Systems Analysis and Design (SAD) is an exciting,active field in which analysts continually learn new techniques and approaches to develop systems more effectively and efficiently.However there is a core set ofskills that all analysts need to know—no matter whatapproach or methodology is used.All information systems projects move through the fourphases ofplanning,analysis,design,and implementation;all projects require analysts togather requirements,model the business needs,and create blueprints for how the systemshould be built;and all projects require an understanding oforganizational behavior con-cepts like change management and team building.Today,the cost ofdeveloping modernsoftware is composed primarily ofthe cost associated with the developers themselves andnot the computers.As such,object-oriented approaches to developing information systemshold much promise in controlling these costs.Today,the most exciting change to systems analysis and design is the move to object-oriented techniques,which view a system as a collection ofself-contained objects that haveboth data and processes.This change has been accelerated through the creation ofthe Uni-fied Modeling Language (UML).UML provides a common vocabulary ofobject-orientedterms and diagramming techniques that is rich enough to model any systems developmentproject from analysis through implementation.This book captures the dynamic aspects ofthe field by keeping students focused ondoing SAD while presenting the core set ofskills that we feel every systems analyst needs toknow today and in the future.This book builds on our professional experience as systemsanalysts and on our experience in teaching SAD in the classroom.This book will be ofparticular interest to instructors who have students do a majorproject as part oftheir course.Each chapter describes one part ofthe process,provides clearexplanations on how to do it,gives a detailed example,and then has exercises for the stu-dents to practice.In this way,students can leave the course with experience that will forma rich foundation for further work as a systems analyst.