Solving Problems in IS: Systems Approaches

1. Solving Problems in IS: Systems Approaches • Logical framework in which to work. • Serves as a reminder. Did I forget anything?

2. The Systems Development Life Cycle, “SDLC” Planning Analysis Design Implementation

3. The Systems Development Life Cycle, “SDLC” Planning Analysis Design Implementation Maintenance!

4. The Systems Development Life Cycle Systems Investigation Product: Feasibility Study Understand the Business Problem or Opportunity (Dennis text: 4 phases, with “Investigation” named “Planning”) Systems Analysis Product: Functional Requirements Develop an Information System Solution Systems Design Product: System Specifications Systems Implementation Product: Operational System Implement the System Solution Systems Maintenance Product: Improved System

5. SDLC Identify Problem/Value. Feasibility Analysis. Project Management. Understand as-is system. Identify Improvements. Develop concept for the to-be system. Use Cases. DFDs. ERDs. Planning Analysis Develop technical specifics for to-be system. Design Strategies. Physical DFD. Physical ERD. Infrastructure Plan. Interface Structure. Interface Standards. Interface Template. Interface. Evaluate. Construction (programming) Testing Documentation Conversion Change Management Support Installation Design Implementation

6. Watch out for “runaway computer systems”! • 2-4 times over budget. • 2-3 times behind schedule. • Not performing as expected. • Complicated to use. • Requires more and more users to operate. • Loses or destroys data.

7. 30-35% of computer projects are runaways! (Dennis text: 42% of all corporate Projects are abandoned)

8. Where can we spot one? Planning Analysis Design Implementation Maintenance

9. Where can we spot one? Planning Analysis Design On time? Budget? Implementation Maintenance

10. Where can we spot one? Planning Analysis Design On time? Budget? Performing as expected? What do the users think? Implementation Maintenance

11. How can we prevent runaways? Planning Analysis Design Implementation Maintenance

12. How can we prevent runaways? “The number one cause of runaways is the installation or expansion of a computer system when management does not know what the automation is meant to accomplish.” Planning Analysis Design Implementation Maintenance

13. How can we prevent runaways? Involve both management and users in specifying what the system needs to accomplish. “The number one cause of runaways is the installation or expansion of a computer system when management does not know what the automation is meant to accomplish.” Planning Analysis Design Continuously talk to and monitor the design team. BUT, don’t use them as your only source of information! Implementation Maintenance

14. How can we prevent runaways? Involve both management and users in specifying what the system needs to accomplish. Planning Analysis Design Test early and often! Continuously talk to and monitor the design team. BUT, don’t use them as your only source of information! Implementation Watch to make sure things are going smoothly. Maintenance

15. CONFIRM: A classic runaway example. • AMR partnered with Budget, Hilton, and Marriott to leverage the success of SABRE, American’s reservation system. • SABRE auditors, two months before the project was supposed to go on-line, concluded that the project was at least 18 months from completion. • Budgeted at around $125 Million... around $225 Million shelled out with no result.

16. Where did CONFIRM go wrong?AMR’s answer: Planning Analysis Design Implementation Maintenance

17. Where did CONFIRM go wrong?AMR’s answer: Planning Analysis Budget, Hilton, and Marriott assigned individuals who “lacked knowledge of the industry”. Design Implementation Maintenance

18. Where did CONFIRM go wrong?AMR’s answer: Planning Analysis Budget, Hilton, and Marriott assigned individuals who “lacked knowledge of the industry”. These individuals failed to specify what they wanted from the system. Design Implementation Maintenance

19. Where did CONFIRM go wrong?Budget, Hilton, and Marriott’s answer: Planning Analysis Design Implementation Maintenance

20. Where did CONFIRM go wrong?Budget, Hilton, and Marriott’s answer: Planning Schedules overly optimistic. Analysis “You said SABRE experts would be assigned to this project... where are they?!” Design TECHNICAL PROBLEMS!! The two 3090s didn’t connect well. Implementation Maintenance

21. Where did CONFIRM go wrong?Budget, Hilton, and Marriott’s answer: Planning Schedules overly optimistic. Analysis “We GAVE you specs... 6 feet high!” “You said SABRE experts would be assigned to this project... where are they?!” Design Endless delays. Cost overruns. PROBLEMS CONCEALED! Implementation Maintenance

22. Software Development... • ... is hard! • Windows 95: • 400 people • 4 years • $100,000,000 • 10,000,000 lines of code • 1 “person meeting” per line of code

23. Studies have indicated that an experienced programmer can produce 30 lines of code per day on average. • A new billing system can easily require 1 million lines of code. • That’s 33,000 days, or 133 years, for one programmer! Coordinating multiple programmers makes the job more complex. • Annual software productivity increases - about 4% per year (vs. 30% in hardware).

24. The IS Project “Logjam” • Two years planned to put “water” and “electricity” on the same bill. 40 man-years and $2 million later, no results! • Why is software development so difficult?

25. The IS Project “Logjam” • Government study: two-thirds of software projects had no formal procedure for estimating the amount of labor or code required, and nearly half had no standard way to predict the cost of a program. • Late additions and maintenance - 80% of software budgets. • Twice the time expected, twice the money - “runaway”. As noted, 30-35% of companies fall victim to them.

26. Breaking the IS Project Logjam - “Solution” • Give data-processing departments the same clout as everybody else. • Keep both managers and ultimate users involved in every step of software development. • Make data-processing managers periodically work side by side with software users. • Break up big projects to keep programming teams small. • Give programmers elbowroom. • Make existing software easier to maintain.

27. Have competent Project Managers and Analysts!!!!

28. Development Methodologies • Traditional (structured): • Waterfall - sequential through steps. • Parallel - sequential through steps, with “Design” often being done in multiple simultaneous subprojects. • Rapid Application Development (RAD): • Phased - system broken into “versions”, steps are completed for each version and repeated for next version. • Prototyping - “quick and dirty” through Analysis, Design, and Implementation in iterative fashion. • Throwaway Prototyping - same as above except prototypes are “pretend”.

29. Waterfall Development Method

30. Pros and Cons of the Waterfall Method Pros Cons Identifies systems requirements long before programming begins Design must be specified on paper before programming begins Long time between system proposal and delivery of new system

31. Parallel Development Method

32. Pros and Cons of Parallel Development Pros Cons Reduces Scheduled Time Still Uses Paper Documents Less Chance of Rework Sub-projects May Be Difficult to Integrate

33. How Prototyping Works

34. Throwaway Prototyping

35. Pros and Cons of Prototyping Pros Cons Very quickly produces a system Less disciplined - Often sloppy Increased and Quicker user interaction Initially intelligent design features Become problems

36. Picking the right methodology