A system is a combination of both software, hardware or even manual procedures which meets the needs of a given set of users or purposes.

Systems tend to be initialised when there is a perceived need for improvements in a current system. It is rare where no system exists. Even when there is no ICT system in place there will always be some methodology followed. Putting it simply, even when a company does everything on paper they will still have a system. It will just not be an ICT system. This is an important point to note as it plays a major role in systems analysis.

It is easy to think that new ICT systems will always be taking a old manual system and automating it with ICT. This is increasing not the case. A lot of old ICT systems exist which no longer fit the purpose they were intended for. This may be due to company expansion, old systems being too slow compared to modern alternatives, lack of support for old software and capitalising on new technologies. At the end of the day there will always be a reason for the new ICT system to be built and most likly this reason will be business driven.

It is worth mentioning at this point that building a new ICT system requires much more than being able to program. You need to have a good awareness of business methods and people skills. Hopefully as you read on this will become more apparent.