Chapter Two

The System Development Life Cycle

What is an information system (IS)?

Hardware,
Hardware,software,
software,data,
data, System—Set
System—Setof ofcomponents
components
people,
people,and
andprocedures
proceduresthat
that that
thatinteract
interactto
toachieve
achieve
work
worktogether
togethertotoproduce
produce common
commongoalgoal
quality
qualityinformation
information
Businesses
Businessesuse
usemany
manytypes
typesofof
systems
systems
The System Development Life Cycle
What are guidelines for system development?

Arrange tasks into phases

(groups of activities)
Involve users (anyone for whom
system is being built)

Develop clearly defined standards (procedures

company expects employees to follow)
The System Development Life Cycle
Who participates
in the system
development life
cycle?
The System Development Life Cycle
What is a systems analyst?

Responsible for designing

and developing
information system

Liaison between users

and IT professionals
The System Development Life Cycle
What is the project team?

Formed to work on project from beginning to end

Consists of users, systems analyst, and other IT professionals

Project leader—one member of the team who

manages and controls project budget and schedule
The System Development Life Cycle
What is feasibility?
Operational
feasibility
Measure of
how suitable
system Four feasibility
development tests:
will be to the Schedule
company feasibility

Economic
feasibility
(also called Technical
cost/benefit feasibility
feasibility)
The System Development Life Cycle
What is documentation?

Collection and summarization

of data and information

Includes reports, diagrams,

programs, and other deliverables
The System Development Life Cycle
What are six data and information gathering techniques?
 Review documentation
 Observe
 Questionnaire
 Interview
 Joint-application
design (JAD) session
 Research
The System Development Life Cycle
What are some reasons to create or modify an
information system?

To correct problem To improve

in existing system existing system

Outside group may Competition can

mandate change lead to change
The System Development Life Cycle
What is a request for system services?
 Formal request for
new or modified
information system
 Also called
project request
 The System Development Life Cycle

What are the phases of the system development cycle?

Phase 2. Analysis
 Conduct preliminary investigation
Phase 1. Planning  Perform detailed analysis activities:
 Review project requests
Phase 3. Design
Study current system  Acquire hardware
 Prioritize project Determine user requirements and software, if
requests necessary
Recommend solution
 Allocate resources  Develop details of
 Identify project system
development team

Phase 5. Support Phase 4. Implementation

 Conduct post-implementation  Develop programs, if necessary
system review  Install and test new system
 Identify errors and enhancements  Train users
 Monitor system performance  Convert to new system
The System Development Life Cycle
What is the planning phase?
Begins when steering committee receives project request

Steering
committee—
decision-making
body for the
company

Function of committee:

Form project
Review and development
Prioritize Allocate
approve project team for each
project requests resources
requests approved
project
The System Development Life Cycle
What is the analysis phase?

Conduct preliminary Perform detailed

investigation, also analysis
called feasibility
study
The System Development Life Cycle
What is the preliminary investigation?
 Determine exact nature of problem or improvement
and whether it is worth pursuing
 Findings are presented in feasibility report, also known as a feasibility study
The System Development Life Cycle
What is detailed analysis?
1. Study how current system
works

2. Determine user’s wants, needs,

and requirements

3. Recommend solution

Sometimes called logical design

The System Development Life Cycle
What is the
system proposal? Assesses
feasibility
of each
alternative
solution

Presented to
Recommends
steering
the most
committee,
feasible
which decides
solution for
how system will
the project
be developed
The System Development Life Cycle
What are possible solutions? Horizontal
Horizontalmarket
market
software—meets
software—meets
needs
needsofofmany
many
companies
Buy
Buypackaged
packagedsoftware—prewritten
software—prewritten companies
software
softwareavailable
availablefor
forpurchase
purchase
Vertical
Verticalmarket
market
software—designed
software—designed
for
forparticular
particularindustry
industry
Write
Writeown
owncustom
customsoftware—software
software—software
developed
developedat
atuser’s
user’srequest
request

Outsource—have
Outsource—haveoutside
outsidesource
source
develop
developsoftware
software
The System Development Life Cycle
What is the design phase?

Acquire
Acquirehardware
hardwareand
andsoftware
software

Develop
Developall
alldetails
detailsof
ofnew
neworor
modified
modifiedinformation
informationsystem
system
The System Development Life Cycle
What is needed to acquire new hardware and software?
 Identify all hardware and software requirements of new or
modified system

Talk with other

Surf Web
systems analysts

Read print and

Visit vendors’ stores online trade journals,
newspapers, and
magazines
The System Development Life Cycle
What are three basic documents used to summarize
technical specifications?
Vendor quotes
Identifies Request for quotation (RFQ) price(s) for
product(s) listed
you want product(s)

Vendor selects
Request for proposal (RFP)
product(s) that
meet(s) your
requirements and Less formal method
then quotes price(s) that uses standard
form to request
information about
Request for information (RFI) product or service
The System Development Life Cycle
How do systems analysts test software products?
 References from vendor
 Talk to current users of product
 Product demonstrations
 Trial version of software
 Benchmark test measures performance
The System Development Life Cycle
What is a detailed design?

Detailed design specifications for components in proposed solution

Includes several activities

Database
Database Input
Inputand
and Program
Program
design
design output
outputdesign
design design
design
The System Development Life Cycle
What is a mockup?
 Sample of input or output that contains actual data
The System Development Life Cycle
What is a prototype?

Working model of
proposed system

Beginning a prototype
too early may lead to
problems
The System Development Life Cycle
What is computer-aided software engineering (CASE)?
 Software tools designed to support activities of system
development cycle
The System Development Life Cycle
What is the implementation phase?
 Purpose is to construct, or build, new or modified
system and then deliver it to users
Convert to new system

Train users

Install and test new system

Develop programs
The System Development Life Cycle
What are the three types of tests performed by system
developers?

Unit Test Systems test

Verifies each Verifies all programs

individual program in application work
works by itself together

Integration Test

Verifies application
works with other
applications
The System Development Life Cycle
What is training?
 Showing users exactly
how they will use new
hardware and software
in system
The System Development Life Cycle
What is the support phase?
 Provides ongoing assistance after system is implemented
Conduct post-implementation system review—meeting to find out if
information system is performing according to expectations

Identify errors

Identify enhancements

Monitor system performance