System Analysis and Design
System Design
- Mr. Ahmad Al-Ghoul
Learning Objectives
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Design various types of reports,
and suggest output controls and
security.
Avicenna
System Analysis and Design
System Design
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Printed and Screen Output
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Reports
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Reports should be attractive and easy to understand
Managers sometimes judge an entire project by the
quality of the reports they receive
Reports must include the information that a user
needs
Report with too little information is of no value
Too much information can make a report confusing
and difficult to understand
The essential goal when designing reports is to match
the report to the user’s specific information needs
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Printed Output
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Types of Reports
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Detail reports: produces one or more lines of
output for each record processed
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Control break report: A detail report that focuses
on control breaks
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Detail line: is any line printed
Subtotals and grand totals
Control field: controls the output, when the value of
control field changes, a control break occurs
Control break: A control break usually causes specific
actions to occur, such as printing subtotals for a group of
records.
The sorting can be done by the report program itself, or in
a pervious procedure
 Can be quite lengthy
 Better alternative is to produce an exception report
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Printed and Screen Output
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Types of Reports
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A detail report with one printed line per employee.
The report shows a simple detail report of employee hours for
a chain of retail stores
[1]
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System Analysis and Design
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Printed and Screen Output
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Types of Reports
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This detail report contains the same data as the report in the pervious slide, but
provides much more information. Control breaks are used to separate the data
for each store, with subtotals and grand totals for numeric fields.
[1]
Sub totals
Control
breaks
Grand
totals
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System Analysis and Design
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Printed and Screen Output
Types of Reports
Exception reports
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Displays only those records that meet a specific condition or conditions
 Are useful when the user wants information only on records that
might require action
[1]
An exception report that shows information only for employees who worked overtime.
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System Analysis and Design
System Design
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Printed and Screen Output
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Types of Reports
 Summary reports
 Reports used by individuals at higher levels in the
organization include less detail than reports used by lowerlevel employees
A summary report lists subtotals and grand totals.
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System Analysis and Design
System Design
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Printed and Screen Output
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User Involvement in Report Design
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Printed reports are an important way of delivering
information to users, so recipients should approve all
report designs in advance
To avoid problems submit each design for approval as
it is completed, rather than waiting to finish all report
designs
Mock-up: a sample report that the designer should
produce for users to review
Mock-up should include typical field values and
contain enough records to show all the design
features
You can use word processor, a report generator, or a
printer spacing chart to create mock-up report
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Printed and Screen Output
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Report Design Principles
 Printed reports must be attractive, professional, and easy to
read
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Report headers
 A report header appears at the beginning of a report and
identifies the report as well as the report title, date, and
other necessary information.
report footers
 The report footer, which appears at the end of the report,
can include grand totals for numeric fields and other endof-report information.
Page headers
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page footers
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A page header appears at the top of the page and includes
the column headings that identify the data.
A page footer appears at the bottom of the page and is
used to display the name of the report and the page
number.
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Printed and Screen Output
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Report Design Principles
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Column heading alignment
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There are several column heading alignment options
Four different column heading alignment options.
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System Analysis and Design
System Design
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Printed and Screen Output
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Report Design Principles
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Column Spacing
 Space columns of information carefully
 Crowded reports is hard to read, and large gaps between
columns make it difficult for the eye to follow a line
 Column should stretch across the report, with uniform
spacing and suitable margins at top, bottom, right, and left
Field order
 Fields should be displayed and grouped in a logical order
Grouping detail lines
 It is meaningful to arrange detail lines in groups
 Group header: A group header appears above the first detail
line of a group.
 Group footer: A group footer appears after the last detail line
of a group. Group footers could include items such as a
subtotal, an average, or a count of the records in that group.
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Printed and Screen Output
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The Employee Hours report is a detail report with control breaks,
subtotals, and grand totals. Notice that a report header identifies
the report, a page header contains column headings, a group footer
contains subtotals for each store, a report footer contains grand
totals, and a page footer identifies the page number.
Identifying fields
Hours fields
Report header
Page header
Control
break
Group footer
[1]
Report footer
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System Analysis and Design
System Design
Page footer
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Printed and Screen Output
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Report Design Issues
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Too much detail is on the page, forcing users to search for the
information they need
Good design standards produce reports that are uniform and
consistent
When a system produces multiple reports, each report should
share common design elements
Constant information does not change when the report is printed
Variable information changes each time the report is printed
Specify the paper quality, type, and size
Label each column of data appropriately
After a report design is approved, you should document the
design in a report analysis form which contains information
about the fields, data types and lengths, report frequency and
distribution, and other comments.
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Printed and Screen Output
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Printing Volume and Time Requirements
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High volume of reports can significantly increase a
system’s TCO
Paper is expensive to purchase, print, and store
Printed information is outdated quickly
Take into consideration printer specific capacity and
limitation
Efficient printing operations, timely delivery of
finished reports, and accurate forecasts of paper and
storage needs, all depend on accurate estimates of
print volume and times
System Analysis and Design
System Design
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Printed and Screen Output
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Output Control and Security
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Output must be accurate, complete, current, and
secure
Companies use various output control methods to
maintain output integrity and security
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Output control includes
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Report title
Report number
report code
Printing date
Time period covered
The end of the report should be labeled clearly
Control totals and recorded counts should be
reconciled against input totals and counts
All processing errors or interruptions must be logged
so they can analyzed
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Printed and Screen Output
Output Control and Security
 Output security protects privacy rights and
shields the organization’s data from theft or
unauthorized access
 Output security includes
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Limit the number of printed copies and use a tracking
procedure to account for each copy
You should use specific procedures to ensure that the
output is delivered to authorized recipients only
Keep sensitive data in a secure place
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Printed and Screen Output
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Output Control and Security
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The IT department is responsible for output control
and security measures
Security should be designed into the system by using
passwords and other authentication methods
Controlling user access by assigning suitable
authorizations and privileges
Physical security always will be necessary
Many companies have installed diskless workstations
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Avicenna
A diskless workstation is a network terminal that supports a
full-featured user interface, but limits the printing or copying
of data, except to certain network resources that can be
monitored and controlled more easily.
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Sequence Summary
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Report can take various types, including detail,
exceptions, and summary reports
Report Design Principles include report header, report
footer, page header, page footer, column spacing, field
order, field order, grouping detail lines
Output must be accurate, complete, current, and secure
Output control includes, report title, report number,
report code, printing date, time period covered, and the
end of the report should be labeled clearly
Output security protects privacy rights and shields the
organization’s data from theft or unauthorized access
Output security includes, limit the number of printed
copies and use a tracking procedure to account for each
copy, use specific procedures to ensure that the output
is delivered to authorized recipients only, and keep
sensitive data in a secure place
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System Analysis and Design
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Sequence Summary
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In this Sequence we have
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Avicenna
Explained various types of reports, including detail,
exceptions, and summary reports
Explained report Design Principles include report
header, report footer, page header, page footer,
column spacing, field order, field order, grouping
detail lines
Explained output control includes, report title, report
number, report code, printing date, time period
covered, and the end of the report should be labeled
clearly
Defined and described output security
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Reference
[1] System Analysis and Design, Sixth Edition
Authors: Gary B. Shelly, Thomas J. Cashman
and Harry J. Rosenblatt ,
Publisher: SHELLY CASHMAN SEWIES.
[2] system analysis and design, sixth edition
Authors: Kenneth E. Kendall and Julie E.
Kendall
Publisher: Prentice Hall
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System Analysis and Design
System Design
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