Task 1
There are generally a lot of problems with creating written word to explain a system to an end user and a designer, the system could be shown in many other ways e.g verbally. The problems of this include it could be very hard to understand because if a user is not very advanced on computers and software the novice person would not understand the guide. Also this can be difficult for a designer to understand what they have to do, to make everything the way it is suppose to be. If the designer designs features which the system does not require and leaves out things that system needs the changes which would need to be made could be very time consuming. Also if a system guide is not user friendly then end users and designers will not know how to work the system and the requirements compared to if they had someone explaining the system to them because they could frequently ask questions about the system to get a better understanding of the system and its aims. Also with written communication you can’t see body language so it means that people may not understand the importance of certain features. This is why written should be used as back up as well as other ways to make sure the end users and designers have a good understanding of system.
Task 2
There are many different types of diagrams which can be used instead of written word. The first diagram which is used frequently used and this is an entity relationship diagram which is also known as an ER diagram. The ER diagram is used in databases such as Microsoft Access. An ER diagram links tables and information in a table to its entity’s within other tables. Here is an example of an ER diagram which shows a video shop and the relationship and links used in its:
This diagram above you can see there are many prices for many videos, there is many suppliers for many videos and many videos for many suppliers. Also you can see that there is many customers can loan a video and many videos can be on loan. These links are made through foreign and primary keys which are the same within different tables which makes you able to link the two tables together. There is only one main problem with ER diagrams, this problem is it is very complex ER diagrams in a system can be hard to understand especially for novice users. But there are many advantages to ER Diagrams and these include, that they are user friendly so many people can read and understand them easily. The basic ER diagram is very simplistic and can be made by any user. The last advantage is that they can show all the data within the system making it easy to see what tables and links are missing in order to change it and improve the system. An ER diagram is useful to see what information you have in your system and what links to tables and entity’s you have making information easier to link together in order to understand and make your system more user friendly. Also an ER diagram is also useful to show end users how information is linked together and how to get a better understanding of the system and the different tables and information stored inside it. Another type of diagram is a flow chart this is used within systems to show processes and show people what they have to do next. It is shown in a simplistic way with boxes with information and arrows which show you what you have to do next. It is commonly used by system analysts to show a designer there steps on what their new system has to have and provide. An example of a flow chart is show below in the link: http://flowbreeze-flowchart-software.smartcode.com/images/sshots/flowbreeze_flowchart_software_20946.jpeg This shows that a step to step guide on how a flow chart works and what the system has to do and what each person is assigned to do within the system. There are many advantages of a flow chart being used and these include:
- Flow charts are easy to understand and explain directly what actions people have to carry out within the system
- Another advantage is that if you carry out the steps in the process correctly then any problems which arise can be identified quickly and resolved as soon as they have been noticed
- Another advantage is that flow charts are seen as guides for what people have to do and these usually are carried out correctly because people know what the system needs to include
There are some disadvantages of flow charts as well. These include:
- The flow chart can be very time consuming to make and because of this it might not be user friendly and this makes it hard to understand
- If information in a flow chart is forgotten the things within the system may not be done correctly and things may have to be changed which can cost money and take up time.
The use of flow charts is very useful because it can easily be made in order to make a step to step guide on what has to be done. It can also outline any problems within the system and means that improvements can be made easily. This diagram is also very user friendly making the system usable by anyone within the business. These two diagrams are mainly used in businesses by analysts but there are also other diagrams used such as sequence diagrams and activity diagrams which are very complex compared to the two diagrams which I have mentioned above.
