Information Systems in the Global Economy

LEGO Builds Information Systems from Modular Blocks

LEGO blocks are one of the best-known toys in the world. Founded in 1932 in Denmark by the Kirk Kristiansen family, which still owns the company, the LEGO Group has grown to 8,000 employees, providing fun building toys to children in more than 130 countries. The word LEGO is derived from an abbreviation of the two Danish words "leg godt," which translates to "play well." Children can "play well" with LEGO blocks because of the modular framework which allows children to explore their creativity and to solve problems.

Recently LEGO has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity. The company has experienced growing net profits over the past decade, with 2009 annual net profits increasing by 63 percent to DKK 2,204 million. LEGO is building and riding its tidal wave of success by diversifying and growing its product line. Its popular LEGO and DUPLO blocks take advantage of the latest media fads by offering kits for popular titles such as Star Wars, Toy Story, SpongeBob, and Space Police. Its Bionicle line is popular with tweens, and it's Mindstorms computer-driven robots appeal to technically and scientifically minded children and young adults. Adults enjoy LEGO's more complicated kits such as its Architecture line. Recently, LEGO expanded into software games that duplicate their physical block packages in virtual reality software. The company has also launched LEGO Universea massively multiplayer online game (MMOG). The LEGO Group has even opened Discovery Centers featuring educational LEGO activities and theme parks featuring more than 50 LEGO-themed rides, shows, and attractions in Denmark, the UK, the U.S., and Germany. By continuously reshaping itself, LEGO has reenergized its brand, leading to unprecedented growth for the company.

The rapid growth of the LEGO Group has provided substantial challenges for its information systems. Until recently, its mainframe-based enterprise system could not provide the flexibility to keep up with the rapid changes of the toy market. LEGO systems engineers were tasked with upgrading LEGO systems to handle the company's growth and its diverse business model. LEGO required a system that could support the needs of a large enterprise while being flexible and nimble enough to accommodate rapid change. Esben Viskum, Senior Director of the LEGO Service Centre, defines rapid change as the ability to "respond to the market quickly, using short product development processes without losing control of cost and quality, and being able to manage both people and operations effectively and efficiently."

Required:

1. Who should participate in the systems development project?

2. Why was the new system development project initiated? Can you think of other reasons why development projects are initiated?

3. Determine three performance and cost objective criteria for the new system for LEGO.

4. Discuss the applicability and advantages and disadvantages of SDLC (systems Design Life Cycle), Prototyping,outsourcing for the LEGO project.

5. Identify factors that affect the success of systems development projects such as the LEGO project?

6. What questions do the systems investigation phase attempt to answer?