System analysis& Design

BAIS 4051

L/O/G/O
 Chapter-3
Information Systems
Development Projects

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Introduction
• It has been believed that information technology in the
development of information systems are more important than
the management of development projects.
– But Project management is an important aspect of the
development of information systems and a critical skill for
a systems analyst.
• The focus of project management is
– To assure that system development projects meet customer
expectations (e.g. scope) and are delivered within
• budget
• time constraints.

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 Managing Information Systems
Projects
• The project manager is a systems analyst with a diverse
set of skills:
– management, leadership, technical, conflict management, and
customer relationship, team mgt, and risk & change mgt.
• Many of the skills are related to general management, not
simply technical skills.
• In some organizations the project manger is a senior
systems analyst who "has been around the block" a time
or two.

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 Managing Information Systems
Projects
•Creating and implementing successful projects
require managing:
– resources and activities needed to complete the
information systems project.
•A project is a planned undertaking of a series of
related activities to reach an objective that has a
beginning and an end.
•The first question you might ask yourself is
"Where do projects come from?"

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 Managing Information Systems
Projects

•During project identification and selection the

need for a new or enhanced system is
recognized.
– Project identification and selection is a pre-project
step in the life cycle.
•Organizations vary in as to how they identify
potential projects.

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 Managing Information Systems Projects

• There are varieties of forms to be used in requesting

for information systems development.
– One form is a System Service Request (SSR) filled by
user departments collaborating with a system analyst
– This request was then evaluated by the Systems Priority
Board.
• The review board selects those projects that best
meet overall organizational objectives.

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Managing Information Systems Projects

• In summary, systems development projects are

undertaken for two primary reasons;
– To take advantage of business opportunities
and
– To solve business problems.

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 Information System Project Phase

• The PM process, which involves four phases:

–Initiating the project

–Planning the project

–Executing the project

–Closing down the project

• Several activities must be performed during

each of these four phases.

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 1. Initiating a Project
• During project initiation, the project manager performs
several activities that assess the size, scope, and
complexity of the project.

• The activities are:

– Establishing the project initiation team.
• This activity involves organizing an initial core of project team
members.
– Establishing a relationship with the customer.
• A detailed understanding of your customer builds stronger
partnership and higher levels of trust.

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1. Initiating a Project cont…

• Establishing the project initiation plan.

– This step defines the activities required to organize the
initiation team and also the scope of the project
– The core team members of the project needed to define:
• when and how they would communicate,
• define project steps, deliverables and set deadlines.

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1. Initiating a Project cont…
• Establishing management procedures.
– Successful projects require the development of effective management
procedures.
– In some organizations, many of the mgt procedure would be established
as Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
• In establishing procedures, you are concerned with developing:
– team communication and reporting procedure
– job assignments and roles, project change procedures, and
– Determining how project funding and billing will be handled.

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1. Initiating a Project cont…

• Establishing the project management

environment and project workbook.
– The focus to this activity is to collect and organize the tools
that you will use while managing the project and to
construct the project workbook.
• The project workbook serves as a repository for all
project:
– correspondence, inputs, outputs, deliverables, procedures,
and standards established by the project team.

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 2. Planning the Project
• Project planning involves defining:
– clear, discrete activities and
– the work needed to complete each activity within a
single project.
• There is positive relationship between effective
project planning and better project outcomes.
– In actual fact, you often have to construct longer-term
plans that are more general in scope and nearer term
plans that are more detailed.

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2. Planning the Project cont…
• Varied and numerous activities will be performed
during project planning.
• Describing project scope, alternatives, and
feasibility.
• The purpose of this activity is to understand the content and
complexity of the project.
• The scope answer the following question
• What problem or opportunity does the project address?
• What are the quantifiable results to be achieved?
• How will success be measured?
• How will we know when we are finished?

