Please answer the Module Review Questions listed below. 1.Compare and contrast t
ID: 3680123 • Letter: P
Question
Please answer the Module Review Questions listed below. 1.Compare and contrast the role of a systems analyst, business analyst, and infrastructure analyst. 2.Compare and contrast phases, steps, techniques, and deliverables, and describe the phases of SDLC 3.Which phase in the SDLC is most important? 4.Describe the major elements and issues with waterfall development. 5.Describe the major elements and issues with parallel development. 6.What are the phases in a traditional project life cycle? How does a project life cycle differ from a product life cycle? Why does a project manager need to understand both?
Part 2: Module Practice: Create a cost-benefit analysis that illustrates the return on investment that you would receive from purchasing a computer. For assistance, you may visit computer-related Web sites (www.dell.com, www.hp.com) to view tangible costs that you can include in your analysis. Project the computer cost at $1,070.00. Include a three-year period of time and provide the net present value of the final total.
Why should the system request be created by a businessperson as opposed to an IS professional?
Explanation / Answer
1)These three roles emphasize different perspectives on the system. The businessanalyst represents the sponsor/users interests, while the systems analyst knows how toapply IS to support business needs. Together, the systems analyst and the businessanalyst can design a system that conforms to the IS standards while adding value tothe business. The infrastructure analyst has more technical knowledge and providesthe team with technical constraints, or identifies infrastructure changes that the newsystem will require.
System Analyst: A System Analysts role is to:
•
Identifying how technology can improve business processes
Designing the new business processes
Designing the information system
Ensuring that the system conforms to information systems standards
Business Analyst: A Business Analyst’s role is to:
Analyzing the key business aspects of the system
Identifying how the system will provide business value
Designing the new business processes and policies
The Infrastructure Analyst’s role is to:
Ensuring the system conforms to infrastructure standards
Identifying infrastructure changes needed to support the system
2)There are four major phases in SDLC.a)Planning : The Planning phase is the fundamental process of understandingwhy an information system should be built and determining how the projectteam will go about building it. b)Analysis : The Analysis phase answers the questions of who will use thesystem, what the system will do, and where and when it will be used. Duringthis phase, the project team investigates any current system(s), identifiesimprovement opportunities, and develops a concept for the new system.c)Design : The design phase decides how the system will operate, in terms of the hardware, software, and network infrastructure; the user interface, formsand reports; and the specific programs, databases, and files that will beneeded.d)Implementation : The final phase in the SDLC is the implementation phase,during which the system is actually built (or purchased, in the case of a packaged software design). This is the phase that usually gets the mostattention, because for most systems it is longest and most expensive single part of the development process.
3)yes, requirement gathering is the very important stage in SDLC. For developing and testing, one has to clear abt the requirement. If he is not clear abt the requirement then there are chances of re work.
But we can not avoid the other stages of SDLC.
4)Waterfall Development follows the phases of the life cycle in sequence (Planning,Analysis, Design, and Implementation). Each phase is thoroughly documented andapproval is required before proceeding to the subsequent phase. It is difficult, thoughnot impossible, to go backwards in the SDLC under Waterfall Development.Waterfall Development requires that the system requirements be precisely specified prior to implementation and also often "freezes" those requirements duringdevelopment. The high degree of effort devoted to specifying user requirements is astrength of Waterfall Development but specifying those requirements on paper islaborious and may lead to errors and omissions. "Freezing" the requirements duringdevelopment helps assure that the system is developed according to specifications, but in a dynamic business environment, the system that is ultimately developed may bear little resemblance to what is actually needed at the time the project is completed.Therefore, extensive maintenance may be needed after implementation to revise thesystem to meet current conditions.
The two key advantages of the structured design waterfall approach are that:
•
It identifies system requirements long before programming begins
•
It minimizes changes to the requirements as the project proceeds.The two key disadvantages are that:a.The design must be completely specified before programming begins. b.A long time elapses between the completion of the system proposal in theanalysis phase and the delivery of the systems.
5)The parallel development methodology attempts to address the problem of longdelays between the analysis phase and the delivery of the system. Instead of doingdesign and implementation in sequence, it performs a general design for the wholesystem and then divides the project into a series of distinct subprojects that can bedesigned and implemented in parallel. Once all subprojects are complete, there is afinal integration of the separate pieces, and the system is deliveredThe major issues in this approach are that it still suffers from problems caused by paper documents. It also adds a new problem such as sometimes the subprojects arenot completely independent; design decisions made in one subproject may affectanother, and the end of the project may require significant integration efforts.
