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5. System Design 6
1. Input Design.
2. Output Design.
3. File Design.

SYSTEM DESIGN

1. Introduction:

In the process of system design software and hardware are independent on each other. The
system is designed by development team by considering the cost of system. The design of the
system depends on following designs,

1) Input design
2) Output design
3) File design

To prep are the input design and output design is the main part of the system design.

2. Input design/output design:

The entry of inaccurate data to the system causes errors in processing. These errors can be
controlled by the input design. Input design is used to convert the entered data into computer based
format.

The main goal of the data design is to make data entry easy, logical and free from errors. The
input of data depends on the space allocated for each field, sequence of field and the format in which
fields are entered. For example, format of date.

The data is entered into system by using punch cards, touch pads, keyboards, bar code
reader, CRT screen etc. Keyboards are useful for online data entry. Keyboards are having alphabets,
numeric and the special functions.

The output of computer is important for the user. The output of the computer becomes easy
when it comes out in proper design. Generally, the output of the system comes out in the form printed
copy. The devices used to take out output are printers, screen, MICR reader, plotters and audio
response.

In output design it is also necessary to develop proper format for the output. System analyst
collects the information required by the user and designs the input/output formats.

In input/output design following points are considered,

1) The form should have the title and purpose of the form.
2) The form should have appropriate and light colour.
3) The proper headings should be given to each data items.
4) Sub-heading and footnotes should be given.
5) A required space should be given to the data item.
6) Message should be given for each data item during its entry.
7) The pop-up list, pull-down menu, check boxes, radio buttons should be given
to save the entered data.
8) The form should have proper size of font and colour to the characters. Some
points should be highlighted.
9) The form should not be congested.
10) The form should have validation checkpoints for the bad input.
11) The output form should have sequence of fields and columns.
12) The output form should contain sub-totals, group-totals and grouping of
fields.
13) The size, order and position of the buttons on form should be in proper
manner.
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3. File design:

a) File structure:

1) The collection of data stored in different types of records is called as a

database. The data should be integrated.
2) The storage and retrieval of data in files is carried out in a computer. File
is the collection of similar, related records. For example, “STUDENT” file contains the
student records for all students in the university.
3) Record is a collection of related fields. This can be taken as unit for an
application. For example, the student record should contain the fields like PRN
number, name of student, course, subjects, sex, etc.
4) The field is an elementary data item. The size, length and type of
character in field should be as follows,
Name: a character type with size 25,
PRN: a character type of size 9,
Course: a numeric type of size 2.
5) The number of bytes required for the field depends upon its type and
length. For example, 1 character requires 1 byte and 1 number requires 2 bytes of
memory.
6) The multilevel file structure is as follows,

Files

Records

Fields

Bytes
Multilevel file structure

b) File organization:

The method of sorting and storing data records in a file is called as a file
organization. These records are accessed during processing. The following factors are
considered in file organization.

1) Ease of retrieval.
2) Ease for update
3) Economy of storage
4) Reliability
5) Security
6) Integrity

The commonly used file organizations are as follows,

1) Sequential file: In these files the data records are stored in a sequence. For
example, order of arrival, value of key fields, etc. The records of this file can not
be accessed randomly. Thus, to access the nth record we have to traverse the
previous n-1 records.
2) Relative files: In relative file each data record has fixed place. Each record has
an integer key value. The key value helps in identification of slot. This key is used
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for insertion and retrieval of the record. In relative file random or sequential
accession is possible. Relative files are existing in random accession of the
disks.
3) Direct files: These files are similar to the relative files. Their key value is not an
integer. The user can specify the keys to access the direct files.
4) Indexed sequential files: When index is added to sequential file then it is called
as indexed sequential file. This file can be accessed randomly. In indexed
sequential file overflow area is kept for insertion in sequence.
5) Indexed files: In indexed file the there is no sequence in records stored in the
data file. Therefore, overflow area is not required for insertion in sequence. The
index is maintained strictly in sequence. Multiple indexes are used to improve the
access of files.

c) Important types of files:

1) Master file: The file in which data is stored permanently then it is called as
master file. The master file can be used by the system during the processes. The file
having permanent information like product code, product name, unit of measure, etc.
is called as master file. The master file has two types,
i) Reference master file: It contains the static records. These records
can not be changed frequently. For example, product code, product name,
unit of measure, etc.
ii) Dynamic master file: It contains the records which are continuously
updated. For example, the product master file continuously changes after
sale of products.
2) Transaction file: The file with stored data and used during transaction is
called as transaction file. The amount of data stored in transaction file is large. For
example, in material management system the issue and receipt is called as
transaction. It is stored in transaction file.
3) Library file: The files used for storing application programs or modules or
utility programs or software required for the computer system is called as library file.
For example, all header files in TURBO C like stdio.h, conio.h, etc.
4) Output file: The file containing the information extracted from one or more
master files as output of the system is called as output file. The output file may be
printed or stored on magnetic disks. For example, weekly sale of goods.

d) Database / file operations:

The database or file operations are related with physical movement of data in and out
of the files. User can use the file operations with the help of software programs. The file
operations are as follows,

1) CREACTION the file

2) INSERTION of records in the file
3) UPDATATION of previous records
4) RETRIEVAL of previous records
5) DELETION of records
6) DELETION of the file.