We can use tools and techniques to support system analysis.
Things like:
- Unified Modelling Language (UML)
- Data Flow Diagrams (DFD)
- PESTEL analysis
What else have you used? How did it help? Where was the tool or technique fallible?
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Of course, besides those tools and techniques, there are a few others that have proven of great help to me in systems analysis:
Use Case Diagrams:
How it helped: A clear visual representation of user interactions with the system, helpful in uncovering overlooked requirements.
Fallibility: It may oversimplify complex system when not complemented with detailed narratives.
Swimlane Diagrams:
How it helped: Clarifies Roles and responsibilities as well as workflows, paving the way for the discovery of potential bottlenecks or inefficiencies.
Fallibility: With its use, it becomes cluttered and hard to interpret for highly intricate workflows.
Gap Analysis:
How it helped: Show discrepancies between where one is today and where he/she wants to be, which becomes useful in prioritizing development efforts.
Fallibility: Accurate baseline data are required for analysis; otherwise, it may mislead prioritization.
Mind Mapping Tools:
How it helped: Very good for brainstorming requirements of systems treating the relationships within the features and the dependencies, as the above.
Fallibility: Might get overwhelming when many enter knots.
Entity-Relationship Diagrams (ERD):
How it helped: Database structures and relations are understood, which makes it an invaluable resource for the analysis of back-end systems.
Fallibility: Requires a very deep understanding of database concepts so as not to misinterpret.
Every tool has its strengths as well as its limits but combining them intelligently given the context can produce a more powerful analysis most of the time. For example, when UML is paired with ERDs, a high-level design can be bridged with the database-level details. Have you ever done such tools integration for much deeper insights?
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