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FOUNDATIONS INFORMATION
SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY
 Systems Development
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 When an organization needs to accomplish a new

task or change a work process, how does it do so?
It develops a new system or modifies an existing
one.
 Systems development is the activity of creating
new systems or modifying existing systems. It
refers to all aspects of the process—from
identifying problems to solve or opportunities to
exploit to implementing and refining the chosen
solution.
 Participants in Systems Development
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 Effective systems development requires a team effort.

The team usually consists of stakeholders, users,
managers, systems development specialists, and various
support personnel.
 This team, called the development team, is responsible
for determining the objectives of the information system
and delivering a system that meets these objectives.
 Many development teams use a project manager to head
the systems development effort combined with the
project management approach to help coordinate the
systems development process.
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 A project is a planned collection of activities that

achieves a goal, such as constructing a new
manufacturing plant or developing a new decision
support system.
 All projects have a defined starting point and
ending point, normally expressed as dates such as
August 4 and December 11.
 Most have a budget, such as $150,000
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 A project manager is responsible for coordinating all

people and resources needed to complete a project on
time.
 The project manager can make the difference between
project success and failure.
 According to Tyrone Howard, founder of BizNova
Consulting, “A project management system is just a
tool. It is like this: A carpenter can buy a hammer, but
the hammer won’t build a house.... In IT, it’s the
people who do the building, not the technology.”
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 In systems development, the project manager can be an

IS person inside the organization or an external
consultant hired to complete the project.
 Project managers need technical, business, and people
skills.
 In addition to completing the project on time and within
the specified budget, the project manager is usually
responsible for controlling project quality, training
personnel, facilitating communications, managing risks,
and acquiring any necessary equipment, including office
supplies and sophisticated computer systems.
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 In the context of systems development, stakeholders are

people who, either themselves or through the area of the
organization they represent, ultimately benefit from the
systems development project.
 Users are people who will interact with the system
regularly. They can be employees, managers, or suppliers.
For large-scale systems development projects, where the
investment in and value of a system can be high, it is
common for senior-level managers, including the
functional vice presidents (of finance, marketing, and so
on), to be part of the development team.
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 A systems analyst is a professional who specializes

in analyzing and designing business systems.
 Systems analysts play various roles while interacting
with the stakeholders and users, management,
vendors and suppliers, external companies,
programmers, and other IS support personnel (see
diagram in the next slide).
 Like an architect developing blueprints for a new
building, a systems analyst develops detailed plans
for the new or modified system.
 Role of the Systems Analyst
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 The programmer is responsible for modifying or

developing programs to satisfy user requirements.
Like a contractor constructing a new building or
renovating an existing one, the programmer takes
the plans from the systems analyst and builds or
modifies the necessary software.
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 Regardless of the specific nature of a project,

systems development creates or modifies systems,
which ultimately means change.
 Managing this change effectively requires
development team members to communicate well.
 Because you probably will participate in systems
development during your career, you must learn
communication skills.
 You might even be the individual who initiates
systems development.
 Initiating Systems Development
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 Systems development initiatives arise from all

levels of an organization and are both planned and
unplanned. Systems development projects are
initiated for many reasons, as shown in the figure
below:
 Typical Reasons to Initiate a
Systems Development Project
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 Information Systems Planning and Aligning
Corporate and IS Goals
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 Information systems planning and aligning

corporate and IS goals are important aspects of any
systems development project.
 Achieving a competitive advantage is often the
overall objective of systems development.
 Information Systems Planning
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 The term information systems planning refers to

translating strategic and organizational goals into
systems development initiatives (see Figure below).
 Proper IS planning ensures that specific systems
development objectives support organizational goals.
 Long-range planning can also be important and result
in getting the most from a systems development
effort.
 It can also align IS goals with corporate goals and
culture, which is discussed next.
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 Aligning Corporate and IS Goals
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 Aligning organizational goals and IS goals is critical

