I.S Chapter 9 Systems Development and Project Management: Corporate Responsibility
Prototyping is a modern design approach where the designers and system users use an iterative approach to building the system.
. Discovery prototyping builds a small-scale representation or working model of the system to ensure it meets the user and business requirements. The advantages of prototyping include: ■ Prototyping encourages user participation. ■ Prototypes evolve through iteration, which better supports change. ■ Prototypes have a physical quality allowing users to see, touch, and experience the system as it is developed. ■ Prototypes tend to detect errors earlier. ■ Prototyping accelerates the phases of the SDLC, helping to ensure success.
Feasibility is the measure of the tangible and intangible benefits of an information system
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The critical path estimates the shortest path through the project ensuring all critical tasks are completed from start to finish. The red line in Figure 9.16 displays the critical path for the project
A Gantt chart is a simple bar chart that lists project tasks vertically against the project's time frame, listed horizontally. A Gantt chart works well for representing the project schedule. It also shows actual progress of tasks against the planned duration.
A PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) chart is a graphical network model that depicts a project's tasks and the relationships between them.
A dependency is a logical relationship that exists between the project tasks, or between a project task and a milestone. PERT charts define dependency between project tasks before those tasks are scheduled . The boxes in Figure 9.16 represent project tasks, and the project manager can adjust the contents of the boxes to display various project attributes such as schedule and actual start and finish times. The arrows indicate that a task depends on the start or the completion of a different task.
Project planning is the process of detailed planning that generates answers to common operational questions such as why are we doing this project or what is the project going to accomplish f
How are deliverables being produced? ■ What activities or tasks need to be accomplished to produce the deliverables? ■ Who is responsible for performing the tasks? ■ What resources are required to perform the tasks? ■ When will the tasks be performed? ■ How long will it take to perform each task? ■ Are any tasks dependent upon other tasks being completed before they can begin? ■ How much does each task cost? ■ What skills and experience are required to perform each task? ■ How is the performance of the task being measured including quality? ■ How are issues being tracked? ■ How is change being addressed? ■ How is communication occurring and when? ■ What risks are associated with each task?
Phase 2: Analysis
In the analysis phase the firm analyzes its end-user business requirements and refines project goals into defined functions and operations of the intended system Business requirements are the specific business requests the system must meet to be successful, so the analysis phase is critical because business requirements drive the entire systems development effort. A sample business requirement might state, "The CRM system must track all customer inquiries by product, region, and sales representative." The business requirement will state what the system must accomplish to be considered successful. If a system does not meet the business requirements, it will be deemed a failed project. For this reason, the organization must spend as much time, energy, and resources as necessary to gather accurate and detailed business requirements. Requirements management is the process of managing changes to the business requirements throughout the project. requirements definition document prioritizes all of the business requirements by order of importance to the company Sign-off is the users' actual signatures indicating they approve all of the business requirements.
Two basic options are available to organizations wishing to develop and maintain their information systems—in-sourcing or outsourcing.
In-sourcing (in-house development) uses the professional expertise within an organization to develop and maintain its information technology systems. In-sourcing has been instrumental in creating a viable supply of IT professionals and in creating a better quality workforce combining both technical and business skills. Outsourcing is an arrangement by which one organization provides a service or services for another organization that chooses not to perform them in-house. In some cases, the entire MIS department is outsourced, including planning and business analysis as well as the design, development, and maintenance of equipment and projects.
