Transcript Intro to Information Systems

Chapter 10
Developing Business/IT
Solutions
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
©2008,The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved
Learning Objectives
1. Use the systems development process
outlined in this chapter and the model of IS
components from Chapter 1 as problemsolving frameworks to help you propose
information systems solutions to simple
business problems.
2. Describe and give examples to illustrate how
you might use each of the steps of the
information systems development cycle to
develop and implement a business information
system.
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Learning Objectives
3. Explain how prototyping can be used as an
effective technique to improve the process of
systems development for end users and IS
specialists.
4. Understand the basics of project management
and their importance to a successful systems
development effort.
5. Identify the activities involved in the
implementation of new information systems.
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Learning Objectives
6. Compare and contrast the four basic system
conversion strategies.
7. Describe several evaluation factors that should
be considered in evaluating the acquisition of
hardware, software, and IS services.
8. Identify several change management solutions
for end user resistance to the implementation
of new information systems.
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The Systems Approach
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A problem solving technique that uses a systems
orientation to define problems and opportunities and
develop appropriate and feasible solutions.
Analyzing a problem and formulating a solution involves
the following interrelated activities:
1. Recognize and define a problem or opportunity using
systems thinking
2. Develop and evaluate alternative system solutions
3. Select the system solution that best meets your
requirements
4. Design the selected system solution
5. Implement and evaluate the success of the designed
system
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What is Systems Thinking?
• Seeing the forest and the trees in any situation
by:
– Seeing interrelationships among systems rather than
linear cause-and-effect chains whenever events occur
– Seeing processes of change among systems rather
than discrete snapshots of change, whenever changes
occur
• See the system in any situation:
– Find the input, processing, output, feedback and control
components
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Systems Thinking Example
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Systems Analysis and Design
• SA & D
– Overall process by which IS are designed and
implemented within organizations
• Two most common approaches to SA & D
– Object-oriented analysis and design
– Systems Development Life Cycle
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Systems Development Lifecycle
(SDLC)
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Systems Investigation Stage
• Do we have business opportunities?
• What are our business priorities?
• How can information technologies provide
information systems solutions that address our
business priorities?
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Feasibility Study
• A preliminary study where
– the information needs of prospective users
– the resource requirements, costs, benefits,
– and feasibility of a proposed project
• are determined
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Feasibility Categories
• Operational Feasibility
• Economic Feasibility
• Technical Feasibility
• Human Factors Feasibility
• Legal/Political Feasibility
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Operational Feasibility
• How well the proposed system
– supports the business priorities of the organization.
– solves the identified problem.
– fits within the existing organizational structure.
• Schedule feasibility – can we solve the problem
in a reasonable period
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Economic Feasibility
• Assess:
– Cost savings
– Increased revenue
– Decreased investment requirements
– Increased profits
• Cost/benefit analysis
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Cost/Benefit Analysis
• Costs versus Benefits
• Tangible costs and benefits can be quantified
with a high degree of certainty
– Example: decrease in operating costs
• Intangible costs and benefits are harder to
estimate
– Example: improved customer service
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Technical Feasibility
• Determine if reliable hardware and software
capable of meeting the needs of a proposed
system can be acquired or developed by the
business in the required time
– Hardware
– Software
– Network
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Human Factors Feasibility
• Assess
– Employee, customer, supplier acceptance
– Management support
– The right people for the various new or revised roles
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Legal/Political Feasibility
• Assess
– Possible patent or copyright violations
– Software licensing for developer side only
– Governmental restrictions
– Changes to existing reporting structure
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Systems Analysis
• An in-depth study of end user information needs
• That produces functional requirements that are
used as the basis for the design of a new
information system
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Systems Analysis
• Detailed study of
– The information needs of a company and end users.
– The activities, resources, and products of one or more
of the present information systems being used.
