Systems Development Life Cycle and Agile Concepts

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts related to the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Agile Scrum methodologies, project feasibility, estimation, team roles, and data collection methods.

SystemsDevelopmentLifeCycle(SDLC)

A gradual refinement approach used to structure the development of information systems projects.

PlanningPhase

The first phase of the SDLC focused on project initiation, feasibility analysis, and setting up the project.

AnalysisPhase

The SDLC phase where the team studies the existing system, collects requirements, and develops a new system concept.

DesignPhase

The SDLC phase focused on deciding how the system will operate in terms of architecture, interface, data, and programs.

ImplementationPhase

The final major SDLC phase involving system construction, installation, training, and support.

SystemRequest

A document that describes the business reasons for building a system and the value the system is expected to provide.

ProjectSponsor

The person or group who initiates the project and serves as the primary point of contact from the business side.

BusinessNeed

The specific problem or opportunity that motivates a project, such as increasing revenue or eliminating inefficiency.

BusinessRequirements

The high-level features and capabilities the information system must provide to meet the business needs.

BusinessValue

The benefits the organization will gain from the system, categorized as either tangible or intangible.

TangibleValue

A benefit that can be quantified and measured easily, such as a $2\%$ increase in sales.

IntangibleValue

A benefit that is difficult to measure or quantify, such as improved company reputation or brand recognition.

FeasibilityAnalysis

An assessment used to determine if a project should proceed by evaluating technical, economic, and organizational feasibility.

TechnicalFeasibility

An assessment answering "Can we build it?" by looking at technology familiarity, project size, and complexity.

EconomicFeasibility

An assessment answering "Should we build it?" by identifying costs and benefits and calculating financial returns.

Organizational Feasibility

An assessment answering "If we build it, will they come?" by looking at strategic alignment and stakeholder support.

StrategicAlignment

The degree to which a project's goals fit with the larger goals and long-term strategy of the organization.

Net Present Value(NPV)

A financial measure that compares the current value of future cash inflows to the cost of the project.

ReturnonInvestment(ROI)

A performance measure calculated by dividing the net income generated by a project by the average annual investment.

BreakevenAnalysis

The process of determining the point at which the cumulative dollar value of benefits equals the cumulative costs.

BusinessProcessManagement(BPM)

A methodology for the continuous review, analysis, and redesign of existing business processes.

BusinessProcessAutomation(BPA)

The use of technology to create or adjust electronic workflows with minimal changes to existing processes.

BusinessProcessImprovement(BPI)

The redesign of business processes to improve performance and efficiency through moderate changes.

BusinessProcessRengineering(BPR)

The radical redesign or total overhaul of business processes to achieve high levels of improvement.

LeanSoftwareDevelopment(LSD)

A methodology focused on minimizing waste and delivering only what the project needs via a Minimum Viable Product strategy.

MinimumViableProduct (MVP)

A bare-minimum version of a product released to gather user feedback and iterate based on that data.

AgileMethodology

An approach emphasizing close collaboration, frequent delivery of deployable value, and flexibility toward requirements changes.

Scrum

An agile framework where projects make progress through fixed-length work cycles called sprints.

Sprint

A defined work cycle in Scrum, typically lasting $2$ to $4$ weeks, that results in a working software increment.

ProductOwner

The Scrum role responsible for representing the business, holding business value, and defining product requirements.

ScrumMaster

A servant leader who guides the team in Scrum practices and removes obstacles to progress.

DevelopmentTeam

A self-organizing group (typically $5$ to $9$ members) responsible for building and coding the software increment.

ProductBacklog

A prioritized list of all the features, requirements, and enhancements needed for a new software product.

Sprint Backlog

The subset of product backlog items selected for implementation during a specific sprint.

User Story

A concise description of a software feature from the perspective of the end user.

Epic

A large user story that requires significant time to implement and must be broken down into smaller stories.

AcceptanceCriteria

The specific conditions that must be met for a user story to be considered complete and satisfactory.

