PAMPANGA

STATE
AGRICULTURAL
UNIVERSITY

Systems Analysis
and Design
SAD

ROMANA B. PARE
CREAM - DCSA
 Module 2
Project Management

At the end of this module, the student must be able to:

1. Understand how projects are initiated and selected, define a business problem, and
determine the feasibility of a proposed project.
2. Define what is feasibility study.
3. Identify the types of feasibility study
4. Identify and understand the project scheduling techniques.

Project Initiation

Systems projects are initiated by many different sources for many reasons. Some
of the projects suggested will survive various stages of evaluation to be worked on by
you; others will not and/or should not get that far. Businesspeople suggest systems
projects for two broad reasons: (1) to experience problems that lend themselves to
systems solutions and (2) to recognize opportunities for improvement through upgrading,
altering, or installing new systems when they occur. Both of these situations can arise as
the organization adapts to and copes with natural, evolutionary change.

Problems Within the Organization

Managers do not like to conceive of their organization as having problem, let alone
talk about them or share them with someone from outside. However, good managers
realize that recognizing symptoms of problems or, at a later stage, diagnosing the
problems themselves and then confronting them is imperative if the business is to keep
functioning at its highest potential.

Problems surface in many different ways. One way of conceptualizing what

problems are and how they arise is to think of them as situations where goals have never

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been met or are no longer being met. Useful feedback gives information about the gap
between actual and intended performance. In this way feedback spotlights problems.

A summary of symptoms of problems and approaches useful in problem detection

is provided in Table 2.1. Notice that checking output, observing or researching employee
behavior, and listening to the feedback from external sources are all valuable in finding
problem.

Table 2.1 Summary of Symptoms of Problems

To Identify Problems Look for These Specific Signs:

Check output against performance criteria • Too many errors

• Work completed slowly
• Work done incorrectly
• Work done incompletely
• Work not done at all
Observe behavior of employees • High absenteeism
• High job dissatisfaction
• High job turnover
Listen to external feedback from: • Complaints
Vendors • Suggestions for improvement
Customers • Loss of sales
Suppliers • Lower sales

Defining the Problem

According to Kendall andKendall (2019) a problem definition usually contains

some sort of problem statement, summarized in a paragraph or two. This is followed by
a series of issues or major independent pieces of the problem. The issues are followed
by a series of objectives or goals that match the issues point by point. Issues are the

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current situation; objectives are the desired situation. The objectives may be very specific
or worded using a general statement.

The problem definition contains requirements, the things that must be

accomplished, along with the possible solutions and the constraints that limit the
development of the system. The requirements section may include security, usability,
government requirements, and so on. Constraints often include the word not, indicating
a limitation, and may contain budget restrictions or time limitations.

Selection of Projects

Projects come from many different sources and for many reasons. Not all should
be selected for further study. You must be clear in your own mind about the reasons for
recommending a systems study on a project that seems to address a problem or could
bring about improvement. Consider the motivation that prompts a proposal on the project.

Kendall and Kendall (2019) considered five specific questions that need to be asked
regarding project selection:
1. Does it have backing from management?
2. Is the timing of the project commitment appropriate?
3. Is it possible to improve attainment of strategic organizational goals?
4. Is it practical in terms of resources for the systems analyst and organization?
5. Is it a worthwhile project compared with other ways the organization could invest
resources?

Determining Feasibility
A feasibility analysis is used to determine the possibility of an idea, such as
ensuring a project is legally and technically feasible as well as economically justifiable. It
tells us whether a project is worth the investment because in some cases, a project may
not be doable. There can be many reasons for this, including requiring too many
resources, which not only prevents those resources from performing other tasks but also

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may cost more than an organization would earn back by taking on a project that isn’t
profitable.

Types of Feasibility
1. Technical Feasibility
This assessment focuses on the technical resources available to the
organization. It helps organizations determine whether the technical resources
meet capacity and whether the technical team is capable of converting the ideas
into working systems. Technical feasibility also involves the evaluation of the
hardware, software, and other technical requirements of the proposed system.

2. Economic Feasibility
This assessment typically involves a cost/ benefits analysis of the project,
helping organizations determine the viability, cost, and benefits associated with a
project before financial resources are allocated.

3. Legal Feasibility
This assessment investigates whether any aspect of the proposed project
conflicts with legal requirements like zoning laws, data protection acts or social
media laws. Let’s say an organization wants to construct a new office building in a
specific location. A feasibility study might reveal the organization’s ideal location
isn’t zoned for that type of business. That organization has just saved considerable
time and effort by learning that their project was not feasible right from the
beginning.

4. Operational Feasibility
Operational feasibility is dependent on the human resources available for
the project and involves projecting whether the system will operate and be used
once it is installed.

5. Scheduling Feasibility

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 This assessment is the most important for project success; after all, a
project will fail if not completed on time. In scheduling feasibility, an organization
estimates how much time the project will take to complete.

Project Scheduling

Ray (2017) defined Project Scheduling as a mechanism to communicate what

tasks need to get done and which organizational resources will be allocated to complete
those tasks in what timeframe. A project schedule is a document collecting all the work
needed to deliver the project on time.

Activity Planning
• Planning includes:
✓ Selecting a systems analysis team
✓ Estimating time required to complete each task
✓ Scheduling the project

Estimating Time
• Project is broken down into phases.
• Further project is broken down into tasks or activities.
• Finally project is broken down into steps or even smaller units.
• Time is estimated for each task or activity.
• Most likely, pessimistic and optimistic estimates for time may be used.

