Chapter 2

The Origins of Software

Chapter Overview

Make an overview of the primary purposes of this chapter. What is the main concept introduced in this chapter? What kind of strategies should analyst consider? What six sources of software are discussed? What is an important element to understanding how analysis and design requirements?

Review Questions

• Describe and compare the various sources of software.
• How can you decide among various off-the-shelf software options? What criteria should you use?
• What is an RFP, and how do you analysts use one to gather information on hardware and system software?
• What methods can a systems analyst employ to verify vendor claims about a software package?
• What are ERP systems? What are the benefits and disadvantages of such systems as a design strategy?
• Explain reuse and its advantages and disadvantages.
• Compare and contrast the four approaches to reuse.

Problems and Exercises

• Research how to Make an RFP.
• (Not from textbook) Use Table 2-2 to summarize the six alternative sources for software and how to choose among them for specific software needs. How can this table serve as the basis for a discussion of the make-versus-buy decision and can be expanded to include the "not invented here" syndrome.

Field Exercises

• Obtain copies of actual (close to actual) RFPs used for information systems developments and/or purchases. If possible, obtain RFPs from public and private organizations (or the internet). Find out how they are used. What are the major components of these proposals? Do these proposals seem to be useful? Why or why not? How and why do RFPs from public and private organizations differ?

Chapter 3

Managing the Information Systems Project

Chapter Overview

Make an overview of the process of managing an information systems project. What is the main concept introduced in this chapter? Emphasize why is this chapter very important?

Chapter Key Terms

Make a list of the terms you found most interesting or important to know. You must choose at minimum 10 terms and define them here.

Review Questions

• Contrast the following terms:

a.Critical path scheduling, Gantt, network diagramming, slack time

b.Project, project management, project manager

c.Project initiation, project planning, project execution, project closedown

d.Project workbook, resources, work breakdown structure

• Discuss the reasons why organizations undertake information systems projects.
• List and describe the common skills and activities of a project manager. Which skill do you think is most important? Why?
• Describe the activities performed by the project manager during project initiation.
• Describe the activities performed by the project manager during project planning.
• Describe the activities performed by the project manager during project execution.
• List various project team communication methods and describe an example of the type of information that might be shared among team members using each method.
• Describe the activities performed by the project manager during project closedown.
• What characteristics must a project have in order for critical path scheduling to be applicable?
• Describe the steps involved in making a Gantt chart.
• Describe the steps involved in making a network diagram.
• In which phase of the SDLC does project planning typically occur? In which phase does project management occur?
• What are some reasons why one activity may have to precede another activity before the second activity can begin? In other words, what causes precedence relationships between project activities?
• (Not from textbook) apply the concepts of this chapter to a non-information systems activity (e.g., going on a date, registering for classes, etc.). Describe the initiation, planning, execution, and close down activities.

Problems and Exercises

• Search computer magazines or the web for recent reviews of project management software. Which packages seem to be most popular? What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of each software package? What advice would you give to someone intending to buy project management software for his or her PC? Why?
• A project has been defined to contain the following list of activities along with their required times for completion.

a.Draw a network diagram for the activities. (Paste solution into this doc)

b.Calculate the earliest expected completion time.

c.Show the critical path.

Part Two

Planning

Chapter 4

Identifying and Selecting Systems Development Projects

Chapter Overview

Make an overview of the the first phase of the systems development life cycle, identifying and selecting systems development projects. Do organizations benefit from this process? Why? What is the main concept introduced in this chapter? What steps are involved? Does the running case example of Pine Valley Furniture help in understanding the chapter's topic? Why or why not?

Chapter Key Terms

Make a list of the terms you found most interesting or important to know. You must choose at minimum 10 terms and define them here.

Review Questions

• Contrast the following terms:

a.Mission; objective statements; competitive strategy

b.Corporate strategic planning; ISP

c.Top-down planning; bottom-up planning

d.Low-cost producer; product differentiation; product focus or niche

• Describe the project identification and selection process.
• Describe several project evaluation criteria.
• Describe value chain analysis and how organizations use this technique to evaluate and compare projects.
• Discuss several factors that provide evidence for the need for improved ISP today.
• Describe the steps involved in corporate strategic planning.
• What are three generic competitive strategies?
• Describe what is meant by ISP and the steps involved in the process.
• List and describe the advantages of top-down planning over other planning approaches.
• Briefly describe nine planning matrices that are used in ISP and project identification and selection.
• Discuss some of the factors that must be considered when designing and building Internet applications.

