Information Systems Development Chapter 10 Information Systems Development

This Could Happen To You: “You’re Not Going to Take Your Bridal Gown into a Porta Potty” Fox Lake’s facilities can’t handle wedding crowds. Problems sharing facilities, timely maintenance, and tracking repairs. Didn’t know how wedding business would impact everything else. Business analyst, Laura, comes to help Scenario video Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Study Questions Q1: What is systems development? Q2: Why is systems development difficult and risky? Q3: What are the five phases of the SDLC? Q4: How is system definition accomplished? Q5: What is the users’ role in the requirements phase? Q6: How are the five components designed? Q7: How is an information system implemented? Q8: What are the tasks for system maintenance? Q9: What are some of the problems with the SDLC? How does the knowledge in this chapter help Fox Lake and you? Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q1: What Is Systems Development? Process of creating and maintaining information systems Involves all five IS components Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q2: Why Is Systems Development Difficult and Risky? Many projects never finished. Those that finish often 200–300% over budget. Some projects finish within budget and schedule, but never satisfactorily accomplish their goals. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Five Major Challenges to Systems Development Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q2: Why Is Systems Development Difficult and Risky? (cont’d) Difficult to determine requirements What specifically is system to do? How does wedding planner use new system to reserve a room or building? What does data entry screen look like? How does planner add/reduce facilities once wedding scheduled? What should system do when a wedding is cancelled? Facility schedule system interface with accounting systems? How? Does system need to reserve floor or refrigerator space in restaurant kitchen? Must create environment where difficult questions are asked and answered. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q2: Why Is Systems Development Difficult and Risky? (cont’d) Changing requirements Large, long projects aim at moving target Scheduling and budgeting difficulties How long to build it? How long to create data model? How long to build database applications? How long to do testing? How long to develop and document procedures? How long for training? How many labor hours? Labor cost? What’s the rate of return on investment? Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q2: Why Is Systems Development Difficult and Risky? (cont’d) Changing Technology Do you want to stop your development to switch to the new technology? Would it be better to finish developing according to the existing plan? Why build an out-of-date system? Can you afford to keep changing the project? Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q2: Why Is Systems Development Difficult and Risky? (cont’d) Diseconomies of scale Brooks’ Law “Adding more people to a late project makes the project later.” New staff must be trained by productive members who lose productivity while training new members. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Yes and No Is It Really So Bleak? Systems development is challenging, but solid methodologies exist that are successful when supported and managed properly. Yes and No Systems development life cycle (SDLC), most common process for systems development. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q3: What Are the Five Phases of the SDLC? Based on problem analysis and decision solving processes Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q4: How Is System Definition Accomplished? Team of users and IT professionals Small business may hire consultant to work with managers and key employees Fox Lake: Jeff, Laura, Mike, Anne, and other key employees will define system Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q4: How Is System Definition Accomplished? (cont’d) Purpose: Increase revenue from wedding events Goals: Eliminate or at least reveal schedule conflicts and improve maintenance tracking Scope: Specify users or business processes that will be involved, or facilities, functions, events that will be involved Define scope for new Fox Lake system Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Assess Feasibility: Dimensions of Feasibility Cost feasibility Approximated, “back-of-the-envelope” analysis Purpose: eliminate infeasible ideas early Consider cost of previous projects, operational and labor costs Schedule feasibility Ball park estimate Technical feasibility Do we have the hardware, software, personnel, expertise to complete project? Organizational feasibility Fits customs, culture, charter, legal requirements of organization Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Form a Project Team Typical team Team composition changes over time Systems analyst and/or business analyst Managers Programmers Software testers Users Team composition changes over time Active user involvement is critical throughout Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q5: What Is the Users’ Role in the Requirements Phase? Review and approve requirements Laura only person with knowledge of systems development, she will work with development contractor to help specify Fox Lake’s needs Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Experiencing MIS InClass Exercise 10: GardenTraker Suppose that you and two or three other students have been groundskeepers at Fox Lake, and you have decided to go out on your own and open a business that offers landscaping services. Your goal is to develop a list of clients for whom you provide regular and recurring services, such as mowing, weeding, and pool cleaning, as well as specialty services, such as pruning, garden preparation, tree removal, sprinkler installation and repair, and the like. Need information system for tracking customers, services you have provided, and services you are scheduled to provide in the future. As a new small business, you want a simple and affordable system based on Excel or Access. The name of the system is GardenTraker. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Experiencing MIS InClass Exercise 10: GardenTraker (cont’d) 1. Explain how you would use the SDLC to develop GardenTraker. 2. Define the scope of your system. 3. Explain the process you would use to determine the feasibility of GardenTraker. List data you need for such an assessment, and explain how you might obtain or estimate that data. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Experiencing MIS InClass Exercise 10: GardenTraker (cont’d) Consider just the tracking of recurring services, and list all of the requirements that you can imagine for that functionality. Be specific and answer at least the following: What data will you need? How will you input that data? Show a mockup of a data entry screen, and describe how it will be used. Using your mockup, describe how you will modify recurring service data. Using your mockup, describe how you will cancel a recurring service. Specify any other requirements you believe are important for tracking recurring services. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Experiencing MIS InClass Exercise 10: GardenTraker (cont’d) Present your answers to item 4 to the rest of the class and obtain feedback from your classmates. 6. Modify your answer to item 4 based upon feedback you received in item 5. 7. Considering just the recurring services functionality, do you think it would be better to use Excel or Access for this project? List the criteria you used to answer that question. Summarize the consequences of making a poor choice between these two products. 8. What does this short exercise tell you about information systems development? Answer this question in such a way that you could use your answer to demonstrate your critical-thinking skills in a job interview Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q6: How Are the Five Components Designed? Determine hardware specifications Purchase it, lease it, or lease time from hosting service Determine software specifications Off-the-shelf, custom developed Database design Convert data model to a database design Procedure design Normal, backup, and failure recovery procedures Design Job Descriptions Create and define new tasks and responsibilities Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Procedures to Be Designed Figure 10-7 Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Design of Job Descriptions Teams of systems analysts and users determine job descriptions and functions Duties and responsibilities for new jobs and revised jobs coordinated with human resources policies Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q7: How Is an Information System Implemented? Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q7: How Is an Information System Implemented? (cont’d) System testing Test plan Product Quality Assurance (PQA) User testing Develop test plans and test cases Final say on whether system is “production ready” Beta testing Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Design and Implementation for the Five IS Components Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

