systems analysis

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The study of a procedure to determine the most efficient method of executing it to obtain a desired end, especially by means of computers.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun the scientific analysis of systems, and the interactions within them
• noun computing a range of techniques used especially in commercial computing in which the needs of a company or its staff are analysed and translated into a technical description of the necessary software - which is then created by programmers

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun analysis of all aspects of a project along with ways to collect information about the operation of its parts