This book provides an introduction to the structured techniques of systems analysis, design, and implementation. It is organized into five parts: introduction (chapters 1–2), structured analysis (chapters 3–6), structured design (chapters 7–10), structured implementation (chapters 11–12), and contemporary issues in systems development (chapters 13–15). The core of the book (the middle three parts) addresses the concepts and structured techniques for each phase of the system life cycle and illustrates the techniques with case studies.

Part 1, the introduction, provides general information on computer information systems and their role and impact in an organization, and gives an overview of the system life cycle.

Part 2, Structured Analysis, deals with the problem definition, feasibility, and systems analysis phases of the life cycle. It introduces the concepts of project objectives, the logical system description, data flow diagrams, the data dictionary, automation boundaries, cost-benefit analysis (including the present value of money), and interview methods. Case studies for an order processing system and a financial reporting system are presented.

Part 3, Structured Design, is subdivided into sections on preliminary design and detailed design. The preliminary design section introduces the topics of detailed output requirements and format, detailed input design, and high-level physical design. It includes human factors in screen design and describes the conversion of data flow diagrams into a system flowchart. The detailed design section introduces data fields and formats, record and file structure, file organization, schema structure for a database, storage space estimates for files, data communication network design, equipment specification, and personnel selection for system implementation. The two case studies introduced earlier are extended through the preliminary design phase and then through the detailed design phase.

Part 4, Structured Implementation, deals with program design, implementation issues, and system maintenance. Program design techniques include structure charts, HIPO, program flowcharts, and pseudocode. Implementation issues include structured programming, testing, site preparation, user training, backup and recovery plans, audit trails, system documentation, the system development library, change control, project management, and project scheduling. There are brief sections on system maintenance and evaluation. The case studies are extended through the implementation and maintenance phases.

Part 5, Contemporary Issues in System Development, discusses a variety of topics. The two primary topics are an introduction to decision support systems and an introduction to database systems. Other topics include the information center, use of consultants, leasing of equipment, on-line transaction processing, and the development of expert systems.

At the end of each chapter in the book are a summary, a list of key words, a list of references, and a list of review questions.

The purpose of this book is to provide in-depth coverage of the structured techniques of system analysis, design, and implementation. It is intended for use either as a textbook in a one- or two-semester graduate course for business or computer science students or as a procedure or reference manual for computer system professionals.

In my view, the book provides an introductory survey of a wealth of topics in systems analysis, design, and implementation. The author succeeds in bringing together many useful topics from a number of sources into one book. I found the treatment of many of the topics to be superficial, however, with little depth throughout the book. The general level is appropriate for a course for business students who have had a previous course in computer concepts and programming; there is insufficient depth for the book to be useful to practitioners already acquainted with structured methods or to graduate students in computer science. I agree with the author’s observation that there is no single book covering the entire subject in depth; unfortunately, this book does not either.

I found the coverage of the topics to be uneven. For example, nearly eight pages are spent on storage space estimation while only three to six brief sentences are devoted to the topics of structured English, coupling, and cohesion. The one-page section on system maintenance is inadequate. Information hiding, the data structure–based design methods (such as those of Warnier or Jackson), and techniques for quality assurance (such as walk-throughs) in the analysis and design phases are not mentioned. I appreciated the inclusion of the topic of human factors in screen design.

I found some of the coverage to be misleading. The book states, for example, that pseudocode for FORTRAN is very different from that for COBOL; it does not explain what is meant by the phrase “structured English,” which is mentioned in passing only in the section dealing with pseudocode. Another example is the following explanation of input design: when “the record format does not closely match any single source document, a separate data entry sheet should be prepared to match an individual record format. . . . Someone must manually complete a data entry sheet from the corresponding source documents before entering data into the system.”

The introductions to each part and chapter, the summaries, the key words, and the review questions at the end of each chapter should be helpful to a student using the book. I do not believe that the review questions are rich enough to be the sole source of exercises for an instructor using this book. I frequently found the references cited to be spotty; for example, three introductory textbooks are the only references listed in the chapter on systems analysis. Some of the references in the book are outdated. The writing style is quite readable, although some buzzwords are used with no explanation of their meaning.

The strength of this book is that it pulls together a wide variety of topics in system analysis and design into one readable book of less than 400 pages.