6)The project manager and project team have one shared goal: to carry out the work of the project for the purpose of meeting the project’s objectives. Every project has a beginning, a middle period during which activities move the project toward completion, and an ending (either successful or unsuccessful). A standard project typically has the following four major phases (each with its own agenda of tasks and issues): initiation, planning, implementation, and closure. Taken together, these phases represent the path a project takes from the beginning to its end and are generally referred to as the project “life cycle.”
INITIATION PHASE
During the first of these phases, the initiation phase, the project objective or need is identified; this can be a business problem or opportunity. An appropriate response to the need is documented in a business case with recommended solution options. A feasibility study is conducted to investigate whether each option addresses the project objective and a final recommended solution is determined. Issues of feasibility (“can we do the project?”) and justification (“should we do the project?”) are addressed.
Once the recommended solution is approved, a project is initiated to deliver the approved solution and a project manager is appointed. The major deliverables and the participating work groups are identified, and the project team begins to take shape. Approval is then sought by the project manager to move onto the detailed planning phase.
PLANNING PHASE
The next phase, the planning phase, is where the project solution is further developed in as much detail as possible and the steps necessary to meet the project’s objective are planned. In this step, the team identifies all of the work to be done. The project’s tasks and resource requirements are identified, along with the strategy for producing them. This is also referred to as “scope management.” A project plan is created outlining the activities, tasks, dependencies, and timeframes. The project manager coordinates the preparation of a project budget by providing cost estimates for the labor, equipment, and materials costs. The budget is used to monitor and control cost expenditures during project implementation.
Once the project team has identified the work, prepared the schedule, and estimated the costs, the three fundamental components of the planning process are complete. This is an excellent time to identify and try to deal with anything that might pose a threat to the successful completion of the project. This is called risk management. In risk management, “high-threat” potential problems are identified along with the action that is to be taken on each high-threat potential problem, either to reduce the probability that the problem will occur or to reduce the impact on the project if it does occur. This is also a good time to identify all project stakeholders and establish a communication plan describing the information needed and the delivery method to be used to keep the stakeholders informed.
Finally, you will want to document a quality plan, providing quality targets, assurance, and control measures, along with an acceptance plan, listing the criteria to be met to gain customer acceptance. At this point, the project would have been planned in detail and is ready to be executed.
IMPLEMENTATION (EXECUTION) PHASE
During the third phase, the implementation phase, the project plan is put into motion and the work of the project is performed. It is important to maintain control and communicate as needed during implementation. Progress is continuously monitored and appropriate adjustments are made and recorded as variances from the original plan. In any project, a project manager spends most of the time in this step. During project implementation, people are carrying out the tasks, and progress information is being reported through regular team meetings. The project manager uses this information to maintain control over the direction of the project by comparing the progress reports with the project plan to measure the performance of the project activities and take corrective action as needed. The first course of action should always be to bring the project back on course (i.e., to return it to the original plan). If that cannot happen, the team should record variations from the original plan and record and publish modifications to the plan. Throughout this step, project sponsors and other key stakeholders should be kept informed of the project’s status according to the agreed-on frequency and format of communication. The plan should be updated and published on a regular basis.
CLOSING PHASE
During the final closure, or completion phase, the emphasis is on releasing the final deliverables to the customer, handing over project documentation to the business, terminating supplier contracts, releasing project resources, and communicating the closure of the project to all stakeholders. The last remaining step is to conduct lessons-learned studies to examine what went well and what didn’t. Through this type of analysis, the wisdom of experience is transferred back to the project organization, which will help future project teams.
Product life cycle and project life cycle sound quite similar, but in fact, are very different from one another. A marketing project can impact a product's life cycle, but otherwise these two concepts are essentially unrelated. However, understanding what each one is and having some strategies for their use will help you to integrate both into your business plans with maximum effectiveness.
Product Life Cycle
The product life cycle represents the amount of revenue a product generates over time, from its inception to the point where it is discontinued. The five stages of a product's life are development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. In the development stage, the product isn't yet being sold, so there is no revenue. During introduction, sales are small as people begin to try the product. Sales will increase during the growth phase, peak during maturity, and eventually decline as the market shifts or better alternatives become available. There is no set time span for a given stage; the entire cycle may last only months, or a product like the refrigerator may remain in the maturity phase for decades.