DailyStandup

A brief daily meeting where the Scrum team synchronizes activities and reports progress and blockers.

Sprint Review

A meeting at the end of a sprint where the team demonstrates the working increment to stakeholders.

Sprint Retrospective

A meeting at the end of a sprint focused on reviewing the team's process and identifying improvements.

TripleConstraint

The project management framework asserting that project size, cost, and time are inextricably linked.

Methodology

A formalized and systematic approach to implementing the systems development life cycle (SDLC).

WaterfallDevelopment

A structured methodology where the project moves linearly from one SDLC phase to the next after completion.

Parallel Development

A methodology that performs general design and then splits the project into subprojects developed simultaneously.

V-Model

A development methodology that links each development level (e.g., Analysis) to a specific testing level (e.g., Acceptance testing).

IterativeDevelopment

A methodology that breaks a project into a series of versions, each going through its own SDLC cycle.

Semi-structuredInterview

A data collection method using a guided script with a mix of open and closed-ended questions to allow follow-up.

IndirectObservation

The analysis of secondary sources such as company handbooks, artifacts, or digital logs to understand processes.

Triangulation

The practice of using multiple data collection methods to ensure consistency and richness in requirement gathering.

HourglassInterviewStyle

A questioning sequence that starts broad, narrows to specific core questions, and then widens back to general topics.

ProjectSelection

The organizational process of evaluating a project's costs, benefits, and risks to decide if it merits investment.

ProblemStatement

A clear description of the business issues to be addressed, which must exclude any discussion of potential solutions.

DevelopmentCosts

One-time capital expenditures (CAPEX) incurred during the creation of a new information system.

OperatingCosts

Recurring expenses required to maintain and support a system after it has been implemented.

Six Sigma

A statistical goal for process quality where only $3.4$ defects are produced per million opportunities.

MarginofErrorHeuristic

A guideline stating that cost estimates at the end of planning have a $100\%$ error, while schedule estimates vary.

FunctionPoint

A unit of measurement used in estimation to quantify the size of a software application based on its features.

SystemProposal

The primary deliverable of the Analysis phase that summarizes results and provides a Go/No Go decision point.

SystemSpecification

The primary deliverable of the Design phase, consisting of architecture, interface, database, and program designs.

WorkPlan

A dynamic document that keeps track of all tasks, their statuses, and the people assigned to perform them.

ProgressiveElaboration

The iterative process of increasing the level of detail in a project plan as more information becomes available.

ApplicationFamiliarity

A technical risk factor concerning how well the users and analysts understand the business area for which system is being built.

TechnologyFamiliarity

A technical risk factor concerning the project team's experience with the specific hardware or software technologies.

InfrastructureAnalyst

A project team role focused on the technical issues surrounding how the system will interact with the organization's hardware.

ChangeManagementAnalyst

A project team role focused on the people and procedures surrounding the system installation.

BusinessAnalyst

A project team role focused on analyzing the key business changes needed to justify the system and defining requirements.

SystemsAnalyst

A project team role focused on identifying how technology can improve business processes and designing the system.

TeamVelocity

A measure of a Scrum team's productivity, calculated by the number of story points completed in a sprint.

StoryPoint

A relative unit used in agile estimation to represent the effort required to implement a user story.

Champion

A high-level executive or stakeholder who provides strong support and leadership for a project within the organization.

GradualRefinement

The principle that development moves from high-level concepts to increasingly detailed technical specifications.

SteeringCommittee

An approval body that evaluates project requests and decides which projects are priority for organizational funding.

RoughOrderMagnitude(ROM)

A high-level percentage allocation used for early project estimation before detailed analysis is completed.

Self-organizingTeam

A characteristic of Scrum teams where members decide among themselves how to best accomplish work according to their skills.

StructuredInterview

A data collection method using a standardized script and close-ended questions to ensure replicability.

UnstructuredInterview

An informal data collection method using open-ended questions to gather deep and nuanced information.

ProjectImpact

A section of the systems request explaining how the project will change organizational processes, roles, or strategy.