People who, either themselves or through the organization they represent, ultimately benefit from the systems development project.

People who will interact with the system regularly.

A professional who specializes in analyzing and designing business systems.

A specialist responsible for modifying or developing programs to satisfy user requirements

Is a person that performs all of the systems development roles, including systems analyst, programmer, technical specialist, and other roles described in the above section.

Any systems development project in which the primary effort is undertaken by a combination of business managers and users.

Translating strategic and organizational goals into systems development initiatives.

Sometimes, information learned in a particular phase requires cycling back to a previous phase.

The systems development phase during which problems and opportunities are identified and considered in light of the goals of the business.

The systems development phase that attempts to answer the question “What must the information system do to solve the problem?”

The systems development phase that defines how the information system will do what it must do to obtain the problem solution.

The systems development phase involving the creation or acquisition of various system components detailed in the systems design, assembling them, and placing the new or modified system into operation

The systems development phase involving the creation or acquisition of various system components detailed in the systems design, assembling them, and placing the new or modified system into operation.

An iterative approach to the systems development process in which, at each iteration, requirements and alternative solutions to a problem are identified and analyzed, new solutions are designed, and a portion of the system is implemented.

Each generation of prototype is a refinement of the previous generation based on user feedback.

A systems development approach that employs tools, techniques, and methodologies designed to speed application development.

grew out of rapid application development techniques and stresses an iterative process that involves analysis, design, and implementation at each cycle or iteration. The approach was primarily developed by James Highsmith.

came from a book with the same title by Mary and Tom Poppendieck. The approach comes from lean manufacturing practices used by Toyota and stresses the elimination of waste, continuous learning, just-in-time decision making, and empowering systems development teams.

is an iterative systems development approach developed by IBM and includes a number of tools and techniques that are typically tailored to fit the needs of a specific company or organization.

Originally used to complete a systems development project at a large bank, Feature-Driven Development is an iterative systems development approach that stresses the features of the new or modified system and involves developing an overall model, creating a list of features, planning by features, designing by features, and building by features.

Crystal Methodologies is a family of systems development approaches developed by Alistair Cockburn that concentrates on effective teamwork and the reduction of paperwork and bureaucracy to make development projects faster and more efficient.

A detailed description of what is to be done.

A critical date for the completion of a major part of the project.

The date the entire project is to be completed and operational.

Activities that, if delayed, would delay the entire project.

A formalized approach for developing a project schedule.

A graphical tool used for planning, monitoring, and coordinating projects.

Tools that automate many of the tasks required in a systems development effort and encourage adherence to the SDLC.

An approach to systems development that combines the logic of the systems development life cycle with the power of object oriented modeling and programming.

A document filled out by someone who wants the IS department to initiate systems investigation.

Assessment of the technical, economic, legal, operational, and schedule feasibility of a project

Assessment of whether the hardware, software, and other system components can be acquired or developed to solve the problem

The determination of whether the project makes financial sense and whether predicted benefits offset the cost and time needed to obtain them.

The determination of whether laws or regulations may prevent or limit a systems development project.

The measure of whether the project can be put into action or operation.

A summary of the results of the systems investigation and the process of feasibility analysis and recommendation of a course of action.

An advisory group consisting of senior management and users from the IS department and other functional areas.

An interview in which the questions are written in advance.

An interview in which the questions are not written in advance.

Directly observing the existing system in action by one or more members of the analysis team.

A method of gathering data when the data sources are spread over a wide geographic area.

The manipulation of collected data so that the development team members who are participating in systems analysis can use the data.

A model of objects, associations, and activities that describes how data can flow between and around various objects.

Arrows that show the direction of data element movement.

Representation of a function that is performed.

Representation of either a source or destination of a data element.

Representation of a storage location for data.

The determination of user, stakeholder, and organizational needs.

An approach to gather data that asks users, stakeholders, and other managers about what they want and expect from the new or modified system.

The stage of systems development that answers the question “How will the information system do what is necessary to solve a problem?”

A description of the functional requirements of a system

The specification of the characteristics of the system components necessary to put the logical design into action.

Also called green design, it involves systems development efforts that slash power consumption, require less physical space, and result in systems that can be disposed of in a way that doesn’t negatively affect the environment.

A document that specifies in detail required resources such as hardware and software

An initial assessment whose purpose is to dismiss the unwanted proposals; begins after all proposals have been submitted.

A detailed investigation of the proposals offered by the vendors remaining after the preliminary evaluation.

The primary result of systems design, reflecting the decisions made and preparing the way for systems implementation.

The decision regarding whether to obtain the necessary software from internal or external sources.

The process of readying managers, decision makers, employees, other users, and stakeholders for new systems.

Preparation of the location of a new system.

Making sure all files and databases are ready to be used with new computer software and systems.

The process of physically placing the computer equipment on the site and making it operational.

Testing of individual programs

Testing the entire system of programs

Testing the application with a large amount of data

Testing all related systems together.

Conducting any tests required by the user

The process of making the final tested information system fully operational.

Stopping the old system and starting the new system on a given date

Slowly replacing components of the old system with those of the new one. This process is repeated for each application until the new system is running every application and performing as expected; also called a piecemeal approach.

Running the new system for one group of users rather than all users

Running both the old and new systems for a period of time and comparing the output of the new system closely with the output of the old system; any differences are reconciled.

A formal agreement signed by the user that states that a phase of the installation or the complete system is approved.

Use of a new or modified system

A stage of systems development that involves checking, changing, and enhancing the system to make it more useful in achieving user and organizational goals.

The final step of systems development, involving the analysis of systems to make sure that they are operating as intended.

Monitoring the system—the number of errors encountered, the amount of memory required, the amount of processing or CPU time needed, and other problems.

Software that measures all components of the computer-based information system, including hardware, software, database, telecommunications, and network systems.