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Figure 2.1 Beginning to plan a project by breaking it into three major activities

Refining the planning and scheduling of analysis activities by adding detailed

tasks and establishing the time required to complete the tasks.

Figure 2.2 Detailed tasks of Analysis Phase

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Using Gantt Chart and PERT Diagram in Project Scheduling

Gantt Chart was introduced by Henry L. Gantt in 1914 and was made available to the
analysts as a fundamental planning tool. It is an easy way to schedule tasks. Both Gantt
and PERT diagrams are considered traditional tools and yet they are still widely used as
of today. The very reason probably is that – it has been proven by the “efficiency experts”
their effectiveness for many years.

Figure 2.3 Gantt Chart of Figure 2.2

A Gantt chart is a tool that enables you to easily schedule tasks. It is a chart on
which bars represent tasks or activities. The length of each bar represents the relative
length of the task. Figure 2.3 is an example of a two-dimensional Gantt chart in which
time is indicated on the horizontal dimension, and a description of activities makes up the
vertical dimension.
In this example, the Gantt chart shows the analysis or information-gathering phase
of the project. Notice on the Gantt chart that conducting interviews will take three weeks,
administering the questionnaire will take four weeks, and so on. These activities overlap
part of the time. In the chart the special symbol signifies that right now, it is week 9.

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The bars with color shading represent projects or parts of projects that have been
completed, telling us that the systems analyst is behind in introducing prototypes but
ahead in analyzing data flows. Action must be taken on introducing prototypes soon so
that other activities or even the project itself will not be delayed as a result.
The main advantage of a Gantt chart is its simplicity. Not only is this technique
easy to use, but it also lends itself to worthwhile communication with end users. Another
advantage of using a Gantt chart is that the bars representing activities or tasks are drawn
to scale; that is, the size of the bars indicates the relative length of time it will take to
complete each task.

PERT Diagram
PERT is an acronym for Program Evaluation and Review Techniques. A program (a
synonym for a project) is represented by a network of nodes and arrows that are then
evaluated to determine the critical activities, improved the schedule if necessary, and
review progress once the project is undertaken. PERT was developed in the late 1950s
for use in the US.
Circles on the PERT diagram are called events and can be identified by numbers,
letters, or any other arbitrary form of designation. The circular nodes are present to (1)
recognize that an activity is completed and (2) indicate which activities need to be
completed before new activities may be undertaken (which is called precedence).

Figure 2.4 Listing Activities with Predecessor

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 In constructing the PERT diagram for this Figure 2.4, the analyst looks first at the
activities that require no predecessor activities—in this case A (conduct interviews) and
C (read company reports). In the example in Figure 2.5, the analyst chose to number the
nodes 10, 20, 30, and so on, and he or she drew two arrows out of the beginning node
10. These arrows represent activities A and C and are labeled as such. Nodes numbered
20 and 30 are drawn at the end of these respective arrows. The next step is to look for
any activity that requires only A as a predecessor; task B (administer questionnaires) is
the only one, so it can be represented by an arrow drawn from node 20 to node 30.
Because activities D (analyze data flow) and E (introduce prototype) require both
activities B and C to be finished before they are started, arrows labeled D and E are drawn
from node 30, the event that recognizes the completion of both B and C. This process is
continued until the entire PERT diagram is completed. Notice that the entire project ends
at an event called node 80.

Figure 2.5 PERT Diagram for the Analysis Phase of a Systems Project

Identifying Critical Path

Once the PERT diagram is drawn, it is possible to identify the critical path by
calculating the sum of the activity times on each path and choosing the longest path. In
this example, there are four paths:
Path 1 = 10–20–30–50–60–70–80 Path 3 = 10–30–50–60–70–80
=A+B+D+G+H+I =C+D+G+H+I
=3+4+8+3+2+2 =4+8+3+2+2
= 22 days = 19 days

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 Path 2 = 10–20–30–40–60–70–80 Path 4 = 10–30–40–60–70–80
=A+B+E+F+H+I =C+E+F+H+I
=3+4+5+3+2+2 =4+5+3+2+2
= 19 days = 16 days

The longest path or the critical path is 10–20–30–50–60–70–80, which takes 22

days. It is essential that the systems analyst carefully monitor the activities on the critical
path so as to keep the entire project on time or even shorten the project length, if
warranted.

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Guide Questions 2

Answer the following to check what you’ve learned from the discussions so far. Check
your answers from the provided answer key at the end of this unit.

1. Who developed Gantt chart?

2. What are the different types of feasibility study?
3. What is critical path in PERT diagram?

Answers to the Guide Questions 1

Question 1. Henry L. Gantt developed Gantt chart.

Question 2. The five types of feasibility study are: technical feasibility, economic
feasibility, legal fasibiligy, operational feasibility and scheduling feasibility.

Question 3. The critical path is the longest path to finish the project.

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Key Points
1. The feasibility study is not a full-blown systems study. It is used to gather broad data for
the members of management that in turn enables them to make a decision on whether to
proceed with a systems study.
2. PERT is an acronym for Program Evaluation and Review Techniques.
3. A large part of determining resources has to do with assessing technical feasibility.

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References
Book/eBook

Kendall, K. and Kendall J. (2019). Systems Analysis and Design (10th ed.). Pearson
Education, Inc., One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

Schwalbe, K. (2019). Information Technology Project Management (9th ed.). United

States of America. Boston: Course Technology Cengage Learning

Online Resources

Feasibility Study inProject Management (2020). Accessed on August 26, 2020 from
https://www.simplilearn.com/feasibility-study-article

Ray, S. (2017). What is Project Scheduling? Accessed on August 26, 2020 from
https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/what-is-project-scheduling

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