Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / This thesis is a descriptive organizational analysis of MCRDSD. The study describes MCRDSD in terms of its direction, tasks, people, structure, processes, culture, outputs and outcomes using systems analysis and Mintzberg's configuration theory. Based on document reviews, model comparisons, and semi-structured interviews, e-mail and phone conversations with approximately 30 Depot personnel, MCRDSD fulfills its basic mission but is not aligned for optimum performance. The following conclusions pertain: the current organizational structure of MCRDSD may not be optimized towards overall performance; cognizance over the POI resides at too high a level, is too rigid and implementing change too difficult; and Depot priority of making Marines is too often subordinated to the public relations effort. Recommendations are offered to assist Depot leadership in making systematic change to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the depot. With changes in organizational structure, reprioritization of tasks, and adoption of oversight over the POI, MCRDSD can enhance it's command climate, efficiency of the recruit training process, and the quality of basic trained Marine produced. / Major, United States Marine Corps

The most commonly used systems specification and design techniques in commercial computing are described and compared; Information Engineering as proposed by James Martin, A Framework for Information Definition-Muitiview proposed by Wood-Harper et al, Real-world Modeling as described by Jackson, Structured Analysis and Design as In Demarco, Yourdon and Constantine and Output-Oriented Structured Requirement Definition proposed by Orr. In addition, system prototyping is discussed, including the role of prototyping in large software development projects and as a tool for the design of human-computer interfaces. Other areas described and discussed include decision support systems (DSS) and knowledge based management support systems. The context is in the design and development approaches for DSS, prototyping for DSS, expert system for DSS and the integration of DSS and information system. The design and development of human-computer interface is also discussed in relation to user Interface complexity and adaptive interfaces. Further, the important issue of user involvement and support within the development process Is discussed. Thus, weaknesses of current approaches to the system development process are identified and a new model for the development of information system is proposed. In proposing the model, data and functional analysis structured method and methodology for decision support systems (DSS) development is presented including guidelines for the development of knowledge based DSS. The new proposed model is put to test in the design, development and implementation of large integrated commercial systems including DSS. Results and discussion on the use of the model is reported with special consideration to the users' and developers' view of the model. Finally the objectives of this research program are examined in relation to what has been achieved during this program of research. The prospect of using the model for the development of information systems are concluded with references to current and future goals.

This research effort was designed to analyze the current federal career and technical education legislation to determine methods of "operationalizing" the policy at the state and local levels. In performing the policy analysis, organizational and systems viewpoints were consistently used in determining the intent of the legislation and then how to structure a program evaluation system to fulfill the policy goals. The research methodology is a hybrid interdisciplinary method that combined policy and system analyses. Secondary career and technical education legislation served as a test case to develop the program evaluation system strategies and requirements because the researcher was familiar with this segment of education and the policies associated with it. Program evaluation theoretical foundations were presented as means to understand the policy intentions and to develop a conceptual system model. The resulting system model was presented with actual examples of system constructs. Detailed process flowcharts were developed to show the system structure and functions. Organizational responsibilities and requirements were addressed in the system model development. An additional component of the systems analysis was to determine the system implementation sequence. The implementation sequence is based on a longitudinal program evaluation design that spans a five-year interval for each graduation year cohort. The system model resulting from this research is one of many possible variations that could be developed to satisfy the requirements of the federal Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1998. The system analysis and model development strategies can be applied to other education and socioeconomic policies that deliver human services with accountability requirements. No attempt was made to perform a system cost analysis in this research effort. / Ph. D.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1985 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / In many engineering applications, a systems analysis is performed to study the effects of random error propagation throughout a system. Often these errors are not independent, and have joint behavior characterized by arbitrary covariance structure. The multivariate nature of such problems is compounded in complex systems, where overall system performance is described by a q-dimensional random vector. To address this problem, a computer program was developed which generates Taylor series approximations for multivariate system performance in the presence of random component variablilty. A summary of an application of this approach is given in which an analysis was performed to assess simultaneous design margins and to ensure optimal component selection.

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This study combines qualitative and quantitative procedures  in order to make possible a Most Different Systems Design (MDSD) analysis which systematically compares two countries in order to identify factors which play a role in coup d’état occurrences after the Cold War. By developing a systems framework that lays the ground for subsequent analysis, an encompassing view of the potential underlying conditions of the coup occurrence are taken into account. This systems framework is subsequently operationalized for a sample of 35 countries which all experienced coup d’état between 1990 and 2010. In order to use MDSD, the most different countries are identified using Boolean distances. Ethiopia and Honduras were found to be the most different and were compared and contrasted according to the systems framework. The study concludes that for coup occurrences in Honduras and Ethiopia, the lack of an external national threat, secularizing tendencies, and past coup occurrences played a major role.  Democratizing tendencies after the coups in both countries were a vital signal that the influence of global democratic norms does create incentives for countries to hold elections after a coup. Interestingly, the political system of the country and demographic factors such as ethnicity, religion and language did not appear as important for the coup outcome in these countries.

Requirements elicitation has been identified by researchers as a highly critical and error-prone phase of IT development projects. Many challenges are rooted in the human and social dimension of this phase, which requires intensive communication activities between stakeholders with different backgrounds and perspectives. The conduct of a systems analysis supports stakeholders in reaching a shared understanding about crucial elements. The aim of this paper is to identify and describe recurring issues in requirements elicitation, and to better understand the potential of systems analysis efforts for addressing these issues. While literature provides plenty of high-level categorizations of requirements elicitation issues most often the argumentation is not complemented with concrete, real-world examples. Therefore five interviews with IT practitioners have been conducted in order to back-up a theoretical framework of problem areas elaborated by Saiedian and Dale (2000) with practical insights. This approach enabled a thorough analysis of four major issues in requirements elicitation covered by this research: Problem Perspective Differences, Resistance, Poor Communication and Articulation/Expertise Problems. Finally, a first linkage between a specific systems analysis method, the Work System Method, and its potential for addressing these problem areas has been established.

<p>This study combines qualitative and quantitative procedures  in order to make possible a Most Different Systems Design (MDSD) analysis which systematically compares two countries in order to identify factors which play a role in coup d’état occurrences after the Cold War. By developing a systems framework that lays the ground for subsequent analysis, an encompassing view of the potential underlying conditions of the coup occurrence are taken into account. This systems framework is subsequently operationalized for a sample of 35 countries which all experienced coup d’état between 1990 and 2010. In order to use MDSD, the most different countries are identified using Boolean distances. Ethiopia and Honduras were found to be the most different and were compared and contrasted according to the systems framework. The study concludes that for coup occurrences in Honduras and Ethiopia, the lack of an external national threat, secularizing tendencies, and past coup occurrences played a major role.  Democratizing tendencies after the coups in both countries were a vital signal that the influence of global democratic norms does create incentives for countries to hold elections after a coup. Interestingly, the political system of the country and demographic factors such as ethnicity, religion and language did not appear as important for the coup outcome in these countries.</p>

This is a class project that analyzes and critically engages the UBC south campus plan and makes recommendations based on research of exemplary approaches to systems integration.