Tangible benefits are easy to quantify and typically measured to determine the success or failure of a project. I Decreased expenses Decreased processing errors Decreased response time Increased quantity or sales Increased quality
Intangible benefits are difficult to quantify or measure (see Figure 9.10 for examples). Decreased expenses Decreased processing errors Decreased response time Increased quantity or sales Increased quality
challenges for outsourcing
Length of contract. Most companies look at outsourcing as a long-term solution with a time period of several years. Training and transferring resources around the globe is difficult and expensive, hence most companies pursuing offshore outsourcing contract for multiple years of service. A few of the challenges facing the length of the contract include: 1. It can be difficult to break the contract. 2. Forecasting business needs for the next several years is challenging and the contract might not meet future business needs. 3. Re-creating an internal MIS department if the outsource provider fails is costly and challenging. ■ Threat to competitive advantage. Many businesses view MIS as a competitive advantage and view outsourcing as a threat because the outsourcer could share the company's trade secrets. ■ Loss of confidentiality. Information on pricing, products, sales, and customers can be a competitive asset and often critical for business success. Outsourcing could place confidential information in the wrong hands. Although confidentiality clauses contained in the contracts are supposed to protect the company, the potential risk and costs of a breach must be analyzed.
Phase 7: Maintenance
Maintaining the system is the final sequential phase of any systems development effort. In the maintenance phase, the organization performs changes, corrections, additions, and upgrades to ensure the system continues to meet business goals. Corrective maintenance makes system changes to repair design flaws, coding errors, or implementation issues. Preventive maintenance makes system changes to reduce the chance of future system failure. During the maintenance phase, the system will generate reports to help users and MIS specialists ensure it is functioning correctl Internal report Presents data that are distributed inside the organization and intended for employees within an organization. Internal reports typically support day-to-day operations monitoring that supports managerial decision making. Detailed internal report Presents information with little or no filtering or restrictions of the data. Summary internal report Organizes and categorizes data for managerial perusal. A report that summarizes total sales by product for each month is an example of a summary internal report. The data for a summary report are typically categorized and summarized to indicate trends and potential problems. Exception reporting Highlights situations occurring outside of the normal operating range for a condition or standard. These internal reports include only exceptions and might highlight accounts that are unpaid or delinquent or identify items that are low in stock. Information system control report Ensures the reliability of information, consisting of policies and their physical implementation, access restrictions, or record keeping of actions and transactions. Information systems audit report Assesses a company's information system to determine necessary changes and to help ensure the information systems' availability, confidentiality, and integrity. Post-implementation report Presents a formal report or audit of a project after it is up and running.
Using agile methodologies helps maintain accountability and helps to establish a barometer for the satisfaction of end users. It does no good to accomplish something on time and on budget if it does not satisfy the end user. The primary forms of agile methodologies include: ■ Rapid prototyping or rapid application development methodology. ■ Extreme programming methodology. ■ Rational unified process (RUP) methodology. ■ Scrum methodology.
Rapid application development (RAD) methodology (also called rapid prototyping ) emphasizes extensive user involvement in the rapid and evolutionary construction of working prototypes of a system, to accelerate the systems development process. Focus initially on creating a prototype that looks and acts like the desired system. Actively involve system users in the analysis, design, and development phases. Accelerate collecting the business requirements through an interactive and iterative construction approach. Extreme programming (XP) methodology , like other agile methods, breaks a project into four phases, and developers cannot continue to the next phase until the previous phase is complete. The delivery strategy supporting XP is that the quicker the feedback the more improved the results. XP has four basic phases: planning, designing, coding, and testing. Planning can include user interviews, meetings, and small releases. During design, functionality is not added until it is required or needed. During coding, the developers work together soliciting continuous feedback from users, eliminating the communication gap that generally exists between developers and customers. During testing, the test requirements are generated before any code is developed. Extreme programming saves time and produces successful projects by continuously reviewing and revamping needed and unneeded requirements. 7Customer satisfaction is the primary reason XP finds success as developers quickly respond to changing business requirements, even late in the life cycle. XP encourages managers, customers, and developers to work together as a team to ensure the delivery of high-quality systems. XP is similar to a puzzle; there are many small pieces and individually the pieces make no sense, but when they are pieced together they can create a new system. The rational unified process (RUP) methodology, owned by IBM, provides a framework for breaking down the development of software into four "gates." Each gate consists of executable iterations of the software in development. A project stays in a gate waiting for the stakeholder's analysis, and then it either moves to the next gate or is cancelled. The gates include: 8 ■ Gate one: inception. This phase ensures all stakeholders have a shared understanding of the proposed system and what it will do. ■ Gate two: elaboration. This phase expands on the agreed-upon details of the system, including the ability to provide an architecture to support and build it. ■ Gate three: construction. This phase includes building and developing the product. ■ Gate four: transition. Primary questions answered in this phase address ownership of the system and training of key personnel. Because RUP is an iterative methodology, the user can reject the product and force the developers to go back to gate one. RUP helps developers avoid reinventing the wheel and focuses on rapidly adding or removing reusable chunks of processes addressing common problems. Another agile methodology, scrum methodology, uses small teams to produce small pieces of software using a series of "sprints," or 30-day intervals, to achieve an appointed goal.
