BUSINESS INFORMATION SYSTEMS ASSIGNEMENT ONE BIS1/Jan2011/1

CYRILLE KALENGA WA NGOY (mzyxgcw8)

Student Number: 7406194

Pages:

Contents

1.

Outline the different kinds of approaches and methods that are available to

organizations to develop and implement information systems.

2.

Identify and discuss the various reasons why users and managers often find it

difficult to get involved in and contribute to the development and implementation of such systems.

3.

Suggest ways in which the involvement and contribution of users and managers

could be improved in the future.

4. Conclusion

5. Reference

Question 1.

1.

Outline the different kinds of approaches and methods that are available to

organizations to develop and implement information systems.

Most systems development methods which there are literally hundreds, encourage the involvement of various 'stakeholders' of which one, may or may not, be the user. Often the first job an analyst does is a stakeholder analysis, literally finding out who they are and how powerful each is. Stakeholders are considered to be those that have some power over the proposed system. This power may be in various guises:

Money (vendor) Decision making Champions / Managers / Policy makers Professional power Data quality (data entry personnel) Potential saboteurs Users

Frequently the 'purse holder' has requirements that are at odds with those of the other stakeholders. It is therefore often necessary to prioritize and consolidate the conflicting requirements of these stakeholders at the very beginning of the development process. Traditionally, probably due to the desire for short term success with the stakeholders, these 'top level' stakeholders where considered the most important in systems development. Unfortunately a large percentage of systems failed when they were implemented using this top down

approach and as a consequence bottom up approaches have been developed. A fundamental characteristic of the bottom up approach is the participation of the user throughout the development process.

A system development methodology refers to the framework that is used to structure, plan, and control the process of developing an information system. Information system life cycle models describe phases of the software cycle and the order in which those phases are executed. The general, basic model is shown below:

Each phase produces deliverables required by the next phase in the life cycle. Requirements are translated into design. Code is produced during implementation that is driven by the design. Testing verifies the deliverable of the implementation phase against requirements. Business requirements are gathered in first phase. This phase is the main focus of the project managers and stakeholders. Meetings, interviews, workshops with managers, stakeholders and users are held in order to determine the requirements. Who is going to use the system? How will they use the system? What data should be input into the system? What data should be output by the system? These are general questions that get answered during a requirements gathering phase. This produces a nice big list of functionality that the system should provide, which describes functions the system should perform, business logic that processes data, what data is stored and used by the system, and how the user interface should work. The overall result is the system as a whole and how it performs, not how it is actually going to do it.

Information Systems Development Methods

The following are some basic popular models that are adopted by many software development firms: A. System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Model with variants Waterfall, spiral B. Prototyping Model C. Rapid Application Development Model

A. System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Model

For me, Waterfall model is the most common model used in many projects since its easier to understand. The waterfall model is a sequential software development process, in which progress is seen as flowing steadily downwards (like a waterfall) through the phases of Conception, Initiation, Analysis, Design (validation), Construction, Testing and Maintenance. The emphasis is on planning, time schedules, target dates, budgets and implementation of entire system at one time.

Strengths Progress of system development is measurable Conserves resources Ideal for supporting less experienced project teams and project managers

Weaknesses Inflexible, slow Little room for use iteration Requirements inconsistencies, unexpected development needs are discovered until design and coding Promotes gap between users and developers Written specs are often difficult for users to read and thoroughly appreciate

B. Prototyping Model Rapid prototyping is a process wherein a working model or prototype is developed for the purpose of testing the various product features like design, ideas, features, functionality, performance and output. This process of development of working model is quite quick. The user can give an early feedback regarding the prototype. The product can be produced if the prototype meets the requirements of all designing objectives after sufficient refinement.

Strengths Addresses the inability of many users to specify their information needs, and the difficulty of systems analysts to understand the users environment Can be used to realistically model important aspects of a system during each phase of the traditional life cycle Improves both user participation in system development and communication among project stakeholders

Weaknesses Approval process and control is not strict

Requirements may frequently change significantly.

