Wednesday, October 22, 2014

CIS3002 Information system analysis







CIS3002 Assignment
Information System Analysis




Part A
Q-1
a)
Following are the key responsibilities of Project Manager
Internal Responsibilities
·         Develop project plan
The project manager must develop a proper project plan on the basis of which the implementation of project and the actual activities are done. It is important that the project plan is accurate and considers all the factors which have influence on the project. Good project plan has more chances of project getting completed as planned.
·         Manage resources
The manager must also be able to implement the project as per the project plan. For this, he must be able to efficiently acquire, deploy and utilize the resources. Managing resources include managing funds, people and other assets which are required in the project.
·         Monitor the progress
Project manager must also do the monitoring of the progress of the project on regular intervals. It means checking that whether the project is going on as per the plan. If there is any problem in doing so, manager must also control the activities of project to ensure that the project follows the schedule. (Blanchard and Fabrycky, 2006)
External Responsibilities
·         Communicate with external stakeholders
A manager must communicate with the external stakeholders of the project regularly like the suppliers, customers, government authorities, etc. This is important to keep them informed about the activities and plans of the organization.
·         Collaborate with business partners
The manager must also be able to build relationship with the business partners by understanding their expectations and addressing their concerns. A project manager should be effective in doing it for the success of project.
·         Comply with the rules and regulations
The manager must plan and conduct the activities of the project in such a way that they are in accordance with the regulations of the land where the project is being done. Ensuring that project is as per the regulations helps in avoiding legal troubles. (Blanchard and Fabrycky, 2006)
b)
Reasons for Failure of Information System Projects
·         Selection of inappropriate information system.
It is important that the requirements of the project are understood clearly and evaluate the available information system solutions in detail as per those requirements before selecting and implementing any information system in the organization. The managers must avoid using the information system which is being implemented by everyone but doesn't meet the requirements of project. Only those information systems should be used which provide the best solution. (Kavanagh, 2004)
·         Inadequate planning and risk analysis.
If the project is not planned correctly then it is more likely to cause delays and even fail. Thus manager must ensure that proper scheduling, resource utilization, budgeting is done. It must also be ensured that the business analyst and technicians being used for the project are competent to deliver to required solution by implementing the information system. The manager must also consider all the risks which the project may face at every step. If he ignores to do this, there are high chances that the project may fail. (McConnell, 1996)
·         Ignoring the change management.
Whenever an information system is implemented, the employees resist use of this information system. This is because they have their concerns on their future and they are also not competent at using this information system. Thus it is necessary that management does a proper change management program where the users are trained and their concerns are addresses. In absence of such a program, the chances of failure of the project increase substantially. (Jessup, et al, 2008)
c)
Examples of Project Success
·         Appropriate and detailed strategic planning can ensure successful implementation of information system. Implementation of SAP ERP by PepsiCo is an example of it.
·         Extensive procedure review including review of software capabilities, manual processes and standard operating procedure are important for project success. Implementation of Oracle ERP by Motorola is an example of it.
·         Correct data collection and converting the data as per the requirement of new information system results in successful project implementation. Implementation of SRM information system by P&G is an example of it.
·         Sufficient training to the users and exhaustive testing of the information system also ensure success of the project. Implementation of CRM and SRM information system by Flipkart is an example of it.
·         Evaluating and monitoring the system before the go-live phase also make sure that the project gets successfully implemented. Implementation of CRM information system by Kraft Foods is an example of it. (Vyhmeister, et al, 2006)
Q-2
a)
Functional and Non Functional Requirements of Information System
·         Functional Requirements
Ø  The information system must be able to process the information fed into it and give back the desired results to users.
§  An information system can provide details of the level of inventory of raw materials and finished goods.
§  An information system can give information on the buying pattern of a particular customer from his past purchases.
Ø  The information system must be able to integrate the information from business process of different departments.
