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SYSTEM PLANNING
LESSON 2
SYSTEM PLANNING
INTRODUCTION
During the previous lesson, we have introduced what is information system and five classes of
information system. We already stated five main phases in system development life cycle.
System planning is the first phase in the system development life cycle. There are two major
activities performed in this phase. This lesson will introduce and explain activities involved
during system planning phase. System planning is the first phase in system development life
cycle. This lesson consists of four sections :
overview of system planning
identification of the system development project
planning the system development project
feasibility study involved during system planning phase
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to :
define and describe two major activities during the system planning
identify the system development project and create a system request
define the steps involved during planning the system development project
define operational feasibility, technical feasibility, schedule feasibility and economic
feasibility
TERMINOLOGY
No Word Definition
1 Feasibility The measure of how beneficial or practical an information
system will be in the organization
2 Gantt Chart A graphical representation of a project that shows each task
as a horizontal bar whose length is proportional to its time for
completion
3 Project A sequence of activities that must be completed on time,
within budget, and according to specification
4 Project identification First activity during system planning when someone identify
the needs for an information either a new system or enhanced
the current one
5 Project planning Second phase of system planning that focusing on 6defining
the clear activities and the work needed to omplete each
activities
6 System planning The first phase of the SDLC in which an organization’s total
information needs are identified, analyzed, prioritized and
arranged
7 System service A formal document propose enhancements for an existing
request system, the correction of problems, or the development of
entirely new information system
√ Project Identification
System
Planning √ Project Planning
System
Analysis
System
Design
System
Implementation
System
Maintenance
Today, the demands for a new or enhancement of the system exceeds the ability and resources
of most organizations to conduct system development projects. System planning is the first
phase in the system development life cycle. System planning is where an organization’s total
information needs are identified, analyzed, prioritized and arranged. Organization creates and
assesses the original goals and expectation of a new system. There are reasons why the
organization need to develop a new or improved system; for example is to add value to the
organization. In this phase, you will learn how information system projects get started and how
the team evaluate a proposed system and determine its feasibility before it will be developed.
Planning phase starts with reviewing the request towards system development. Figure 2-1
shows two major activities involved in system planning:
i. identifying the system development project
ii. planning the system development project
The starting point of information system project is called a system service request. A project is
identified when someone in the organization identifies that they need to build a systems for a
certain needs. System service request is a formal way of asking for IT support. A system service
request might propose enhancements for an existing system, the correction of problems or
errors, or the development of entirely new information system (Shelly et. al., 2006). Normally,
system service request form will be submitted by the user to IT department either manually or
sending through e-mail or web-based request system. Figure 2-2 shows an example of system
request form.
There are several reasons why user sends for the system service request :
Improved services offered
This is the most basic reason why we need a new or enhanced system. A new or
enhanced system is important to improve services for customers or users within the
organization. Allowing students to register subjects online, driving license renewal via
web-based are example on how organization used a system to increase their customer
satisfaction.
Support for new products or new services
New product developed or new services introduced require new types of IT support. For
example, changing the use of punch card to fingerprint recognition in staff attendance is
an example of installation of new products that needs a new system development
project.
Provide more information
The system might produce information which is not enough in order to support the
organization’s changing information needs. For example, lecturer can obtain students
results, but he/she can’t generate a report to analyze student performance.
2.2.1 Exercises
Answer TRUE or for FALSE for each of the questions below.
1. System planning is the first phase of the systems development life cycle. TRUE
2. Requirements gathering and structuring is the first activity of the project identification and
selection phase. FALSE
3. Project planning and initiation concentrates on activities that will help organize a team to
conduct project planning TRUE
4. The System Service Request is the primary deliverable from the project identification and
planning activities. TRUE
5. When identifying and selecting projects, the development group is not concentrates with
cost-benefit analysis. TRUE
Scope and
constraints
Problems or
Fact-finding Benefits
opportunity
Development time
and costs
The team needs to learn about the current system. System owner, system analyst and system
user have a different level of understanding from the system. After learning the entire system,
the project team will sit together to analyze the problem and opportunities arise. During this
session, project team ask the system owner and system users several type of questions to gain
more understanding to leads to possible new system. They analyzed the problems based on
cause-and-effect analysis.
Along with the project scope, system analyst needs to identify if there is any possible constraints
on the system. A constraint is a requirement or condition that the system must satisfy or an
outcome that the system must achieve. A constraint can be derived from hardware, software,
time, organization policy and others.
After defining the project scope, the team can establish the system development objectives.
Normally, system objectives can be derived after identifying the problem and scopes. System
objectives is important because by the end of the system development, a measurement will be
conducted to validate either the project has meets the objectives or not.
If the project will be continued, it may proceed to the next step; system analysis. If the project
should be cancel, they will stop the task. There are several reasons why the project should be
cancelled such as lack of resources, realization that the problem is not too important, or
realization that the cost of the development is too high.
2.3.7 Exercises
Answer TRUE or for FALSE for each of the questions below.
1. The objective of project initiation and planning is to transform a system service request
document into a tangible project description. TRUE
2. The Systems Service Request reflects the best estimate of the project’s scope, benefits,
costs, risks, and resource requirements, given the current understanding of the project.
FALSE
3. Assessing project feasibility is a required activity for all information systems projects. TRUE
4. During project initiation and planning, no need to define all benefits and costs related to a
particular project. FALSE
5. After the completing the first phase, the management will decide either the project can be
continued or cancel. TRUE
SUMMARY
In the next lesson, we will discuss the second phase involved in system development life cycle;
system analysis. System analysis is important in order to analyze the system requirements
based on planning. There are two major activities involved during system analysis:
requirements gathering
data and process Modeling
SELF ASSESSMENT
Fill in with the correct answer
1 _________________________ is the first phase in the system development life cycle.
System planning is where an organization’s total information needs are identified, analyzed,
prioritized and arranged. System planning
2 There are two ways on how to identify the needs for system development either by
__________________________ or __________________________ top-down planning;
bottom-up planning.
10 At the end of planning activity, the team will write a report and present the result. The
decision will be made regarding the project either to __________________________,
__________________________ or __________________________ the project. authorize;
adjust; cancel.