Transcript Information Systems 1

IMS3230 - Information Systems
Development Practices
Revision
Semester 2, 2005
13.1
Revision
 what is systems development?
 the activities of systems development
 ISDMs as a structure for development
 the role of the system developer
 the organisational context
13.2
Revision
 implicit and explicit assumptions about:
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the nature of human organisations
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the nature of the systems development
process
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the role of the systems developer
as embodied in specific SDMs
 frameworks for comparison of SDMs
 paradigms for understanding SDMs
13.3
Revision
the role of the system developer:
• the technical expert?
• the facilitator?
• the management change agent?
• the collaborative agent?
13.4
What is a system development methodology?
 “A collection of procedures, techniques, tools and
documentation aids which will help the systems developers
in their efforts to implement a new information system. A
methodology will consist of phases, themselves consisting
of sub-phases, which will guide the systems developers in
their choice of the techniques that might be appropriate at
each stage of the project and also help them plan, manage,
control and evaluate information systems projects”
Avison and Fitzgerald (2003) p 20
 a “methodical approach” to information systems
development “used by one or more persons to produce a
specification” or “design product” by performing a “design
process”
Olle et al (1991) pp 1-2
13.5
Revision
 a methodology must have an underlying philosophy,
otherwise it is just a method:
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a method:
a prescribed set of tasks
a technique:
a way of doing a particular activity in the
systems development process
a tool:
usually automated tools to help systems
development
Avison and Fitzgerald (2003)
13.6
Evolution of information systems
development methodologies
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the traditional systems development approach: (SDLC)
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structured approaches of the 1970s
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data-oriented methodologies of the 1980s
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strategic planning approaches (mid 1970s and 1980s)
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soft approaches (SSM, ETHICS)
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the 1980s: information systems development
prototyping, CASE tools, database systems, decentralisation,
user participation, end user computing
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the 1990s: information systems development
object-oriented approaches, reuse, outsourcing,
enterprise planning systems (ERP), BPR, data warehouses,
Internet and intranets, multimedia
13.7
Revision
the “hard” or “engineering” approaches:
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a functionalist view: tasks, products
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objectives are primarily technical
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a methodology is an abstraction, a
philosophy on which to base action
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a “task list”: prescriptive, normative
13.8
Revision
the “soft” approaches:
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interpretivist: a subjective view of reality
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the broad socio-organisational context
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systems development is a social process
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ill-structured, complex problem situations
13.9
Revision
Frameworks:
 for describing the concept of a methodology
e.g. the meta-model of Olle et al (1991)
 for describing a specific methodology
e.g. the system lifecycle
 for comparing and / or evaluating methodologies
e.g. feature analyses
analyses of results of using
methodologies
13.10
Revision
information systems development methodologies:
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Structured Analysis
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Information Engineering
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Soft Systems Methodology
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ETHICS
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SSADM
13.11
Revision
using a methodology:
Analyst
Methodology
Situation
Avison and Wood-Harper (1990)
13.12
Revision
the organisational context:
 organisational culture - role, influence, management
 introducing and managing change new information systems, new information
technologies
 targets for change, resistance to change
 a model of the change process
13.13
Revision
ways of improving quality and/or productivity:
 user participation
 JAD/JRP sessions
 prototyping
 CASE technology
 reuse
 rapid application development
 outsourcing
 application packages/ ERP systems
13.14
Revision topics
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Role and purpose of ISDMs; benefits and limitations
User participation
Prototyping
CASE tools
RAD
Organisational change
Outsourcing
Application packages
Evaluating ISDMs
An ISDM focusing on technological dimension and ISDM
focusing on human dimension
13.15