Good question. Both are closely related - in fact, system design is a part of the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
First you have to understand what a "system" is. Basically, information systems are everywhere. Consider your local supermarket - they have a system which tracks inventory levels and reorders stock as required. They also have a system which looks after the financial side of the organisation; how much money has been made from a day of trading, staffing budgets, etc. These systems don't just include computers and software. They also include the people that use the system and procedures. So in short, an information system is a collection of hardware, software, data, human and procedural components intended to give the right data and information to the right person at the right time.
Systems Analysis refers to the process in which Analysts go through to determine how a system should operate - that is determining what functions the system should perform, whether it's feasible for the system to be developed (such as financial feasibility; do the benefits of the system outweigh the costs of developing the system?), what data is going to be collected and stored. In essence, Systems Analysis is concerned with problem solving - creating a system that will solve an organisational problem.
Systems Design is actually the third step of the SDLC - it's where the analysis designs how the system will operate. The physical components of the system are defined here which specifies how the problem at hand will be solved.
I hope I've at least helped a little bit. There's a lot to Systems Analysis so I've kept this rather short and summarised.
Source(s):
IT Management Minor =(
First you have to understand what a "system" is. Basically, information systems are everywhere. Consider your local supermarket - they have a system which tracks inventory levels and reorders stock as required. They also have a system which looks after the financial side of the organisation; how much money has been made from a day of trading, staffing budgets, etc. These systems don't just include computers and software. They also include the people that use the system and procedures. So in short, an information system is a collection of hardware, software, data, human and procedural components intended to give the right data and information to the right person at the right time.
Systems Analysis refers to the process in which Analysts go through to determine how a system should operate - that is determining what functions the system should perform, whether it's feasible for the system to be developed (such as financial feasibility; do the benefits of the system outweigh the costs of developing the system?), what data is going to be collected and stored. In essence, Systems Analysis is concerned with problem solving - creating a system that will solve an organisational problem.
Systems Design is actually the third step of the SDLC - it's where the analysis designs how the system will operate. The physical components of the system are defined here which specifies how the problem at hand will be solved.
I hope I've at least helped a little bit. There's a lot to Systems Analysis so I've kept this rather short and summarised.
Source(s):
IT Management Minor =(