§  Through information system, the status of purchase requisition raised by the production department is visible though it was forwarded by purchasing department.
§  Through information system, the level of available stocks is visible to the sales representatives even though the stocks are maintained by warehouse department.
·         Non-functional Requirements
Ø  The information system must be reliable for its users.
§  Accurate and correct information on the scheduled delivery of a stock from a reliable system helps in taking right decisions on buying.
§  Timely information and details of customers buying pattern and preferences can help sell more goods to them.
Ø  The information system must be scalable for the operations of business
§  Information system when is expandable in its scope can help in avoiding implementation of other information system and thus save resources.
§  Information system when is able to accommodate more data to store and process will help in saving efforts, time and costs. (Sullivan, 2004)
b)
Reasons for use of models by Business Analysts
§  To understand the relationship between various business processes and entities.
The models are used by the analysts in order to understand how the current business process work, how the different entities are responsible for different entities and how do they interact with each other. Thus the use of these models help the analysts in having a clear picture of the current state of factors and people which have influence on different activities of the operations. The knowledge of the sequence of processes and relationship help them have better understanding of the business.
§  To simulate the proposed changes in business processes.
The models are also used for conducting simulation of the various processes once the required changes are made in the model. This helps in reducing the risk of directly going for changes in the actual business process. First the changes are made in the model and the new behavior of various entities is understood. If the simulation produces desirable results, then the changes are implemented in the actual business process. Thus simulation is useful in implementing the proposed changes after proper understating of risks associated with them.
(Ribeiro & David, 2001)
c)
Models and use in SDLC
·         Logical Model
Logical model means creating a model which is aimed at understanding the business requirement by understanding the business processes, entities and units through the use of entity relationship diagrams and other types of flow diagrams.
·         Physical Model
Physical Model means the schema which translates the business requirement to technical requirement. It involves design of database of creation of various objects like tables and columns which confirm to the logical model.
·         Following are the models used in different phases of SDLC
Ø  Project Planning - Logical Model
This phase of SDLC requires preparing the plan for the project which means the detailed steps of to be taken in order to complete the project. The work plan is prepared which is followed by performing activities according to the plan which can be done by preparing a logical model of the activities to be done.
Ø  Analysis- Logical Model
This phase means analyzing the business requirements which includes understanding the logical relationship between various processes and entities of business. Thus a logical model is used here.
Ø  Design- Physical Model
This phase includes preparing the databases and the other relational objects like tables and columns which fit the business requirement and the entities in the analysis. A physical model is prepared in this phase.
Ø  Implementation- Physical Model
This phase is actual implementation of the physical design prepared in the designing phase. This phase also makes use of physical model for coding, documentation and preparing the solution.
Ø  Maintenance- Logical and Physical Models
This phase involves upgrading the existing solution which means changes in the physical design and also includes replacing the current business process by new processes which means use of logical design.  (Bygstad, 2005)
Q-3
System developers use two types of approaches for building the software solutions based on the available information and the understanding of the requirements. These two types of approaches for system development are called Predictive Approach and Adaptive Approach. Following is the analysis on the two approaches through which comparison of them has been done
Predictive Approach of system development assumes that the project can be planned in advance. This is used in cases where the requirements of the project are clear and known in advance. There is low level of uncertainty and lower technical risks in these projects. The traditional predictive approach of the system development involves steps like-
·         Project Planning- This step involves evaluation of the technical, financial and other types of feasibilities of the project, preparing the schedule in order to carry out the project and ensuring that the required approvals are available.
·         Analysis- This step involves understating the requirements of the business which the solution must address and the processing requirements which must be met by the system under development.
·          Design- This step involves designing a solution system which is able to meet the requirements of business and provide the solution to the client. This includes preparing a blueprint of the software solution.
·         Implementation- Here the system developers construct the actual software system based on the design prepared in the previous step. The step further includes testing of this solution so that the solution works perfectly in actual environment. It then involves implementing this solution.
