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Seven Sons
The Crocodile was king of the swamp and he had seven sons. One day he got up feeling "blue" that he said to his seven sons; "Boys! I'm feeling down, whichever one of you can cheer me up will get to wear the crown."
His first son brought him seven oyster pearls, from the bottom of the China Sea. The second son gave him seven statues of girls, found in wreckage beneath the Atlantic Ocean. The third son gave him seven rubies, from a sheikh of a distant land. The King thought the rubies were cherries, threw them into his mouth and snapped with all his might, breaking off seven of his teeth.
Seeing the misery, instead of laughter, brought upon his father by the first three sons', the fourth son tried to cheer him up with seven lemon drops. The king said, "I'm sorry son since that ruby episode, I don't have the chops." The fifth son brought the kind perfume, seven different kinds in fancy silver jars. With a smile he took a whiff and broke out in an uncontrollable sneeze. The sixth son gave him seven diamonds, to wear up on his front toes. While trying them out in the royal quarters he snagged his foot on the royal rug, fell and crumpled his nose.
The seventh and youngest son of the crocodile King was a thoughtful little croc. He said; "Daddy, it appears to me that you could use a little help," while helping him up to his feet. The King, with a grin on his face, said, "My son, you win the crown, you didn't bring me diamonds, rubies, or pearls, but you helped me up when I was down. Take the crown it's yours now. I hope you don't mind the dents.
Moral: First, systems analysis focuses on presenting solutions for an existing business problem that must meet the needs of the business and not the requirements of the system. Secondly, featuring rich and expensive solutions that may drive the customer to "ooohhh!" and "aaaahhhh!:" may be short lived if they don't focus on the inherent business problem. Thirdly, systems analysis is a continuous process that may involve analyses on an existing system and the new problems it presents. Finally, IT solutions are business driven and are almost always geared to help the business get up while they are down.
These stories are adapted examples written in my class, IS 6840 (formerly MSIS 488).
© Vicki L. Sauter. All rights Reserved.
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