Problems and Exercises

• Make a mission statement for a business that you would like to start. The mission statement should state the area of business you will be in and what aspect of the business you value highly.
• When you are happy with the mission statement you have developed in response to the prior question, describe the objectives and competitive strategy for achieving that mission.
• Consider an organization that you believe does not conduct adequate strategic IS planning. List at least six reasons why this type of planning is not done appropriately (or is not done at all). Are these reasons justifiable? What are the implications of this inadequate strategic IS planning? What limits, problems, weaknesses, and barriers might this present?

Field Exercises

• Write separate mission statements that you believe would describe Microsoft, IBM, and AT&T. Compare your mission statements with the real mission statements of these companies. Their mission statements can typically be found in their annual reports. Were your mission statements comparable to the real mission statements? Why or why not? What differences and similarities are there among these three mission statements? What information systems are necessary to help these companies deliver on their mission statements?

Chapter 5

Initiating and Planning Systems Development Projects

Chapter Overview

Make an overview of project initiation and planning. What is the main concept introduced in this chapter? What initiates a project? Are there risks to a project? Does the running case example of Pine Valley Furniture help in understanding the chapter's topic? Why or why not?

Chapter Key Terms

Make a list of the terms you found most interesting or important to know. You must choose at minimum 10 terms and define them here.

Review Questions

• Contrast the following terms:

a.Break-even analysis; present value; net present value; return on investment

b.Economic feasibility; legal and contractual feasibility; operational feasibility; political feasibility; schedule feasibility

c.Intangible benefit; tangible benefit d. Intangible cost; tangible cost

• List and describe the steps in the project initiation and planning process.
• What are the potential consequences of not assessing the technical risks associated with an information systems development project?
• In what ways could you identify that one IS project is riskier than another?
• What are the types or categories of benefits of an IS project?
• What intangible benefits might an organization obtain from the development of an information system?
• Describe the concept of the time value of money. How does the discount rate affect the value of $1 today versus one year from today?
• Describe the structured walkthrough process. What roles need to be performed during a walk-through?

Problems and Exercises

• Assume you are put in charge of launching a new website for a local nonprofit organization. What costs would you need to account for? Make a list of expected costs and benefits for the project. You don't need to list values, just sources of expense. Consider both one-time and recurring costs.

Field Exercises

• Network with a contact you have in some organization that conducts projects (these might be information systems projects, but they could be construction, product development, research and development, or any type of project). Interview a project manager and find out what type of BPP is constructed. For a typical project, in what ways are base- line plans modified during the life of a project? Why are plans modified after the project begins? What does this tell you about project planning?
• Choose an organization that you are familiar with and determine what is done to initiate information systems projects. Who is responsible for initiating projects? Is this process formal or informal? Does this appear to be a top- down or bottom-up process? How could this process be improved?

Part Three

Analysis

Chapter 6

Determining System Requirements

Chapter Overview

Make an overview of the methods that systems analysts use to determine requirements for a proposed system. What is the main concept introduced in this chapter? What kind of requirement gathering techniques are categorized? What are considered the modern requirements determination techniques? Why is this chapter important for learners?

Chapter Key Terms

Make a list of the terms you found most interesting or important to know. You must choose at minimum 8 terms and define them here.

Review Questions

• Describe systems analysis and the major activities that occur during this phase of the systems development life cycle.
• Describe four traditional techniques for collecting information during analysis. When might one be better than another?
• How has computing been used to support requirements determination?
• Describe how prototyping can be used during requirements determination. How is it better or worse than traditional methods?
• Why is continual user involvement a useful way to discover system requirements? Under what conditions might it be used? Under what conditions might it not be used?

Problems and Exercises

• As mentioned in this chapter, one of the potential problems with gathering information requirements by observing potential system users is that people may change their behavior when they are being observed. What could you do to overcome this potential confounding factor in accurately determining information requirements?
• Research other Agile methodologies and Make a report about how they handle systems requirements determination.