Project Life Cycle
A project life cycle measures the work that goes into a project from beginning to end. The phases in product life cycle are initiation, planning, execution, and closure. During initiation, a business case and goals are created, and resources are assigned. During planning, the team researches solutions to reach the project goals and creates a plan and timeline to complete the project. Execution involves following each step on the project plan and adjusting as necessary along the way. Finally, in the closure phase, the project's final details are wrapped up and deliverable items like final reports are given to the appropriate parties.
A product life cycle is a conceptual map of where a product's sales are and where they may be headed. However, it has no comment on what to do with the product. If a company believes its product is entering the decline phase, it will probably create a plan to either rejuvenate the product or cease production, but that is not inherent in the product life cycle. By contrast, a project life cycle is all about action. A project life cycle maps out the steps needed to complete a project with specific targeted results.
Strategies
Remember that the product life cycle concept has limitations. Not every product follows a smooth, predictable bell curve from introduction to decline. A product may appear to be in the decline phase and enjoy a return to the maturity phase due to a competitor exiting the market or a successful project rejuvenation strategy. With regards to project life cycle management, things tend to be much more clearly defined, but watch out for "scope creep." This is the tendency for projects to continually grow in breadth to the point where they never actually get completed.
Part2:
Performing a Cost-Benefit Analysis
Whether you know it as a cost-benefit analysis or a benefit-cost analysis, performing one is critical to any project. When you perform a cost-benefit analysis, you make a comparative assessment of all the benefits you anticipate from your project and all the costs to introduce the project, perform it, and support the changes resulting from it.
Cost-benefit analyses help you to
Decide whether to undertake a project or decide which of several projects to undertake.
Frame appropriate project objectives.
Develop appropriate before and after measures of project success.
Prepare estimates of the resources required to perform the project work
Everything gets a dollar value in a cost-benefit analysis
You can express some anticipated benefits in monetary equivalents (such as reduced operating costs or increased revenue). For other benefits, numerical measures can approximate some, but not all, aspects. If your project is to improve staff morale, for example, you may consider associated benefits to include reduced turnover, increased productivity, fewer absences, and fewer formal grievances. Whenever possible, express benefits and costs in monetary terms to facilitate the assessment of a project’s net value.
Consider costs for all phases of the project. Such costs may be nonrecurring (such as labor, capital investment, and certain operations and services) or recurring (such as changes in personnel, supplies, and materials or maintenance and repair). In addition, consider the following:
Potential costs of not doing the project
Potential costs if the project fails
Opportunity costs (in other words, the potential benefits if you had spent your funds successfully performing a different project)
Cost-benefit analysis: Weighing future values today
The farther into the future you look when performing your analysis, the more important it is to convert your estimates of benefits over costs into today’s dollars. Unfortunately, the farther you look, the less confident you can be of your estimates. For example, you may expect to reap benefits for years from a new computer system, but changing technology may make your new system obsolete after only one year.
Thus, the following two key factors influence the results of a cost-benefit analysis:
How far into the future you look to identify benefits
On which assumptions you base your analysis
Although you may not want to go out and design a cost-benefit analysis by yourself, you definitely want to see whether your project already has one and, if it does, what the specific results of that analysis were.
The net present value (NPV) is based on the following two premises:
Inflation: The purchasing power of a dollar will be less one year from now than it is today. If the rate of inflation is 3 percent for the next 12 months, $1 today will be worth 97 cents just 12 months from today. In other words, 12 months from now, you’ll pay $1 to buy what you paid 97 cents for today.
Lost return on investment: If you spend money to perform the project being considered, you’ll forego the future income you could earn by investing it conservatively today. For example, if you put $1 in a bank and receive simple interest at the rate of 3 percent compounded annually, 12 months from today you’ll have $1.03 (assuming zero-percent inflation).
In addition to determining the NPV for different discount rates and payback periods, figure the project’s internal rate of return for each payback period.
To address these considerations when determining the NPV, you specify the following numbers:
Allowable payback period: The length of time for anticipated benefits and estimated costs
Discount rate: The factor that reflects the future value of $1 in today’s dollars, considering the effects of both inflation and lost return on investment