Systems development essentials

Systems Development Essentials is concerned with the fundamental skills of systems development. Its focus is on systems investigation and quality assurance as these underpin all successful systems development. Systems Development Essentials also introduces the candidate to how the systems development effort could be organised. The course distinguishes between generic lifecycle types, methods and approaches.

Systems Development Essentials explores the fundamental differences between object-oriented and structured systems development. It also focuses on the basic principles of agile systems development and it recognises how a commitment to software package implementation changes the structure of the systems development approach.

Combined with Systems Modelling Techniques with UML this course provides delegates with a complete basic systems analysis course.

Systems Development Essentials is delivered by trainers who bring their substantial experience of practical systems analysis projects to the programme. A comprehensive manual, containing detailed information about systems development techniques and providing references for further reading, is supplied as part of the course.

ISEB qualificationsThis course prepares candidates to sit the examination for the ISEB Certificate in Systems Development Essentials. This involves a one-hour, open book examination that may be taken at the end of the course or at a public examination session. The certificate in Systems Development Essentials is a core module for the ISEB Diploma in Systems Development and a specialist module for the ISEB Diploma in Business Analysis .
SFIA MappingMethods & Tools level 5.

1. Rolesin systems development
• The purpose, objectives and tasks of systems development
• Roles and actors in systems development
• Technical and interpersonal skills of the analysts
• The emergence of skills frameworks (SFIA+)
• The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)
2. Systems architecture
• Enterprise, systems and infrastructure levels of architecture
• The Zachman Framework
• Inputs at an enterprise level (EAP)
• Inputs at system and infrastructure level
• Components of an EAP methodology
3. Development approaches
• Bespoke development
• Commercial off the shelf (COTS) software package solutions
• Configuring and customising COTS software package solutions
• Component-based systems development
• Service-based systems development
4. Systems development lifecycles
• Waterfall model
• V model
• Incremental model
• Spiral model
• Advantages and disadvantages of each approach
• Selection of an appropriate approach
5. Methodologies
• Traditional and structured approaches
• Agile Development / Rapid Application Development / eXtreme Programming
• The Unified Process (UP) and the Unified Modeling Language (UML)
• Models of the UML
• Interpretation of
• Use case diagram
• Use case description
• Class diagram
• Sequence diagram
• Phases of the Unified Process
• Workflows of the Unified Process
6. Systems Investigation
• Fact finding approaches:
• Workshops
• Prototyping
• Interviewing
• Questionnaires
• Scenario analysis
• Other approaches
• Functional requirements definition
• Non-functional requirements definition
• Documenting requirements
• Human aspects of systems investigation and introducing change
7. Systems design, implementation and maintenance
• Aspects of the production environment
• Design principles and constraints (legal, ethical, financial)
• The tasks of implementation
• Sign off and hand over
• Post-implementation reviews
• Different types of maintenance
8. Quality Assurance
• Definitions of software quality
• The V model
• Requirements-driven testing
• Static Testing: types of walkthrough and inspection
• Post-project reviews
• Service Level Agreements
9. CASE and CAST tools
• Features of Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) and Computer Aided Software Testing (CAST) tools
• Life-cycle coverage
• Requirements traceability
• Advantages and disadvantages