Can lead to false expectations, where the customer mistakenly believes that the system is finished when in fact it is not; the system looks good and has adequate user interfaces, but is not truly functional

Useful for resolving unclear objectives; developing and validating user requirements; experimenting with or comparing various design solutions; or investigating both

Iterations add to projects and schedules, thus the added costs must be weighed against the potential benefits. Very small projects may not be able to justify the added time and money;

performance and human computer interface Provides quick implementation of an incomplete, but functional application

while high-risk portions of complex projects may gain benefit from prototyping Designers may neglect documentation, resulting in insufficient justification for the final product and inadequate records for the future

C. Rapid Application Development (RAD) Model RAD is a concept that products can be developed faster and of higher quality through the following ideals: GATHER - Gathering requirements using workshops or focus groups PROTOTYPE - Prototyping and early, reiterative user testing of designs REUSE - The re-use of software components MAINTENANCE - A rigidly paced schedule that defers design improvements to the next product version COMFORT - Less formality in reviews and other team communication Strengths Operational version of an application is available much earlier than with waterfall or spiral frameworks This approach tends to produce systems at a lower cost Engenders a greater level of commitment from stakeholders, both business and technical than waterfall. Users are seen as gaining more of a sense of ownership of the system, while developers are seen as gaining more satisfaction from producing successful Weaknesses More speed and lower cost may lead to lower overall system quality Project may end up with more requirements than needed Potential for feature creep where more and more features are added to the system over the course of development

systems quickly Concentrates on essential system elements from user viewpoint Provides the ability to rapidly change system design as demanded by users

Potial for inconsistent designs within and across systems Difficulty with module reuse for future

Conclusion All these different software development models have their own advantages and disadvantages. Nevertheless, in the contemporary commercial software development world, the fusion of all these methodologies is incorporated. Timing is very crucial in software development. If a delay happens in the development phase, the market could be taken over by the competitor.

2.

Identify and discuss the various reasons why users and managers often find it

difficult to get involved in and contribute to the development and implementation of such systems. . While it is ideal that users are always involved in systems development, the consequence of not involving them is directly related to three issues:

User knowledge / expectations Complexity of the organization Complexity of the system

1. User knowledge/expectations

It is important to educate users to obtain valid requirements. The importance of prototypes, even non-functional screen mock-ups, for engaging users in the development process ca not be over estimated. A book concerned with developing systems, (Nielson 1993), suggests that 'The user is not always right' (p11) when it comes to asking what they want and provides several examples:

A group of telephonists asked if they would like lighter handsets said no. However when given them they did prefer them.

73% of respondents asked if they would use a proposed traffic information system said no. However when a prototype was set up 84% said they would in fact use it

2. Complexity of the organization

Those organizations, which are highly structured and possess few autonomous professional groups, may get away with a low degree of user involvement particularly with regard to simple transaction processing systems.

3. Complexity of system As with the type of organization, the type of system under development determines to some extent the appropriate level of user involvement required for a system to be successful.

3.

Suggest ways in which the involvement and contribution of users and managers

could be improved in the future.

Clearly if users of all levels are to be involved in the design process to develop valid user requirements training will be required. Managers - Education regarding modern systems development methodologies should be a priority for these. Communications Strategies These may include:

Regular face to face meetings Annual meetings / conferences Newsletters Bulletin boards Web sites Electronic discussion groups (o pen and closed) Ad Hoc comments sheets

4. Conclusion

With the support of my leanings in our Business Information Systems and with the aid of my references, I can now identify the different system development models. I learned that the systems development life cycle model was developed as a structured approach to information system development that guides all the processes involved from an initial feasibility study

through to maintenance of the finished application. SDLC models take a variety of approaches to development and each process model follows a particular life cycle in order to ensure success in process of software development

4. References

11. A Survey of System Development Process Models; Darryl Green and Ann DiCaterino; Center for Technology in Government; February 1998;

22. (http://www.ctg.albany.edu/publications/reports/surveys_of_sysdev) System

Development Life Cycle Models and Methodologies; Paul Fisher, James McDaniel, and Peter Hughes; Canadian Society for International Health Certificate Course in Health Information Systems, Module 3: System Analysis & Database Development, Part 3: Life Cycle Models and Methodologies; ] (http://famed.ufrgs.br/pdf/csih/mod3/Mod_3_3.htm)

4. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/waterfall-model-advantages-and-disadvantages.html 5. http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid92_gci755347,00.html

6. http://scitec.uwichill.edu.bb/cmp/online/cs22l/spiralmodel.htm 7. http://www.rp4baghdad.com/36/prototype-disadvantages-and-rapid-prototypingdisadvantages 3