Systems Analysis and Design – Managing System Projects

Systems Analysis and Design – Managing System Projects

Introduction

  • Focuses on reducing risk before constructing systems.

  • Many system failures occur before coding begins, primarily due to misunderstandings of the problem rather than technology failures.

System Failures

  • Key Point: Most system failures originate before the coding phase.

  • The significance of feasibility analysis in preventing wasted efforts.

Project Initiation

  • Projects commence when:

    • Opportunities to create business value through information technology are identified.

    • Feasibility analysis aids in deciding whether to proceed with a project.

  • The roles involved in project initiation:

    • Project Sponsor: Proposes development or adoption of new technology.

    • Approval Committee: Reviews and determines which project proposals are committed for development.

System Requests

  • Importance of a system request in clarifying business needs before detailed analysis:

    • Contains key elements such as:

    • Project name

    • Project sponsor

    • Business need

    • Business value

    • Functionality

    • Special issues or constraints

  • Definitions:

    • Business need: Justification for action.

    • Business value: The benefit obtained from acting.

Risks of Weak System Requests

  • Example of a weak system request:

    • Project Name: Online booking system

    • Business Need: Reduce phone bookings

    • Business Value: Lower staff workload

    • Functionality: Search, book, confirm

    • Constraint: Must launch in 3 months

Feasibility Analysis

  • Purpose: Determines if a project should proceed based on informed decisions under uncertainty.

  • Aspects of feasibility analysis include:

    • Technical: Can we build it? (familiarity with technology, project size, etc.)

    • Economic: Should we build it? (development costs, operational costs, benefits, intangible costs)

    • Organizational: If we build it, will they come?

  • A project can pass one feasibility type and fail another.

Types of Feasibility

Technical Feasibility

  • Evaluates:

    • Familiarity with the application, business domain.

    • Availability of skills and technology.

    • Project size assessed by the number of personnel, time, and features.

Economic Feasibility

  • Analysis Includes:

    • Development costs

    • Annual operational costs

    • Intangible costs and benefits

  • Key Note: Intangible costs and benefits are significant but challenging to quantify.

Organizational Feasibility

  • Considers whether stakeholders will support the system:

    • Involves stakeholder analysis including project champions and management.

Feasibility Highlights

  • Feasibility identifies trade-offs rather than provides guarantees.

  • Analysts report on feasibility; however, ultimately, managers make decisions.

Project Management Basics

  • Balances scope, time, and cost.

  • Project managers coordinate hundreds of tasks and roles efficiently.

Work Plan Essentials

  • Translates strategy into executable tasks.

  • Task list includes data such as:

    • Task titles, start and completion dates, person assigned, deliverables, priority, estimated time, and actual time.

  • Examples:

    • Task: Perform economic feasibility

    • Start Date: Jan 05, 2001

    • Completion Date: Jan 19, 2001

    • Assigned to: Mary Smith

    • Status: Open

Effective Planning Techniques

  • Methodologies break work into manageable units using a top-down approach to identify tasks and sub-tasks.

  • Benefits:

    • Reduces reliance on memory

    • Supports estimation and scheduling

    • Assists new team members

Industry Benchmarks for Phases

  • Common estimates per phase:

    • Planning: 15%

    • Analysis: 20%

    • Design: 35%

    • Implementation: 30%

Size and Effort Estimation

  • Size, effort, and time are interrelated.

    • Size measured via function points and lines of code.

    • Effort reported in person-months.

    • Time measured in months.

Estimation Process Steps

  • Function Points: Quantifies system size based on complexity using specific criteria like input/output definitions.

  • Project Complexity: Adjusts the raw size estimates using a defined complexity scale.

  • Final Adjustments: Provide realistic complexity estimates based on project complexity.

Language and Implementation Effort

  • Programming languages affect implementation effort based on lines of code (LOC) per code point.

    • Example: C requires 130 LOC/function, while Visual Basic requires 30 LOC/function.

Analysis and Scheduling

  • Estimation of effort converts system size into person-months via calculations like COCOMO model.

  • Example COCOMO Calculation:

    • Effort = $1.4 imes 2000$ (for 2000 LOC) gives an effort of 28 person-months.

Project Schedule Management

  • Rule of Thumb:

    • Schedule time (in months) approximately equals $3.0 imes$ person-months.

  • More personnel does not necessarily expedite delivery due to potential overhead.

Risk Monitoring and Management

  • Most project failures stem from planning errors such as overly optimistic schedules and the failure to monitor those schedules.

  • Key Point: Effective risk management involves ongoing monitoring and reassessment of risks throughout the project lifecycle.

Best Practices in Project Management

  • Rely on intrinsic motivation rather than monetary rewards for sustained project performance.

  • Clearly define roles and accountability to minimize conflicts and improve team performance.

  • Comprehensive documentation of all project components ensures that vital knowledge remains preserved.

Conclusion

  • Project success heavily relies on early discipline and consistent control in managing scope, risks, and ongoing communication with stakeholders.

  • The aim of feasibility studies is to decide whether or not to proceed with systems projects, highlighting the importance of proper analysis and planning at all stages of the project.