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2. Planning the Project cont…
• After defining the scope of the project, identify and
document general alternative solution for the current
business problem or opportunity.
– You must then assess the feasibility of each alternative
solution and choose which to consider during subsequent
Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) phases.
– The exact phases and their order may vary depending on the
specific SDLC model being used, but a typical SDLC includes
the following phases:
• Planning and Requirement Analysis: In this phase, the project team
defines the scope, goals, and requirements of the software project. This
involves understanding the needs of the end-users, stakeholders, and the
business, and creating a project plan that outlines tasks, timelines, and
resources required.
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2. Planning the Project cont…
• Feasibility Study: Before proceeding with development, a
feasibility study is conducted to assess the technical, financial, and
operational feasibility of the project. This helps in deciding
whether the project is viable and worth pursuing.
• System Design: In this phase, the overall system architecture is
designed, including the software's structure, components, and data
models. The design phase may involve creating detailed technical
specifications and system diagrams.
• Implementation (Coding): This is the phase where developers
write the actual code for the software based on the design
specifications. It involves creating, testing, and integrating
individual software components.
• Testing: The software is thoroughly tested to identify and rectify
defects or bugs. Testing can include various types, such as unit
testing, integration testing, system testing, and user acceptance
testing (UAT).
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2. Planning the Project cont…
• Deployment (or Implementation): Once the software is tested and
approved, it is deployed into a production environment. This can
involve installation, data migration, and making the software
available for end-users.
• Maintenance and Support: After deployment, the software enters
a maintenance phase where updates, bug fixes, and enhancements
are made to ensure it continues to meet user needs and adapt to
changing requirements.
• In some instances, off-the-shelf software can
be found.

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2. Planning the Project cont…
• Dividing the project into manageable tasks.
• Divide the entire project into manageable tasks and
then logically order them to ensure a smooth
evolution between tasks.
• The definition of tasks and their sequence is
referred to as the work breakdown structure.
• Some tasks may be performed in parallel where as
others must follow one another sequentially.

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2. Planning the Project cont…
• Defining tasks in too much detail will make the
management of the project unnecessarily complex.
– For example, it may be very difficult to list tasks that require less
than one hour of time to complete in a final work breakdown
structure.
• Estimating resources and creating a resource plan.
– Estimate resource requirements for each project activity and use
this information to create a project resource plan.

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2. Planning the Project cont…
• The resource plan helps assemble and deploy resource in
the most effective manner.
• Project time estimates for task completion and
overall system quality are significantly influenced
by the assignment of resource(e.g. people) to tasks.
– One approach to assigning tasks is to assign a single task
type to each worker for the duration of the project.
• Like business analyst, designer ,programmer…

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2. Planning the Project cont…
• Developing preliminary schedule.
– Using the information on tasks and resource availability
assign time estimates by creating target starting and ending
dates for the project.
– Target dates can be revised and modified until a schedule
produced is acceptable to the customer.
– The schedule may be represented as a Gantt chart or as a
Network diagram (PERT) chart.

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2. Planning the Project cont…

• Developing a communication plan.

– Outline the communication procedures among:
• management, project team members, and the customer.
– The communication plan includes:
• when and how written and oral reports will be provided by the
team…
• Determining project standards and procedure
– You will specify how various deliverables are
produced and tested by you and your project team.

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2. Planning the Project cont…
• For example, the team must decide:
– which tools to use
– how the standard SDLC might be modified,
– which SDLC methods will be used
– documentation styles (e.g., type fonts and margins for
user manuals).
• Setting project standards and procedures for work
acceptance is a way to assure the development of a high-
quality system.

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2. Planning the Project cont…

• Identifying and assessing risk.

– identify sources of project risk and to estimate the
consequences of those risks.
– Risk might arise:
– from the use of new technology

– prospective users' resistance to change

• Creating a cost benefit analysis.

– Create a preliminary budget that outlines the planned
expenses and revenues associated with your project.