– The information system capabilities required to meet
information needs of users and stakeholders
• End users are important members of the
development team
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Organizational Analysis
• Study of the organization including:
– Management Structure
– People
– Business Activities
– Environmental Systems
– Current Information Systems
• Document input, processing, output, storage and control
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Logical Analysis
• Construction of a logical model of the current
system
• Logical model
– A blueprint of what the current system does
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Functional Requirements Analysis and
Determination
•
Determine specific business information needs
1. Determine what type of information each business
activity requires.
2. Determine the information processing each system
activity is needed to meet these needs.
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Functional Requirements
• End user information requirements that are not
tied to the hardware, software, network, data,
and people resources that end users presently
use or might use in the new system
• What the system must do
• Functional Requirement categories
– User Interface
– Processing
– Storage
– Control
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Systems Design
• Modify the logical model until it represents a blueprint for
what the new system will do
• Physical design:
– How the system will accomplish its objectives
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Prototyping
• The rapid development and testing of working
models
• Used in design phase
• Especially useful when end user requirements
are hard to define
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Prototyping Life Cycle
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Prototyping
• Can be used for small and large systems
– But if system is large, usually prototype just parts
• Develop quickly
• Refine until acceptable
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User Interface Design
• Focuses on supporting the interactions between
end users and their computer-based applications
• Frequently prototype the user interface
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Checklist for Corporate Websites
• Remember the customer – successful websites
are built solely for the customer, not to make
company vice presidents happy
• Aesthetics – successful designs combine fastloading graphics and simple color palettes for
pages that are easy to read
• Broadband Content – the Web’s coolest stuff
can’t be accessed by most Web surfers; don’t
make it the focus of a site
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Checklist for Corporate Websites
• Easy to navigate – make sure it’s easy to get
from one part of site to another
• Searchability – make sure to have a useful
search engine
• Incompatibilities – test site with target web
browsers
• Registration forms – short registration forms are
a useful way to gather customer data
• Dead links – be sure to keep links updated
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System Specifications
• Formalize design of
– User interface methods
– Products
– Database structures
– Processing
– Control procedures
• Specifications for hardware, software, network,
data, and personnel
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End User Development
• IS professional plays a consulting role
• End user does his/her own application
development
• Contrast in traditional life cycle:
– End user is customer
– IS profession does development
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End User Development
Source: Adapted from James N. Morgan, Application Cases in MIS, 4th ed. (New York: Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 2002),
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3431.
Encouraging End User Web
Development
• Look for tools that make sense
• Spur creativity
• Set some limits
• Give managers responsibility
• Make users comfortable
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Systems Implementation
• Hardware and software acquisition
• Software development
• Testing of programs and procedures
• Conversion of data resources
• Conversion alternatives
• Education and training of end users and
specialists who will operate a new system
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Implementation Process
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Project Management
• IT and business unit managers
• enforce a project plan which includes
– job responsibilities,
– time lines for major stages of development, and
– financial budgets
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Sample Implementation Process Plan
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Project
• A project
– Is a set of activities with a clear beginning and end
• Each project has
– Goals
– Objectives
– Tasks
– Limitations
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Managing a project
• To manage a project need:
– Process
– Tools
– Techniques
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Five phases of project management
1. Initiating/defining
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State the problems/goals
Identify the objectives
Secure resources
Explore costs/benefits in feasibility study
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Five phases of project management
2. Planning
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Identify and sequence activities
Identify the “critical path”
Estimate time and resources needed for completion
Write a detailed project plan
3. Executing
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Commit resources to specific tasks
Add additional resources/personnel if necessary
Initiate project work
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Five phases of project management
4. Controlling
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Establish reporting obligations
Create reporting tools
Compare actual progress with baseline
Initiate control interventions if necessary
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Five phases of project management
5. Closing
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Install all deliverables
Finalize all obligations/commitments
Meet with stakeholders
Release project resources
Document the project
Issue final report
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Evaluating Hardware, software and
services
• Must acquire hardware, software
• How do we evaluate and select it?