·         Support- This part includes training the users and ensuring the system keeps running which means if there is any problem faced during the operation it must be looked after to rectify that problem.
An illustration of the predictive approach of system development is the water fall approach which is shown in the diagram below. In this type of approach each phase of the SDLC is completed in sequence and the next phase starts only after completion of previous phase. Once a phase is over and next phase has been started, it is very difficult to go back and make changes in the previous phase. Thus the decisions made in each phase are final and get frozen with minimal scope of changes. (Satzinger, et al, 2010)
The major strengths or the positives of using this approach for system development are that it can be easily used for designing software solutions for large projects. The quality assurance is also easier and better since each of the steps is predefined and the requirements are already known. This approach also is able to accommodate in changes of scale of operations as the design phase is properly executed. There are few disadvantages of this approach as well. For example, the assumption on the basis of which this approach is adopted is that the requirements of the users have defined completely and have been understood and there are no significant changes in the user's requirements in the later phase of the project. If the requirements don't change then this approach works fine but if there are changes in the requirements, then the built solution may not correspond to the requirements of the user or differ in some way or the other.  The other major disadvantage of predictive approach is that the users can't experience the system until the process is completed. Thus if the project doesn't confirm to the requirements of the users after the final phase, it will mean repeating the entire process of developing the solution which means there is high risk of project finishing over budget and beyond the planned deadline. (Gasson, 1999)
Adaptive Approach of system development on the other hand is more flexible in its domain and the assumption behind using this approach by the developers is that the project can't be planned in advance as the requirements of the users are not fixed and keep on changing till the completion of the project. In order to accommodate these new requirements without causing much disturbance to the project and disruption of work, the developers use adaptive approach of system development when the user requirement are not clear and are expected to change significantly in future. There is high level of uncertainty and lower technical risks in these projects (Satzinger, et al, 2010). There are many models for using an adaptive approach in a project. The major ones are
·         Spiral Model- In this model, the emphasis is to reduce the risks associated with the project. The project is divided into smaller parts which have their own risks. The project starts with from the center of the spiral. At this stage the project scope is small and the risks associated are low. The project starts expanding slowly and starts including more and more parts of the project with gradually including and addressing the risks associated. After the final step, the system is expected to address all the risks and include all the things in the scope of the project.
·         Iterative Model- The model assumes that no job is done perfectly at the first time and there is need of continuously improving the development through iteration of various activities involved in software development. The model is useful where it is difficult to separate the phases of SDLC and thus the decisions are not frozen at the end of each phase, but are available for changes until the requirements are satisfied and new requirements are accommodated.
·         Parallel Model- This model helps in reducing the delay which happens generally n traditional predictive way of system development. Though the model uses the same steps as used by predictive models like Waterfall model but instead of doing them in sequence, the Parallel model does them in parallel. The main project is also divided into smaller sub-projects and then they are developed in parallel. Once the sub-projects are completed, they are integrated to develop the required software solution.
This approach is useful for designing software solutions for small projects and its utility increases significantly when the requirements from the users are not fixed and can change significantly. The quality assurance of this approach is not as per the standards of predictive approach but the risks associates with the project reduce greatly by adopting this approach. There is also less chance of project overshooting the budget and crossing the deadline in comparison to predictive approach. (Vyhmeister, et al, 2006)
Part B
Q-1
a)
Stake holders
·         Owner (Jane Freeburn)
Jane is the owner of Special Jewelry and has stakes in every decision which is taken in order to improve the efficiency and make the business operations smoother and effective. Being the owner, she will be affected by the cost of the project of implementing an information system and the benefit (monetary as well as non-monetary) which the system might accrue to her.
·         Sales persons and Party Plan representatives
These people are the face of the organization in front of the customers. The representatives are also one of the stakeholders as implementation of any information system will effect and change the way they do their job. Such an information system will force them to work according to prescribed manner and will take away the autonomy and liberty which they currently enjoy.
