Modern Systems Analysis

and Design

Chapter 4
Identifying and Selecting
Systems Development Projects
Learning Objectives
 Describe the project identification and
selection process.
 Describe corporate strategic planning and
information systems planning process.
 Explain the relationship between corporate
strategic planning and information systems
planning.

Chapter 4 2
Learning Objectives (Cont.)
 Describe how information systems planning can
be used to assist in identifying and selecting
systems development projects.
 Analyze information systems planning matrices
to determine affinity between information
systems and IS projects and to forecast the
impact of IS projects on business objectives.
 Describe the three classes of Internet electronic
commerce applications: Internet, intranets, and
extranets.

Chapter 4 3
Identifying and Selecting Systems
Development Projects

Chapter 4 4
The Process of Identifying and
Selecting IS Development Projects
 Identifying potential development
projects.
Identification
from a stakeholder group.
Each stakeholder group brings their own
perspective and motivation to the IS
decision.

Chapter 4 5
The Process of Identifying and
Selecting IS Development Projects
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.

Chapter 4 6
 The Process of Identifying and Selecting
IS Development Projects (Cont.)

Chapter 4 7
The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS
Development Projects (Cont.)
 Classifying and ranking IS development projects.
 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.

Chapter 4 8
 The Process of Identifying and Selecting
IS Development Projects (Cont.)

Chapter 4 9
The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS
Development Projects (Cont.)
 Selecting IS development projects.
 Based on various factors.
 Consider both short- and long-term projects.
 Select those most likely to achieve business
objectives.
 Is a very important and ongoing activity.

Chapter 4 10
The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS
Development Projects (Cont.)

Chapter 4 11
The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS
Development Projects (Cont.)
 One method for deciding among different
projects or alternative designs is:
 For each requirement or constraint: Score =
weight X rating.
 Each alternative: sum scores across
requirements/constraints.
 Alternative with highest score wins.

Chapter 4 12
The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS
Development Projects (Cont.)

Chapter 4 13
The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS
Development Projects (Cont.)

Chapter 4 14
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.

Chapter 4 15
Deliverables and Outcomes
 Incremental commitment: a strategy in
systems analysis and design in which the
project is reviewed after each phase and
continuation of the project is rejustified.

Chapter 4 16
Corporate and Information Systems
Planning
 To benefit from a planning-based
approach for identifying and selecting
projects:
 An organization must analyze its information
needs thoroughly.
 Plan its projects carefully.

Chapter 4 17
Corporate Strategic Planning
 Ongoing process that defines
mission, objectives, and strategies of
an organization.

Chapter 4 18
Corporate Strategic Planning
 Corporate strategy involves:
Mission statement
Objective statements
Description of competitive strategy

Chapter 4 19
Corporate Strategic Planning
(Cont.)
 Mission statement: A statement that
makes it clear what business a company is
in.

Chapter 4 20
Corporate Strategic Planning
(Cont.)

Chapter 4 21
Corporate Strategic Planning
(Cont.)
 Objective statement: a series of
statements that express an organization’s
qualitative and quantitative goals for
reaching a desired future position.

Chapter 4 © 2008 by Prentice Hall 22

Corporate Strategic Planning
(Cont.)

Chapter 4 © 2008 by Prentice Hall 23

Corporate Strategic Planning
(Cont.)
 Competitive strategy: the method by
which an organization attempts to achieve
its mission and objectives.
 Main types:
 Low-cost producer
 Product differentiation
 Product focus or niche

Chapter 4 24
Corporate Strategic Planning
(Cont.)

Chapter 4 25
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.

Chapter 4 26
Information Systems Planning
(Cont.)

Chapter 4 27
Information Systems Planning
(Cont.)
 IS planning must be kept in line with
corporate strategic planning.

Chapter 4 28
Information Systems Planning
(Cont.)
 Top-down planning: attempts to gain a
broad understanding of information system
needs of the entire organization and
offers:
 Broader perspective
 Improved integration
 Improved management support
 Better understanding

Chapter 4 29
Information Systems Planning
(Cont.)
 Bottom-up planning: identifies IS
development projects based on solving
specific operational business problems or
taking advantage of specific opportunities.
 Can be faster and less costly, so may be
beneficial in certain circumstances.

Chapter 4 30
Business Functions, Data Entities,
and Information Systems of PVF

Chapter 4 © 2008 by Prentice Hall 31

Information Systems Planning of
Pine Valley Furniture (PVF)
 Functional Decomposition: breaking
high-level abstract information into smaller
units for more detailed planning

Chapter 4 © 2008 by Prentice Hall 32

Information Systems Planning of
Pine Valley Furniture (PVF)

Chapter 4 © 2008 by Prentice Hall 33

Information Systems Planning of
Pine Valley Furniture (PVF)
 IS Planning Matrices describe
relationships between pairs of
organizational elements (location, function,
business unit, objective, process, data,
information system).

Chapter 4 34
Information Systems Planning of
Pine Valley Furniture (PVF)

Chapter 4 35
IS Plan Components
 Briefly describe mission, objectives,
and strategy of the organization.
 Provide summary of current and
future processes, functions, data
entities, and information needs of the
enterprise.

Chapter 4 36
IS Plan Components (Cont.)
 Describe primary role IS will play in
the organization to transform
enterprise from current to future state.
 Describe limitations imposed by
technology and current levels of
financial, technical, and personnel
resources.

Chapter 4 37
IS Plan Components (Cont.)
 Summarize overall information
systems needs in the company and
set long-term strategies for filling the
needs.
 Show detailed inventory of present
projects and systems and detailed
plan for the current year.

Chapter 4 38
IS Plan Components (Cont.)
 Describe unknown but likely events
that can affect the plan, presently
known business change elements,
and description of their impact on the
plan.

Chapter 4 39
Information Systems (IS) Plan

Chapter 4 40
Electronic Commerce Applications
and Internet Basics
 Electronic Commerce (EC): Internet-based
communication to support day-to-day business
activities.
 Internet: a large worldwide network of networks
that use a common protocol to communicate
with each other.
 Intranet: Internet-based communication to
support business activities within a single
organization.

Chapter 4 41
Electronic Commerce Applications
and Internet Basics (Cont.)
 Extranet: Internet-based communication
to support business-to-business activities.
 Electronic data interchange (EDI): the
use of telecommunications technologies to
directly transfer business documents
between organizations.

Chapter 4 42
Electronic Commerce Applications
and Internet Basics (Cont.)

Chapter 4 43
Summary
 In this chapter you learned how to:
 Describe the project identification and
selection process.
 Describe corporate strategic planning and
information systems planning.
 Explain the relationship between corporate
strategic planning and IS planning.

Chapter 4 44
Summary (Cont.)
 Describe how IS planning can assist in
system development project identification
and selection.
 Analyze IS planning matrices.
 Describe three classes of E-Commerce
applications.

Chapter 4 45