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Information Systems Developmentand Planning

Chapter 6 - Lecture Notes

(Chapter 12 of text book)

ContentsAn Overview of IS Development and Planning

Project Management? Participants in Systems Development? Reasons to Initiate a Systems Development

project? IS Planning? Establishing Objectives for Systems Development

System Development MethodologyTraditional SDLCPrototypingRapid Application Development (RAD)End-User Systems Development Life Cycle

Factors affecting systems development success

Overview? Understanding systems development is important to all

professionals, not just those in the field of InformationSystems (IS).

? In today s businesses, employees in all functional areaswork together and use business information systems.As a result, users of all types are helping with thedevelopment.

? Systems development can mean the success or failureof the entire organization. Successful systemsdevelopment has resulted in huge increases in revenuesand profits; those unsuccessful can lose millions.

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Project Management? What is Project Management?

is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques toproject activities in order to meet project requirements.

? Who are the participants in the project / systemsdevelopment?

users who will interact with t he system regularly system analyst a professional who specialize in analyzing &

developing business systems. programmer a specialist responsible for writing programs. supplier a person who supply materials sponsor a person who sponsor the entire system development

/ project (i.e. boss)

ST

A K EHOLDER S

Development Team

? consists of:- users, systems analysts, programmers

? Team Leader / Project Manager a person who is in charged of the entire

development or project, i.e responsible tomeet the specific scope, time, cost and qualitygoals of projects.

Typical reasons to Initiate a Systems Development projectProblems with

existing system

Desire to exploitnew opportunities

Increasingcompetition

Make effective useof information

Organizationalgrowth

Merger oracquisition

Change in externalenvironment

New laws orregulations

Perception of aproblem by

individual capable of initiating change

Systemsdevelopment

process initiated

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Information Systems Planning

Strategic Plan

IS Planning

Systems development initiatives

. Cont ? refers to the translation of strategic and

organizational goals into systems developmentinitiatives.

? Strategic plan provides direction to the functional areas within an

organization, including marketing, production, finance,accounting & HR. These directions areencompassed in the IS plan.

E.g A strategic plan may identify as organizationalgoals i.e.

? double of sales revenue within 5 years,? 20% reduction of administrative expenses over 3 years? acquisition of at least two competing companies within a y ear,

or

? capture of market leadership in a product category.

Steps of IS Planning

Strategic Plan

Develop overallobjectives

Previouslyunplanned

systems projects

Set priorities andselect projects

Analyze resourcerequirements

Set schedules anddeadlines

Develop ISplanning document

Identify ISprojects

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A sample of Gantt Chart page 477

Developing a Competitive Advantage

? Many companies seek systemsdevelopment projects that will provide acompetitive advantage.

? E.g a company may want to achieve acompetitive advantage by improving thecustomer relationship. As such, thecompany needs a software that candownload & analyze customer feedbackdata from the Internet

? Thinking competitively requires creative andcritical analysis.

? Creative analysis the investigation of new approaches to existing

problems, i.e.

? by looking at problems in different ways, and? by introducing innovative methods to solve them.

? Critical analysis requires unbiased and careful questioning of whether

system elements are related in the most eff ective andefficient ways. i.e.

? considering the establishment of different relationshipsamong system element, or

? introducing new elements into the system.

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Establishing Objectives for Systems Development

? 2 main objectives:- Performance objectives

? Systems performance can be measured by factors

such as:- Quality or usefulness of the output i.e. is the systemgenerating the right information?

Quality or usefulness of the format of the output is theoutput generated in a form that is usable and easilyunderstood?

Speed at which output is generated i.e is the systemgenerating output in time t o meet organizational goalssuch as the customer response time.

............. Cont

Cost objectives? Development costs

? Costs related to the uniqueness of the systemapplication. i.e. an expensive but reusable systemmay be preferable to a less costly system withlimited use.

? Fixed investments in hardware and relatedequipment

? Ongoing operating costs of the system

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

? Systems development refers to theactivity of creating or modifying existingbusiness system.

? It is called a s ystems development lifecycle because the activities associatedwith it are ongoing.

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4 common SDLC

? Traditional SDLC

? Prototyping

? Rapid Application Development (RAD)

? End-User Development

Traditional SDLC

Systems Investigation

Systems Analysis

Systems Design

SystemsImplementation

Systems Maintenanceand Review

understand problem

understand solution

select & plan best solution

place solution into effect

evaluate results of solution

? Advantages Formal review at the end of each phase

allows maximum management control Creates considerable system documentation Documentation allows systems requirements

to be traced back.

? Disadvantages Systems do not meet the users needs Documentation is time-consuming and

expensive to create

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Prototyping

? An iterative approach to the systemsdevelopment process.

? A popular technique in systemsdevelopment.

Iterative 1 Iterative 2 Iterative 3

Determinerequirement

Analyzealternative

Specifydesign

Implementdesign

Userreview

Determinerequirement

Analyzealternative

Specifydesign

Implementdesign

Userreview

Determinerequirement

Analyzealternative

Specifydesign

Implementdesign

Userreview

Types of PrototypesOperational Non Operational

-A prototype that works accesses- real data files, edits inputdata, makes necessarycomputations andcomparisons, & producesreal output.

- is a mock up or model- includes output and inputspecifications & formats.-outputs i.e printed reportsto managers & the summarylayout.- can be discarded.

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Advantages and Disadvantages? users provide

constructive feedback

? take weeks only toproduce anoperational prototype

? allows early detectionor errors

? meet users needs.

? do not have formalend-of-phase, theproject never seemsto end

? lack of systemdocumentation

? overlook on systemsecurity issues.

Rapid Application Development (RAD)

? A system development approach that employstools, techniques & methodologies design tospeed application development.

? Advantages: Very fast in producing an application Lots of interaction between users and developers

? Disadvantages:- Needs a lot of users time Systems developers and users must know how to use

the tools and techniques Can burn out systems developers energy

End-User Development Life Cycle

? Describes any systems developmentproject in which the primary effort isundertaken by a combination of businessmanagers and users.

? Many end-users today are developing theirown PC-based systems with technicalassistance from IS personnel.

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Factors affecting systems developmentsuccess

? Successful systems development means delivering a system that meet user and

organizational needs i.e on time and withinbudget.

? A major factor that can affect the successof systems development is degree ofchange .

Degree of Change refers to:-

? Continuous Improvement projects do not require significant business

process or information system changes,therefore they have a high degree of success,whereas,

? Reengineering involves fundamental changes in how the

organization conducts business, thereforethey have high degree of risk but also highpotential for major business.

? Managing change The ability to manage change is critical to the success

of system development. E.g the working environment habits of users are

invariably affected by the development of a newinformation system.

Many problems can result from implementing a newsystem or modifying an existing system. Problemssuch as:-

? Employee fear of losing his/her job? Belief that the proposed or new s ystem will create more work? Reluctant to work with computer people ? Unwillingness to learn new approaches.

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Quality of Project Planning

? Another key success factor is the quality ofproject planning. The bigger the project, themore likely that poor planning will lead tosignificant problems i.e. over budget Projects fall behind schedule Do not meet expectations.

? Although proper planning cannot guarantee thatthese types of problems will be avoided, it canminimize the likelihood of their occurrence.

Factors contributing to the project failure

? Solve the wrong problem? Poor problem definition and analysis? Poor communication? Project is too ambitious? Lack of top management support? Lack of user s involvement? Poor testing and implementation

- End of Chapter 6-