Management in Information System Development - Assignment Example

The Role of Management in Information System Development Name Course Date Abstract Information System development plays an important role in the overall growth and development of any business or organisation. Of late management in various organizations have come in term with this fact that without using Information System development approach, it is very difficult for them to revamp their existing technology or applications or bring in new changes to the existing applications without facing application errors, over running budgets or deadlines. In the light of the traditional, technical perspective on ISD with recent emphasis on social and organizational perspective for improving system quality (Westrup 1996) it is important to understand the level to which such perspectives are present in developers’ behavior and assumptions. Undoubtedly, it is not easy for developers who till now have been working based on their own experience and assumptions to suddenly work per a structured process. However, it has been established that once developers get into a system of working according to information system development approach, the process become more streamlined and hassle free with less quality or timeline issues. Data domain: The need for Information System development Though a formal technology or design is not always required for producing or revamping existing software or technology, however, when a project is critical mass, only a formal technology can enhance the application and its delivery. This formal technology is known as Information System development. Using an ad hoc approach while developing a critical or complex project increases the complexity of system, provides erroneous results, over the limit budgets and extended deadlines. Listed below are the possible pitfalls of ignoring the need for Information System development and adopting an ad hoc approach for developing complex office applications: The developers or users might lack confidence in the correctness of technology and its application, resulting in designing of substitute or parallel backup system to verify the application results. Using a new technology is more time-consuming and confusing than its original counterparts. Due to ineffective testing and lack of user understanding, many components or functionalities of the application remain unused. In order to get the required information or result from the ad hoc application, the user needs to know internal quirks of the system, All the above discussed problems and many more can be easily avoided by using formal development approach that is information system development. Not only these problems would be taken care of by using information system development approach, but also, you would see the resultant application delivered in within reasonable time and budget. In the opinion of many authors, the biggest advantage of using Information System development approach for revamping the existing or developing new systems is that it provides clear directions and visibility to the management as well as development team from the onset of the project. This ensures that the project moves in a right direction within the specific timelines and methodologies. The information system development approach designs a methodology based on the joint inputs of system analysts, developers, subject matter experts throughout the project from the first stage itself. This increases participation from all teams and ensures that everyone involved in the project is in sync with each other. This strategy offers following advantages to the management as well as the project: Use of joint information system development approach works a great deal in improving relationships between the developers, users and management ISD approach improves the system and application literacy of the users and the technical understanding of the developers In case an information system development approach is used to create an application, the conflict resolution becomes entire team’s responsibility. It further improves the time for system analysis by simultaneous processing of project resources and work sessions Use of Information system development approach, drastically reduces maintenance time due to correct specification and guidelines. Solution Information system development can be defined as the complete process of development of computerized as well as manual parts of an object system by a development group using specific tools and an organized collection of techniques or methods. The information system development process provides a methodological, systematical, and logical approach for the design and implementation of application or system. ISD approach ensures that all the process whether computerized or manual are streamlined and meet user requirements. In the absence of ISD process, it might become very difficult to track deliverables, timelines and budgets. However, it is critical for the success of the system that the development of new system or modification of the existing system is done by keeping the requester and data processing team in complete sync. It has been well observed and established that the assumptions of system developers have a vital effect on their ISD behavior (Gasson and Holland 1996) Information system development approach constitutes the primary application of technology in any business or organisation. By following a well planned and defined ISD approach, the effective deployment of information technology in an organisation can be ensured. Deployment of information technology in an organisation includes project planning and execution, determining and structuring requirements, as well as testing and post implementation maintenance. Information system development approaches offer many advantages to the management in creating the systems for their organization. Some of the typical advantages of using information system development approaches for streamlining organization’s processes are: Differentiation- Using