Course Description
Design is a crucial activity in the creation of an information system. It is challenging because of
competing goals from multiple stakeholders, and the complexity of issues that can arise. In this
course, we focus on design processes resulting in system requirements, as well as a high-level
architectural design of an information system. A design must deliver desired functionalities and also
meet non-functional qualities such as performance, cost, usability, timeliness, security, privacy,
reliability, flexibility, maintainability, and so forth. Increasingly, system design is focused not only on
a single isolated system, but on portfolios or families of systems, with more attention to
interoperability, sharing, reuse, and evolution.
This course focuses on the design of networked information systems in the face of multiple
competing or synergistic goals from many stakeholders. Examples will be taken from settings in e-health, e-learning, e-government, etc. A number of design approaches will be examined, with an
emphasis on systematic, model-based approaches. The emphasis of the course is to help students gain
an appreciation of the strengths and limitations of various techniques, and of the concept of design
itself. These concepts of design are placed within the larger context of contemporary information
systems development and software engineering. The significance of design representations (models
and notations), methods and tools, and reusable design knowledge will be discussed. Students will work on projects to apply selected design methods and techniques.
This course can be used to fulfil the “Technical” Professional Requirement.
Prerequisite: INF1341H or permission of instructor. For students with minimal IT background, INF1003H is also recommended.
Note: Formerly Designing Information Systems; no change in content.