Asper School of Business
University of Manitoba
Systems Analysis & Design
Instructor: Bob Travica
Making business case for IS
Updated: September 2014
Outline
Business and systems planning
 Business Case
 Feasibility kinds
 Risk management

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Business and systems planning

Business comes first, then systems

Business strategy determines systems
strategy

Case: Rocky Mountain Outfitters
(RMO) in the book
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RMO Case

Business: Manufacture and distribute
sports clothing.

Strategic goal: Support growth through
business-to-consumer e-commerce.

Systems strategy: Develop new customer
support system (CSS) that fits business
goals.

In 2010s, social media are part of the
e-commerce context.
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RMO Case

(cont.)
What should system analyst’s do first:
Understand customer-related tasks
(e.g., product search, ordering)
 Investigate current IS
 Define objectives of new CSS
 Create planning documentation


As any system, CSS is developed via
a system development project

project organization & team work matter
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Business case
(See pp. 107-113)


1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Business Case = Assessment of a system’s
feasibility and risks.
Feasibility:
Economic (benefits vs. costs of IS? Next slides…)
Technological (expertise to develop & use IS?
IT maturity?*)
IS Development Project aspects (size, complexity?)
Organizational factors (IS culture & politics?)**
Scheduling (development timing vs. a company’s
time constraints?)
Resource (sufficient staff available?)
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Economic feasibility:
System benefits
Online store
example
Quality eliminates re-working
Reduced execution time
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System costs
One-time tangible costs
Online
store
example
Recurring tangible costs
Online
store
example
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Matching costs with benefits
Use some financial model (NPV,
Break-Even analysis, Return on
Investment…)
 Intangible costs & benefits –

can be part of feasibility case
 common way: listing & trying to project
conversion of intangible benefits into
tangibles
 better way: formal methods like
Balanced Scorecard

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Risk management

Risk = undesirable events affecting
feasibility aspects



during IS development project
in production stage of an IS
can be calculated (later slide)
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Risk analysis
Project factors
Organizational
factors
Technological
Factors:
- Developers
- Users
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Risk analysis
(cont.)

Risk level=Risk Factor Weight (Impact)*Occurrence Likelihood (p)

Example*; scales of Risk and Risk Factor: 0 (low)-10 (high),
probability scale: 0-1:


Key developer unavailability: weight=7, p=0.6;
Risk=7*0.6=0.42

Legal problems, weight=7, p=0.3; Risk=7*0.3=0.21

Key developer unavailability risk > Legal risk

To run the formula on risk frameworks, some re-wording
may be needed (check table on slide 11)
See Note bellow
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