What are we looking at?
What does defining a system look like in practice, and how would you define one yourself?
A reminder
In the previous piece we said a systems analyst must be able, before going into details, to define the system: to know what they are dealing with, where its boundaries lie, what its main components are and what relations exist inside it. This time we walk through a real example step by step: the university. Then it is your turn.
Example: defining the university system
Boundary. That is, deciding what is inside the system and what is outside. Inside: students, professors, staff, classes, laboratories, research institutes, administrative structures and regulations. Outside: high schools, the ministry of science (as an external supervisor), families and the job market. Setting the boundary helps us know what we can control or change and what is only an input or a limit.
Goals. What the system was built to achieve: training specialised people, producing and developing knowledge (research), solving society’s and industry’s problems, and raising scientific culture and thinking. Clear goals are the basis of every later decision and design.
Components. Students, professors, administrative structures (education, research, culture), physical resources (buildings, library, dormitory), digital resources (education and research systems, digital library) and budget.
Relations. In systems analysis not only the components matter but also the relations between them: professors teach students, students do research projects, the research office distributes funding among researchers, top management sets educational policy, the education system is connected to the finances and the administrative structure. Some relations are formal (like educational regulations) and some informal (like cultural interaction among students).
Your exercise: urban transport
Do the same for the urban transport system. A few guiding questions:
- Where are the system’s boundaries? What is inside and what is outside?
- What is its purpose? (for example cutting travel time, raising safety and so on)
- What are its main components? (vehicles, roads, drivers, police, navigation software and so on)
- How do you describe the important relations between components?
Write the answer as a short text or table. If you like, you can share it with us in the site’s comments.
One last word
Defining a system is practice in seeing the world precisely and in a structured way. I think a good analyst is someone who can “define” before they “propose”.