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"Information is for people, not for the computer."
- Bryce's Law
This section contains the following:
Copyright © 1971-2006 by
M. Bryce & Associates
Palm Harbor, Florida, USA
All rights reserved.
The purpose of Phase 4-I is to prepare clearly written Administrative Procedures for the User in accordance with the specifications contained in the Phase 3, "Sub-System Design Manual." Several events occur during this phase:
METHODOLOGY NAVIGATION
A Phase 4-I may be initiated either by following a normal
Phase 3 or, if a modification/improvement, following Phase 1,
Activity A. There is not necessarily a one-to-one relationship
between Phase 4-I and an administrative procedure. In most
instances, all administrative procedures within a sub-system are
written during a single Phase 4-I. In other words, a Phase 4-I
will normally be executed for each sub-system, not for each
procedure. As such, the Project Manager may bind the sub-system
number to the project/phase key. For example:
If a large and complex procedure has been identified, then
the Project Manager may elect to manage it separately in a
different Phase 4-I. In this situation, the Procedure number
can be put into the project/phase key instead of the sub-system
identifier.
The formal deliverable resulting from Phase 4-I is an
"Administrative Procedure Manual" consisting of the procedures,
along with input/output explanations. This is reviewed with
User Management for clarity.
Following Phase 4-I, this branch of the ISEM project will
proceed to Phase 7 where it may rejoin the Computer Procedure
in a parallel test. If there is no Computer Procedure in the
sub-system, then Phase 7 is still performed in order to walk
through and test all of the Administrative Procedures.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
Clearly written Administrative Procedures immeasurably
improve the processes of system implementation and operation.
Often, preparation of these procedures has been eliminated in
order to expedite system start-up. Experience has shown that
this approach can cause considerable expense, frustration and
problems. It also causes personnel inflexibility in both the
system and user areas. For example, since Systems Engineering
is the primary group that understands the operation of the
entire system, without procedures they would be constantly
involved with routine operations. At the same time, user
personnel tend to become experts in certain aspects of system
operation and without written procedures they cannot be
reassigned to other duties since a means for transferring
knowledge (the procedure) is not available.
A new system, during start-up, can experience various
problems due to lack of knowledge and experience. Written
procedures provide an excellent basis for avoiding and
correcting these problems. The error possibilities can be
outlined in the procedures and serve as cautions for the
employees executing the procedures. Procedural improvement or
revisions can be incorporated by issuing a new procedure. The
"debugging" of Administrative Procedures is just as essential as
"debugging" computer programs. This is why ISEM specifies that
all sub-system tests be accomplished with all procedures
completed.
All procedures should answer these questions for the User:
PLAYSCRIPT TECHNIQUE
Administrative procedures are written using a manual
procedure language called "Playscript" as developed by Leslie H.
Matthies. A playscript procedure includes sections describing
its Purpose, Set-Up (the inputs, outputs and files required to
perform the procedure), and action instructions consisting of
verbs and nouns. The technique, therefore, is patterned after
a script to a play. These procedures direct the user through
the execution of the administrative procedure. As an aside,
"Playscript" was the technique which procedural programming
languages (such as COBOL) were patterned after.
"HELP" TEXT
Help text is normally associated with interactive processing
at the computer screen where the user requires instructions from
the computer to guide them through processing. This is needed
to answer both common and technical questions regarding
processing. Development of help text is almost a prerequisite
for all PC processing. It is in Phase 4-II that the help text
is physically assembled for the sub-system, but it is written
here in Phase 4-I.
There is basically three areas requiring HELP text:
Help indices are also very useful for the reference
purposes, such as by subject, by field entry, by keys, etc.
Fortunately, standards are emerging in the industry for
writing help text.
Help text can take many physical forms e.g., MS Windows HLP
files, OS/2 INF files, Web files (HTML), etc. Selection of
the suitable implementation is based on the physical design
decisions made in Phase 3.
There is absolutely no incompatibility between "Help" text and
"Playscript." In fact, "Help" text makes a convenient vehicle for
accessing "Playscript" instructions.
The final result of Phase 4-I is a completed Administrative
Procedure Manual for the Sub-System. All procedures are checked
by Quality Assurance to assure conformance with standards.
The procedures are reviewed with the users as part of the last
activity of Phase 4-I. When approved and accepted, the
procedures are used to execute Phase 7, "Sub-System Test,"
and for the routine operation of the system.
In summary, administrative procedures should receive the
same attention as procedures written for computers. Without
these procedures, which are the critical human interface to
systems, a well designed and programmed system may be useless.
DESCRIPTION OF PHASE ACTIVITIES
Activity A - Define Operational Steps
The phase begins with Systems Engineering preparing a
Detail estimate and schedule for the activities of Phase
4-I. This is followed by Systems Engineering defining the
operational steps for each Administrative Procedure. The
"Playscript" technique is normally used for this purpose.
Activity B - Prepare Administrative Procedure Manual
Systems Engineering prepares the Administrative
Procedure Manual which is reviewed in detail with
Quality Assurance for adherence to standards. Revisions are implemented as required.
Where applicable, "Help" text is written.
Systems Engineering conducts a review of the
"Administrative Procedure Manual" with User
Management. The manual consists of:
Based on this report and subsequent review meeting,
management may request revisions to the manual.
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