• Companies may ask suppliers to present bids
and proposals
• May score different products
– Determine evaluation factors
– Assign each product points on each factor
– May require benchmark tests
• Simulate processing of task and evaluates the
performance
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Hardware Evaluation Factors
• Performance
• Cost
• Reliability
• Compatibility
• Technology
• Ergonomics
• Connectivity
• Scalability
• Software
• Support
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Software Evaluation Factors
• Quality
• Efficiency
• Flexibility
• Security
• Connectivity
• Maintenance
• Documentation
• Hardware
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Examples of IS Services
• Developing a company website
• Installation or conversion of hardware or
software
• Employee training
• Hardware maintenance
• System integration
• System design
• Contract programming
• Consulting services
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IS Services Evaluation Factors
• Performance
• Systems development
• Maintenance
• Conversion
• Training
• Backup
• Accessibility
• Business Position
• Hardware
• Software
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System Testing
• Testing and debugging software
• Testing website performance
• Testing new hardware
• Review of prototypes of displays, reports and
other output
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Data Conversion
• Converting data elements from old database to
new database
• Correcting incorrect data
• Filtering out unwanted data
• Consolidating data from several databases
• Organizing data into new data subsets
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Importance of Data Conversion
• Improperly organized and formatted data is
major causes of failures in implementing new
systems.
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Documentation
• User documentation
– Sample data entry screens, forms, reports
• Systems documentation
– Communication among people responsible for
developing, implementing and maintaining system
– Important in diagnosing errors and making changes
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Training
• End users must be trained to operate new
system
• Educate managers and end users in how the
new technology impacts the company’s business
operations and management
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Conversion
• Conversion from use of present system to
operation of new system
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Four major forms of conversion
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Direct Conversion
• Turn off old system
• Turn on new system
• Direct is least expensive method
• Riskiest method
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Parallel Conversion
• New and old systems run simultaneously
• until end users and project coordinators are
satisfied that the new system is functioning
correctly
• Low risk
• Highest cost method: perform all functions with
both systems
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Pilot Conversion
• When new system is installed in multiple
locations
• Convert to new system in single location
• Once complete in pilot location,
– Evaluate and make any necessary changes
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Phased Conversion
• Incremental approach to conversion
• Bring in new system as a series of functional
components
• Lower risk
• Takes the most time
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Systems maintenance
• Corrective: fix bugs and logical errors
• Adaptive: add new functionality to accommodate
changes in business or environment
• Perfective: improve performance
• Preventive: reduce chances of failure
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Post-implementation review
• Ensure new system meets the business
objectives
• Periodic review or audit
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Implementation Challenges
• New system involves major organizational
change
• Manage changes to
– Business processes
– Organizational structures
– Managerial roles
– Work assignments
– Stakeholder relationships
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User Resistance
• New way of doing things generates resistance
• Key to solving is
– User involvement in organizational changes and
development of new systems
• User involvement
– End users on systems development teams
– End user ownership of new system
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Reasons for User Resistance to
Knowledge Management Systems
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Change Management Dimensions
Source: Adapted from Grant Norris, James Hurley, Kenneth Harley, John Dunleavy, and John Balls, E-Business and ERP:
Transforming the Enterprise, p. 120. Copyright @2000 by John Wiley & Sons Inc. Reprinted by permission.
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Change Management
• Involve as many people as possible in planning
and application development
• Make constant change an expected part of the
culture
• Tell everyone as much as possible about
everything as often as possible
• Make liberal use of financial incentives and
recognition
• Work within the company culture, not around it
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Process of Change Management
Source: Adapted from Martin Diese, Conrad Nowikow, Patric King, and Amy Wright, Executive’s Guide to E-Business: From Tactics
to Strategy, p. 190. Copyright @ 2000 by John Wiley & Sons Inc. Reprinted by permission.
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Case 1: Intuit Inc.: Innovation in
Customer-Driven Development of Small
Business and Consumer Software1
• Developing a good software product requires a
lot of input from the users of the product.
• Communications with the users is very important
in developing a good software application.
• Intuit’s exhaustive customer-driven application
development process helped it develop its new
successful QuickBooks software.
• Simple Start Edition of QuickBooks was a
runaway success in small business accounting
software.
