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Information System Development

Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE)

CASE provides tools to automate the methodologies to reduce the repetitive work that software developers do while developing a software system. CASE tools help to create clear documentation and help to coordinate team development efforts. CASE tools provide tools to create charts, diagrams, reports, data dictionaries analysis and checking tools, code generators, document generators, etc.
Case tools help to increase productivity and quality by
  1. providing standard development methodology and design principle
  2. improving communication between users and developers
  3. organizing and correlating design components and allowing easy and fast access to the design components.
  4. Automating tedious and error-prone analysis and design tasks
  5. automate code generation and testing

Prototyping

Prototyping is the process of building an experimental system rapidly and cost-effectively. Users interactive with the prototype and can get a better idea of their information needs. The prototype is a preliminary model and a working version of a software system. Once the prototype becomes operational it will be further refined until it confirms all the requirements of users.
In prototyping, a preliminary design, trying it out, refining it, and trying out again are the steps done until a final product satisfying all the requirements of the users is built; this repetition of works: design, trying out, refining, again trying out is known as an iterative process of systems development.

Steps in Prototyping

  1. Identify user's basic requirements
  2. Develop an initial prototype
  3. Use the prototype
  4. Revise and enhance the prototype

End-User Development

Sometimes a simple kind of information system can be developed by the end users with little or no formal help from technical specialists. The process of developing simple information systems by end users is called end-user development. Fourth generation languages enable end users to create simple kind of information systems which can produce reports, do data analysis. MS Excel also has features to do data analysis, different kind of charts generation, data filtering etc.

Introduction of new system brings organizational changes

New system can bring four different types of changes in the organization:
  1. Automation of tasks and activities
  2. Rationalization of the procedures used to perform tasks
  3. Resign of business processes
  4. Paradigm shift

Core activities in the systems development process

  • System analysis
  • System design
  • programming
  • testing
  • conversion
  • production
  • maintenance

Building and managing System

Project management:

Projects must be managed with great care; the Right way for the project management is essential for ensuring the quality of project, the project delivered in time, and on budget. Project management includes: planning the work, assessing, evaluating risks and finding solutions to reduce or remove those risks, estimating and acquiring human, physical, financial resources to accomplish the work, organizing the work, directing execution and analyzing the results. The objective of project management is to deal with five majors variables:
  1. scope,
  2. time,
  3. cost,
  4. quality, and
  5. risk
. These variables must be handled with great care and efficiently for gaining genuine business benefits from the project.

Methods for selecting and evaluating information system projects

Information technology should be implemented with a correct plan to support the attainment of the business goals. Portfolio analysis, key performance indicators, scoring modelscan be used to identify and evaluate different kinds of information system projects.

Accessing the business value of information systems projects

To know if an information system is a good investment or not, one must calculate the costs and benefits of the information system project. Benefits that exceed costs should be analyzed using capital budgeting methods to make sure for a good return on investment. Real options pricing models can also be used to evaluate highly uncertain IT investments.

Risk factors in information systems projects

The level of risks depends on the
  • size of project
  • project structure
  • experience with technology.
IS projects may fail if
  • there is insufficient or improper user participation in the development process,
  • lack of management support,
  • poor management in the implementation process.

Strategies useful for managing project risk and system implementation

User support and involvement, support of management, well management of the implementation process are essential for dealing with risks and success of the IS project implementation.