Chapter 15

Developing and Managing

Information Systems

© 2001 Business & Information Systems 2/e 1

 Our Agenda
 People in Information Systems
Development
 The System Development Process
 System Development Tools
 A Case Study of Information
Systems Development

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 People in Information
Systems Development
 Systems analysts follow a step-by-
step process to develop
information systems.
 Information systems are usually
developed by a group of people
who form a project team.

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 The Systems Development
Process
 The system development
process, which also called the
System Development Life Cycle
(SDLC) is divided into five main
phases:
1. System planning
2. System analysis
3. System design
4. System implementation
5. System maintenance
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 System Planning
 System planning is the phase in
which the systems analyst decides
whether a new information system
should be developed.
 The systems analyst conducts a
feasibility analysis.
 A cost/benefit analysis is prepared.

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 System Analysis
 During system analysis, the analyst
studies the existing and determines
what the new system must do.
 Develop user requirements
 Develop a conceptual design
 Evaluate hardware and software
alternatives
 Packaged software
 Custom software
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 System Design
 During system design, the analyst
specifies how the new system will
function.
 Understanding what the new system
must do
 Understanding how the system will do it
 Describing design details including
layouts of screens, forms and reports;
specifications for all hardware;
descriptions of all programs.
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 System Implementation
 During system implementation, the
systems analyst acquires the
components of the system – such
as programs – tests the system,
and changes over to the new
system.

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 System Implementation
(cont’d.)
 Four methods of converting to the new
system:
 Plunge – old system is turned off, new one is
turned on.
 Phased – new system is divided into parts
with one part phased in at a time.
 Pilot – new system is installed in a part of
the organization.
 Parallel – old and new systems are used
simultaneously for a period of time.
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 System Maintenance
 System maintenance involves
modifying the system during its life
to meet new requirements.
 Maintenance is required for three
reasons:
1. Errors found that were not detected in
testing
2. A new function is to be added to the
system
3. The requirements have changed
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 System Development
Tools
 Data Flow Diagrams (DFD)
 Entity-Relationship diagram (ER)
 CASE tools

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 Data Flow Diagrams
 A tool many analysts use to show the
flow of data in an information system.
 The diagram uses symbols with
different shapes to indicate how data
flows in the system. They are:
 Process – a rounded corner rectangle
 External entity – a rectangle
 Data store – an open rectangle
 Data flow – an arrow

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 Entity-Relationship
Diagram
 An entity is something about which
data is stored in a database.
 A relationship is an association
between entities.
 An entity-relationship diagram
shows the entities and
relationships between entities in a
database.
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 CASE Tools
 CASE – Computer Aided Software
Engineering – tools are computer
based tools such as those for
system development.

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 A Case Study in
Information Systems
Development
 Sportswear Enterprises is
considering requesting a sales
analysis system. The case study
considers the five steps in the
system development life cycle.

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 Summary
 People in Information Systems
Development
 The System Development Process
 System Development Tools
 A Case Study of Information
Systems Development

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