SMART
Specific • Measurable • Agreed Upon • Realistic • Time Frame The project objectives are among the most important areas to define because they are essentially the major elements of the project. When an organization achieves the project objectives, it has accomplished the major goals of the project and the project scope is satisfied. Project objectives must include metrics so that the project's success can be measured. The metrics can include cost, schedule, and quality metrics
Effective project management provides a controlled way to respond to changing market conditions, to foster global communications, and to provide key metrics to enable managerial decision making. Developing projects within budget and on time is challenging, and with the help of solid project management skills, managers can avoid the primary reasons projects fail, including: ■ Unclear or missing business requirements. The most common reason systems fail is because the business requirements are either missing or incorrectly gathered during the analysis phase ■ Skipped SDLC phases. The first thing individuals tend to do when a project falls behind schedule is to start skipping phases in the SDLC. For example, if a project is three weeks behind in the development phase, the project manager might decide to cut testing from six weeks to three weeks. Obviously, it is impossible to perform all the testing in half the time. Failing to test the system will lead to unfound errors, and chances are high that the system will fail. ■ Changing technology. ■ The cost of finding errors. ■ Balance of the triple constraints.
The Cost of Finding Errors in the SDLC It is important to discuss the relationship between the SDLC and the cost for the organization to fix errors. An error found during the analysis and design phase is relatively inexpensive to fix. All that is typically required is a change to a Word document. Hexactly the same error found during the testing or implementation phase is going to cost the organization an enormous amount to fix because it has to change the actual system.
systems development life cycle (SDLC) is the overall process for developing information systems, from planning and analysis through implementation and maintenance.
The SDLC is the foundation for all systems development methods, and hundreds of different activities are associated with each phase. These activities typically include determining budgets, gathering system requirements, and writing detailed user documentation. The SDLC begins with a business need, proceeds to an assessment of the functions a system must have to satisfy the need, and ends when the benefits of the system no longer outweigh its maintenance costs. This is why it is referred to as a life cycle. The SDLC is comprised of seven distinct phases: planning, analysis, design, development, testing, implementation, and maintenance
The oldest and the best known is the waterfall methodology, a sequence of phases in which the output of each phase becomes the input for the next (see Figure 9.5 ). In the SDLC, this means the steps are performed one at a time, in order, from planning through implementation and maintenance. The traditional waterfall method no longer serves most of today's development efforts, however; it is inflexible and expensive, and it requires rigid adherence to the sequence of steps. Its success rate is only about 1 in 10. Figure 9.6 explains some issues related to the waterfall methodology
The business problem Any flaws in accurately defining and articulating the business problem in terms of what the business users actually require flow onward to the next phase. The plan Managing costs, resources, and time constraints is difficult in the waterfall sequence. What happens to the schedule if a programmer quits? How will a schedule delay in a specific phase impact the total cost of the project? Unexpected contingencies may sabotage the plan. The solution The waterfall methodology is problematic in that it assumes users can specify all business requirements in advance. Defining the appropriate IT infrastructure that is flexible, scalable, and reliable is a challenge. The final IT infrastructure solution must meet not only current but also future needs in terms of time, cost, feasibility, and flexibility. Vision is inevitably limited at the head of the waterfall.
