During the normal course of doing business, companies engaging in e-commerce are faced with a wide variety of challenges or problems. These vary depending on many factors, including the way a company is structured to profit in the marketplace, the industry in which it operates, legal requirements for tracking or reporting information, and more. A process called systems analysis is used to create new solutions to these challenges, or to improve solutions that already are in place. Solutions normally involve the use of information systems or software applications, which are developed with specific issues or challenges in mind.
Information systems themselves can vary in form and type, and involve various elements like databases, software applications, and computer hardware. Among the different kinds of information systems are transaction processing systems (TPS), which involve the movement of data as it relates to things like payment or inventory; management information systems (MIS), which include databases that managers rely on to evaluate and organize operations; decision support systems (DSS), which are similar to MIS but focus more heavily on supporting a user's actual decision; and office automation systems (OAS), which allow employees to manipulate and distribute data with productivity tools like word processors, e-mail, electronic scheduling, and spreadsheet programs.
Systems like MIS and DSS, which helped e-commerce executives make faster or better-informed decisions, were especially valuable in the early 2000s. At that time, the pace of Internet business was very quick. Combinations of different conditions—including the impact of new technologies, customer demands, government regulations, legal issues, and pressure from investors—changed frequently and could impact the success or failure of a company or industry in a short period of time. TPS systems were another example of critical e-commerce systems. The ability to engage in fast, secure transactions and integrate them with many different areas of an enterprise (including accounting and inventory) was central to its success.
Professionals generally known as systems analysts are responsible for understanding what a company's business challenges are, how they change over time, and how these issues translate to or affect systems. More specifically, systems analysts evaluate data input, flow, processing, storage, and output as related to business challenges. To accomplish this, analysts work with an organization's management team as well as those who currently or eventually will use the solution or application and engage in information gathering and problem solving. As explained in the Journal of Systems Management, "With this information, the systems analyst, working with other MIS personnel, defines the requirements which are used to modify an existing system, or to develop a new system. The systems analyst identifies and evaluates alternative solutions, makes formal presentations, and assists in directing the coding, testing, training, conversions, and maintenance of the proposed system."
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