Chapter 10

Information Systems Development

Fox Lake’s facilities can’t handle weddin

g 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

This Could Happen To You: “You’re Not Going to Take Your Bridal Gown into a Porta Potty”

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Scenario video

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?

Study Questions

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Process of creating and maintaining information systems

Involves all five IS components

Q1: What Is Systems Development?

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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.

Q2: Why Is Systems Development Difficult and Risky?

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Five Major Challenges to Systems Development

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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.

Q2: Why Is Systems Development Difficult and Risky? (cont’d)

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Changing requirements• Large, long projects aim at moving

targetScheduling 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?

Q2: Why Is Systems Development Difficult and Risky? (cont’d)

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Changing Technology

Q2: Why Is Systems Development Difficult and Risky? (cont’d)

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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?

Diseconomies of scale• Brooks’ Law

“Adding more people to a late project makes the project later.”

Q2: Why Is Systems Development Difficult and Risky? (cont’d)

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New staff must be trained by productive members who lose productivity while training new members.

Systems development is challenging, but solid methodologies exist that are successful when supported and managed properly.Systems development life cycle (SDLC), most common process for systems development.

Is It Really So Bleak?

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Yes and No

Q3: What Are the Five Phases of the SDLC?

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Based on problem analysis and decision solving processes

Q4: How Is System Definition Accomplished?

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• 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

• 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

Q4: How Is System Definition Accomplished? (cont’d)

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Cost feasibility•Approximated, “back-of-the-envelope” analysis•Purpose: eliminate infeasible ideas early•Consider cost of previous projects, operational and labor

costsSchedule 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

Assess Feasibility: Dimensions of Feasibility

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Typical team• Systems analyst and/or business analyst• Managers• Programmers• Software testers• Users

Team composition changes over time

Active user involvement is critical throughout

Form a Project Team

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Review and approve requirements

Q5: What Is the Users’ Role in the Requirements Phase?

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Laura only person with knowledge of systems development, she will work with development contractor to help specify Fox Lake’s needs

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.

Experiencing MIS InClass Exercise 10: GardenTraker

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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.

Experiencing MIS InClass Exercise 10: GardenTraker (cont’d)

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4. 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:a. What data will you need?b. How will you input that data? Show a mockup of a

data entry screen, and describe how it will be used.c. Using your mockup, describe how you will modify

recurring service data.d. Using your mockup, describe how you will cancel a

recurring service.e. Specify any other requirements you believe are

important for tracking recurring services.

Experiencing MIS InClass Exercise 10: GardenTraker (cont’d)

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5.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

Experiencing MIS InClass Exercise 10: GardenTraker (cont’d)

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Determine hardware specifications• Purchase it, lease it, or lease time from hosting

serviceDetermine software specifications • Off-the-shelf, custom developed

Database design• Convert data model to a database design

Q6: How Are the Five Components Designed?

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Procedure design• Normal, backup, and failure recovery

proceduresDesign Job Descriptions• Create and define new tasks and

responsibilities

• Figure 10-7

Procedures to Be Designed

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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

Design of Job Descriptions

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Q7: How Is an Information System Implemented?

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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

Q7: How Is an Information System Implemented? (cont’d)

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Design and Implementation for the Five IS Components

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System Conversion Approaches

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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

Q8: What Are the Tasks for System Maintenance?

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Failure is a difference between what system does and what it is supposed to do.

• 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

Q9: What Are Some of the Problems with the SDLC?

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SDLC Waterfall Method

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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

How Does the Knowledge In This Chapter Help Fox Lake and You?

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Active Review

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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?

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?

Ethics Guide: Estimation Ethics

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Estimating is just “theory”—average of many people’s guesses

Project managers take estimates to managementManagement 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

Guide: The Real Estimation Process

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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

Case Study 10: Slow Learners, or What?

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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.

Case Study 10: Slow Learners, or What? (cont’d)

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Case Study 10: Slow Learners, or What? (cont’d)

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For over 35 years, studies have

consistently shown that leading causes of

system failures are:

Lack of user involvement

Incomplete and

changing requirement

s

Many businesses

ignore lessons from decades of research

about causes of IS failures

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