·         Staff
Currently some of the employees of the organization have to exclusively handle the calls from sales representatives and some do the manual work of stock management and customer management. In case of implementation of the information system, the organization will not require such services of these employees or may have to move these staff members to some other department and assign other responsibilities. Generally change in duties and responsibilities are not welcome by employees and they tend to resist such an action.
·         Customers
With such an information system in place, the customers of the organization will get better service in terms of the availability of goods due to transparent and easily available information on the stocks at present and in future. Customers will also be benefited by a more organized and efficient customer management process which will come with the information system.
·         Suppliers
With better stock management through the use of the information system being implemented by the organization, it is also expected from the suppliers of the organization to improve their shipping process according to the improved procurement process. The suppliers also have to become more efficient so as to respond to the more efficient procurement and stock management process.  (Storey, et al, 2004)BUMKT5901 Assignment (Individual)-1
b)
Following are the questions which must be asked from each of the stakeholders to select the information system.
·         Owner
1.      Do the benefits (monetary and non-monetary) of implementing such an information system weigh more than the costs to be incurred?
§  This question will help the manager understand which of the information system is appropriate for implementing. If the benefits are less than the cost, then the use of such a system is only going to cause loss to the organization must be avoided.
2.      Is the information system friendly for new users and easy to learn for them?
§  This question will help in selecting a friendly information system for the use. This is because the use of such information system is always resisted by the end users management must always look for system which is easier to use and learn for them.
·         Sales Team
1.      What are the key activities which you do when you approach the customers and make a deal with them?
§  This question will tell us how regularly the sales team keeps track of the information from the customers and provides it to the staff of the organization. It will help in selecting an information system which will cause minimum damage to the autonomy of the work of sales team while also making the process standard.
2.      How often and what information do you require from the stocks department and customer management department?
§  This will also tell that which all information is required most by the sales team and which information system is most able to give them the required information and assistance. It will also tell about which one of the available systems has the option of the customization required to get that information.
·         Staff
1.       What information and data do you maintain about the stocks and customers?
§  This question will help in selecting an information system which can quickly generate the required details on the status of stocks and the required customer information and communicate it directly to the sales team. This will remove the need of excess staff which is working on stock and customer management.
2.      Do you have any prior experience of working on any information system?
§  This question will help in determine which information system should be implemented. This is because if the staff has some experience on an information system, it is easier for them to adapt their work according to this system and there will be minimal resistance from their end. (House, 1983)
·         Customers
1.      Which information system have you implemented in your organization?
§  It is important that the information system of the customers must be compatible with the information system implemented by Special Jewelry. Only those information systems must be considered which can communicate with customer's information system.
2.      What functionalities do you expect from the information system of Special Jewelry?
§  It is important that the information system not only provided functionality required by the staff of Special Jewelry but also the functionality and information required by the customers such as accurate expected date of delivery and the quantity available. The information system which is capable of providing it must be selected.
·         Suppliers
1.      Which information system have you implemented in your organization?
§  The information system which the organization will implement must be able to interact with the information system of suppliers. So that the sales order which the Special Jewelry gets are communicated to its suppliers as purchase orders. This question will help in selecting an information system which can communicate with the suppliers.
2.      When and what information do you require in order to provide delivery of shipments to the Special Jewelry on time?
§  It is important that the information which the organization implements is able to provide timely and accurate information to the suppliers so that the correct delivery can't be made on time. This question will help in understanding which information system is able to extract the required information for the suppliers. (Gerhard and Teufel, 1998)
c)
Open Ended Question and Closed Ended Questions
§  Open Ended Questions
Open Ended Questions are those where the respondents are not given any option to choose from for giving the response. This means that the respondent has the freedom to express his views and opinion on the topic of question. The advantages of the open-ended questions are that it helps in finding out the responses which the individuals give spontaneously which means that there is no influence on the answers of individual from the interviewer. It is important that open ended questions are asked when the interviewer wants to understand how the respondent feels about any topic. The example of open ended question is
"What functionalities do you expect from the information system of Special Jewelry?"
