Modern Systems Analysis and Design - Chapter 5

Modern Systems Analysis and Design - Chapter 5

•  This chapter focuses on initiating and planning systems development projects. 
•  Learning objectives include describing project initiation and planning steps, listing and describing feasibility assessment methods, activities for building and reviewing baseline project plans, and the activities and roles in a structured walkthrough.
•  The project initiation and planning (PIP) process aids in team organization for project planning. This is highlighted in the system development life cycle (SDLC) diagram.
•  Key considerations when dividing PIP from analysis include effort level, responsibility, and the challenging nature of PIP as an activity in system development projects.
•  Project initiation team establishment, customer relationship building, project initiation plan creation, management procedure development, project management environment and workbook development, and project charter creation are critical elements of the PIP process.
•  Project planning involves defining clear, discrete activities and the required work for each project activity.
•  The goal of project planning is creating a Baseline Project Plan (BPP) and a Project Scope Statement (PSS). 
•  A business case justifies an information system, discussing tangible and intangible benefits and costs, and technical and organizational feasibility.
•  Elements of project planning include describing scope, alternatives, and feasibility; dividing the project into tasks; estimating resource requirements and creating a resource plan; developing a preliminary schedule; and developing a communication plan.
•  Further elements are determining standards and procedures, identifying and assessing risks, creating a preliminary budget, developing a statement of work, and setting a baseline project plan.
•  A Baseline Project Plan (BPP) is a major outcome of the PIP phase, providing a detailed estimate of scope, benefits, costs, risks, and resource needs.
•  The Project Scope Statement (PSS) is a customer-focused document detailing project deliverables and outlining all required work for project completion.
•  Methods for assessing project feasibility include economic, technical, operational, scheduling, legal and contractual, and political factors.
•  Economic feasibility assesses financial benefits and costs of a development project, often using cost-benefit analysis.
•  Project reviews occur after each SDLC phase to determine whether to continue, redirect, or discontinue the project.
•  Tangible project benefits are quantifiable in monetary terms, such as reduced personnel expenses, lower transaction costs, and higher profit margins. They fall into categories like cost avoidance/reduction, error reduction, improved flexibility, speed of activity, management improvement, and market/sales opportunities.
•  Tangible project costs are those easily measured in monetary terms (hardware, labor, operational costs - including employee training and building renovation).
•  Intangible benefits are difficult to quantify in monetary terms and may relate to organizational factors like improved employee morale, or societal factors like reduced waste.
•  Intangible costs are also hard to quantify and might relate to goodwill loss, employee morale issues, or operational inefficiencies.
•  One-time costs are associated with project start-up and development (system development, new hardware/software purchases, user training, site preparation, data conversion).
•  Recurring costs are incurred through system use and evolution, relating to application software maintenance, data storage expenses, communication costs, software/hardware leases, and supplies.
•  Costs may be fixed (regular intervals/fixed rate, e.g., facility lease) or variable (vary by usage, e.g., long-distance).
• A structured walkthrough is a peer review process for any product created during the system development process. The roles involved include coordinator, presenter, user, secretary, standard-bearer and maintenance oracle, used for evaluating BPPs, systems specifications, design and program code, test procedures, manuals, and documentation.
•  Time value of money (TVM) is the concept that money today is worth more than the same amount in the future, based on discount rate and present value of future cash flows.
•  Project costs and benefits can be analyzed through Net Present Value (NPV) calculations, Return on Investment (ROI), and Break-Even Analysis (BEA), where costs and benefits are considered in time-value-of-money terms.
•  Break-even analysis finds the point where projected project benefits equal costs in a given timeframe.
• Assessing technical feasibility involves reviewing the development organization's capability to construct a proposed system considering potential target hardware, software, and operating environments, system size, complexity and developer experience with similar systems. Risk assessment of the project is also critical, including project size, organizational change, development team expertise, and user familiarity.
•  Assessing operational, scheduling, legal/contractual, and political elements are important for ensuring a project is suitable.
•  A baseline project plan (BPP) is a document guiding the development team with sections like introduction, system description, feasibility assessment and management issues.
•  Project scope considerations include organizational units, current systems impacted, affected people, and potential system capabilities.
•  E-commerce project initiation and planning (like Pine Valley Furniture) considers costs of web-based systems (platform-web hosting, server software, etc.), content and service (design costs, ongoing staff needs), and marketing costs. Benefits can relate to lowered transaction costs, repeat business, and market exclusivity. Costs and benefits include both tangible and intangible features.
•  Feasibility concerns include factors like ongoing operational aspects (24/7 access, returns), technical facets (new skills and development), and strategic concerns (meeting deadlines, legal and contractual ramifications). A project schedule highlights project steps, durations, and the relationship between activities, such as the one shown for the Pine Valley Furniture WebStore project.