the ISD approach it becomes easier to differentiate between the existing system and the newer needs. The use of ISD approach will make it possible to develop new system and approaches from the existing systems Cost- The distinction between information systems and computing systems emphasizes reusing information objects capabilities in addition to the computing objectives. The use of ISD approach facilitates the identification of current methodologies and objects, as well as specifying the changes to be made. Renovation and Innovation- Using ISD approach for revision of current processes facilitates the visibility of information objects. Existing architecture’s object definition allows the organization to see how new elements can be attached between the current methodologies and processes. Growth- It has been proved that any application or process implemented or designed with the use of Information System development approach is more feasible and extendible than the one designed using conventional methodologies. The use of information system development approach helps envisaging the application’s complexity without having the need to disturb its current functions. Alliances- Use of information system development methodology and approaches facilitates the flow and communication of knowledge. This further facilitates the various types of application and technology alliances that can affect information systems and existing computing systems. These are some of the advantages of using information system approaches to revamp the current organisational methodologies and technology as well as design new applications and methodologies to facilitate the growth of any organisation and streamline its operations. Since every side has two coins similarly every advantageous approach or methodology has some pitfalls as well. Now let us see some of the limitations of using information system approaches for streamlining organization’s operations. Despite the fact that coming of information system and ISD approaches has facilitating and boosted organization’s procedures and applications to a big extent, it is still problematic in some ways. One of the biggest limitation or disadvantage is that if proper planning by the expert professionals is missing, an organization might overrun its budget and miss its timelines. Secondly, if the implementation is erroneous or of poor quality, it can affect the overall applications working as well as it might fail to address the needs of its audience or require additional time and resources for proper maintenance and enhancement It has been argued and discussed that information system development methodologies are used only for managerial purposes and actual audience who is supposed to use the application or technologies is not generally involved in the actual development of the organizational processes. It has also been observed that often the developers of the methodologies are unhappy and unproductive due to either limited resources or timelines. Also, it happens that ISD processes or approaches are not used as intended. Only some parts or fragments of the whole approach are used only to understand the existing problem but not for actual management of the existing errors or problems. It has been observed that information system approaches are often used in a very pragmatic way which in turn, leads to improper implication of its underlying principle for the development of new applications and procedures. There are various reasons why ISD approaches are not used as intended. Firstly, because information system development approaches are treated more as rituals than as tool for development of new technologies and applications Secondly, ISD is perceived as signs of fictious and controllable process whereas in actual implementation and use they are too structured and rational to be molded by inexperienced or inefficient professionals. Thirdly, procedures and methodologies are viewed as social defense versus the complicated and real approach of information system development. The only way to ensure that ISD approaches are used as intended is to make sure that a team of expert professionals initiates a unique instantiation of the method in each project. This would ensure that a different approach specific to each application or method is used to cater to each process instead of one procedural ISD approach being used with less or no success at all. This can be also be combined with the approach of selecting the suitable parts and techniques of existing approaches and combine them with new approaches to make them specific for the use of each particular method. Basic Structure of Availaible Information System development Approaches or Methodologies The common Information system development approaches are more or less variations on a similar theme of providing clear definition of problem and the proposed solution and to ensure that the project delivered has a right kind of talent and skill set and is delivered as per expectations. The four main phases or elements adopted universally by all the ISD models are: Functional analysis or requirement System development System build System maintenance The most commonly used and defined information system development models are: Build and fix Staged or Waterfall Spiral Recursive/parallel The build and fix model is not an ISD model in itself, but it represents the lack of one. This was the typical ISD methodology used in olden days when people where cheap and computers were expensive. Using this technique resulted in expending the system funds majorly on the back end of the system life. This scenario establishes how the use of more formal information system approach would lead to more robust systems and frees up the expensive team resources to work on and develop new applications rather than consistently trying to fix the existing one. Waterfall- This model divides the development process into various phases of sequential steps. The typical steps of waterfall model are: Requirement definition Preliminary design Detailed design