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Case Study Questions
1. Should Intuit’s “far-out thinking” and acceptance of
failure as part of the application software development
process be duplicated at large software development
companies like Microsoft and at the thousands of small
independent software companies that exist? Why or
why not?
2. Which do you prefer? Intuit’s customer-driven
development process, in which hundreds of employees
and managers are sent to consult with customers in
their homes or places of business, or Microsoft’s
process of using professional anthropologists do such
research? Why?
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Case Study Questions
3. Intuit developed the wildly successful
QuickBooks: Simple Start Edition, which
eliminated all accounting jargon. Could this
idea be the foundation of a new version of
Intuit’s top-selling TurboTax software, which
removed all tax accounting jargon from that
product to reach a major segment of the 20
million Americans who do not use tax
preparation software or a professional tax
preparer? Would such a product be possible or
successful? Why or why not?
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Real World Internet Activity
1. Use the Internet to analyze the current market
leaders in personal finance products like
Quicken and small business accounting
software like QuickBooks. Is Intuit still the
dominant market leader? Are there any old
players losing market share to Intuit or to new
entrants in the market? Conduct research to
discover the reasons for any such
developments.
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Real World Group Activity
2. Do you agree with Scott Cook’s belief
that if at first you don’t fail, you’re not
doing your job, and with his “savoring
the surprise” credo? Why or why not?
– Discuss your positions on these issues and
if they could be applied successfully to other
jobs or businesses.
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Case 2: Infosys Technologies: The
Implementation Challenges of
Knowledge Management Initiatives
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Infosys has a long history of trying to leverage
knowledge created by its employees for corporate
advantage.
The incentive system they created to encourage
employees to contribute their knowledge created
more problem than the management anticipated.
Eventually Infosys had to change their incentive
system.
Knowledge management requires much more than
technology.
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Case Study Questions
1. Why do you think the knowledge management
system at Infosys faced such serious
implementation challenges? Defend your answer
with examples from the case.
2. What steps did the KM group at Infosys take to
improve participation in the KM system? Why
were some of these initiatives
counterproductive? The KM group responded
with corrective initiatives. Do you think these will
succeed? Why or why not?
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Case Study Questions
3. What change management initiatives should
the KM group have initiated at Infosys before
attempting to develop and implement
knowledge management at the company?
Defend your proposals, paying particular
attention to the final quote in the case by a
long-time KM manager at Infosys.
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Real World Internet Activity
1. Research the Internet to find examples of
successful implementations of knowledge
management systems. What successes do
these companies claim, and what reasons
do they give for their successful KM
initiatives?
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Real World Group Activity
2. If knowledge management would succeed
anywhere, one would think it would be a
smashing success at a progressive successful
IT company like Infosys.
•
Discuss what change management and other
implementation strategies and tactics you would use to
ensure a successful KM initiative at Infosys, one of the
companies you found in your previous Internet research,
or a company of your choice.
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Case 3: Indiana University: Financial
Aid System Implementation: Success
or Failure?
• Success or failure is in the eye of the beholder
• At Indiana University, implementation of
PeopleSoft ERP
– Left students without access to promised financial aid
– Problem was not with software
– What was the problem?
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Case Study Questions
1. As with any story, there are always two sides. Indiana
University sees the problem as a surprise; outside
observers see the problem as predictable and
preventable. What do you think? Why?
2. Is it possible that some implementation problems cannot
be easily foreseen or prevented? Give some examples.
3. What could Indiana University have done differently to
prevent this unfortunate event from occurring? Is there
evidence to suggest that they learned from this
experience?
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Real World Internet Activity
1. In many cases, we tend to hear about
implementation failures more often than
implementation successes. Using the Internet,
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–
See if you can find some examples of implementation
success stories.
Why were they successful?
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Real World Group Activity
1. The project described in the case was an
example of a large-scale software deployment
of vendor software.
– Discuss the differences between implementing
vendor-supplied software and in-house developed
software.
– Should an in-house project be implemented differently
than a vendor supplied application? Why or why not?
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