Field Exercises

• Choose a work team at your work or university and inter- view them in a group setting. Ask them about their current system (whether computer-based or not) for performing their work. Ask each of them what information they use and/or need and from where/whom they get it. Was this a useful method for you to learn about their work? Why or why not? What comparative advantages does this method provide as compared to one-on-one interviews with each team member? What comparative disadvantages?
• For the same work team you used in Field Exercise 6-35, examine copies of any relevant written documentation (e.g., written procedures, forms, reports, system documentation). Are any of these forms of written documentation missing? Why? With what consequences? To what extent does this written documentation fit with the information you received in the group interview?

Chapter 7

Structuring System Process Requirements

Chapter Overview

Make an overview of several process modeling techniques for representing business processes. What concepts are introduced in this chapter?Does the running case example of Hoosier Burger's food ordering system that is used to illustrate basic data flow diagramming concepts help one to understand the chapter's topic? Why or why not?.

Chapter Key Terms

Make a list of the terms you found most interesting or important to know. You must choose at minimum 10 terms and define them here.

Review Questions

• What is a DFD? Why do systems analysts use DFDs?
• Explain the rules for drawing good DFDs.
• Explain the convention for naming different levels of DFDs.
• Why do analysts draw multiple sets of DFDs?
• How can DFDs be used as analysis tools?
• Explain the guidelines for deciding when to stop decomposing DFDs.

Problems and Exercises

• Choose a transaction that you are likely to encounter,perhaps ordering a cap and gown for graduation, and develop a high-level DFD or a context diagram. Decompose this to a level-0 diagram.
• Choose an example like the one you completed above and draw a context diagram. Decompose this diagram until it does not make sense to continue. Be sure that your diagrams are balanced.
• Mary is trying to decide which graduate programs she will apply to. She wants to stay in the southeastern region of the United States, but if a program is considered one of the top 10 in the country, she is willing to move to another part of the United States. Mary is interested in both the MBA and Master of MIS programs. An MBA program must have at least one well-known faculty member and meet her location requirements before she will consider applying to it. Additionally, any program she applies to must offer financial aid, unless she is awarded a scholarship. Use a decision table to represent this logic.

Field Exercises

• Find out which, if any, drawing packages, word processors, forms design, and database management systems your university or company supports. Research these packages to determine how they might be used in the production of a project dictionary. For example, do the drawing packages include a set of standard DFD symbols in their graphic symbol palette?

Chapter 8*

Structuring System Data Requirements

Chapter Overview

Quickly create an overview of the techniques used to structure the data requirements for an information system application.

Chapter Key Terms

Make a list of the terms you found most interesting or important to know. You must choose at minimum 3 terms and define them here.

Review Questions

• Discuss why some systems developers believe that a data model is one of the most important parts of the statement of information system requirements.

Problems and Exercises

• Each semester, each student must be assigned an adviser who counsels students about degree requirements and helps students register for classes. Students must register for classes with the help of an adviser, but if their assigned adviser is not available, they may register with any adviser. We must keep track of students, their assigned adviser, and with whom the student registered for the current term. Represent this situation of students and advisers with an E-R diagram.

Part Four

Design

Chapter 9*

Designing Databases

Chapter Overview

Make an overview of the database designing.

Chapter Key Terms

Create a list of the terms you found most interesting or important to know. You must choose at minimum 3 terms and define them here.

Review Questions

• What is the relationship between the primary key of a relation and the functional dependencies among all attributes within that relation?
• In what way does the choice of a data type for a field help to control the integrity of that field?

Field Exercises

• Find out what database management systems are available at your university for student use.

Chapter 10

Designing Forms and Reports

Chapter Overview

Create an overview of what is introduced in this chapter. Why is this chapter important? Is it important to have active user involvement in the form and design report process? Why or why not? Discuss the deliverables for this phase.

Chapter Key Terms

Create a list of all the terms and define them here.

Review Questions

• Describe the prototyping process of designing forms and reports. What deliverables are produced from this process? Are these deliverables the same for all types of system projects? Why or why not?
• What initial questions must be answered for an analyst to build an initial prototype of a system output?
• When can highlighting be used to convey special information to users?
• Discuss the benefits, problems, and general design process for the use of color when designing system output.
• How should textual information be formatted on a help screen?
• What type of labeling can you use in a table or list to improve its usability?
• What column, row, and text formatting issues are important when designing tables and lists?
• Describe how numeric, textual, and alphanumeric data should be formatted in a table or list.
• What is meant by usability and what characteristics of an interface are used to assess a system's usability?
• What measures do many development groups use to assess a system's usability?
• List and describe common website design errors.
• Provide some examples where variations in users, tasks, systems, and environmental characteristics might affect the design of system forms and reports.

