existing system and produces the feasibility report. There are a range of factors that need to be investigated in order to produce the feasibility report. These factors are outlined below:-

• Definition of the scope of the present system 

  • Organisational chart e.g.  ERD - Entity Relationship Diagram

  • Define sources of data

  • Methods of data capture 

• Major data processing functions and processes

  • High level (contextual view) data flow 

• Identification of problems with the present system

  • This could be done through observation, interviews, inspection of records and questionnaires.

  • Operational issues.

• Identify user requirements for the new system

  • What will be the scope of the project? 

  • Will it need to be just in one area or over the whole organisation? (one part V the whole system).

  • Any constraints or an individual example 

• Analysis of costs and benefits of the new system 

  • What advantages will the organisation gain and will these outweigh what they have to spend. 

  • Evaluation of costs e.g. human, licences etc.

• Investigating the existing hardware and software