Management Information Systems By Effy Oz & Andy Jones

1. Management Information SystemsByEffy Oz & Andy Jones Chapter 11: System Planning and Development www.cengage.co.uk/oz

2. Objectives • Explain the importance of and steps in IT planning • Describe the systems development life cycle, which is the traditional approach to systems development • Explain the challenges involved in systems development • List the advantages and disadvantages of different system conversion strategies

3. Objectives (continued) • Enumerate and explain the principles of agile systems development methods • Explain the concept of systems integration • Discuss whether IS professionals should be certified

4. Planning Information Systems • Enterprise ISs gaining in popularity • High risk involved in implementation • Successful integration of system vital • Planning of IS necessary • Align IS and organizational strategies

5. Steps in Planning Information Systems • IS planning includes several key steps • Create IS mission statement • Articulate vision for IS • Create IS plans • Create operations plan • Create budget

6. Steps in Planning Information Systems (continued)

7. Steps in Planning Information Systems (continued) • Mission statement: most important overarching goal of organization • IS mission statement describes goal of IS • Should be compatible with organizational mission statement • CIO develops strategic plan for implementation • Goals broken down into objectives • Objectives broken down to operational details

8. Steps in Planning Information Systems (continued) • IT planning similar to planning of other resources • Growing proportion of IT funds spent on software • More purchasing • Less developing in-house

9. The Benefits of Standardization in Planning • Major goal of planning is standardization • Many benefits • Cost savings • Better bargaining power • Applies to hardware and software • Efficient training • Smaller variety of software • Efficient support • More specialization

10. From Planning to Development • After planning decide how to obtain systems • Usually software • Approaches to systems development universal • Two approaches • Systems development life cycle (SDLC) • Nontraditional methods • Agile methods more efficient • Prototyping: fast development of application based on initial requirements

11. The Systems Development Life Cycle • Large ISs conceived with systems development life cycle (SDLC) • SDLC also known as waterfall development • Consists of sequential phases • Organizations sometimes take shortcuts • Four major phases • Analysis • Design • Implementation • Support

12. The Systems Development Life Cycle (continued)

13. Analysis • Systems analysis: five-step process • Investigation • Technical feasibility study • Economic feasibility study • Operational feasibility study • Requirements definition

14. Analysis (continued)

15. Analysis (continued) • First step is investigation • Determine if system necessary • Small team interviews employees • Feasibility studies: conducted after IS warranted • Technical feasibility • Determine if components exist • Adequate hardware

16. Analysis (continued) • Economic feasibility study • Cost/benefit analysis: spreadsheet showing costs • Benefits must outweigh costs • Return on investment (ROI): most accurate economic analysis • Difference between stream of benefits and costs • Many benefits are intangible

17. Analysis (continued)

18. Analysis (continued) • Operational feasibility study • Determine how new system will be used • Organizational culture: general tone of corporate environment • System compatibility with culture • Requirements definition • Project team installed • System requirements: functions expected from system

19. Design • Second step in systems development is design • Systems design: three steps • Description • Construction • Testing • If purchasing system must determine how to adapt • Construction requires changing programming code

20. Design (continued)

21. Design (continued) • Symbols used to communicate ideas • Visual information grasped more quickly • Data flow diagram (DFD): describes flow of data • Four symbols • External entities • Processes • Data stores • Direction of data flow

22. Design (continued)

23. Design (continued) • DFD symbols • External entities are external individuals and groups • Processes are events that change data • Data store is resting data • Data flow is direction that data moves • Simplicity of DFD is advantage • DFD suitable for describing non-computer based IS • DFD cannot describe system completely

24. Design (continued)

25. Design (continued) • Unified modeling language (UML): de facto standard for diagramming • Helps developers communicate features • Provides standard symbols and notations • Consists of diagrams describing software • Use case • Class • Interaction • State • Activity • Physical components

26. Design (continued)

27. Design (continued) • Construction • Mostly programming • Takes months to years • Testing done on completed modules • Walk-through logic of program • Simulation of actual program execution • System testing • Test entire integrated system • Try to “outsmart” system • Poor testing causes many failures

28. Implementation • Implementation: Two steps • Conversion • Training • Conversion: switching old system to new • Four basic strategies • Parallel conversion: old system used with new system at first • Phased conversion: break IS into modules and integrate one at a time • Cut-over conversion: immediately replace all • Pilot conversion: introduce in one business unit at a time

29. Implementation (continued)

30. Support • Support: two responsibilities • Maintenance • Post-implementation debugging • Updates • Adding postponed features • User help • Longest phase of system life cycle

31. Agile Methods • Agile methods: alternatives to SDLC • Treat software development as series of contacts with users • Fast development of software • Improve software after user specifications received • Iterative programming

32. Agile Methods (continued) • Popular agile methods • Extreme programming (XP) • Adaptive software development (ASD) • Lean development (LD) • Rational unified process (RUP) • Feature driven development (FDD) • Dynamic systems development method (DSDM) • Scrum • Crystal

33. Agile Methods (continued) • Agile method risks • Analysis phase limited or eliminated • Risk of incompatibilities • Less documentation • Difficult modification • Manifesto for Agile Software Development prioritizes individuals and interactions over processes • Light but sufficient development process

34. Agile Methods (continued)

35. Agile Methods (continued) • User involvement encouraged throughout process • Test modules immediately after completion • Communication with users informal • Two programmers per module

36. When to Use Agile Methods • Best to use agile method • When system is small • Analysis less important • Small investment of resources • For unstructured problems • Users cannot specify all requirements at start • Unfamiliar with technology • Difficult to conceptualize

37. When Not to Use Agile Methods • Do not use agile methods when • System is large • System failure entails great financial loss • Designed to interface with other systems • SDLC recommended for complex systems • Documentation is key

38. When Not to Use Agile Methods (continued)

39. Systems Integration • Systems integration: combine disparate systems • Examines needs of entire organization • Allows data to flow between units • Some service companies specialize in this • Integration more challenging than development • Interface legacy systems with new systems

40. Systems Integration (continued)

41. Systems Integration (continued) • Systems integrators must be skilled in hardware and software • Difficult to overcome incompatibility issues • Systems integration may span several organizations • Integration with telecommunications

42. Summary • IT planning important because of high investment rate • Standardization important part of IT planning • Systems development life cycle (SDLC) has well-defined phases • Purpose of systems analysis is to determine needs the system will satisfy

43. Summary (continued) • Feasibility studies determine if system is possible and desirable • System requirements detail features needed • Developers outline system components graphically • Unified Modeling language used to create model of desired system • Implementation includes training and conversion to new system

44. Summary (continued) • Support entails maintenance and satisfying changing needs • Agile methods are popular alternative to traditional systems development cycle • Systems integration more complicated than systems development • Great responsibility of IS professionals results in certification requirements