McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 6

Systems Development: Phases, Tools, and

Techniques

6-2

INTRODUCTION

When developing a new system, you have 3 “who” choices…1. Insourcing – IT specialists inside

your organization2. Selfsourcing – do-it-yourself

approach many end users take with little or no help from IT specialists

3. Outsourcing – a third-party organization (i.e., let someone do the work and pay them for it)

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INSOURCING AND THE SDLC

Systems development life cycle (SDLC) - a structured step-by-step approach for developing information systems

7 distinct phases Also called a waterfall

methodology, an approach in which each phase of the SDLC is followed by another, from planning through implementation

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SDLC Phases & Major Activities

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COMPONENT-BASED DEVELOPMENT

The SDLC focuses only on the project at hand

Component-based development (CBD) – focuses on building small self-contained blocks of code (components) that can be reused across a variety of applications1. Using already-developed components2. Building new components as needed

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RAD and Extreme Programming

RADRAD

Extreme Extreme ProgrammingProgramming

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SELFSOURCING Selfsourcing (end-user

development) – the development and support of IT systems by end users with little or no help from IT specialists

Do-it-yourself systems development approach

Can relieve IT specialists of the burden of developing many smaller systems

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Selfsourcing Approach

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PROTOTYPING

Prototype – a model of a proposed product, service, or system

Prototyping - the process of building a model that demonstrates the features of a proposed product, service, or system Proof-of-concept prototype - prove the

technical feasibility of a proposed system Selling prototype - used to convince

people of the worth of a proposed system

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The Prototyping Process

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OUTSOURCING

Outsourcing – the delegation of specified work to a third party for a specified length of time, at a specified cost, and at a specified level of service

The third “who” option of systems development, after insourcing and selfsourcing

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Outsourcing Options

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Outsourcing Process

When outsourcing, you’ll develop two vitally When outsourcing, you’ll develop two vitally important documents – a request for proposal and a important documents – a request for proposal and a

service level agreementservice level agreement

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Outsourcing – RFP Request for proposal (RFP) – formal

document that describes in excruciating detail your logical requirements for a proposed system and invites outsourcing organizations to submit bids for its development In outsourcing, you must tell another organization

what you want developed; you do that with an RFP Therefore, the RFP must be very detailed Some RFPs can take years to develop

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Outsourcing Options

There are three different forms of outsourcing:

1. Onshore outsourcing - the process of engaging another company within the same country for services

2. Nearshore outsourcing - contracting an outsourcing arrangement with a company in a nearby country

3. Offshore outsourcing - contracting with a company that is geographically far away