Overview
In this unit, you will develop skills in the planning, selection, and analysis phases of the systems development lifecycle (SDLC). Topics include feasibility studies, fact-finding techniques, system modelling, project planning, and user requirements.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2019
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Have Your Say survey
Students find it hard to understand each specific task in Assignment 2.
Assignment 2 will be more clearly worded and more carefully reviewed to ensure it helps the students better understand each specific task.
Feedback from Have Your Say survey
Students did not realise that there were individual assignment forums as they were not shown with the other forums. They asked to make it explicit within the moodle home page.
Assignment forums will be made explicit within the Moodle home page. Further, the teaching staff will encourage all students to post any assignment related question to the related assignment forum for help and advice any time during the term.
- Describe, discuss and apply fact-finding, feasibility study, project planning, and user requirements techniques
- Model the existing system/environment using appropriate techniques
- Document the analysis phase of the systems development lifecycle by preparing analysis and user requirements reports.
Australian Computer Society (ACS) recognises the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). SFIA is in use in over 100 countries and provides a widely used and consistent definition of ICT skills. SFIA is increasingly being used when developing job descriptions and role profiles.
ACS members can use the tool MySFIA to build a skills profile at https://www.acs.org.au/professionalrecognition/mysfia-b2c.html
This unit contributes to the following workplace skills as defined by SFIA. The SFIA code is included:
- Information Analysis (INAN)
- Business Analysis (BUAN)
- Data Analysis (DTAN)
- Systems Design (DESN)
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 20% | |||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 40% | |||
| 3 - Examination - 40% | |||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||
| 5 - Team Work | |||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 20% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Examination - 40% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
Systems Analysis and Design in a Changing World
Edition: 7th (2016)
Authors: Satzinger, Jackson & Burd
Cengage
Boston Boston , MA , USA
ISBN: 9781305117204
Binding: Paperback
Additional Textbook Information
Paper copies are available from the CQUni Bookshop here: http://bookshop.cqu.edu.au (search on the Unit code)
eBook copies can be purchased from the publisher's website here: https://www.cengagebrain.com.au/shop/isbn/9781305117204?cid=aussearchpage
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- MS Office or equivalent software
- MS Project
- MS Visio
- For CQUniversity Student Emails and Moodle Forums, all students must always check university emails and read all types of forum messages
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing styles below:
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
l.soon@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
From Beginning to End: An Overview of Systems Analysis and Design
Chapter
Chapter 1
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Approaches to systems development
Chapter
Chapter 10
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The Role of the Systems Analyst
Chapter
Online Chapter A
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Project Planning and Project Management
Chapter
Chapter 11
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Project Management Techniques
Chapter
Online Chapter C
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Mid-term Break Week
Chapter
Catch-up if behind
Events and Submissions/Topic
Refresh and recharge
Module/Topic
Investigating System Requirements
Chapter
Chapter 2
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Identifying User Stories and Use Cases
Chapter
Chapter 3
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Domain Modelling
Chapter
Chapter 4
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Use Case Modelling
Chapter
Chapter 5
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Designing the User Interface
Chapter
Chapter 8
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Deploying the New System
Chapter
Chapter 14
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Revision
Chapter
All covered chapters
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Unit Coordinator: Dr Lisa Soon
Office Location: CQUniversity Townsville Campus, 6, Finsbury Place Townsville QLD 4810
Email: l.soon@cqu.edu.au
Phone: +61 7 4726 5317
Note: For all types of inquiries, please send me an email. For urgent matters, phone my office number.
1 Written Assessment
This is an individual assessment item. You are assumed to have been appointed as a systems analyst right after you completed your study. For the purpose of assessment 1, you recently commence a system development project. Your role is to analyse a Project Case Study provided to you, identify critical elements, undertake the tasks and develop a report using results from your systems analysis.
For your tasks, you are expected to document your work related to the tasks within the project in a report. In your report, for each task (enriching graphical diagrams are welcome), you explain:
- Rationales behind your selected methodology towards system development,
- What/how you will plan your project using your selected methodology with provided tasks all grounded on the chosen methodology within a given project timeline, and why your provided Gantt Chart is useful for the project, and
- Cost-Benefit analysis.
You will be required to use software, such as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Project, to answer some questions. See Moodle for the expected written assessment format.
This assignment will be submitted online through Moodle unit website.
The case study will be provided on the Moodle unit website.
Week 6 Monday (22 Apr 2019) 9:00 am AEST
Late submissions are subject to the university late submission penalty policies.
Within 2 weeks from the due date or within 2 weeks of submission (whichever is the later)
This assessment consists of multiple questions, each marked separately based on the followings.
- Correctness: the answer should be technically correct, not contain errors; justifications should explain the correct advantages and benefits while also touch on disadvantages; and
- Clarity: explanations, formatting and diagrams should be clear, consistent and relevant.
- Describe, discuss and apply fact-finding, feasibility study, project planning, and user requirements techniques
- Document the analysis phase of the systems development lifecycle by preparing analysis and user requirements reports.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Ethical practice
- Social Innovation
2 Written Assessment
Both the Assessments 1 and 2 are related to the same project case study. Assessment 2 follows on from Assessment 1. Assessment 2 requires you to apply techniques and models to complete tasks in systems development, specifically during systems analysis. Techniques in this assessment refers to information gathering techniques. You will need to select, justify or use different techniques to identify, analyse and specify requirements. Models may include use cases, domain class models, activity diagrams, system sequence diagrams and others. There will be multiple questions on different topics, and you will be expected to submit an individual written assessment containing answers using model diagrams. You will be required to use software such as Microsoft Visio to answer some questions. You are to complete the following tasks in the order given based on the case study provided to you on the Moodle unit website:
Task 1. Investigation Techniques for an Information System
Task 2. Modelling an Information System
- Use Case Diagrams
- A Class Diagram
- An Activity Diagram
- A System Sequence Diagram
This assignment will be submitted online through Moodle unit website.
The case study will be provided on the Moodle unit website.Week 10 Friday (24 May 2019) 11:59 pm AEST
Late submissions are subject to the university late submission penalty policies.
Within 2 weeks of the due date or within 2 weeks of submission (whichever is the later)
This assessment consists of multiple questions, each marked separately based on the followings.
- Correctness: the answer should be technically correct, not contain errors; justifications should explain the correct advantages and benefits while also touch on disadvantages; and
- Clarity: explanations, formatting and diagrams should be clear, consistent and relevant.
- Model the existing system/environment using appropriate techniques
- Document the analysis phase of the systems development lifecycle by preparing analysis and user requirements reports.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
Examination
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