Phase 3: Design
The design phase establishes descriptions of the desired features and operations of the system, including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams, pseudo code, and other documentation. . During the analysis phase, end users and MIS specialists work together to gather the detailed business requirements for the proposed project from a logical point of view. That is, during analysis, business requirements are documented without respect to technology or the technical infrastructure that will support the system. Moving into the design phase turns the project focus to the physical or technical point of view, defining the technical architecture that will support the system, including data models, screen designs, report layouts, and database models.
Phase 4: Development
The development phase takes all the detailed design documents from the design phase and transforms them into the actual system. In this phase, the project transitions from preliminary designs to actual physical implementation. During development, the company purchases and implements the equipment necessary to support the architecture. Software engineering is a disciplined approach for constructing information systems through the use of common methods, techniques, or tools. Software engineers use computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools, which provide automated support for the development of the system Control objects for information and related technology (COBIT) is a set of best practices that helps an organization to maximize the benefits of an information system, while at the same time establishing appropriate controls to ensure minimum errors. During development, the team defines the programming language it will use to build the system. A scripting language is a programming method that provides for interactive modules to a website Object-oriented languages group data and corresponding processes into objects. Fourth-generation languages (4GL) are programming languages that look similar to human languages. For example, a typical 4GL command might state, "FIND ALL RECORDS WHERE NAME IS "SMITH". " Programming languages include the following order: 1. First generation: Machine language difficult for businesspeople to understand. 2. Second generation: Assembly language difficult for businesspeople to understand. 3. Third generation: High-level programming languages, such as C, C 11 , and Java. 4. Fourth generation: Programming languages that look similar to human languages. 5. Fifth generation: Programming languages for artificial intelligence and neural networks.
iterative development consists of a series of tiny projects. It has become the foundation of multiple agile methodologies.
The iterative development style is the ultimate in small projects.
Phase 1: Planning
The planning phase establishes a high-level plan of the intended project and determines project goals Planning is the first and most critical phase of any systems development effort, regardless of whether the effort is to develop a system that allows customers to order products online, determine the best logistical structure for warehouses around the world, or develop a strategic information alliance with another organization. Organizations must carefully plan the activities (and determine why they are necessary) to be successful
Phase 5: Testing
The testing phase brings all the project pieces together into a special testing environment to eliminate errors and bugs and verify that the system meets all the business requirements defined in the analysis phase Bugs are defects in the code of an information system. Test conditions detail the steps the system must perform along with the expected result of each step Each time the actual result is different from the expected result, a "bug" is generated and the system must be fixed in development. A typical systems development effort has hundreds or thousands of test conditions that must be verified against the business requirements to ensure the system is operating as expected
ommon reasons companies outsource include: ■ Core competencies. Many companies have recently begun to consider outsourcing as a way to acquire best-practices and the business process expertise of highly skilled technology resources for a low cost. Technology is advancing at such an accelerated rate that companies often lack the technical resources required to keep current. ■ Financial savings. It is far cheaper to hire people in China and India than pay the required salaries for similar labor in the United States. ■ Rapid growth. Firms must get their products to market quickly and still be able to react to market changes. By taking advantage of outsourcing, an organization can acquire the resources required to speed up operations or scale to new demand levels. ■ The Internet and globalization. The pervasive nature of the Internet has made more people comfortable with outsourcing abroad as India, China, and the United States become virtual neighbors.
The three forms of outsourcing options available for a project are: 1. Onshore outsourcing —engaging another company within the same country for services. 2. Nearshore outsourcing —contracting an outsourcing arrangement with a company in a nearby country. Often this country will share a border with the native country. 3. Offshore outsourcing —using organizations from developing countries to write code and develop systems. In offshore outsourcing the country is geographically far away.
