Comprehensive Review

Comprehensive Review • Management: allocation of resources • Information: data analysis • Systems: IT; Organization changes

70% Rule • Customer-centered approach; your benefit comes from your ability to provide benefit for your clients • Thus Enterprise View is the most important step • Without Goals being well-defined, no effectiveness can be determined -- therefore no efficiency

80/20 Rule • Significant Few vs. Trivial Many • A means of classification and prioritization (e.g., how functions are determined in a DSS) • A means of organization (i.e., frequently accessed pages are placed on top level of Website)

5% Rule • Reduce the time waiting in queue to increase efficiency • Reduce cost of transportation to allow interactive processing (i.e., reduce the waiting time) • The most prominent benefit of telecommunication is to reduce the transportation cost of information

Modular Combination • Solve problems by combining existing tools and solutions (modules) • Most frequently used tools and solutions usually become “modules” • Innovation (vs. invention) is a new use or new combination of existing tools -- fast and flexible

ER Approach to SDLC • Enterprise View • Requirements Analysis • Logical Design • Physical Design • Implementation/Testing

ER Approach to SDLC • Separation of managerial issues from technological issues. (e.g., have managers determine the Website contents) • The results of Logical Design are portable (cross-platform) and stable (technology changes faster than company goals)

Enterprise View • What is the purpose of the project? • What does the company try to accomplish? (a baseline for project evaluation in the future) • Who are your clients? (recall Optimal Purchasing Decision project)

Requirements Analysis • Use Interview, Documents, and forms to determine the critical success factors • Documents: nouns for potential input/output variables; verbs for potential processes. (recall data dictionary and process specification) • Forms: applications (input attributes) and reports (output attributes)

Requirements Analysis • Study Documents and forms to reduce the time (therefore the cost to management) needed for interview • Managements tend to highlight trivial many and overlook significant few during the interview • It is easier for management to make comments on your assessment than to describe the whole system

Logical Design • Organize Data and Processes by relevance and usage • Logical Layout (e.g., the storyboard in Website design) • Physical Layout (e.g., filenames and directory determination) • A System-on-Paper. A system that makes no sense on paper won’t work in real life (recall annuity table?)

Physical Design • Determine the “right” tool • Modify Logical Design results to fit the selected tool • Tools are determined by availability and expertise • When alternative tools are available, cheaper and better solutions usually emerge

Implementation/Testing • Coding and debugging • Must follow guidelines and standards (recall database project) • Do not change process unilaterally, but do raise question if better alternatives exist

Database Management • Better Database Management allows faster access to vital information -- therefore better decision making • Collect “attributes” • Normalization (Organize by usage) • ER Modeling (modular combination)

Tools Used • Excel • Access • VBA • HTML • IFPS • instant messenger? • UNIX • telnet • ftp • pine (email and newsgroup) • pico • Notetab/Notepad • Mapedit • Web browsers

Comprehensive Review