Information System Development

Discuss the purpose of each phase in the system development cycle Learning Outcomes Students should be able to… Discuss the importance of project management, feasibility assessment, documentation, data and information gathering techniques, and information systems security during system development Discuss the purpose of each phase in the system development cycle

The System Development Life Cycle What is an information system (IS)? Hardware, software, data, people, and procedures that work together to produce quality information 1996 2007 System—Set of components that interact to achieve common goal Businesses use many types of systems

The System Development Life Cycle What are the phases of the system development life cycle? Phase 1. Planning Phase 2. Analysis Phase 3. Design Phase 4. Implementation Phase 5. Operating, Support, and Security Review project requests Prioritize project requests Allocate resources Form project development team Conduct preliminary investigation Perform detailed analysis activities: Study current system Determine user requirements Recommend solution Acquire hardware and software, if necessary Develop details of system Develop programs, if necessary Install and test new system Train users Convert to new system Perform maintenance activities Monitor system performance Assess system security

The System Development Life Cycle What are guidelines for system development? Arrange tasks into phases (groups of activities) Involve users (anyone for whom system is being built) Develop clearly defined standards (procedures company expects employees to follow)

The System Development Life Cycle Who participates in the system development life cycle? Stakeholders!

The System Development Life Cycle What is a systems analyst? A person!!! A person(s) playing the “role” of systems analyst is: Responsible for designing and developing information systems the “End Users” (stakeholders) primary contact person

The System Development Life Cycle What is the project team? Formed to work on a project from beginning to end Consists of users, systems analyst, and other IT professionals Project leader — one member of the team who manages and controls the project budget and schedule

The System Development Life Cycle What is project management? Process of planning, scheduling, and controlling activities during system development cycle Project leader identifies elements for project Goal, objectives, and expectations, collectively called scope Required activities & roles played to fulfill the activities Time estimates for each activity Cost estimates for each activity Order of activities Activities that can take place at same time

The System Development Life Cycle What is a Gantt chart? Popular tool used to plan and schedule time relationships among project activities

The System Development Life Cycle What is feasibility? Operational feasibility Measure of how suitable system development will be to the company Four feasibility tests: Schedule feasibility Economic feasibility (also called cost/benefit feasibility) Technical feasibility

The System Development Life Cycle What is documentation? Collection and summarization of data and information Includes reports, diagrams, programs, and other deliverables Online Help too!!!

The System Development Life Cycle What are six data and information gathering techniques? Review documentation Observe Questionnaire Interview Joint-application design (JAD) session Research JAD Session in Progress

The System Development Life Cycle What are some reasons to create or modify an information system? To correct problem in existing system To improve existing system Outside group may mandate change Competition can lead to change

The System Development Life Cycle What is the planning phase? Begins when steering committee receives project request Steering committee — decision-making body for the company Function of committee: Review and approve project requests Prioritize project requests Allocate resources Form project development team for each approved project

The System Development Life Cycle What is the analysis phase? Conduct preliminary investigation, also called feasibility study Perform detailed analysis Operational feasibility Four feasibility tests: Schedule feasibility Economic feasibility Technical feasibility

The System Development Life Cycle What are possible solutions? Horizontal market software—meets needs of many companies Buy packaged software —prewritten software available for purchase Vertical market software—designed for particular industry Write own custom software —software developed at user’s request Outsource — have outside source develop software

The System Development Life Cycle What is the design phase? Acquire hardware and software Develop all details of new or modified information system Includes several activities Database design Input and output design Program design

The System Development Life Cycle What is a prototype? A working model of the proposed system Mockup is a sample of input and/or output:

The System Development Life Cycle What is computer-aided software engineering (CASE)? Software tools designed to support activities of the system development life cycle Two popular Examples: Microsoft’s Visual Studio Eclipse

The System Development Life Cycle What is the implementation phase? Purpose is to construct, or build, new or modified system and then deliver it to users Convert to new system Progression Train users Install and test new system Develop programs

The System Development Life Cycle What are the four types of tests performed by system developers? Unit Test Systems test Verifies each individual program works by itself Verifies all programs in the application work together Integration Test Acceptance Test Verifies application works with other applications Verifies the new system works with actual data

The System Development Life Cycle What are conversion strategies? Used to switch from old system to new system

The System Development Life Cycle Perform maintenance activities What is the operation, support, and security phase? Monitor system performance Provides ongoing assistance after system is implemented Assess system security

The System Development Life Cycle Video: A Tour of Lucasfilm’s Data Center CLICK TO START

Programming Languages What is a computer program (software)? Set of instructions that directs the computer to perform tasks Programming language—used to communicate instructions

Programming Languages…”in the beginning” What is machine language? Only language computer directly recognizes Uses a series of binary digits (1s and 0s) with a combination of numbers and letters that represent binary digits

Programming Languages…a wee-bit newer What is assembly language? Instructions made up of symbolic instruction codes, meaningful abbreviations and codes Source program contains code to be converted to machine language

Programming Languages…1960’s until now What is COBOL? COmmon Business-Oriented Language Designed for business applications English-like statements make code easy to read, write, and maintain

Programming Languages…many more today What are C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, Java, JavaScript, Perl, PerlScript, PHP, Ruby on Rails, Cold Fusion… Powerful languages Requires professional programming skills (or at least training of yourself)

Programming Languages What is a compiler? A program (software) that converts the entire source program into machine language before executing it

Programming Languages What is an interpreter? A program that translates and executes one program code statement at a time Does not produce an object program Browsers do this! (For example, Firefox or Internet Explorer)

Programming Languages…many, many more What are other available programming languages? ADA ALGOL APL BASIC FORTH FORTRAN HYPERTALK LISP LOGO MODULA-2 PASCAL PILOT PL/1 PROLOG SMALLTALK

Programming Languages What is an application generator? Program that creates source code or machine code from a specification Consists of a report writer, a form, and menu generator Microsoft Access

Programming Languages What is HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)? Used to create Web pages Source Code: WYSIWYG (“wiz-e-wig”) What You See is What You Get: View -> Source

Programming Languages What is a scripting language? Programming language used to allow Web pages to be more “powerful” (do more things) Examples: JavaScript VBScript Perl

Programming Languages What is dynamic HTML (DHTML)? Enhanced version of HTML which allows developers to include more graphical interest and interactivity on Web pages

Programming Languages What are XML and WML? XML (Extensible Markup Language) allows developers to create customized tags Server sends entire record to client, enabling client to do much of processing without going back to the server <LastName>Norman</LastName> <FirstName>Ronald</FirstName> <College>Grossmont</College> <OfficePhone>619-644-7515</OfficePhone> Office 2007 default document Format is XML: .docx, .xlsx, .pptx WML (Wireless Markup Language) allows developers to design pages specifically for microbrowsers Many PDAs and smart phones use WML as their markup language

Programming Languages What is Web page authoring software? Creates sophisticated Web pages without using HTML This software generates (creates) the HTML code for you Dreamweaver Expression Web Flash Silverlight Examples of Web page authoring software

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