System Conversion Approaches Pilot Implement entire system in limited portion of business Advantage: Limits exposure to business if system fails Phased System installed in phases or modules Each piece is installed and tested Parallel Complete new and old systems run simultaneously Very safe, but expensive Plunge (“Big Bang”) High risk if new system fails, no fall back system Only used if new system not vital to company operation Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q8: What Are the Tasks for System Maintenance? Failure is a difference between what system does and what it is supposed to do. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Q9: What Are Some of the Problems with the SDLC? Sequence of non-repeated phases It rarely works smoothly, causing development team to go back and forth, raising costs and delaying project SDLC Waterfall Method Business requirements change “Analysis paralysis”—projects spend so much time on documentation it hampers progress Requirements documentation difficulty Time and cost estimates for large project usually way off People who make initial estimates know little about how long it will take or cost Scheduling and budgeting difficulties Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

SDLC Waterfall Method Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

How Does the Knowledge In This Chapter Help Fox Lake and You? Fox Lake teams needs to know: Basic process for creating and information system Importance of defining scope To ask for a feasibility assessment up front Difficulty (and importance) of providing accurate requirements You At some point in your career, you will be running a business unit or a department or a project that needs an information system. You will need to know how to proceed, and knowledge in this chapter will get you started on right path Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Active Review Q1: What is systems development? Q2: Why is systems development difficult and risky? Q3: What are the five phases of the SDLC? Q4: How is system definition accomplished? Q5: What is the users’ role in the requirements phase? Q6: How are the five components designed? Q7: How is an information system implemented? Q8: What are the tasks for system maintenance? Q9: What are some of the problems with the SDLC? How does the knowledge in this chapter help Fox Lake and you? Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Ethics Guide: Estimation Ethics Contractor agrees to produce system for less than what will really be required Time and materials contracts Fixed-cost contracts In-house projects are often started with buy-ins Projects often start with hopes of more money later Team members disagree about costs. Do you report it? Not all costs included in initial estimates. Do you report it? Do you buy-in on project schedule if you can’t make that schedule? Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Guide: The Real Estimation Process Estimating is just “theory”—average of many people’s guesses Project managers take estimates to management Management negotiates schedule and budget by reducing time by a month or two, which negatively impacts project Projects start with optimistic schedules and ends up late Developers begin to not take project deadlines seriously Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Case Study 10: Slow Learners, or What? 1974 study of the causes of information systems failures. Most important factor: Lack of user involvement. Second: Unclear, incomplete, and inconsistent requirements. “The CHAOS Report” (1994) Leading causes of IS failure are, in descending order: (1) lack of user input, (2) incomplete requirements and specifications, and (3) changing requirements and specifications Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Case Study 10: Slow Learners, or What? (cont’d) University of Maryland study (2004) analyzed 19 system failures to determine their cause. Results indicate causes of system failure: (1) poor requirements definition; (2) failure to communicate with users. IRS Oversight Board (2003): Primary cause of IRS BSM failure was inadequate business unit ownership and sponsorship of projects, which led to unrealistic business cases and continuous project scope creep. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Case Study 10: Slow Learners, or What? (cont’d) For over 35 years, studies have consistently shown that leading causes of system failures are: Lack of user involvement Incomplete and changing requirements Many businesses ignore lessons from decades of research about causes of IS failures Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.   Publishing as Prentice Hall