Chapter 9: Developing and Acquiring Information Systems

Making the business case

the process of identifying, quantifying, and presenting the value provided by a system.

Productivty paradox

The observation that productivity increases at a rate that is lower than expected when new technologies are introduced.

Factors leading to the IS productivity paradox

measurement problems, time lags, redistribution, mismanagement

total cost of ownership

focused on understanding not only the total cost of acquisition but also all costs associated with ongoing use and maintenance of a system.

non-recurring costs

one-time costs that are not expected to continue after the system is implemented.

capital expenditure

Non-recurring costs such as for the acquisition or upgrade of long-term physical assets such as equipment and buildings

Recurring costs

ongoing costs that occur throughout the life of the system.

non-capital expenditure

Recurring costs include the salary and benefits of the webmaster and any other personnel assigned to maintain the system, electricity, upgrades and maintenance of the system components, monthly fees paid to a local Internet service provider, and the continuing costs for the space in which the webmaster works or the data center where the servers reside.

tangible costs

The sample costs that are relatively easy to quantify

Intangible costs

The sample costs that are not easy to quantify

tangible benefits

relatively easy to determine. For example, you can estimate that the increased customer reach of the new web-based system will result in at least a modest increase in sales.

intangible benefits

a benefit of using a particular system or technology that is difficult to quanitity.

cost-benefit analysis

techniques that contrast the total expected tangible costs versus the tangible benefits of an investment.

break-even analysis

a type of cost–benefit analysis used to identify at what point (if ever) tangible benefits equal tangible costs (note that break-even occurs early in the second year of the system’s life in this example)

net-present-value analysis

a type of cost-benefit analysis of the cash flow stream associated with an investment.

Discount rate

the rate of return used by an organization to compute the present value of future cash flows

Weighted multicriteria analysis

A method for deciding among different information systems investments or alternative designs for a given system in which requirements and constraints are weighted on the basis of their importance.

Total Economic Impact

the impact on IT (i.e., project cost), the impact on the business (i.e., business benefits), future options created (i.e., future flexibility), as well as the associated risks or uncertainty associated with the new system.

Proxy variables

alternative measures of outcomes

Systems analysis and design

The process of designing, building, and maintaining information systems

systems analyst

the individual who performs the process of designing, building, and maintaining information systems

Open source software

As the programs’ source code is freely available for use and/or modification

Project manager

the person most responsible for ensuring that a project is a success.

software bug

an error or flaw in a computer program or system that causes it to produce an incorrect or unexpected result or to behave in unintended ways

systems development controls

ensure that the necessary security features are implemented and enabled and that proper change management processes are followed.

systems development life cycle

describes the life of an information system from conception to retirement

Primary Phases of the SDLC

1. Systems planning and selection

2. Systems analysis

3. Systems design

4. Systems implementation and operation

systems planning and selection

The first phase of the systems development life cycle, in which potential projects are identified, selected, and planned.

Information systems planning

process whereby a senior manager, a business group, an IS manager, or a steering committee identifies and assesses all possible systems development projects that the organization could undertake.

systems analysis

The second phase of the systems development life cycle, in which the current ways of doing business are studied and alternative replacement systems are proposed.

requirements collection

the process of gathering and organizing information from users, managers, customers, business processes, and documents to understand how a proposed information system should function.

Joint application design

a group meeting–based process for requirements collection

data flows

represent the movement of data through an organization or within an information system.

processing logic

represents the way in which data are transformed

pseudocode

a representation of the program’s internal functioning, independent of the actual programming language being used.

systems design

The third phase of the systems development life cycle, in which details of the chosen approach are developed.

human-computer inferface

the point of contact between a system and users.

usability

whether the system is easy to use and aesthetically pleasing

systems implementation

The fourth phase of the systems development life cycle in which the information system is programmed, tested, installed, and supported.

developmental testing

testing performed by programmers to ensure that each module of a new program is error free.

alpha testing

Testing performed by the development organization to assess whether the entire system meets the design requirements of the users.

beta testing

Testing performed by actual system users with actual data in their work environment.

system conversion

the process of decommissioning the current way of doing things (automated or manual) and installing the new system in the organization

systems maintenance

requests are analyzed to evaluate how a proposed change might alter the system and what business benefits might result from such a change, and are prioritized accordingly

adaptive maintenance

Making changes to an information system to make its functionality meet changing business needs or to migrate it to a different operating environment.

Perfective maintenance

Making enhancements to improve processing performance, improve visibility, or add desired, but not necessarily required, system features

Preventative maintenance

Making changes to a system to reduce the chance of future system

Corrective maintenance

Making changes to an information system to repair flaws and its design, coding, or implement

Change request management

A formal process that ensures that any proposed system changes or documented, reviewed for potential risks, appropriately authorized, prioritized, and carefully managed

Patch management system

An online system that utilizes web services automatically check for software updates, downloading, and installing these patches as they are made available

Prototyping

Iterative systems development and processing which requirements are converted into a working system that is continually revised through close interaction between Anna Anna

Agile methodology

An evolutionary system development approach that focuses on creating small, client approved parts of the system, as the project progresses rather than delivering one large application at the end of the project

DevOps

An approach to managing IS projects that focuses on the collaboration between engineers from development and operations, not only during the development of a system, but throughout its entire life cycle

External acquisition

The process of purchasing an existing information system from an external organization or vendor

Request for proposal

A communication tool, indicating by requirements for a proposed system and requesting information or soliciting bids from potential vendors

Systems benchmarking

The use of standardized performance test to compare different systems

Shrink-wrap license

A type of software license that is used primarily for consumer products; the contract is activated when the shrink wrap on the packaging has been removed

Click-wrap license

A type of software license primarily used for downloaded software that requires computer users to accept the license terms by clicking a button before installing a software

Enterprise license

A type of soft license that is usually negotiating covers all users within an organization, also known as as a volume license

Software asset management

Ace of activities performed a better management or organization software for structure by help to consolidate and standardized, software titles, decide when to retire and new software, or decide to upgrade or replace software