Systems Development

Planning
Lifecycle
Systems Development: Some Key
Questions
• How does an organization ensure that its IT resources
support its business plan?

• How do we ensure compatibility and interoperability

• How does a systems project get authorized?

• How is a project controlled and reviewed?

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 Systems Lifecycle
• Investigation
• Design
• Construction
All of these activities
• Testing comprise system
• Implementation development
and form a lifecycle
• Maintenance
• Enhancement
• Retirement

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 Strategic Planning
• Based upon businesses multiyear strategic plan
• Identify IT components or requirements within
the business plan
– Include IT inhibitors as well as IT-based
breakthroughs
• Create rough plan of major IT initiatives
• This should form a baseline IT plan as well as
human resources plan

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 Steps in IS Planning

Identify
Strategic Plan
Projects

Prioritize and
Select

Determine resources
required (people, $, time)

Create planning
document

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 Example
3-Year Business Plan 3-Year IS Plan
1. Accelerate product intro 1. Engineering automation:
process to 4 months implement e-only design
2. Move manufacture of process
mature products to 2. Extend corporate
Mexico network to offshore
3. Expand e-commerce manufacturing partners
capabilities to direct 3. Create internet sales site
online selling and and custom catalog
custom catalogs framework

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 Example
The objectives of this plan must be time sequenced and
budgeted

Engineering Automation
True South
Flexible E-selling
1H 2002 2H 2002 1H 2003 2H 2003
Qtrly $ 225 225 400 125 150 150 200 150

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 Architecture
• Many firms have developed “systems
architectures”
– A high-level roadmap which maps business
functions to present and future systems
– And shows relationships between systems
– Does not specific timeframe
– Must be updated regularlyl
• Specific investment decisions and priorities can
be made within this framework
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 Discussion: The benefits of an
architecture
• Situation

9
 Systems Development Model
• Traditional
• Alternatives
– Prototyping
– Rapid Application Development
– CASE-based
– Time-boxing

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 Benefits of Methodology
• Various models are often called “methodology”
– A system of methods
• Provide common language and expectation
• Allow for standard management reviews
• Create standards for documentation and testing
• Almost impossible to be credible without one

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Traditional Software Development
Lifecycle (SDLC)
• Often called Waterfall Model

Investigation

Design

Construction

Implement
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 Traditional SDLC
• From four to 12 phases
• One phase completed before beginning next
phase
• Emphasis on documentation and checkpoints
• Detailed planning and budgeting at each phase

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 Example of SDLC
Phase and Deliverable
• Pre-investigation
– Project proposal and recommendation
• Investigation
– Investigation Report
– Analysis of alternatives
– Cost and benefit analysis
– Schedule
– Recommendation
• Requirements Analysis
– Detailed system requirements
– Revised cost and benefits analysis
– Revised schedule

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 Example of SDLC
Phase and Deliverable
• Design
– Logical design
– Technical design
– Test plans
– Revised cost and benefits analysis
– Revised schedule
• Construction & Testing
– System elements
– Implementation plans
– Contingency plans
– End user training materials
– Maintenance plan
– Operations plans
• Implementation
– Cutover / Phase in

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 Pros and Cons of SDLC
• Advantages
– Lends itself to good control
– Phase deliverables well defined
• Facilitates contracting
– Clear checkpoints makes reviews easy
– Creates detailed documentation which is
valuable for maintenance

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 Pros and Cons of SDLC
• Disadvantages
– Time and cost estimation difficult
– Can be very slow
– Requires that requirements are defined
abstractly, without interaction with “system”
– Overall ownership usually on “systems”
people

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Improvements to Traditional SDLC
• Dedicated project teams
– Full time end-user designers
• JAD workshops
– Joint Application Design
– Facilitated workshops
• 1 to 5 days
• Scribes
• Perhaps prototype tools
– Requirements definition or design
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 Time Box Approach
• Identify objectives
• Create project team
• Set time period (6 weeks)
• Team cycles through all phases of lifecycle very quickly,
sometimes in parallel
• Fast development tools very useful
• Review takes place at end of time period
– Continue project for another period?
– Cancel all-together?
– Implement current system?

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Advantages of Time Box Approach
• Advantages
– Eliminates gap between system on paper and
“real” system
– Immediate demonstration of technical
feasibility
– Limits investment risks
– Developers prefer it

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 Disadvantages of Time Box
Approach
• Disadvantages
– Longer commitment may be needed to get
results
– Danger of implementing unstable or poorly-
maintainable product
– Without discipline to focus on objectives, can
be wasteful

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 Prototyping
• Aim: Quickly create something that shows how
the system (or a portion of it) will work
• Allow hands out interaction with system to test
requirements and key design features
• Problem: How do you build something quickly?
– Use 4GL (fast development, poor
performance), recode later
– Reduce feature set (no editing of data)
– Create key modules only
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 Prototyping
• Nonoperational prototypes
– Mockups that don’t really work
– Limited to input and output (reports, screens)
• Operational prototypes
– Working systems or portions of systems
– Possibly 4GL based

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 CASE Tools
• Computer Aided Software Engineering
– Toolsets to speed software development and
improve quality
• Upper CASE
– Focus on investigation, analysis and design
• Lower CASE
– Design, code generation and testing
• Integrated CASE include both

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 CASE Tools
• Repository
– Database containing all development objectives
• Data elements and definitions
• Requirements
• Code modules
– Enables a team to work on the CASE project
• Data model
– Dictionary and schema
• Code generation
– Product 3GL or 4GL code

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Rapid Application Development
• Trendy term for many of these alternative
methods used is some combination
– CASE
– JAD
– Prototyping
– Time Boxing

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 Project Management
• Project Management
– Identification of tasks to be completed
– Understanding of relationship between tasks
– Tracking of task ownership and status
– Adjustment of resources and plans in reaction
to events
– Task tracking and accountability
– Management reporting and escalation

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 Risk Assessment
• Many projects predictably fail do to risk profile
• Major risk factors
– Scope
– Timeline
– Experience of team
– Organizational change
– Geographic scope

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 End User Development
• Easy-to-use tools encourage end-user
development
• So does IT department resource constraints
• Advantages
– Good knowledge of business needs
– Control of resources and priorities
• Disadvantages
– Lack of technical expertise
– Lack of planning

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 IT Organization vs. End-User
Development
• Source of tension
• Users: “It is too slow and don’t know our
business”
• IT: “Users produce poor systems and leave us
with maintenance”
• How should IT respond to this?
– Ignore
– Outlaw and drive underground
– Offer assistance and consultation
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