M5 - Ch9

conversion

the process of transferring information from a legacy system to a new system

legacy system

an old system that is fast approaching or beyond the end of its useful life within an organization

off-the-shelf application software

supports general business processes and does not require any specific software customization to meet the organization’s needs

software customization

modifies software to meet specific user or business requirements

systems development life cycle (SDLC)

the overall process for developing information systems from planning and analysis through implementation and maintenance

planning phase

establishes a high-level plan of the intended project and determines project goals

brainstorming

a technique for generating ideas by encouraging participants to offer as many ideas as possible in a short period of time without any analysis until all the ideas have been exhausted

change agent

a person or event that is the catalyst for implementing major changes for a system to meet business changes

project

a temporary activity a company undertakes to create a unique product, service, or result

project management

the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements

project plan

a formal, approved document that manages and controls the entire project

project manager

an individual who is an expert in project planning and management, defines and develops the project plan, and tracks the plan to ensure that the project is completed on time and on budget; responsible for executing the entire project and defining the project scope that links the project to the organization’s overall business goals

project scope

describes the business need (the problem the project will solve) and the justification, requirements, and current boundaries for the project; critical because it defines what is and is not included in the project

analysis phase

involves analyzing end-user business requirements and refining project goals into defined functions and operations of the intended system; critical because business requirements drive the entire systems development effort

business requirements

the specific business requests that the system must meet to be successful

methods for gathering business requirements

• conduct a joint application development (JAD) session where employees meet, sometimes for several days, to define or review the business requirements for the system

• interview individuals to determine current operations and current issues

• compile questionnaires to survey employees to discover issues

• make observations to determine how current operations are performed

• review business documents to discover reports, policies, and how information is used throughout the organization

requirements management

the process of managing changes to the business requirements throughout the project

requirements definition document

prioritizes all of the business requirements by order of importance to the company

sign-off

the users’ actual signatures, indicating they approve all of the business requirements

process modeling

involves graphically representing the processes that capture, manipulate, store, and distribute information between a system and its environment; helps establish the specifications of the system

data flow diagram (DFD)

illustrates the movement of information between external entities and the processes and data stores within the system; help establish the specifications of the system

computer-aided software engineering (CASE)

tools are software suites that automate systems analysis, design, and development; process models and data flow diagrams can provide the basis for the automatic generation of the system if they are developed using this

design phase

establishes descriptions of the desired features and operations of the system including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams, pseudo code, and other documentation

development phase

involves taking all of the detailed design documents from the design phase and transforming them into the actual system; the project transitions from preliminary designs to actual physical implementation; the company purchases and implements the equipment necessary to support the architecture

software engineering

a disciplined approach for constructing information systems through the use of common methods, techniques, or tools

programming language

a unique set of keywords along with a special syntax for organizing program instructions that execute computer commands

coders

people who write the programs that operate computers

fourth-generation languages (4GLs)

programming languages that look similar to human languages

ex: “FIND ALL RECORDS WHERE NAME IS ‘SMITH’”

overview of programming languages

technical review/peer review

a meeting in which an independent team of experts provides an in-depth analysis of project results to ensure that team members did the work accurately, completely, and to the right quality of standard

testing phase

involves bringing all the project pieces together into a special testing environment to eliminate errors and bugs, and verify that the system meets all of the business requirements defined in the analysis phase

bugs

defects in the code of an information system

syntax error

a mistake in the program’s words or symbols

runtime error

a mistake that causes the program to crash, such as dividing by 0 or adding together two strings

logic error

a mistake that causes the output of the program to be wrong, such as adding instead of subtracting, using <instead of>, or using the wrong data in an equation

test conditions

details the steps the system must perform along with the expected result of reach step

implementation phase

involves placing the system into production so users can begin to perform actual business operations with it

alpha testing

assess if the entire system meets the design requirements of the users

development testing

test the system to ensure it is bug-free

integration testing

verify that separate systems can work together passing data back and forth correctly

system testing

verify that the units or pieces of code function correctly when integrated

user acceptance testing (UAT)

determine if the system satisfies the user and business requirements

unit testing

test individual units or pieces of code for a system

parallel implementation

uses both the legacy system and new system until all users verify that the new system functions correctly

plunge implementation

discards the legacy system and immediately migrates all users to the new system

pilot implementation

assigns a small group of people to use the new system until it is verified that it works correctly, then the remaining users migrate to the new system

phased implementation

installs the new system in phases (for example, by department) until it is verified that it works correctly

online training

runs over the Internet and employees complete the training on their own time at their own pace

workshop training

held in a classroom environment and led by an instructor

help desk

a group of people who respond to users’ questions

user documentation

this is created for users to highlight how to use the system and troubleshoot issues or problems

maintenance phase

involves performing changes, corrections, additions, and upgrades to ensure the system continues to meet its business goals

corrective maintenance

makes system changes to repair design flaws, coding errors, or implementation issues

