Topic # 6
Initiating and Planning
Systems Development Projects
Project Initiation and Planning:
Part of Systems Life Cycle
Project Initiation Process
• Project initiation focuses on activities designed to assist in organizing a team to
conduct project planning.
• The types of activities performed during project initiation are listed below:
“Online Education” Project
1. establishing the project initiation team
(faculty, Cont. Ed, manager,
student helpers)
2. establishing a relationship with the customer
(local school, colleges, universities,
and businesses)
3. establishing the project initiation plan
(schedule of activities,
project administration)
4. establishing management procedures
(project director, contractors,
reports, outcomes, deliverables,
modifications, etc.)
5. establishing the project environment and project workbook
(lab, communications, workbook)
Project Planning Process
• Project planning is the process of defining clear, discrete activities and
the work needed to complete each activity within a single project. (A
proposal)
• The range of activities performed during project planning are:
1) Describing Project Scope, Alternatives, and Feasibility
2) Dividing the project into Manageable Tasks
3) Estimating Resources and creating a Resource Plan
4) Developing a Preliminary Schedule
5) Developing a Communication Plan
6) Determining Project Standards and Procedures
7) Identifying and Assessing Risk
8) Creating a Preliminary Budget
9) Developing a Statement of Work
10) Setting Baseline Project Plan
Project Planning Process
• The objective of the project planning process is the following
deliverables:
1. Business Case:
Justification for an information system, expressed as
1.1. tangible and intangible costs,
1.2. tangible and intangible benefits, and
1.3. technical/organizational feasibility
2. Baseline Project Plan (BPP)
the most important document
3. Statement of Work (SOW).
Baseline Project Plan (BPP) and Statement of Work (SOW)
Baseline Project Plan (BPP)
• The Baseline Project Plan (BPP) contains all information collected and
analyzed during project initiation and planning.
• The plan reflects the best estimate of the project’s
- scope,
- benefits,
- costs,
- risks, and
- resource requirements given the current understanding of the project.
• The BPP specifies detailed project activities for the next life cycle phase,
analysis, and less detail for subsequent project phases (since these depend
on the results of the analysis phase). The content and format of a BPP depends
on the size, complexity, and standards of an organization.
• The Statement of Work (SOW) is a document prepared for customer at this
phase of SDLC. It describes what the project will deliver and outlines all works
required to complete the project.
Baseline Project Plan
Baseline Project Plan (BPP) is a
document intended
primarily to guide the
development team.
Sections:
1)
Introduction
2)
System description
3)
Feasibility assessment
4)
Management issues
Project Scope
Project Scope statement is part
of the BPP introduction.
Sections:
1)
Problem statement
2)
Project objectives
3)
Project description
4)
Business benefits
5)
Deliverables
6)
Expected duration
Statement of Work
Statement of Work (SOW) is a
“contract” between the IS staff and
the customer regarding deliverables
and time estimates for a system
development project.
Economic Feasibility (under limited resources and finite time)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The types of project feasibility are economic, technical, operational,
schedule, legal and contractual, and political.
Economic feasibility is the process of identifying the financial benefits and
costs associated with a development project.
Technical feasibility is the process of assessing the development
organization’s ability to construct a proposed system.
Operational feasibility is the process of assessing the degree to which a
proposed system solves business problems or takes
advantage of business opportunities.
Schedule feasibility is the process of assessing the degree to
which the potential time frame and completion dates for
all major activities within a project meet organizational
deadlines and constraints for affecting change.
Legal and contractual feasibility is the process of assessing potential legal
and contractual ramifications due to the construction
of a system.
Political feasibility is the process of evaluating how key stakeholders
within the organization view the proposed system.
No factor is “most” important; one factor may be most important in
some situations, while another may be “most” important in others.
Tangible Benefits
• There are two primary categories of benefits from an IS project:
ƒ tangible benefits, and
ƒ intangible benefits.
• Tangible benefits are those derived from the creation of an information system
that can be measured in dollars and with certainty and expressed with numeric
values.
• Main categories of TB:
ƒ cost reduction
ƒ error reduction
ƒ increased flexibility
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
Online Education
75%-25% of traditional ed.
course pace is controlled by
student
increased speed of activity
1 semester course in 15 days
improvement of management planning and control
opening new markets
international students
increasing sales opportunities
new students (with no dorms,
classrooms, etc.)
Tangible Benefits
Project Benefits
• Intangible benefits are those derived from the creation of an information system
that cannot be easily measured in dollars or with certainty.
• Intangible benefits are derived from the creation of an information system and
cannot be easily measured in dollars or with certainty. Main categories of IB:
- competitive necessity
- more timely information
- availability of new, better, or more information
- faster decision making, etc.
Intangible Benefits
Topic # 6
Initiating and Planning
Systems Development Projects
In-classroom Exercise
Economic Cost Benefit Analysis
Types of Costs
•
Tangible:
•
Intangible:
•
One-time (start-up):
can be measured in dollars and
with certainty
cannot easily be measured in dollar
or with certainty
a cost associated with project start-up
and development or systems start-up
•
Recurring (project-related, maintenance):
a cost associated with ongoing
evolution and use of a system
One-Time Costs
(usually, costs at the very beginning of a project)
Recurring Costs
(usually, costs to maintain project activities,
environments, infrastructure, supplies, etc.)
Economic Cost Benefit Analysis
• Three methods for performing economic cost–benefit analysis:
- net present value (NPV),
- return on investment (ROI), and
- break–even analysis.
• Terminology:
- Time Value of Money (TVM) – it refers to the concept of comparing present
cash outlays to future expected returns.
- Present Value (PV) – the current value of future cash flow,
- Discount Rate (DR) – the rate of return used to compute the PV of future
cash flows (the rate at which money can be borrowed or invested is also
called the cost of capital)
Net Present Value
PVn = present value of Y dollars n years from now based
on a discount rate of i.
NPV = sum of PVs across years.
Calculates time value of money.
Summary Spreadsheet Reflecting the Present Value Calculations of
All Benefits and Costs for the CIS
Break-Even Analysis
Ex. 4 on page 151: The Outcomes
Ex. 10 on page 151: The Outcomes
Topic # 6
Initiating and Planning
Systems Development Projects
Homework Assignment
A Structured Walkthrough (FTR – Formal Technical Review)
• A structured walkthrough is a peer group review of any product created during the
systems development process.
• This review takes place BEFORE the next phase of the SDLC can begin and
BEFORE the BPP is submitted or presented to some project approval body for
funding.
• The objective of this review is to assure that the proposed IS conforms to
organizational standards and that all relevant parties understand and agree with
the information contained in the project's BPP.
• Most walkthroughs are not rigidly formal or exceeding long in duration. It is
important, however, that a specific agenda be established for the walkthrough so
that all attendees understand what is to be covered and the expected completion
time.
A Structured Walkthrough
People Involved:
• At walkthrough meetings, there is a need to have individuals play specific roles.
- A coordinator plans the meeting and facilitates a smooth meeting process.
- The presenter describes the work product to the group.
- A user (or group) assures that the work product meets the needs of the
project’s customers.
- A secretary takes notes and records decisions or recommendations made
by the group.
- The standards bearer role is to assure that the work product adheres to
organizational technical standards.
- A maintenance oracle reviews the work product in terms of future
maintenance activities.
Structured
walkthrough form