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2. Planning the Project cont…
• The project justification will demonstrate that the
benefits are worth these costs.(B>C)
– This analysis shows NPV, ROI and cash flow analysis.
• Developing a Statement of Work.
– It is developed primarily for the customer.
– This document outlines work that will be done and clearly
describes what the project will deliver.
• The statement of Work is useful to make sure:
– You, the customer, and other project team members have a
clear understanding of the intended project outcomes.

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2. Planning the Project cont…
• Setting a Baseline Project Plan.
– Once all of the project planning activities have been
completed, you will be able to develop a baseline
project plan.
• This baseline plan provides an estimate of the
project's tasks and resource requirements and is
used to guide in next project phase - execution.

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2. Planning the Project cont…

• As new information is acquired during project

executions, the baseline plan will continue to
update.

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29
 Executing the Project
• Project execution puts the Baseline Project
Plan into action.
• project execution occurs primarily during the
analysis, design, and implementation phase.
• the project manager is responsible for five key
activities during project execution.

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Executing the Project
1. Executing the Baseline Project Plan.
– you initiate the execution of project activities, acquire
and assign resources; orient and train new team
members, keep the project on schedule, and assure the
quality of project deliverables.
– You are responsible for initiating new team members
by providing them with the resources they need and
helping them assimilate into the team.

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Executing the Project
• Regular team project status meeting, team-level
reviews of project deliverables, and other group
events to mold the group into an effective team.
2.Monitoring Project Progress against the Baseline
Project Plan.
– While you execute the Baseline Project Plan, you should
monitor your progress.
– If the project gets ahead of (or behind) schedule, you may
have to adjust resources, activities, and budgets.

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Executing the Project
• Monitoring project activities can result in
modifications to the current plan.
• Measuring the time and effort expended on
each activity will help you improve the
accuracy of estimations for future projects.
3. Managing changes to the Baseline Project Plan.
– You will encounter pressure to make changes to the
baseline plan.

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Executing the Project
• You include only approved changes to the project
specification, all changes must be reflected in the
baseline plan and project workbook.
• A formal change request must be submitted and
approved by the steering committee.
• The request should explain why changes are desired
and describe all possible impacts on prior and
subsequent activities, project resources, and the
overall project schedule.
• In addition to changes occurring through formal
request, changes may also occur from events outside
your control.

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Executing the Project
4. Maintaining project workbook
– Maintain complete records of all project events.
– The workbook provides the documentation new team
members require to assimilate project tasks quickly.
– It explains why design decisions were made and is a
primary source of information for producing all project
reports.

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Executing the Project
5. Communicating the project status.
– The project manger is responsible for keeping all team
abreast of the project status.
– Clear communication is required to create a shared
understanding of the activities and goals of the project;
such an understanding assures better coordination of
activities.
• Procedures for communication project activities vary
from formal meeting to informal hallway discussions.

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Closing Down the project
• The focus of project closedown is to bring the
project to an end.
• Project can conclude with a natural or unnatural
termination.
• Several events can cause an unnatural
termination to a project. For example,
• it may be learned that the assumption used

to guide the project proved to be false or

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Closing Down the project
• the performance of the system or development group
was somehow inadequate.
• the requirements are no longer relevant or valid in the
customer’s business environment.
• The most likely reasons for the unnatural termination of a
project relate to running out of time or money, or both
• The performance of the system or development group
was somehow inadequate.

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Closing Down the project
• Regardless of the project termination outcome, several
activities must be performed.
• Within the context of the SDLC, project closedown
occurs after the implementation phase.
1. Closing down the project.
• project completion may signify job and assignment
changes for some members.
• Assess each team member and provide an appraisal
for personnel files and salary determination.

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Closing Down the project
• write letters to superiors, praising special
accomplishments of team members, and send
thank-you letters to those who helped but were
not team members.
• notify all interested parties that the project has
been completed.
• finalize all project documentation and financial
records so that a final review of the project can
be conducted.
• You should also celebrate the accomplishments
of the.

