Information Systems Development Methodologies

Information Systems Development Methodologies

• Role and involvement of end users, and trying to predict and measure intangible benefits and costs on the enterprise-wide system are crucial.

Steps to Improve the Exploitation of Enterprise Wide Based Systems

• Implementation of enterprise-wide systems should be seen as a continuous process.
• Ensure that the new system allows users to do what they could do in the old legacy system with extra and value-adding features.
• Encourage effective dialogue and engagement with users.
• Allow users to play with the enterprise-wide system.
• Resistances should be seen as a source of ideas, innovation, and creativity.
• Understand that the essence is information, not information technology.
• Avoid controlling and planning all aspects, as it will take a life of its own.

Relationship to Development Lifecycle

• Problem Identification, Feasibility Study, Systems Investigation, Systems Analysis, Systems Design, Implementation, and Review & Maintenance are stages of the development lifecycle.

ISD Methodologies

• Key aspects of a methodology include promoting purposeful, controlled, and rigorous activities that produce meaningful, relevant, and reproducible results.
• A methodology is only a means to an end, not an end in itself.

Why Do We Have Different Types of Methodologies?

• Different types of methodologies exist due to varying degrees of problem domain, hard and soft, and people's particular mindsets.
• Hard methodologies are easier to use, while soft methodologies provide greater insight.

Types of Methodologies

General Systems Theory

• General Systems Theory is an interdisciplinary conceptual framework focusing on the wholeness, pattern, relationship, hierarchical order, integration, and organization of phenomena.
• The basic idea behind Systems Theory is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Participative Methodologies

Participative Approach (ETHICS, SSM)

• ETHICS (Effective Technical and Human Implementation of Computer-based Systems) aims to achieve mutual beneficial relationships between employees and organizations, job efficiency, and job satisfaction.
• ETHICS considers participation as three categories: consultative democracy, representative democracy, and consensus democracy.

Soft Systems Methodology (SSM)

• SSM demands high political and interpersonal skills from the user.
• The methodology requires abstract and conceptual thinking.
• SSM focuses on analyzing problems that require good analysis.
• SSM is not popular in real-world issues but is widely used for unstructured problem situations.