Problems and Exercises

• Imagine that you are to design a budget report for a colleague at work using a spreadsheet package. Following the prototyping discussed in the chapter (see also Figure 6-7), describe the steps you would take to design a prototype of this report.
• Consider reports you might receive at work (e.g., budgets or inventory reports) or at a university (e.g., grade reports or transcripts). Evaluate the usability of these reports in terms of speed, accuracy, and satisfaction. What could be done to improve the usability of these outputs?

Chapter 11

Designing Interfaces and Dialogues

Chapter Overview

Make an overview of this chapter. Why is this chapter important?

Chapter Key Terms

Create a list of all the terms and define them here.

Review Questions

• Contrast the following terms:

a.Dialogue, interface

b.Command language interaction, form interaction, menu interaction, natural language interaction, object-based interaction

c.Drop-down menu, pop-up menu

• Describe five methods of interacting with a system. Is one method better than all others? Why or why not?
• List and describe the general sections of a typical business form. Do computer-based and paper-based forms have the same components? Why or why not?
• Describe the methods used to enhance the validity of data input.
• Describe the types of system feedback. Is any form of feedback more important than the others? Why or why not?
• With a positive attitude, list and describe the common interface and dialogue design errors found on websites.

Problems and Exercises

• Imagine the design of a system used to register students at a university. Discuss the user, task, system, and environmental characteristics (see Table 10-10) that should be considered when designing the interface for such a system.
• Design one sample data entry screen for a hotel registration system using the data entry guidelines provided in this chapter (see Table 11-6). Support your design with arguments for each of the design choices you made.
• Go to the Internet and find commercial websites that demonstrate each of the common errors listed in Table 11-15.

Case Questions

(See End of Chapter 11 or View Plain-Text Snippet Below)

• Using the guidelines from this chapter and other sources, evaluate the usability of the page design depicted in PE Figure 11-1.
• Chapter 11 encourages the design of a help system early in the design of the human interface. How would you incorporate help into the interface shown in PE Figure 11-1?
• Describe how cookie crumbs could be used in this system. Are cookie crumbs a desirable navigation aid for this system? Why or why not?
• The page design depicted in PE Figure 11-1 links to an Order History page. Sketch a similar layout for the Order History page, following guidelines from Chapter 11.
• Describe how the use of template-based HTML might be leveraged in the design of the "No Customer Escapes" system.

(Plain-Text Snippet) Chapter 11: Designing Interfaces and Dialogues

Jim Watanabe, project director for the "No Customer Escapes" customer loyalty system for Petrie Electronics, walked into the conference room. Sally Fukuyama, from marketing, and Sanjay Agarwal, from IT, were already there. Also at the meeting was Sam Waterston, one of Pet- rie's key interface designers.

"Good morning," Jim said. "I'm glad everyone could be here today. I know you are all busy, but we need to make some real progress on the customer account area for 'No Customer Escapes.' We have just awarded the development of the system to XRA, and once all the documents are signed, they will be coming over to brief us on the implementation process and our role in it." "I'm sorry," Sally said, "I don't understand. If we are licensing their system, what's left for us to do? Don't we just install the system and we're done?" Sally took a big gulp of coffee from her cup. "I wish it were that easy," Jim said. "While it is true that we are licensing their system, there are many parts of it that we need to customize for our own particular needs. One obvious area we need to customize is all of the human interfaces. We don't want the system to look generic to our loyal customerswe need to make it unique to Petrie." "And we have to integrate the XRA system with our own operations," added Sanjay. "For example, we have to integrate our existing marketing and product databases with the XRA CRM (see PE Figure 7-2). That's just one piece of all the technical work we have to do." "We've already done some preliminary work on system functionality and the conceptual database," Jim said. "I want to start working on interface issues now. That's why Sam is here. What we want to do today is start work on how the customer account area should look and operate. And, Sally, the customer loyalty site is a great opportunity for marketing. We can advertise specials and other promotions to our best customers on this site. Maybe we could use it to show offers that are only good for members of our loyalty program." "Oh yeah," Sally replied. "That's a great idea. How would that look?" "I have ideas," said Sam. Using a drawing program on a tablet PC, he started to draw different zones that would be part of the interface. "Here at the top we would have a simple banner that says 'Petrie's' and the name of the program."

