• The systems approach to problem uses a system orientation to define problem and develop solutions. This system involves the following interrelated activities.

• Recognize & define a problem or opportunity using systems thinking

• Develop and evaluate alternative solutions

• Select the system solution that best meets your requirements.

• Design the selected system solution

• Implement & evaluate the success of the designed system.

Systems approach to problem solving

Define the Problem

DevelopAlternative Solutions

Implement The Solution

Design The Solution

Select The Solution

• Define a problem or opportunities using systems thinking

• Develop and evaluate alternative solutions

• Select the system solution that best meets your requirements

• Design the selected system solution to meet your requirements

• Implement and evaluate the success of the designed system

Monitor and evaluate results

Systems approach

• Problems & opportunities are identified in the first step of the systems approach.

• Symptoms

• Merely signals of an underlying cause or problem• Problem

• Defined as a basic condition that is causing undesirable results• Opportunities

• Basic condition that represents the potential for desirable results

Symptoms should be separated from problems

• There are different ways to solve a problem.

• Jumping immediately to a single solution is not good as it limits your options

• It is better to analyze & evaluate the merits & demerits of different alternate solutions and so that the best solution can be identified.

• Alternate solutions can come from experience, advice from others (consultants or expert systems), use our own intuition & ingenuity (ie. Our own thinking), decision support packages, simulation etc.

Developing alternative solutions

• Once the alternative solutions have been evaluated, begin the process of selecting the best solution.

• Alternative solutions are compared each other using the same criteria to select the most appropriate alternative.

• An example of evaluating 2 alternative solutions of a problem is given below :

Selecting the best solution

Alternative A Alternative B

Startup cost 10 lakh 5 lakh

Operating cost 2 lakh 7 lakh

Ease of use Good Fair

Accuracy Excellent Fair

Reliability Excellent Excellent

Summary of Low op.cost,easy to low startup

of Adv. Use,Accurate,reliable cost,reliable

Summary of High startup cost high op.cost,

Of disadv. Difficult to use, not very accurate

• Once a solution has been selected, it must be designed

• Design specifications is done with the help of other business end users & technical staff.

• Design specification must describe people, hardware, software, data resources and information system activities needed by a new system.

Design the solution

• After designing, the design should be implemented.

• Implementation plan is also done with the help of other business end users & technical staff.

• Implementation plan specifies the resources, activities and timing needed for proper implementation

• The implemented system should be monitored and evaluated to check whether the problem has been solved properly. This is called post-implementation review.

In these steps we can recycle back to a previous step if further work is needed.

implementing the solution