CHAPTER 10

Building Successful Information Systems

Learning Objectives:
10-1 Apply the systems development life cycle as a method for developing information systems.
10-2 Explain the tasks involved in the planning phase.
10-3 Explain the tasks involved in the requirements-gathering and analysis phase.
10-4 Explain the tasks involved in the design phase.
10-5 Explain the tasks involved in the implementation phase.
10-6 Explain the tasks involved in the maintenance phase.
10-7 Describe new trends in systems analysis and design, including service-oriented architecture,
rapid application development, extreme programming, and agile methodology.

Terms to learn in this chapter:

 Agile methodology  Joint application  Rapid application

z design (JAD) development (RAD)
 Computer-aided  Legal feasibility  Request for inform-
systems engineer-  Maintenance phase ation (RFI)
ing (CASE)  Operational feasibil-  Request for pro-
 Crowdsourcing ity posal (RFP)
 Design phase  Outsourcing  Requirements-gath-
 Economic feasibility  Pair programming ering and analysis
 External users  Parallel conversion phase
 Extreme program-  Phased-in–phased-  Scheduling feasibil-
ming (XP) out conversion ity
 Feasibility study  Pilot conversion  Self-sourcing
 Implementation  Planning phase  Selling prototype
phase  Plunge (direct  Service-oriented ar-
 Insourcing cutover) conversion chitecture (SOA)
 Internal users  Proof-of-concept  Systems develop-
 IT project manage- prototype ment life cycle
ment  Prototyping (SDLC)
 Technical feasibility

Systems Development Lifecycle: An Overview

Source of Information: MIS 10 – Management Information Systems – 10th Edition – Bidgoli - Cengage
In the information systems field, system failure can happen for several reasons, including missed
deadlines, users’ needs that are not met, dissatisfied customers, lack of support from top manage-
ment, and exceeding the budget.

Old equipment, being unable to handle the capacity and pick times, also causes system failure. Using
a system development method can help prevent these failures. Designing a successful information
system requires integrating people, software, and hardware.

To achieve this integration, designers often follow the systems development life cycle (SDLC), also
known as the “waterfall model.” It is a series of well-defined phases performed in sequence that
serves as a framework for developing a system or project.

Phase 1: Planning

During the planning phase, which is one of the most crucial phases of the SDLC model, the systems
designer must define the problem the organization faces, taking care not to define symptoms rather
than the underlying problem.

After identifying the problem, an analyst or team of analysts assesses the current and future needs
of the organization or a specific group of users by answering the following questions:

 Why is this information system being developed?

 Who is the system’s current and future users?
 Is the system new, or is it an upgrade or extension of an existing system?
 Which functional areas (departments) will be using the system?

Formation of the Task Force

To ensure an information system’s success, users must have input in the planning, requirements-
gathering and analysis, design, and implementation phases. For this reason, a task force is formed,
consisting of representatives from different departments (including IT), systems analysts, technical
advisors, and top management. This team collects user feedback and works toward getting users in-
volved from the beginning.

Source of Information: MIS 10 – Management Information Systems – 10th Edition – Bidgoli - Cengage
Feasibility Study

Feasibility is the measure of how beneficial or practical an information system will be to an organiza-
tion; it should be measured continuously throughout the SDLC process.

During the planning phase, analysts investigate a proposed solution’s feasibility and determine how
best to present the solution to management in order to obtain funding.

The tool used for this purpose is a feasibility study, and it usually has five major dimensions, dis-
cussed in the following sections:

1. Economic feasibility assesses a system’s costs and benefits.

2. Technical feasibility is concerned with the technology that will be used in the system.
3. Operational feasibility is the measure of how well the proposed solution will work in the or-
ganization and how internal and external customers will react to it.
4. Scheduling feasibility is concerned with whether the new system can be completed on time.
5. Legal feasibility is concerned with legal issues.

Phase 2: Requirements Gathering and Analysis

In the requirements-gathering and analysis phase, analysts define the problem and generate altern-
atives for solving it.

During this phase, the team attempts to understand the requirements for the system, analyses these
requirements to determine the main problem with the current system or processes, and looks for
ways to solve problems by designing the new system.

The intent is to find out the following:

 What users do
 How they do it
 What problems they face in performing their jobs
 How the new system would address these problems
 What users expect from the system
 What decisions are made
 What data is needed to make decisions
 Where data comes from
 How data should be presented
 What tools are needed to examine data for the decisions that users make

All this information can be recorded, and the team uses this information to determine what the new
system should do (process analysis) and what data is needed for this process to be performed (data
analysis).

Phase 3: Design

Source of Information: MIS 10 – Management Information Systems – 10th Edition – Bidgoli - Cengage
During the design phase analysts choose the solution that is the most realistic and offers the highest
payoff for the organization. Details of the proposed solution are outlined, and the output of this
phase is a document with exact specifications for implementing the system, including files and data-
bases, forms and reports, documentation, procedures, hardware and software, networking compon-
ents, and general system specifications.