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Closing Down the project
2. Conducting post project reviews.
• Final review of the project would be
conducted with management and
customers.
• The objective of these reviews is:
– To determine the strengths and
weaknesses of project deliverables,
– To evaluate the processes used to create
the deliverables, and the project
management process.
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Closing Down the project
• It is important that everyone understands what
went right and what went wrong in order to
improve the process for the next project.
3. Closing the customer contract.
• The focus of this final activity is to ensure that
all contractual terms of the project have been
met.
• you must gain agreement from your customer
that all contractual obligations have been met.

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Closing Down the project
• You must also agreed that further work is
either their responsibility or covered
under another System Service Request
or contract.
• A project is not complete until it is closed,
and it is at closedown that projects are
deemed a success or failure.

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Representing and Scheduling
Project plans
• A project manager has a wide variety of techniques
available for depicting and document project plans.
• The most commonly used methods are Gantt and or
Network diagram PERT (Program Evaluation Review
Technique) Charts.
• Gantt Charts
• Useful for depicting simple projects or parts of
large projects
• Show start and completion dates for individual
tasks
• Network Diagrams
• Show order of activities
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L/O/G/O

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46
Comparison of Gantt Charts and
Network Diagrams
• Gantt Charts • Network Diagrams
– Visually shows • Visually shows
duration of tasks dependencies
– Visually shows time between tasks
overlap between • Visually shows which
tasks tasks can be done in
– Visually shows slack parallel
time • Shows slack time by
data in rectangles

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Representing Project Plans
• Project scheduling and management require that
time, costs; piece of equipment, or material used
in accomplishing an activity.
• Network diagram Program Evaluation and
Review Technique (PERT) is a critical path
scheduling technique used for controlling
resources.
• A critical path refers to a sequence of task
activities whose order and durations directly
affect the completion date of a project.
• Network diagram is best-known scheduling
methods.
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Calculating Expected Time
Duration using PERT
o  4r  p
ET 
6
• where
– ET= expected time for the completion for an activity
– o=optimistic completion time for an activity
– r= realistic completion time for an activity
– p= pessimistic completion time for an activity
• Calculate an expected time for the completion of an
upcoming programming assignment. For this
assignment, you estimate an optimistic time of 2 hours, a
pessimistic time of 8 hours, and a most likely time of (r) 6
hors. Using PERT, how much is the expected time for
completing this assignment.

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Constructing a Gantt Chart and
Network Diagram
• Steps
1. Identify each activity
• Requirements Collection
• Screen Design
• Report Design
• Database Design
• User documentation
• Software programming
• Installation and testing

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Gantt Chart and Network
Diagram for GM Furniture
2. Determine time estimates and expected
completion times for each activity.

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Gantt Chart and Network
Diagram for GM Furniture
3. Determine sequence of activities

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Gantt Chart and Network
Diagram for GM Furniture

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Gantt Chart and Network
Diagram for GM Furniture
4. Determine critical path
• Sequence of events that will affect the final project
delivery date
TE=18.5 TE=22
TE=11
TL=21 TL=22
TL=11

5
TE=5 2 TE=13 8
TL=5 TL=13
ET=1
ET=6 ET=5.5

1 TE=11 4 TE=18 TE=21

TL=11 TL=18 TL=21

Critical Path
ET=5 ET=2

3
6 7
Non Critical Path
ET=3
ET=6 ET=5

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Commercial Project Management
Software
• Many systems are available
• Three activities required to use:
– Establish project start or end date
– Enter tasks and assign task relationships
– Select scheduling method to review project
reports
– Example: ( MS Project)

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Summary
• Skills of an effective project manager
• Activities of project manager
– Initiation

– Planning

– Execution

– Closedown

• Gantt Charts and Network Diagrams

• Commercial PM Software
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Review Questions

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