Modern Systems Analysis

and Design
Chapter 4 (planning)
1- Identifying and Selecting
Systems Development Projects
 Identifying and Selecting Systems
Development Projects

FIGURE 4-1
Systems development life cycle with
project identification and selection
highlighted

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The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS
Development Projects
1. Identifying potential development projects
Identification from a stakeholder group.
Each stakeholder group brings their own

perspective and motivation to the IS decision.
 Top-down source are projects identified by top
management or by a diverse steering committee.
 Bottom-up source are project initiatives stemming
from managers, business units, or the
development group.
 The process varies substantially across
organizations.

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 The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS
Development Projects (Cont.)
2. Classifying and ranking IS development projects
 focuses on assessing the relative merit of potential
projects.
 can be performed by top managers, a steering
committee, business units, or the IS development group
 Using value chain analysis or other evaluation criteria
 Value chain analysis: the process of analyzing an
organization’s activities for making products and/or
services to determine where value is added and costs
are incurred

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The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS Development
Projects (Cont.)
3. Selecting IS development projects(actual selection )
 Based on various factors
 Both short- and long-term projects considered
 Most likely to achieve business objectives selected
 Is a very important and ongoing activity

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Deliverables and Outcomes
 Primary deliverable from the first part of the planning phase is a
schedule of specific IS development projects.
 Outcome of the next part of the planning phase – project initiation
and planning – is the assurance that careful consideration was given
to project selection and each project can help the organization reach
its goals.

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 Corporate Strategic Planning
 Ongoing process that defines mission, objectives, and
strategies of an organization
 Steps:
 gaining an understanding of the current enterprise.
 top management must determine where it wants the enterprise
to be in the future.
 a strategic plan can be developed to guide this transition.
 All successful organizations have a missions :
 Mission statement: A statement that makes it clear what
business a company is in
 Objective statement is a series of statements that express
an organization’s qualitative and quantitative goals for
reaching a desired future position
 Competitive strategy: the method by which an
organization attempts to achieve its mission and objectives

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Information Systems Planning
(ISP)
 An orderly means of assessing the information needs of
an organization and defining systems, databases, and
technologies that will best meet those needs
 ISP must be done in accordance with the organization's
mission, objectives, and competitive strategy.

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Information Systems Planning (ISP)
 Three activities:
 1-Describe the current situation(top-down planning )
 top-down planning :A generic ISP methodology that attempts to gain a
broad understanding of the information systems needs of the entire
organization.
 2- Describing the target situation, trends, and constraints. (target situation
that reflects the desired future state of the organization
 3- Developing a transition strategy and plans(developed by the IS planning
team.

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4/12/2024Chapter 4 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 10
 Modern Systems Analysis
and Design

Chapter 5
2-Initiating and Planning
Systems Development Projects
The Process of Initiating and
Planning IS Development Projects

FIGURE 5-1
Systems development life cycle
with project initiation and
planning highlighted

Project planning is the process of defining

clear, discrete activities and the work
needed to complete each activity within a
single project.
The objective of the project planning
process is the development of a Baseline
Project Plan (BPP) and the Project Scope
Chapter 5
Statement 12
Elements of Project Planning
 Describe project scope, alternatives, feasibility.
 Divide project into tasks.
 Estimate resource requirements and create resource
plan.
 Develop preliminary schedule.
 Develop communication plan.
 Determine standards and procedures.
 Identify and assess risk.
 Create preliminary budget.
 Develop a statement of work.
 Set baseline project plan.
Chapter 5 13
The Process of Initiating and Planning IS
Development Projects
 Project initiation focuses on activities designed to assist
in organizing a team to conduct project planning.
elements of Project Initiation
 Establishing the Project Initiation Team.
 Establishing a Relationship with the Customer.
 Establishing the Project Initiation Plan.
 Establishing Management Procedures.
 Establishing the Project Management Environment and
Project Workbook.
 Developing the Project Charter.

Chapter 5 14
The Process of Initiating and Planning IS
Development Projects (Cont.)
 The key activity of project initiation is the
development of the project charter.
A short document that is prepared for both internal
and external stakeholders
 Provides a high-level overview of the project
 Useful communication tool that helps to assure that
the organizations and other stakeholders understand
the initiation of a project

Chapter 5 15
Deliverables and Outcomes
 Business Case
 The Justification for an information system
 Presented in terms of the tangible and intangible economic
benefits and costs
 The technical and organizational feasibility of the proposed
system
 Baseline Project Plan (BPP)
 contains all information collected and analyzed during project
initiation and planning to guide the development team.
 Contains the best estimate of a project’s scope, benefits, costs,
risks, and resource requirements

Chapter 5 16
Deliverables and Outcomes (Cont.)
 Project Scope Statement (PSS)
 A document prepared for the customer
 Describes what the project will deliver
 Outlines all work required to complete the project
 ensures that both you and your customer gain a common
understanding of the project.
 It is also a very easy and useful communication tool.

Chapter 5 17
Assessing Project Feasibility
most projects must be developed within tight budgetary and time
constraints.
most feasibility factors are:
 Economic
 Technical
 Operational
 Scheduling
 Legal and contractual
 Political

Chapter 5 18
Assessing Project Feasibility
(Cont.)
 Economic feasibility(cost–benefit analysis): a process of
identifying the financial benefits and costs associated with a
development project
 Determining Project Benefits: An information system can provide
many benefits to an organization
 Tangible benefit: items that can be measured in dollars and with
certainty, cost reduction.
 intangible benefit: items that cannot be easily measured in dollars
or with certainty (e.g improvement of employee morale)

Chapter 5 19
Assessing Project Feasibility
(Cont.)
Determining Project Costs :
 Tangible costs , intangible costs
 total cost of ownership (TCO): The cost of owning and operating a
system, including the total cost of acquisition, ongoing use and
maintenance
 One-time cost: A cost associated with project start-up and
development or system start-up.
 recurring cost:A cost resulting from the ongoing evolution and use
of a system.

 time value of money (TVM), which the concept that money

available today is worth more than the same amount tomorrow

Chapter 5 20
Technical feasibility: a process of assessing the
development organization’s ability to construct a proposed
system
Project Risk Factors
 Project size
 Team size, organizational departments, project duration, programming
effort
 Project structure
 New system or renovation of existing system, resulting organizational
changes, management commitment to system , user perceptions
 Development group
 Familiarity with platform, software, development method, application
area, development of similar systems
 User group
 Familiarity with IS development process, application area, use of
similar systems

Chapter 5 21
Assessing Other Feasibility
Concerns
 Operational
 Does the proposed system solve problems or take advantage of
opportunities?
 Scheduling
 Can the project time frame and completion dates meet
organizational deadlines?
 Legal and Contractual
 What are legal and contractual ramifications of the proposed
system development project?
 Political
 How do key stakeholders view the proposed system?

Chapter 5 22