for any successful systems development effort.
 Because information systems support other business
activities, IS staff and people in other departments
need to understand each other’s responsibilities and
tasks.
 Determining whether organizational and IS goals are
aligned can be difficult, so researchers have
increasingly tackled the problem.
 Developing a Competitive Advantage
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 In today’s business environment, many companies seek systems

development projects that will provide them with a competitive
advantage.
 Thinking competitively usually requires creative and critical analysis.
 By looking at problems in new or different ways and by introducing
innovative methods to solve them, many organizations have gained
significant competitive advantage.
 Creative analysis involves investigating new approaches to
existing problems. By looking at problems in new or different ways
and by introducing innovative methods to solve them, many firms
have gained a competitive advantage. Typically, these new solutions
are inspired
 Performance Objectives
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 Regardless of the particular systems development

effort, the development process should define a
system with specific performance and cost
objectives.
 The success or failure of the systems development
effort will be measured against these objectives.
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 The quality or usefulness of the output: Is the system generating

the right information for a value-added business process or by a
goal-oriented decision maker?
 The accuracy of the output: Is the output accurate and does it
reflect the true situation? As a result of the accounting scandals of
the early 2000s, when some companies overstated revenues or
understated expenses, accuracy is becoming more important, and
top corporate officers are being held responsible for the accuracy of
all corporate reports.
 The speed at which output is generated: Is the system generating
output in time to meet organizational goals and operational
objectives? Objectives such as customer response time, the time to
determine product availability, and throughput time are examples.
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 The scalability of the resulting system. scalability allows an

information system to handle business growth and increased business
volume. For example, if a midsized business realizes an annual 10
percent growth in sales for several years, an information system that is
scalable will be able to efficiently handle the increase by adding
processing, storage, software, database, telecommunications, and other
information systems resources to handle the growth.
 The risk of the system. One important objective of many systems
development projects is to reduce risk. The BRE Bank in Poland
(www.brebank.pl/en), for example, used systems development to
create a model-based DSS to analyze and reduce loan risk and a
variety of related risks associated with bank transactions. The project
uses a mathematical algorithm, called FIRST (Financial Institutions
Risk Scenario Trends), to reduce risk.
 Cost Objectives
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 Organizations can spend more than is necessary

during a systems development project. The benefits
of achieving performance goals should be balanced
with all costs associated with the system, including
the following:
 Development costs. All costs required to get the
system up and running should be included. Some
computer vendors give cash rewards to companies
using their systems to reduce costs and act as an
incentive.
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 Costs related to the uniqueness of the system application. A

system’s uniqueness has a profound effect on its cost. An expensive
but reusable system might be preferable to a less costly system with
limited use.
 Fixed investments in hardware and related equipment.
Developers should consider costs of such items as computers,
network-related equipment, and environmentally controlled data
centers in which to operate the equipment.
 Ongoing operating costs of the system. Operating costs include
costs for personnel, software, supplies, and resources such as the
electricity required to run the system. Tridel Corporation
(www.tridel.com) used systems development to build a new invoicing
application, called Invoice Zero, to save over $20,000 in operating
costs.
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SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT LIFE

CYCLES
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 The systems development process is also called a systems

development life cycle (SDLC) because the activities
associated with it are ongoing.
 As each system is built, the project has timelines and
deadlines, until at last the system is installed and accepted.
The life of the system continues as it is maintained and
reviewed.
 If the system needs significant improvement beyond the scope
of maintenance, if it needs to be replaced because of a new
generation of technology, or if the IS needs of the organization
change significantly, a new project will be initiated and the
cycle will start over.
 The Traditional Systems Development Life
Cycle
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 Traditional systems development efforts can range

from a small project, such as purchasing an
inexpensive computer program, to a major
undertaking.
 The steps of traditional systems development might
vary from one company to the next, but most
approaches have five common phases:
investigation, analysis, design, implementation, and
maintenance and review (see Figure below).
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 Systems investigation
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 The systems development phase during which

