Why Systems Analysis?
Knowledge is the necessary prerequisite for change. Change without knowledge leads to chaos. Effective change, that is, change which works, must be made within the context of an existing environment. The impact of change must be known or reasonably estimated in advance. The more complete our knowledge, the greater our ability to predict the impact of any change. When changing a system, be it a manual or an automated system, we must understand that system in order to be able to understand what must be changed, why the changes must be made, and the best ways in which to make those changes. Information systems, particularly business information systems, consist of two parts: (a) data and (b) the processes which acquire and manipulate that data for the benefit of the business. The analysis aims at understanding the data and the processes, and determining how both must be changed to provide greater benefit. The changes may be to the data acquired, to the processes, or, more usually, to both