The Project Management Institute created the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) for the education and certification of project managers.
bla bla bla Communication plan Defines the how, what, when, and who regarding the flow of project information to stakeholders and is key for managing expectations. Executive sponsor The person or group who provides the financial resources for the project. Project assumption Factors considered to be true, real, or certain without proof or demonstration. Examples include hours in a workweek or time of year the work will be performed. Project constraint Specific factors that can limit options, including budget, delivery dates, available skilled resources, and organizational policies. Project deliverable Any measurable, tangible, verifiable outcome, result, or item that is produced to complete a project or part of a project. Examples of project deliverables include design documents, testing scripts, and requirements documents. Project management office (PMO) An internal department that oversees all organizational projects. This group must formalize and professionalize project management expertise and leadership. One of the primary initiatives of the PMO is to educate the organization on techniques and procedures necessary to run successful projects. Project milestone Represents key dates when a certain group of activities must be performed. For example, completing the planning phase might be a project milestone. If a project milestone is missed, then chances are the project is experiencing problems. Project objectives Quantifiable criteria that must be met for the project to be considered a success. Project requirements document Defines the specifications for product/output of the project and is key for managing expectations, controlling scope, and completing other planning efforts. Project scope statement Links the project to the organization's overall business goals. It describes the business need (the problem the project will solve) and the justification, requirements, and current boundaries for the project. It defines the work that must be completed to deliver the product with the specified features and functions, and it includes constraints, assumptions, and requirements—all components necessary for developing accurate cost estimates. Project stakeholder Individuals and organizations actively involved in the project or whose interests might be affected as a result of project execution or project completion. Responsibility matrix Defines all project roles and indicates what responsibilities are associated with each role. Status report Periodic reviews of actual performance versus expected performance
project manager is an individual who is an expert in project planning and management, defines and develops the project plan, and tracks the plan to ensure the project is completed on time and on budget.
ect plan, and tracks the plan to ensure the project is completed on time and on budget. The project manager is the person responsible for executing the entire project and defining the project scope that links the project to the organization's overall business goals
Phase 6: Implementation
implementation phase, the organization places the system into production so users can begin to perform actual business operations with it user documentation is created that highlights how to use the system and how to troubleshoot issues or problems. Training is also provided for the system users and can take place online or in a classroom Online training runs over the Internet or on a CD or DVD, and employees complete the training on their own time at their own pace. Workshop training is held in a classroom environment and led by an instructor One of the best ways to support users is to create a help desk or a group of people who respond to users' questions.
Figure 9.13 displays the relationships among the three primary and interdependent variables in any project—time, cost, and scope. All projects are limited in some way by these three constraints. The Project Management Institute calls the framework for evaluating these competing demands the triple constraint
is such that if any one changes, at least one other is likely to be affected. For example, moving up a project's finish date could mean either increasing costs to hire more staff or decreasing the scope to eliminate features or functions. Increasing a project's scope to include additional customer requests could extend the project's time to completion or increase the project's cost—or both—to accommodate the changes. Project quality is affected by the project manager's ability to balance these competing demands. High-quality projects deliver the agreed upon product or service on time and on budget. Project management is the science of making intelligent trade-offs between time, cost, and scope.
The project plan is a formal, approved document that manages and controls project execution. The project plan should include a description of the project scope, a list of activities, a schedule, time estimates, cost estimates, risk factors, resources, assignments, and responsibilities. In addition to these basic components, most project professionals also include contingency plans, review and communications strategies, and a kill switch —a trigger that enables a project manager to close the project before completion
kill switch —a trigger that enables a project manager to close the project before completion. A good project plan should include estimates for revenue and strategic necessities. It also should include measurement and reporting methods and details as to how top leadership will engage in the project. It also informs stakeholders of the benefits of the project and justifies the investment, commitment, and risk of the project as it relates to the overall mission of the organization.
