Systems analysis and design involves people. Certainly it involves technology, often technology that we don’t really understand and which we rely on other people to manage for us, but the best-designed systems in the world succeed because the people who use them can do their jobs better. This is because their information systems enable them to achieve goals they wouldn’t otherwise reach. There are just too many people on trains and planes using laptop machines to believe that we can ever in the future manage without computers. The importance of this ‘people aspect’ is emphasised later where we consider change management.

Systems analysts and designers change the world. This is a bold statement, and in one sense everyone changes the world to some extent just by their very existence. The role of the systems analyst, however we may describe it in detail, is to be a change agent. Unless we are interested in changing the way organisations work we have no need for systems analysts. Unless you are interested in changing the way organisations work, you probably have no need to read this book.

Information systems are expensive to develop and maintain, so it is clear that businesses do not commission them just for the fun of it. The need for an information system must grow out of some perceived business requirement, and the justification for it must be expressed in business terms. Although this is well enough understood in theory, it is surprising how often IS projects do start without clear links back to business plans and strategies. System developers often take the sketchiest of briefs and start to develop something they think meets the need – and are then unpleasantly surprised when the user or sponsor of the system refuses to accept it because it does not properly meet their specific business requirements.