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May/June 2010 Exam Question ReviewScenario 4Questions 6 and 7Dar Es Salaam High School has recently been formed by joining together six smaller schools.The head teacher wants to have a modern ICT system to administer staff and student records.She has decided to employ a systems analyst to look at the existing systems and recommend a new system.The system will need to produce hundreds of reports in one session and should be able to findindividual records very quickly. Using the results of the analysis of the current system the analystwill need to design the new system. Once the system has been designed and developed, userand technical documentation will need to be produced.

Distribute/Hand out written questionnaires to system users (to complete) [1]Interview current system users face to face [1]Examining documents used in the current system [1]The answers provided were generally vague descriptions with little reference to teachers and the school. It is surprising to see that despite teachers being the focal point of this scenario as being the ‘system users’ candidates often referred to ‘workers’ or ‘employees’ thereby implying that everybody would be interviewed or given questionnaires rather than the staff concerned. Some candidates were able to answer the question well.Question 6 (a) Other than observation, describe the methods that the systems analyst could use to research the current systems. [3]

Four from each column:Item Factors: an example of how: Specifying the required hardware and software : The volume of data determines the choice of output devices. The order that data will be output affects the choice of storage devicesDesigning data collection forms/screen layouts: The user requirements influences the format. The output required from system influences the design Designing report layouts/screen displays: The content and presentation of report layouts/screen displays depend on the requirements of the usersDesigning validation routines: The form of input affects these. The file structure affects these.Designing the required data/file, structures/programming, specifications: The data structures/programming depend on the types of processing the file structure depends on the input and output structures Candidates were able to score highly on the part of the question which asked for items of design but, despite being told in the question to refer to the scenario candidates frequently gave general answers not related specifically to the scenario when explaining the factorsQuestion 6 (b) Describe four different items that the systems analyst will need to include at the design stage. Using the scenario of Dar Es Salaam High School, explain the factors that will influence the choice of each item [8]

Two from: Produced specifically for systems analysts/programmers. Helps when the system needs further development/upgrading/improvements. Helpful should any errors occur in the system and system needs amending to get rid of these errors. This was the part of the question which most candidates found straightforward with many scoring high marks.Question 7 (a) Explain the purpose of technical documentation. [2]

Eight from: Systems documentation.... Provides a detailed overview of the whole system. Test data/test plans so that systems analyst can see the results of these/test results.Can use this data again to check if errors have been successfully removed. The results of the systems analysis/DFD diagrams. What is expected of the system/purpose of the system. Overall design decisions such as the choice of hardware and software/file, Input and output structures. Systems flowcharts. Question 7(b)Describe the two types of technical documentation including details of the contents of each one. [8]

Program documentation.... ....produced for program code that has been written. Description of the software/purpose of the software. Reasons for choosing those pieces of existing software that were used… ….. instead of the programmer having to write code. Input and output data formats. Program flowcharts/algorithms. Program listing – this will be a complete copy of the code used… …and annotation explaining what each module of code does. Notes that will help any future programmer to make modifications to the systemThis part of the question enabled candidates to score some marks with many getting quite high marks. It was, however, the question which was left unanswered by a substantial number of candidates.Question 7(b)Describe the two types of technical documentation including details of the contents of each one. [8] Continued

Three from: (A table) showing the type of test, test data, expected results, actual results and a comment on the results. (One mark for three column headings, two marks for 5 column headings.) Test results will help the systems analyst to make judgements. Comparison will be made of the actual results with the expected results. If the results are not as expected system will need to refined. Comments in the comparison table contribute to the evaluation.Candidates found this the hardest question on the paper. Many were unable to visualise what a test plan would look like and instead concentrated on answering as if this was a question about types of test data with descriptions of normal/live and abnormal/extreme data.Question 7 (c) After the system has been developed it will be evaluated. Describe how test results are recorded and explain how they affect this evaluation [3]

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