Computer-Aided Systems Engineering

Computer-aided systems engineering (CASE) tools automate parts of the application development
process. These tools are particularly helpful for investigation and analysis in large-scale projects be-
cause they automate parts of the design phase.

CASE tools usually include the following output:

 Specifications documents
 Documentation of the analysis, including models and explanations
 Design specifications with related documentation
 Logical and physical design documents based on the conceptual design
 Code modules that can be incorporated into the system

Prototyping

In prototyping, a small-scale version of the system is developed, but one that is large enough to illus-
trate the system’s benefits and allow users to offer feedback.

Prototyping is usually done in four steps:

1. Define the initial requirements.

2. Develop the prototype.
3. Review and evaluate the prototype.
4. Revise the prototype.

Advantages of Prototyping:

 It provides a method for investigating an environment in which the problem is poorly

defined, and information is difficult to gather.
 It reduces the need to train information system users because the users are involved in de-
veloping the system.
 It reduces costs because building a model is less expensive than building the complete sys-
tem. If users and top management decide the system should not be developed, the organiz-
ation has not lost all the money that would have been spent on building a complete system.
 It increases the system’s chance of success by encouraging users’ involvement.
 It is easier to modify a prototype than a complete system.
 It improves documentation because users and designers can walk through several versions
of the system.
 It improves communication among users, top management, and information systems per-
sonnel because seeing a concrete model often prompts potential users of the system to ask
questions, express opinions,

Disadvantages of Prototyping:

 It might require more support and assistance from users and top management than they are
willing to offer.

Source of Information: MIS 10 – Management Information Systems – 10th Edition – Bidgoli - Cengage
  The prototype might not reflect the final system’s actual operation and, therefore, could be
misleading.
 Developing a prototype might lead analysts and designers to forego comprehensive testing
and documentation.

Phase 4: Implementation

During the implementation phase, the solution is transferred from paper to action, and the team
configures the system and procures components for it. A variety of tasks takes place in the imple-
mentation phase, including the following:

 Acquiring new equipment

 Hiring new employees
 Training employees
 Planning and designing the system’s physical layout
 Coding
 Testing
 Designing security measures and safeguards
 Creating a disaster recovery plan

IT Project Management

IT project management includes activities required to plan, manage, and control the creation and
delivery of an information system. Activities include everything that take place during the SDLC pro-
cess. As mentioned earlier, IT projects fail for several different reasons, including:

 Missed deadlines
 Users’ needs that are not met
 Dissatisfied customers
 Lack of support from top management
 Exceeding the budget
 Inadequate planning
 Insufficient communication among team members
 Inadequate project management tools and techniques

Request for Proposal

A request for proposal (RFP) is a written document with detailed specifications that is used to re-
quest bids for equipment, supplies, or services from vendors.

Implementation Alternatives

1. Insourcing happens when an organization’s team develops the system internally

2. Self-sourcing is when end users develop their own information systems, with little or no
formal assistance from the information systems team. These users might not know how to
write programming code, but they are typically skilled enough to use off-the-shelf software,
such as spreadsheet and database packages, to produce custom-built applications
3. With the outsourcing approach, an organization hires an external vendor or consultant who
specializes in providing development services.
4. Crowdsourcing is the process of outsourcing tasks that are traditionally performed by em-
ployees or contractors to a large group of people (a crowd) through an open call.
Source of Information: MIS 10 – Management Information Systems – 10th Edition – Bidgoli - Cengage
Phase 5: Maintenance

During the maintenance phase, the information system is operating, enhancements and modifica-
tions to the system have been developed and tested, and hardware and software components have
been added or replaced.

The maintenance team assesses how the system is working and takes steps to keep the system up
and running. As part of this phase, the team collects performance data and gathers information on
whether the system is meeting its objectives by talking with users, customers, and other people af-
fected by the new system.

New Trends in Systems Analysis and Design

1. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a philosophy and a software and system develop-

ment methodology that focuses on the development, use, and reuse of small, self-contained
blocks of codes (called services) to meet the software needs of an organization.
2. Rapid Application Development (RAD) concentrates on user involvement and continuous in-
teraction between users and designers. It combines the planning and analysis phases into
one phase and develops a prototype of the system. It uses an iterative process (also called
“incremental development”) that repeats the design, development, and testing steps as
needed, based on feedback from users.
3. Extreme Programming (XP) is a method for developing software applications and informa-
tion system projects in which the project is divided into smaller functions and developers
cannot go on to the next phase until the current phase is finished. Each function of the over-
all project is developed in a step-by-step fashion.
4. Agile Methodology is similar to XP in focusing on an incremental development process and
timely delivery of working software. However, there is less emphasis on team coding and
more emphasis on limiting the project’s scope.

Source of Information: MIS 10 – Management Information Systems – 10th Edition – Bidgoli - Cengage