System Analyst Capstone Project

IBM via Coursera

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Details

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Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Paid Certificate Available
Duration & workload

13 hours 13 minutes
Sessions

On-Demand
Subtitles

English

Found in

Part of

IBM Systems Analyst

Overview

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In this capstone project, you’ll apply your systems analysis expertise to solve a real-world business challenge from start to finish. By integrating skills in requirements gathering, process modeling, and IT solution design, you’ll develop a comprehensive proposal that bridges technology and organizational needs. Through hands-on deliverables—including stakeholder-aligned requirements documents, data visualizations, and technical specifications—you’ll demonstrate your ability to transform business problems into actionable IT solutions. What makes this project unique is its emphasis on realistic constraints and stakeholder dynamics. You’ll learn to balance technical feasibility with business objectives, incorporate feedback iteratively, and present your solution persuasively—just as you would in a professional setting. The course mirrors industry workflows, using tools like UML diagrams, BPMN, or user stories (depending on your focus) to create portfolio-ready artifacts. Whether you’re preparing for a systems analyst role or upskilling in IT design, this project will give you the confidence to deliver end-to-end solutions that drive measurable impact.

Syllabus

Module 1: Project Initiation and Requirements Gathering

In this module, you will initiate the capstone project by creating key foundational documents such as the project charter, stakeholder register, and stakeholder engagement plan tailored to a healthcare setting. You will identify and engage stakeholders across patient, clinical, administrative, and IT roles using structured interviews and engagement strategies. You’ll gather, document, and validate both functional and nonfunctional requirements using tools such as BRD, SRS, and use case diagrams. You will also create a requirements traceability matrix to ensure alignment with business goals, and model processes to identify inefficiencies in areas such as patient records, scheduling, and billing.

Module 2: Project Planning and Process Modeling

This module focuses on planning and process modeling for the unified IT solution. You will create key project management artifacts such as a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), a traceability matrix, and a risk register tailored to healthcare scenarios such as data breaches and system downtime. You will also develop SWOT analyses and visualize core patient workflows, such as appointment scheduling and billing using flowcharts and UML-based diagrams. These models will be validated using real data trends and stakeholder feedback to ensure alignment with project goals and user needs.

Module 3: Data Preparation and Visualization

In this module, you will work with real-world healthcare datasets to prepare, clean, and visualize patient and operational data. You’ll identify key fields in patient, appointment, and billing records, clean and format data in Excel, and verify its quality using a structured checklist. You’ll then create basic bar and line charts to highlight appointment volumes and billing trends. Finally, you’ll use an analytics platform to build interactive dashboards with filters and visualizations that help stakeholders explore patterns in patient satisfaction and wait times.

Module 4: System and Database Design

This module focuses on designing the system architecture and database schema for XYZ Health Solutions’ IT solution. You will model key system interactions using UML diagrams, such as use case and sequence diagrams, to represent patient management workflows. In parallel, you will analyze business requirements to identify core data entities, create conceptual and logical ERDs, and apply normalization through 3NF. You’ll then translate these designs into SQL DDL scripts for tables, keys, constraints, and indexes, and compile a detailed data dictionary to support implementation and documentation.

Module 5: System Testing and Deployment Strategies

You will begin by reviewing and annotating test plans for completeness and alignment, using traceability matrices to ensure full requirement coverage. You’ll then design and write test cases using test-driven development (TDD) to validate system logic and behavior-driven development (BDD) scenarios using Gherkin syntax to capture realistic user interactions. Building on this, you will define a CI/CD pipeline by outlining deployment stages, stakeholder responsibilities, and coordination checkpoints with QA. You will also develop a monitoring plan by identifying system KPIs, setting alert triggers, and defining response strategies for incidents and post-mortems. These activities are designed to enhance system reliability, streamline collaboration across teams, and ensure readiness for deployment in production environments.

Module 7: Career Guidance and Next Steps

In this module, you’ll shift your focus from project execution to career readiness. You’ll begin by creating your resume, cover letter, and personal portfolio to showcase your project work, including the IT solution for XYZ Health Solutions. Then, you’ll explore career paths, refine your job search strategies, and practice common interview questions.