the process of understanding problems and needs and arriving at solutions that meet them Requirements analysis: determining the conditions that need to be met Logical design: looking at the logical relationship among the objects Decision analysis: making a final decision Use cases are widely used system analysis modeling tools for identifying and expressing the functional requirements of a system. Each use case is a business scenario or event for which the system must provide a defined response. Use cases evolved from the object-oriented analysis. Policy analysis The discipline of what is today known as policy analysis originated from the application of system analysis when it was first instituted by United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Practitioners Practitioners of system analysis are often called up to dissect systems that have grown haphazardly to determine the current components of the system. This was shown during the year 2000 re-engineering effort as business and manufacturing processes were examined as part of the Y2K automation upgrades. Employment utilizing system analysis include system analyst, business analyst, manufacturing engineer, systems architect, enterprise architect, software architect, etc. While practitioners of system analysis can be called upon to create new systems, they often modify, expand, or document existing systems (processes, procedures, and methods). Researchers and practitioners rely on system analysis. Activity system analysis has been already applied to various research and practice studies including business management, educational reform, educational technology, etc. See also Related topics System thinking System architecture Software architecture Enterprise architecture Systems analyst Systems design Policy analysis Program designer Cybernetics Systems theory Types of system analysis Accident analysis Business analysis Cost-effectiveness analysis / cost-benefit analysis DSRP Failure analysis Logico-linguistic modeling Morphological analysis Soft systems methodology Software prototyping Spiral model Waterfall model System thinkers Donella Meadows Nancy Leveson Russell L. Ackoff Howard T. Odum Henry Paynter Jay Forrester Gregory Bateson Stewart Brand Buckminster Fuller Robert S. McNamara Stafford Beer Ludwig von Bertalanffy References Selected publications Bentley, Lonnie D., Kevin C. Dittman, and Jeffrey L. Whitten. System analysis and design methods. (1986, 1997, 2004). Hawryszkiewycz, Igor T. Introduction to system analysis and design. Prentice-Hall PTR, 1994. Whitten, Jeffery L., Lonnie D. Bentley, and Kevin C. Dittman. Fundamentals of system analysis and design methods. (2004). External links A useful set of guides and a case study about the practical application of business and system analysis methods A comprehensive description of the discipline of system analysis from Simmons College,