problems and opportunities are identified and
considered in light of the goals of the business.
 Systems investigation attempts to answer the questions
“What is the problem, and is it worth solving?”
 The primary result of this phase is a defined
development project for which business problems or
opportunity statements have been created, to which
some organizational resources have been committed,
and for which systems analysis is recommended.
 Systems analysis
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 The systems development phase that determines what

the information system must do to solve the problem by
studying existing systems and work processes to
identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for
improvement.
 Systems analysis attempts to answer the question “What
must the information system do to solve the problem?”
This phase involves studying existing systems and work
processes to identify strengths, weaknesses, and
opportunities for improvement. The major outcome of
systems analysis is a list of requirements and priorities.
 Systems design
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 The systems development phase that defines how the

information system will do what it must do to obtain the
problem solution.
 Systems design seeks to answer the question “How will the
information system do what it must do to obtain the problem
solution?” The primary result of this phase is a technical
design that either describes the new system or describes how
existing systems will be modified.
 The system design details system outputs, inputs, and user
interfaces; specifies hardware, software, database,
telecommunications, personnel, and procedure components;
and shows how these components are related.
 Systems implementation
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 Systems implementation involves creating or

acquiring the various system components detailed in
the systems design, assembling them, and placing the
new or modified system into operation.
 An important task during this phase is to train the users.
Systems implementation results in an installed,
operational information system that meets the business
needs for which it was developed. It can also involve
phasing out or removing old systems, which can be
difficult for existing users, especially when the systems
are free.
 Systems maintenance and
review
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 The systems development phase that ensures the

system operates and modifies the system so that it
continues to meet changing business needs.
 Advantages and Disadvantages
of Traditional SDLC
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 Rapid application development (RAD)
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 A systems development approach that employs tools,

techniques, and methodologies designed to speed
application development.
 Vendors, such as Computer Associates International, IBM,
and Oracle, market products targeting the RAD market.
 Rational Software, a division of IBM, has a RAD tool,
called Rational Rapid Developer, to make developing large
Java programs and applications easier and faster.
 Locus Systems, a program developer, used a RAD tool
called OptimalJ to generate more than 60 percent of the
computer code for three applications it developed.
 Agile development or extreme programming
(XP)
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 Other approaches to rapid development, such as agile

development or extreme programming (XP), allow
the systems to change as they are being developed.
 Agile development requires frequent face-to-face
meetings with the systems developers and users as
they modify, refine, and test how the system meets
users’ needs and what its capabilities are.
 Microsoft, for example, has adopted a more agile
development process in its server development
division
 Joint application development (JAD)
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 RAD makes extensive use of the joint application

development (JAD) process for data collection and
requirements analysis.
 Its A process for data collection and
requirements analysis in which users,
stakeholders, and IS professionals work
together to analyze existing systems, propose
possible solutions, and define the requirements
of a new or modified system.
 Advantages and Disadvantages
of RAD
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 The End-User Systems Development
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 The term end-user systems development describes any systems

development project in which business managers and users assume
the primary effort.
 User-developed systems range from the very small (such as a
software routine to merge form letters) to those of significant
organizational value (such as customer contact databases for the
Web).
 With end-user systems development, managers and other users can
get the systems they want without having to wait for IS professionals
to develop and deliver them.
 End-user systems development, however, does have some
disadvantages. Some end users don’t have the training to effectively
develop and test a system.
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 Some end-user systems are also poorly

documented.
 When these systems are updated, problems can be
introduced that make the systems errorprone.
 In addition, some end users spend time and
corporate resources developing systems that were
already available.
 Group Discussion and
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Presentations
1. Information Systems Infrastructure
2. Valuing information systems
3. Core computing system architecture concepts
4. Core computing system organizing structures
5. Core technical components of computer based systems
6. Role of IT infrastructure in a modern organization
7. Role of IT control and service management frameworks
8. Ensuring business continuity
9. Grid computing, cloud computing, computing as a service
10. Purchasing of IT infrastructure technologies and services