You are beginning a journey that will enable you to build on every aspect of your education and experience. Becoming a systems analyst is not a goal; it is a path to a rich and diverse career that will allow you to exercise and continue to develop a wide range of talents. We hope that this introductory part of the text helps open your mind to the opportunities of the systems analysis and design field and to the engaging nature of systems work. Chapter $1$ shows you what systems analysis and design is all about and how it has evolved over the past several decades. As businesses and systems have become more sophisticated and more complex, there has been an increasing emphasis on speed in systems analysis and design. Systems development began as an art, but most businesspeople soon realized this was not a tenable long$-$term solution to developing systems to support business processes. Systems development became more structured and more like engineering, and managers stressed the importance of planning, project management, and docu$-$mentation. The focus of systems analysis and design has shifted to agile development. The evolution of systems analysis and design and the current focus on agility are explained in Chapter $1.$ It is also important, however, that you remember that systems analysis and design exists within a multifaceted organizational context that involves other organizational members and external parties. Understanding systems development requires an under$-$standing not only of each technique, tool, and method, but also of how these elements complement and support each other within an organizational setting. As you read this book, youll also discover that the systems analysis and design field is constantly adapting to new situations due to a strong commitment to constant improvement. Our goal in this book is to provide you with a mosaic of the skills needed to work effectively in any environment where you may find yourself, armed withthe knowledge to determine the best practices for that situation and argue for them effectively. Chapter $2$ presents an introduction to the manysources from which software and software components can be obtained. Back when systems analysis and design was an art, all systems were written from scratch by in$-$house experts. Businesses had little choice. Now in$-$house devel$-$opment is much rarer, so it becomes crucial that systems analysts understand the software industry and the many different sources of software. Chapter $2$ provides an initial map of the software industry landscape and explains most of the many choices available to systems analysts. Chapter $3$ addresses a fundamental characteristic of life as a systems analyst: working within the framework of projects with constrained resources. All systems$-$related work demands attention to deadlines, working within bud$-$gets, and coordinating the work of various people. The very nature of the systems development life cycle $($SDLC$)$ implies a systematic approach to a project, which is a group of related activities leading to a final deliverable. Projects must be planned, started, executed, and completed. The planned work of the project must be represented so that all interested parties can review and understand it$.$ In your job as a systems analyst, you will have to work within the schedule and other project plans, and thus it is important to understand the management process controlling your work. Finally, Part I introduces the Petrie Electronics case.The Petrie case helps demonstrate how what you learn in each chapter might fit into a practical organizational situa$-$tion. The case begins after Chapter $2$; the remaining book chapters through Chapter $13$ each have an associated case installment. The first section introduces the company and its existing information systems. This introduction provides insights into Petrie, which will help you understand the company more completely when we look at the require$-$ments and design for new systems in later case sections