Implementation Unit testing Integration testing System testing System rollout Maintenance The fundamental aspect of using this model is to complete one step before moving to the next one as each step is complete in itself. In organisations where projects and budgets are large, this model can work successfully. Spiral Model- This ISD model uses concept of evolutionary and prototyping system implementation to identify risk and cost at the onset of the project. This model divides development activities into four quadrants namely: Determine project objectives such as reviewing alternatives identity various constraints such as time, budget, availability of skills etc Identifying the risks and evaluating the alternate options and choosing alternatives to minimize risk Develop a prototype and verify its effectiveness Reevaluate and move to next cycle planning Spiral approach is not as appropriate or necessary in scenario where product, options, requirements and constraints are well defined and understood. Parallel/Object Oriented Model This model is based on the idea that any software is developed by applying work from various development cycle phases in variable amounts depending on the progress of the project. This model considers the real way that technically proficient system developers work and provides scope for more creativity by the project team while understanding that there are different deliverables for different phases of the project. The three phases of this model are: design, development and implementation. The role of Information System development Process There are five categories of factors that are influenced by the ISD processes, That is ISD has an important role to play in the growth of organisations by affecting these five factors: Universality- It is a known fact that there is no one particular technology or method that can be used universally. With the coming of new technologies, procedures and methodologies, situations and technologies keep getting complicated and a result analysis never stops. Since analysis never stops, this implies there is always a room for updating current procedure or application. When an organisation want to get over conventional tools and procedures and innovate company processes, than it might happen that developers experience or domain knowledge does not meet the needs of required technical tools for ex- business workflows and case tools etc. This is where the role of Information system development comes in. Confidence- In order to be assured that developers are doing the right kind of work or are in right track, they need a guideline that can help them know that they are doing the right things. The role of information system development is to provide this detailed guideline for the user. Experience- Use of information system development will ensure that developers use the prescribed method rather than trying to use their own experience without understanding the proper system needs. Developers tend to adopt methodologies as a set of techniques without understanding its underlying philosophy. The use of Information system development discourages such kind of practices. Framework for Information System development Processes (Fitzgerald 1998) Profiles of Development Environment- There are large number of factors that constitute the profile of development environment of information system development team. The important ones are: Strategy on in-house development versus outsourcing and customization of packages should we well defined Size of information system development department and number of developers involved should be pre-determined Productivity- rigor-trade-off Now let’s look at Developer- Embodied Factors Developer embodied factors include the following: Developer’s skills and ability Experience and expertise: Repertoire of strategies Application domain knowledge Commitment and motivation Trust between internal and external specialists is a vital factor Overt or Intellectual roles of methodology This includes: Improved visibility and reduced risk for project management Reduction of variety and complexity Economic: Skill specialization and division of labor Epistemological: This include template for inexperienced developers, systematization and transfer of knowledge, and learning from the past projects Facilitation of communication between internal developers to ensure proper co-ordination and smooth flow of work Now let’s look at the last but one of the most important elements of ISD framework Political roles of methodology Adherence to proper practice can reduce anxiety and develops a comfort factor. At the same time, legitimacy factor of ISD approach keeps in consideration marketing plans of the organization, for example, to get an ISO certification or to win some development contracts The biggest advantage of ISD approach is that it brings the aura of professionalism as the complete development phase is planned well in advance keeping in mind the buffer against unrealistic user demands Again, by using an ISD based approach for developing or revamping current applications, the management as well as the staff works with a confidence factor as they have detailed justification for everything from investment decision to expensive development ISD approach works with an audit trail, with a detailed and chronological record of decisions taken and the reasons for taking those decisions Conclusion Information system development is the need for the hour. In times where projects are massive, deliverables are tight and budget is well defined, use of ad hoc system can make the whole process of bringing in new technologies or revamping the existing applications cumbersome. To achieve tight project deadlines within the budget constraint as per the quality standards, use of information system development approach is mandatory. There are various commonly used ISD models availaible, and you need to carefully select one that meet your technical, system, human resource and financial skills. 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