It can be observed that there are no alternatives given to the respondent in this question and he is free to express his views.
§  Close Ended Questions
Close Ended Questions are those where the respondents are given few options to choose from for giving the response when they are asked the question. This means that the respondent is bound to select the answer from the alternatives provided to him, thus restricting the domain of response to the few alternatives available. The advantages of the close-ended questions are that it they are quick and easier for the respondents as they have to select the answer only from the given options. It is important that close ended questions are asked when the interviewer knows that the alternatives he gives are only important to understand a topic. The example of open ended question is
"Which information system among the following do you prefer to implement in your organization?"
1.      SAP
2.      Oracle
3.      Microsoft
It can be observed that the respondent have to give the answer only from the limited alternatives given to the respondent in this question. (Royce, 1970)
Q-2
To : Jane Freeburn
From : ABC (Business Analyst)
Date : 23/03/2012
Re: Information system implementation project- Analysis of factors affecting feasibility of the project
Following are the factors which have significant influence on the feasibility of this project of implementing an information system for making the process more organized and efficient.
·         Organizational Culture
The staff has negligible experience of using computers and any information system. The staff has been using manual process to maintain data and extract information for business. This means that there will be some resistance from the employees when they will be asked to the old way of working they used to do it and adopt the new way of working. The staff has some apprehensions on whether they will lose their job and will there be change of responsibilities, which is normal for any staff whenever there is such a big change in the way of work they do. The inexperience of working on an information system coupled with the changes, it will bring with it may result in loss of productivity of the employees and the organization. (Satzinger, et al, 2010)
But these concerns of the employees can be addressed by having a proper change management process introduced. This will mean that the employees will be explained the benefits of using the information system and how its use is going to make their work easier. As far as the change in responsibilities and nature of work is concerns, they will be explained the need to do so and they will be given adequate training on the new work they are expected to do. Thus the resistance of the employees can be avoided if we have an appropriate change management process which will make the project more feasible.
·         Schedule
The project has been planned to complete in 4 months' time. The schedule of implementing the information system will include the major five steps- Project Preparation, Preparing Business Blueprint, Project Realization, Final Preparation and Go Live. Each of these steps is important and must be carried out carefully so that the mistakes in one step don't cascade to the other steps of implementation (Gerhard and Teufel, 1998). On the first look of things, it seems that each of the steps will take at least a month for the scale of the implementation we need in the organization. The time taken for the implementation can further increase due to busy schedule of the staff because of which they will be unable to devote much of their time in contribution towards the this project.
However, if the resources working on the project and are associated with the project can be convinced to work extra time, then the project might finish in time. For more accurate estimation of the feasibility of the project based on the schedule, it is required that more detailed analysis of the each step and the expected time to complete each of the steps is done. Currently it seems difficult to complete the project with-in 4 months and it requires that the schedule to be revised as per the estimation of time taken for completion of each of the steps involved. It is also suggested, that as a contingency measure a buffer period of 1-2 months is also allocated to take into account the uncertainty of future events.
·         Resources
The resources allocated for completing the project are two programmers and one business analyst. The success of a project which involves implementing an information system requires active participation from systems analysts, system technicians, and users. Though it seems that one system analyst for this project is enough, this project requires two more technicians or programmers because the project involves integration of activities done in various departments like stock management and customer management and further testing of the solution developed. The current number of programmers will not be adequate for this task. The success of project will also depend on active user's contribution in explaining the requirements and reviewing solution which is not easy for them as they are also engaged in their day to day activities.
This means that the project's feasibility on resources front can be increased by assigning two more programmers who will test the solution developed by the first two programmers and making the end users take out some of their time for contributing in implementation of the information system. If these things can be ensured, then the project can be successfully completed as per the requirement of business with good quality (Satzinger, et al, 2010). The other important resources which are required for completing this project are access to computers with network connectivity. The resources on that front seem sufficient and project can be completed with these other available resources.
