Role of System Study in Software Engineering

Last week there was an article in Mathrubhumi daily about an UD clerk who developed a software for the computerisation of village offices in Kerala. The man had some technical knowledge in programming and created a comprehensive solution for his needs. His software has been given no-objection certificate by the authorities and is permissible to be implemented in various village offices all over the state. His software got recognition whereas those from several software firms both government and private ones failed as per the report.

The employee has achieved what the software experts couldnt do. How? , the reason is simple. He knew what he was doing. No third party can understand the governmental procedures within a short span of time than a man who works with it.

I remeber two computerisation initiatives by the government in two of the departments I worked. None of them could find a complete automated solution for the clerical work done. Infact the so called "System study" failed because of the sole reason that the experts don't understand the pattern of work and laymen (the clerks) didnt understand the wavelength of the experts. Vishnu sir, my Software engineering teacher taught me that "System Study" is the most important area in software development. When the system study fails, the whole idea gets looted.

Thus the "software development" continued for 2-3 years and finally they installed a useless one in the machines. This eventually created extra work for the clerks and they hated everybody who spoke about computerisation.

My assesment in this issue is that for a government office to be computerised, there exist only two methods. One is to appoint a software expert permanently in the office. He will study the work for 2-3 years and then start preparing programs and provide support. The second alternative is to select the brilliant ones from the office and give them training in programming language and let them develop their own software.

Then only the wastage of money and time in the name of computerisation (software development) in various government departments will end.