"It's not really going to be called 'No Customer Escapes,' is it?" asked Sally. "No, that's an internal name," replied Jim, "but I don't know what the real name will be yet." "OK, so the real name of the program will go in the banner, after 'Petrie's.' Then on the left side, we'll have a sidebar that has overview information about the customer account, things like name and points balance," said Sam, drawing in a sidebar on the left of the screen. "There will also be links to more detailed information about the account, so the customer can see more details on past transactions and on his or her profile." "So the rest of the screen is open. That would be a perfect place for marketing information," suggested Sally. "Would we want just one big window for marketing? Maybe we could divide it up into additional windows, so we could use one to focus on general promotions and one to advertise 'member only' promotions?" "Yeah, we can do that," said Sam. Just then Jim's phone beeped. Jim looked at it. Uh-oh, it was an urgent message from his boss, the director of IT. "Sorry, I need to take care of this immediately," he told the group. "Can you guys work on this some more and then send me some of the screen designs you come up with?" Later that afternoon, after the crisis was over, Jim sat back down at his desk for the first time in what seemed like a very long time. He glanced over his e-mail and noticed there was a message from Sam. Attached was a preliminary design for the customer account area. Jim opened it and looked it over (PE Figure 11-1). Hmmm, not bad, he thought. This is a good place for us to start.

Chapter 12

Designing Distributed and Internet Systems

Chapter Overview

Create a quick overview of designing distributed systems. Create a more detailed over of designing Internet Systems. Discuss their importance.

Chapter Key Terms

Make a list of all the terms and define them here.

Review Questions

• Describe the characteristics of the cloud computing model?
• Describe and contrast the various cloud computing service models.
• Describe various managerial issues related to deploying a cloud computing model including availability, reliability, scalability, viability, security, privacy, compliance, diversity of offerings, openness, and cost.
• Briefly describe the role of a content management system and its benefits.

Problems and Exercises

• Design consistency within an Internet site is an important way to build customer loyalty and trustworthiness. Visit one of your favorite websites and analyze this site for design consistency. Your analysis should consider general layout, colors and fonts, labeling, links, and other such items.

Field Exercises (Extra Credit)

• Research the Web for an example of a start-up using a cloud infrastructure. What were the main reasons for choosing a cloud infrastructure? What alternatives did the start-up have?

Part Five

Implementation and Maintenance

Chapter 13

System Implementation

Chapter Overview

Make an overview of the this chapter? What kind of activities are discussed during implementation? What is the importance of training and system security?

Chapter Key Terms

Make a list of the terms you found most interesting or important to know. You must choose at minimum 10 terms and define them here.

Review Questions

• What are the deliverables from coding, testing, and installation?
• What are the four approaches to installation? Which is the most expensive? Which is the most risky? How does an organization decide which approach to use?
• List and define the factors that are important to successful implementation efforts.
• What is the difference between system documentation and user documentation?
• Why do corporations rely so heavily on vendor support?
• What are the common security threats to systems? How can they be addressed?

Problems and Exercises

• Which installation strategy would you recommend for PVF's Purchasing Fulfillment System? Which would you recommend for Hoosier Burger's inventory control system? If you recommended different approaches, please explain why. How is PVF's case different from Hoosier Burger's?
• Develop a table that compares the four installation strategies, showing the pros and cons of each. Try to make a direct comparison when a pro of one is a con of another.
• Is it good or bad for corporations to rely on vendors for computing support? List arguments both for and against reliance on vendors as part of your answer.

Field Exercises

• Ask a systems analyst you know or have access to about implementation. Ask what the analyst believes is necessary for a successful implementation.

Chapter 14

Maintaining Information Systems

Chapter Overview

Make an overview of the the final phase of the systems development life cycle. What is the main concept introduced in this chapter?

Chapter Key Terms

Make list of the terms you found most interesting or important to know. You must choose at minimum 10 terms and define them here.

Review Questions

• What are the different types of maintenance and how do they differ?
• What are the different types of maintenance and how do they differ?
• What are some special maintenance issues and procedures that are especially relevant for websites?

Problems and Exercises

• In what ways is a request to change an information system handled differently from a request for a new information system?