Conceptually, system concept diagrams describe the interaction of a system with its environment. Practically, system context diagrams are recommended for the following phases of IT problem solving:
PROJECT PLANNING -- to visually describe initial project scope to system owners, system users, and the project team. This serves as a "visual contract" to manage scope through the remainder of the project.
SYSTEM ANALYSIS -- to visually describe requirements for SYSTEM INTERFACES to system users and the project team.
SYSTEM DESIGN -- to visually describe technology constraints and decisions for all system interfaces for the benefit of system users, system designers, and system builders.
SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION -- to visually describe conversion requirements for the project team and system owners (not covered in class; and hence, not required in this assignment. This is included here only as a placeholder for course improvement).
ASSIGNMENT - Using the UML Context Diagram Profile, develop a full SET of system context diagrams
Your system, and hence its context diagrams, must exhibit at least two of the four types of integrating interfaces described and demonstrated in class:
user interfaces (also known as human-computer interfaces (HCI) and the user experience (UX)
system interfaces (to and from legacy systems)
database interfaces (to databases that may be used or update, but whose table structures are considered out of scope)
control interfaces (to machines, appliances, or devices -- for "real time systems")