·         Finance
The development cost of the project which involves implementation of the information system is estimated to be $50000. I believe that the funds allocated for this purpose are sufficient considering the cost of purchase of the license to use the information system and the amount paid to the programmers and the analyst for completing this project. The maintenance cost of the project every year will be about $5000 which is not substantial and seems acceptable. However there can be other uncertain events which may take place during the course of implementing the information system which means that the management should keep $10000 as contingency funds which may be required in such situations.
The benefits of implementation of this information system are more than the costs associated. The use of the information system is supposed to generate the monetary benefit of $20000 a year which means that the cost of the implementation will be recovered in the third year. The recovery period can be more or less depending on the business condition in the next few years (Satzinger, et al, 2010). One issue which needs to be addressed is that the amount for funding the project is to be taken from the cash flows of two months which may disturb the regular operations for two months. Rather the management should distribute $50000 funds in 4 months period of implementation which will avoid undue burden of cash unavailability in those 2 months.
Following are the assumptions based on which the above comments were made
·         The staff has little knowledge and experience of working on information system and it will resist using information system and prefer to do the work manually.
·         Each of the five steps of implementing the information system will take at least a month to get completed and the 4 months schedule doesn't include any contingency period which must be included in the plan.
·         The project will need 2 programmers to develop the solution and 2 programmers to test the solution. There is sufficient number of computers and network access available for implementation.
·         10% of the development cost goes in maintenance of information system per year. 20% of the development cost is kept aside as contingency funds. 40% of the development cost is recovered through benefits each year.
Sincerely,
ABC, Business Analyst.



References
·         Blanchard, B. S. and  Fabrycky, W. J. (2006). Systems Engineering and Analysis. Prentice Hall.
·         Bygstad, B. (2005). Managing the Dynamics of Mutual Adaptation of Technology and Organisation in Information Systems Development Projects.
·         Gasson, S. (1999). A social action model of situated information systems design. The Data Base for Advances in Information Systems 30(2).
·         House, W. C. (1983). Decision Support Systems – A Data-Based, Model-Oriented User-Developed Discipline. Petrocelli Books, Inc. New York, NY.
·         Jessup, L. M., Valacich, J. S. and Wade, M. R. (2008). Information systems today: Why IS matters (2nd ed.). Toronto: Pearson Education Canada.
·         Kavanagh, J. F. (2004). Resistance as Motivation for Innovation: Open Source Software. Communications of the AIS, 13(36).
·         Gerhard, K. and Teufel, T. (1998). SAP R/3 Process-Oriented Implementation. Addison Wesley Longman, New York, NY.
·         McConnell, S. (1996). Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules (1st ed., p. 680). Microsoft Press.
·         Ribeiro, L. & David, G. (2001). Impact of the information system on the pedagogical process. EUNIS 2001.
·         Royce, W. (1970). Managing the Development of Large Software Systems. In Proceedings of IEEE WESCON (Vol. 26, pp. 1-9). IEEE.
·         Satzinger, J., Robert, J. and Burd, S. (2010). System Analysis and Design, Cengage Learning
·         Storey, M.-A. D., Cubranic, D., et al. (2004). On the Use of Visualization to Support Awareness of Human Activities in Software Development: A Survey and a Framework.
·         Sullivan, L. (2004). “Heavyweight Retailer Looks Inward to Stay Innovative in Business Technology.” InformationWeek, 27 September 2004.

·         Vyhmeister, R., Mondelo, P. R., et al. (2006). Towards a Model for Assessing Workers’ Risks Resulting from the Implementation of Information and Communication Systems and Technologies. Wiley InterScience.BUMKT5901 Assignment 2 – Analysis of Supermarket Marketing –Report

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