CSIS 3600 Systems Analysis and Design

Class 3

SDLC - Phase One

Project Identification and Selection

Intellectual Property of Dr. Meg Murray, dated August 2001

Problem (Opportunity) Identification

There are always more problems and opportunities than resources available to solve all of them.

Project Identification

• New systems usually originate from some business need or opportunity

• Ideas for new systems or improvements to existing systems arise from the application of a new technology

• Understanding of technology is secondary to understanding the business and its objectives

Dennis, A. Wixom, B. H. & Tegarden, D. (2002) Systems Analysis and Design: An Object-Oriented Approach with UML, Wiley Publishers

Problem Identification Strategy

• Does an organization need a Systems Selection Plan? Why?

• Should it be formal? Informal?

• Who should make the final decision? Users? System Owners? CIO? IS staff?

Systematic Approach to Systems Selection

• Organizations have not traditionally used a systematic planning process.

• Instead focus was on solving isolated problems.

Systematic Approach to Systems Selection

• The focus has now shifted to strategic planning based on an organization's information needs not its business processes– Information needs change less frequently– Need to get a handle on massive amounts of

information, data redundancy and costs of maintaining information

Islands of Information

• One current driving force behind IS systems project selection is the existence of heterogeneous environments and multiple existing systems that represent “islands of information”

• Personal and departmental systems and databases abound because users are unaware of the information that exists in other databases or cannot easily get to it

• Identification and usability of existing information systems and interfacing/integrating existing applications is a major focus of IS project selection today

Systems Selection Plan

1. Identify potential development projects

2. Classify and rank projects

3. Select the project for development

Sources of Problems - PIECES

• Jay Wetherbe developed a framework for classifying problems.

• This helps in identifying, prioritizing and evaluating projects.

• The framework is called PIECES

PIECES

• P the need to improve performance• I the need to improve information (and data)• E the need to improve economics, control costs or

increase profits• C the need to improve control or security• E the need to improve efficiency of people and

resources• S the need to improve service to customers,

suppliers, partners, employees, etc.

Areas of Consideration (from Text)

• Functionality– What the system will do

• Expected Value– What the system is worth

• Special Issues or Constraints– Other information for consideration

Sources of Projects

• Organization's Long Range Plan (top-down)– Often of a strategic nature– Organization-wide reflecting the broader needs

of the organization– Often large projects– Incur more risk

Sources of Projects

• Business Need Assessment and Business Unit Requests (bottom-up)– Focused on departmental objectives– Smaller projects with faster development time– Easier to define and incur less risk

Strategic Planning as a Source of Project Selection

• Can be organization-wide or departmental

• Based on Long-range plan– Mission statement– Organization objectives

• Often driven by competitive strategy

Pine Valley Furniture Mission Statement

• We are in the business of designing, fabricating, and selling to retail stores high-quality wood furniture for household, office, and institutional use. We value quality in our products and in our relationships with customers and suppliers. We consider our employees our most critical resource.

Other Mission Statements

• http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/• http://www.kennesaw.edu/about/mission.shtml

• Usually the mission statement of an organization will be under the “about” menu. Sometimes they don’t publish their mission (that may be viewed as internal information) but will publish their vision.

Criteria for the Evaluation of Requests

• How the project fits in with the overall strategic plan of the organization

• Business problem solved or opportunities created– Potential benefits– Value chain analysis

• Ability to integrate system with existing infrastructure

• Availability of resources (project size/duration)

Concluding Thought

"All projects are feasible given unlimited resources and infinite time" (Pressmen, 1992 Software Engineering).