System Analysis and Design Discussion
Please write a discussion. “A Technique for Architecture and Design” is attached.
Question 4:
Review this week's reading A Technique for Architecture and Design and select one of the points the author discusses and explain, in your own words, why it is important and relevant to translating the design specifications into the physical architecture. Provide an example of that would illustrate or justify your position.
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Please write a short response to the following discussions:
Response 1:
After reading the article, I believe that identifying the architecture objectives are important to translating the design specification into the physical architecture. The author has three key points that need to be considered when identifying the architecture objectives, 1) identify your architecture goals at the start, 2) identify who will consume your architecture and 3) identify your constraints. (Meier, et al., 2009) Identifying the architecture goals first will help you determine what you need to do during each phase and how much time should be spent during the phase. For instance is the architecture just for researching potential paths, you may spend more time doing research than actually building an architecture. Next, you need to identify your audience that way you can cater your results to them in a way they will understand. Finally, it is important to identify all your constraints to ensure you do not exceed your technology options, usage, and deployment timeline.
Identifying your architecture objectives first will help ensure that your project focused on the goal and letting you know who the end users will be for your architecture and know your constraints. These elements are critical for building an architecture that will be beneficial to the consumers, the organization, and other stakeholders.
Response 2:
Without use cases and scenarios it can be difficult to gain a full understanding of the purpose of a system. Use cases also come in handy during the testing and training phases. They lay the groundwork for understanding how a system is expected to work, and give an IT professional insight into how the system will be utilized, which helps to answer questions surrounding input and output in the process. The knowledge gained through the creation of use cases can be used during the remaining phases of implementation. For instance, in working with one electronic health record, after interviewing front desk personnel, it was discovered that a workflow for entering and rescinding patient releases of information was more complex considering patient signatures were required, as well as documented evidence when a release was rescinded. Due to a number of regulatory requirements preventing fraud, documents usually cannot simply be deleted from patient records, and if altered require audit trails including time, user information, and reason for the change (Integrity of the Healthcare Record: Best Practices for EHR Documentation (2013 update), 2013). As a result of this information, the front desk personnel would have the patient sign and complete the release and scan into the record. For releases that were no longer valid, the staff would print out the old release, date and VOID the release, and scan back into the record, and amend the previous record. This use case demonstrated the inputs, outputs, people and processes required of the system design.
