Building a new information system is one kind of planned organizational change. The introduction of a new information system involves much more than new hardware and software.
Systems Development And
Organizational Change
Information technology can promote
various degrees of organizational change, ranging from incremental to
far-reaching. There are four kinds of structural organizational change that are
enabled by information technology:
- automation - assist employees
with performing their tasks more efficiently and effectively.
- rationalization - a deeper form
of organizational change and one that follows quickly from early automation
- business process redesign -
business processes are analyzed, simplified, and redesigned
- paradigm shifts - involves rethinking the nature of the business and the nature of organization. Each carries different risks and rewards.
Business Process Redesign
Business process managemet provides
a variety of tools and methodologies to analyze existing processes, design new
processes, and optimize those processes. It has to go through the following
steps:
- Identify processes for change: managers need to detrmine what business processes are the most important and how improving these processes will help business performance.
- Analyze existing processes: existing business processes should be modeled and documented, noting inputs, outputs, resources, and the sequence of activities.
- Design the new process: once the existing process is mapped and measured in terms of time and cost, the process design team will try to improve the process by designing a new one. A new streamlined “to-be” process will be documented and modeled for comparison with the old process.
- Implement the new process: new information systems or enhancements to existing systems may have to be implemented to support the redesigned process.
- Continuous measurement: once a process have been implemented and optimized, it needs to be continually measured because they may lose their effectiveness if the business experiences other changes or deteriorate over time as employees fall back on old methods.
Overview of Systems Development
The activities that go into
producing an information system solution to an organizational problem or
opportunity are called systems development. Systems development is a structured
kind of problem solved with distinct activities such as analysis, systems
design, programming, testing, conversion, and production and maintenance.
Systems Analysis – the analysis of a
problem that a firm tries to solve with an information system. It also includes
a feasibility study to determine whether that solution is feasible or
achievable, from a financial, technical, and organizational standpoint.
Establishing Information
Requirements – it carefully defines the objectives of the new or modified
system and develops a detailed description of the functions that the new system
must perform.
Systems Design – shows how the
system will fulfill this objective. The design of an information system is the
overall plan or model for that system.
The Role of End Users – users must
have sufficient control over the design process to ensure that the system
reflects their business priorities and information needs, not the biases of the
technical staff.
Completing
The Systems Development Process
The
remaining steps in the systems development process translate the solution
specifications established during system analysis and design into a fully
operational information system. They are
· Programming – system specifications that were prepared
during the design stage are translated into software program code.
· Testing – conducted thoroughly to ascertain whether the
system produces the right results.
· Conversion – the process of changing from the old system to
the new system.
· Production and Maintenance – after the new system is
installed and conversion is complete, the system is said to be in production.
Changes in hardware, software, documentation, or procedures to a production
system to correct errors, meet new requirements, or improve processing
efficiency are termed maintenance.
Modeling
And Designing Systems: Structured And Object-Oriented Methodologies
There
are alternative methodologies for modeling and designing systems. Structured
methodologies and object-oriented development are the most prominent.
Structured
Methodologies
Structured
methodologies have been used to document, analyze, and design information
systems since the 1970s. It refers to the fact that the techniques are step by
step, with each step building on the previous one. They are top-down,
progressing from the highest, most abstract level to the lowest level of detail
– from the general to the specific. Process
specifications describe the transformation occurring within the lowest
level of the data flow diagrams. They express logic for each process. The structure chart is a top-down
chart, showing each level of design, its relationship to other levels, and its
place in the overall design structure.
Object-Oriented
Development
Object-oriented
development addresses these issues. It uses the object as the basic unit of
systems analysis and design. An object combines data and the specific processes
that operate on those data.
Computer-Aided
Software Engineering
Computer-aided
software engineering (CASE) – sometimes called computer-aided systems engineering,
provides software tools to automate the methodologies we have just described to
reduce the amount of repetitive work the developer needs to do. CASE tools also
facilitate the creation of clear documentation and the coordination of team
development efforts.
Alternative Systems-Building
Approaches
Traditional Systems Life Cycle
The systems life cycle is the oldest
method for building information systems. The life cycle methodology is a phased
approach to building a system, dividing systems development into formal stages.
The systems life cycle is still used for building large complex systems that
require a rigorous and formal requirements analysis, predefined specifications,
and tight controls over the system-building process.
Prototyping
Prototyping consists of building an
experimental system rapidly and inexpensively for end users to evaluate. The
prototype is a working version of an information system or part of the system,
but it is meant to be only a preliminary model.
Steps in Prototyping
Step 1: Identify the user’s basic
requirements.
Step 2: Develop an initial
prototype.
Step 3: Use the prototype.
Step 4: Revise and enhance the
prototype.
Fig. The
Prototyping Process
End-User Development
Some types of information systems
can be developed by end users with little or no formal assistance from
technical specialists. This phenomenon is called end-user development. A series of software tools categorized as
fourth-generation languages makes this possible. Fourth-generation languages are software tools that enable end
users to create reports or develop software applications with minimal or no
technical assistance. Query languages are software tools that provide immediate
online answers to requests for information that are not predefined.
Application Development For the Digital Firm
In the digital firm environment,
organizations need to be able to add, change, and retire their technology
capabilities very rapidly to respond to new opportunities. Companies are
starting to use shorter, more informal development processes that provide fast
solutions.
Rapid Application Development (RAD)
Component-based Development and Web Services
SUMMARY
Building a new information system is
one kind of planned organizational change. The introduction of a new
information system involves much more than new hardware and software.
Information technology can promote various degrees of organizational change,
ranging from incremental to far-reaching. The core activities in systems
development are systems analysis, systems designs, programming, testing,
conversion, production, and maintenance. The two principal methodologies for
modeling and designing information systems are structured methodologies and
object-oriented development. The oldest method for building systems is the
systems life cycle, which requires that information systems be developed in
formal stages. The stages must proceed sequentially and have defined outputs;
each requires formal approval before the next stage can commence. Companies are
turning to rapid application design, joint application design (JAD), agile
development, and reusable software components to accelerate the systems
development process. Component-based development expedites application
development by grouping objects into suites of software components that can be
combined to create large-scale business applications. Web services provide a
common set of standards that enable organizations to link their systems
regardless of their technology platform through standard plug- and –play
architecture.