IS121P: Fundamentals of Information Systems

Strategic System Development

• A framework for strategic system development involves understanding and supporting a firm's long-term strategic goals, which are typically 3-5 years or more in the future.
• Strategic planning involves identifying long-term organizational goals, strategies, and resources.

Business Case

• A business case refers to the reasons or justification for a proposal.
• The IT team reviews a proposal to determine if it presents a strong business case.
• A business case aligns with the firm's long-term strategic goals.

SWOT Analysis

• A SWOT analysis can focus on a specific product, project, operating division, entire company, or mission statement.
• The overall aim of a SWOT analysis is to avoid seeking goals that are unrealistic, unprofitable, or unachievable.

System Requests

• A system request is a formal way of asking for IT support.
• The reasons for system requests can be illustrated in a figure, including the current system not meeting performance requirements, improving service to customers or users, and new products and services requiring new types of IT support.

Evaluating System Requests

• Internal and external factors affect every business decision that a company makes.
• A systems review committee or computer resources committee evaluates system requests and asks questions such as which projects should the firm pursue? and what criteria should be applied?
• The committee assesses the feasibility of each request.

Feasibility Study

• A feasibility study uses four main yardsticks to measure a proposal: operational feasibility, economic feasibility, technical feasibility, and schedule feasibility.
• Tangible benefits are benefits that can be measured in dollars, while intangible benefits are advantages that are difficult to measure in dollars but important to the company.

Prioritizing System Requests

• The feasibility of a system request is not the only factor in choosing the requirement; other metrics include importance and health (or dysfunction).
• A PICK chart can be used to address all requirements, considering factors such as health, feasibility, and importance.

Types of Projects

• Projects where management has a choice in implementing them are called discretionary projects.
• Projects where no choice exists are called nondiscretionary projects.

Preliminary Investigation

• A systems analyst conducts a preliminary investigation to study the system request and recommend specific action.
• The analyst interacts with managers, users, and other stakeholders, performs fact-finding, and gathers information on the problem or opportunity, project scope and constraints, project benefits, and estimated development time and costs.