MIS485 1

Capstone Project in MIS

2MGT 400 - Project Management

Textbook: Farrell, P. J., (2017). IT Capstone

Project (3rd Edition), Kendall Hunt

Publishing.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT HANDOUT-II

Managing the Information Systems Project:

Identifying and Selecting Systems Development Projects

The Process of Identifying and Selecting

IS Development Projects (Cont.)

Organizations can be thought of as a

value chain, transforming raw materials

into products for customers

Identifying and Selecting Systems Development Projects

FIGURE 4-1

Systems development life cycle with

project identification and selection

highlighted

Three main steps:

1. Identifying potential development

projects

2. Classifying and ranking IS

development projects

3. Selecting IS development projects

The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS Development Projects1. Identifying potential development projects

• Identification from a stakeholder group

• Each stakeholder group brings their own perspective and motivation to the IS decision.

The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS Development Projects (Cont.)

• Top-down source are projects identified by top management or by a diverse steering committee.

• Bottom-up source are project initiatives stemming from managers, business units, or the development group.

• The process varies substantially across organizations.

The Process of Identifying and Selecting

IS Development Projects (Cont.)

The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS Development Projects (Cont.)

2. Classifying and ranking IS development projects • Using value chain analysis or other evaluation criteria

• Value chain analysis: Analyzing an organization’s activities to determine where value is added to products and/or services and the costs incurred for doing so; usually also includes a comparison with the activities, added value, and costs of other organizations for the purpose of making improvements in the organization’s operations and performance

The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS Development Projects (Cont.)

The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS Development Projects (Cont.)

3. Selecting IS development projects • Based on various factors

• Both short- and long-term projects considered

• Most likely to achieve business objectives selected

• A very important and ongoing activity

The Process of Identifying and Selecting IS Development Projects (Cont.)

FIGURE 4-3

Project selection decisions must

consider numerous factors and

can have numerous outcomes

Deliverables and Outcomes

• Primary deliverable from the first part of the planning phase is a schedule of specific IS development projects.

• Outcome of the next part of the planning phase—project initiation and planning—is the assurance that careful consideration was given to project selection and each project can help the organization reach its goals.

Deliverables and Outcomes (Cont.)

Information systems development projects come from

both top-down and bottom-up initiatives.

Corporate and Information Systems Planning

• To benefit from a planning-based approach for identifying and selecting projects, an organization must: • Analyze its information needs thoroughly.

• Plan its projects carefully.

Information Systems Planning (ISP)

• An orderly means of assessing the information needs of an organization and defining the systems, databases, and technologies that will best meet those needs

• ISP must be done in accordance with the organization’s mission, objectives, and competitive strategy.

Information Systems Planning (Cont.)

FIGURE 4-10

Parallel activities

of corporate

strategic planning

and information

systems planning

Information Systems Planning (Cont.)

• Top-down planning attempts to gain a broad understanding of information system needs of the entire organization and offers: • Broader perspective.

• Improved integration.

• Improved management support.

• Better understanding.

Information Systems Planning (Cont.)

• Bottom-up planning identifies IS development projects based on solving specific operational business problems or taking advantage of specific opportunities. • Can be faster and less costly, so may be beneficial in certain circumstances.

Information systems planning information

(Pine Valley Furniture)

Information Systems Planning (Cont.)

• Functional Decomposition: breaking high-level abstract information into smaller units for more detailed planning

Information Systems Planning (Cont.)

Functional

decomposition of

information

systems

planning

information (Pine

Valley Furniture)

(Source:

Microsoft

Corporation.)

Information Systems Planning (Cont.)

Information Systems Planning (Cont.)

• IS planning matrices describe relationships between pairs of organizational elements (location, function, business unit, objective, process, data, information system).

Information Systems Planning (Cont.)

Making Sense of the Matrices

• IS planning takes place prior to project identification and selection

• “Behind the scenes” analysis

• Matrices: as-is (current) and to-be (future, target)

IS Plan Components

• Organizational Mission, Objectives, and Strategy • Brief description of mission, objectives, and strategy of the organization

• Information Inventory • Summary of processes, functions, data entities, and information needs of the

enterprise

IS Plan Components (Cont.)

• Mission and Objectives of IS • Primary role IS will play in the organization to transform enterprise from

current to future state

• Constraints on IS Development • Limitations imposed by technology and current levels of financial, technical,

and personnel resources

IS Plan Components (Cont.)

• Systems Needs and IS Strategy • Summarize overall information systems needs in the company and set long-

term (2-5 year) strategies for filling the needs

• Short Term Plan • Detailed inventory of present projects and systems and detailed plan for the

current year

IS Plan Components (Cont.)

• Conclusions • Unknown but likely events that can affect the plan, presently known business

change elements and their impact on the plan

Electronic Commerce: Identifying and Selecting Projects

Figure 4-17 Three possible modes of electronic commerce

Electronic Commerce Applications and Internet Basics (Cont.)

• Business-to-consumer (B2C): electronic commerce between businesses and consumers

• Business-to-business (B2B): electronic commerce between business partners, such as suppliers and intermediaries

• Business-to-employee (B2E): electronic commerce between businesses and their employees

Electronic Commerce Applications and Internet Basics

• Internet: a large worldwide network of networks that use a common protocol to communicate with each other

• Electronic Commerce (EC): Internet-based communication to support day-to-day business activities

• Electronic data interchange (EDI): the use of telecommunications technologies to directly transfer business documents between organizations

Electronic Commerce Applications and Internet Basics (Cont.)