preventative maintenance

makes system changes to reduce the chance of future system failure

methodology

a set of policies, procedures, standards, processes, practices, tools, techniques, and tasks that people apply to technical and management challenges

list of software development methodologies

waterfall

agile

rapid application development (RAD)

extreme programming

rational unified process (RUP)

scrum

waterfall methodology

a sequence of phases in which the output of each phase becomes the input for the next

iterative development

consists of a series of tiny projects

agile methodology

aims for customer satisfaction through early and continuous delivery of useful software components developed by an iterative process using the bare minimum requirements

rapid application development (RAD) methodology

emphasizes extensive user involvement in the rapid and evolutionary construction of working prototypes of a system to accelerate the systems development process

prototype

a smaller-scale representation or working model of the users’ requirements or a proposed design for an information system

an essential part of the analysis phase when using RAD methodology

extreme programming (XP) methodology

breaks a project into tiny phases, and developers cannot continue on to the next phase until the first phase in complete

rational unified process (RUP)

provides a framework for breaking down the development of software into four gates:

• gate one - inception

• gate two - elaboration

• gate three - construction

• gate four - transition

scrum

uses small teams to produce small pieces of deliverable software using sprints, or 30 day intervals, to achieve an appointed goal

each day ends or begins with a stand-up meeting to monitor and control the development effort

primary reasons for project failure

unclear or missing business requirements

skipping SDLC phases

failure to manage project scope (scope creep/feature creep)

failure to manage project plan

changing technology

scope creep

occurs when the scope increases; the tendency to permit changes that exceed a project’s scope and may wreak havoc on the schedule, work quality, and budget

feature creep

occurs when extra features are added

tangible benefits

easy to quantify and typically measured to determine the success or failure of a project

• decreased: expenses, processing errors, response time

• increased: quantity or sales, quality

intangible benefits

difficult to quantify or measure

• improved: decision making, community service, goodwill, morale

feasibility

the measure of the tangible and intangible benefits of an information system

types of feasibility

economic

operational

schedule

technical

political

legal

consequences of failed projects

• Damaged brand

• Lost goodwill

• Dissolution of partnerships

• Lost investment opportunities

• Low morale

Project Management Institute (PMI)

develops procedures and concepts necessary to support the profession of project management and has three areas of focus

1. the distinguishing characteristics of a practicing professional (ethics)

2. the content and structure of the profession’s body of knowledge (standards)

3. recognition of professional attainment (accreditation)

communication plan

defines the how, what, when, and who regarding the flow of project information to stakeholders and is key for managing expectations

project assumption

factors considered to be true, real, or certain without proof or demonstration; examples include hours in a workweek or time of year the work will be performed

responsibility matrix

defines all project roles and indicates what responsibilities are associated with each role

status report

periodic reviews of actual performance versus expected performance

project management interdependent variables (the triple constraint)

time, scope, and resources

project deliverable

any measurable, tangible, verifiable outcome, result, or item that is produced to complete a project or part of a project

project milestone

represents key dates when a certain group of activities must be performed

project management office (PMO)

an internal department that oversees all organizational projects

project stakeholder

individuals and organizations actively involved in the project or whose interests might be affected as a result of project execution or project completion

executive sponsor

the person or group who provides the financial resources for the project

SMART criteria

useful reminders on how to ensure that the project has created understandable and measurable objectives

project plan

a formal, approved document that manages and controls project execution

a well-defined project plan should be

• easy to udnerstand and read

• communicated to all key participants

• appropriate to the project’s size, complexity, and criticality

• prepared by the team, rather than by the individual project manager

the two primary diagrams used in project planning

PERT chart

Gantt chart

PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) chart

a graphical network model that depicts a project’s tasks and the relationship between them; define dependency between project tasks before those tasks are scheduled

critical path

the series of activities that determine the earliest time by which the project can be completed; represents the longest path through the project and the maximum amount of time it will take you to finish

critical path analysis

a project diagramming method used to predict total project duration

slack

the amount of time an activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date

gantt chart

a simple bar chart that lists project tasks vertically against the project’s time frame, listed horizontally; works well for representing the project schedule; also shows actual progress of tasks against the planned duration

work breakdown structure (WBS)

a plan that breaks down a project’s goals into the many deliverables required to achieve it

in-sourcing (in-house development)

uses the professional expertise within an organization to develop and maintain its information technology systems

outsourcing

an arrangement by which one organization provides a service or services for another organization that chooses not to perform them in-house

project constraint

specific factors that can limit options, including budget, delivery dates, available skilled resources, and organizational policies

project objectives

quantifiable criteria that must be met for the project to be considered a success

project scope statement

links the project to the organization’s overall business goals; describes the business need and the justification, requirements, and current boundaries for the project

kill switch

a trigger that enables a project manager to close the project before completion

dependency

a logical relationship that exists between the project tasks, or between a project task and a milestone