Analyzing the Business System

This section contains the following topics:

Overview

Step 1: Defining General Business Functions

Step 2: Defining Specific Business Functions

Step 3: Listing the Data Elements

Step 4: Identifying the Business Rules

Step 5: Reviewing the Results of Analysis

Overview

Systems analysis is a necessary introduction to database design. Analyzing a corporate business system is a serious endeavor, about which many books have been written. It is not the purpose of this manual to describe the various methodologies available for performing systems analysis. Since this manual deals primarily with database design, it cannot present anything but an overview of systems analysis.

Analyzing the business system involves gathering information about the day-to-day functions of the organization, documenting this information, gathering more information, and so on, until a clear picture develops of the operations of the organization. To fully analyze the business system, you need to:

Define the general business functions.
Break down the general business functions into specific functions.
Identify the data elements used for functions and categorize them by subject.
Identify the business rules.
Review the results of analysis.

You can follow steps 1 through 5 below to perform a thorough analysis of your organization. Before you perform these procedures, you may need to write a description of the organization. This description will be used as the basis for systems analysis.

Organization description for the Commonweather Corporation

Below is a sample company description for the Commonweather Corporation.

          Commonweather Corporation is a leader in the new, rapidly
          expanding field of external climate control.  Commonweather
          has offices in five locations.  Since its incorporation,
          560 employees have been hired.  Most of these employees are
          still with the company and have held, on the average, two
          different positions.

          Because Commonweather anticipates rapid growth, it has
          created an organizational structure that will be well
          suited to a company with many more employees.  It has
          identified 41 different job titles and has created nine
          departments, each with its own department head.  Several
          employees in each department have been appointed to supervisory
          positions and have hiring authority.  Employees are, on
          occasion, assigned to head or participate in interdepart-
          mental projects.  In two years, the personnel department
          anticipates that there will be eight ongoing projects.
 
          To facilitate the search for new employees, the personnel
          department has identified 68 skills that will need to be
          represented in the company's future employee base.  When
          an employee is hired, the employee's level of expertise
          for each of these skills is identified.
 
          The personnel department believes that by offering
          excellent employee benefits they can meet Commonweather's
          personnel needs.  Therefore, they offer generous insurance
          benefits. Each employee is offered coverage in a life
          insurance plan, a dental plan, and a health plan (HMO or
          group-health).  Employees can have complete family coverage
          or dependent coverage only.
 
          A copy of each insurance claim filed by an employee for
          dental, hospital, or nonhospital services is sent to the
          personnel department.  Each dental or nonhospital claim
          can be for up to ten dental or physician services.  The
          personnel department submits all claims to the insurance
          companies.  The department keeps a copy until the claim
          is paid; then the claim is thrown out.  An employee cannot
          change coverage until all outstanding claims have been paid.