Chapter 9: Systems Development and Project Management - Corporate Responsibility Flashcards
What is conversion?
The process of transferring information from a legacy system to a new system.
What is off-the-shelf application software?
Supports general business processes and does not require any specific software customization to meet the organization’s needs.
What is SDLC?
Systems development life cycle - overall process for developing information systems from planning and analysis through to implementation and maintenance.
What are the 7 distinct phases of the SDLC?
- Planning
- Analysis
- Design
- Development
- Testing
- Implementation
- Maintenance
What is a change agent?
A person or event that is the catalyst for implementing major changes for a system to meet business changes.
What is the project scope?
Describes the business need and the justification, requirements and current boundaries for the project.
What is the project plan?
A formal, approved document that manages and controls the entire project.
What occurs in the analysis phase of the SDLC?
The firm analyzes its end-user business requirements and refines project goals into defined functions and operations of the intended system.
What are business requirements?
Specific business requests the system must meet to be successful.
What happens if a system does not meet its business requirements?
It will be considered a failed project.
What is requirements management?
The process of managing changes to the business requirements throughout the project.
What is a requirements definition document?
Prioritizes all of the business requirements by order of importance to the company.
What is sign-off?
Users’ actual signatures, indicating that they approve all of the business requirements.
What is process modeling?
Graphically representing the processes that capture, manipulate, store, and distribute information between a system and its environment.
What is a a data flow diagram (DFD)?
Illustrates the movement of information between external entities and the processes and data stores within the system.
What are CASE tools?
Computer-aided software engineering tools which are software suites that automate systems analysis, design, and development.
What is pseudocode?
Fake code - an informal description of how the computer program should work. Intended for human reading rather than machine reading.
What occurs during the development phase of SDLC?
Transforms all detailed design documents from the design phase into the actual system. The project transitions from preliminary designs to actual physical implementation.
What is COBIT?
Control objects for information and related technology - set of best practices that helps an organization maximize the benefits of an information system while establishing appropriate controls to ensure minimum errors.
What is the difference between programming and scripting language?
Programming language organizes program instructions that execute computer commands. Scripting language is a programming method that provides for interactive modules to a website.
What are object-oriented languages?
Programming language that groups data and corresponding processes into objects.
What are fourth-generation languages?
Programming languages that look similar to human languages.
What are test conditions during the testing phase of the SDLC?
Detail the steps the system must perform along with the expected results of each step.
What happens when a tester executes test conditions and the actual results are different than the expected results?
A bug is generated and the system must be fixed in development.
What occurs during the implementation phase of the SDLC?
The organization places the system into production so users can begin to perform actual business operations with it.
What is the user documentation and when is it created?
Created during the implementation phase, highlights how to use the system and how to troubleshoot issues or problems.
What is the waterfall methodology?
A sequence of phases in which the output of each phase becomes the input for the next.
What are the main issues associated with the waterfall methodology?
Unexpected contingencies can sabotage the plan, it assumes users can specify all business requirements in advance.
What is prototyping?
Modern design approach by which designers and system users use an iterative approach to building the system.
What is discovery prototyping?
Builds a small-scale representation or working model of the system to ensure it meets requirements.
What does iterative development consist of?
A series of tiny projects.
What is an agile software development methodology?
Aims for customer satisfaction through early and continuous delivery of useful software components developed by an iterative process using the bare minimum requirements.
What are the (4) primary forms of agile methodologies?
- Rapid prototyping or rapid application development (RAD)
- Extreme programming (XP)
- Rational unified process (RUP)
- Scrum
What is Rapid Application Development (RAD)?
Agile methodology emphasizing extensive user involvement in the rapid and evolutionary construction of working prototypes of a system to accelerate systems development process.
What is Extreme Programming (XP)?
Agile methodology that breaks a project into 4 phases and developers cannot continue to the next phase until the previous phase is complete.
What are the 4 basic XP phases?
Extreme programming.
- Planning
- Designing
- Coding
- Testing
What is rational unified process (RUP)?
Methodology owned by IBM breaks software development down into 4 gates. Each gate consists of executable iterations of the software in development. Software either moves to the next gate or is cancelled.
What is scrum?
Agile methodology that uses small teams to produce small pieces of software using a series of sprints (30-day intervals) to achieve a goal.
What are the (6) types of feasibility studies?
- Economic feasibility
- Operational feasibility
- Schedule feasibility
- Technical feasibility
- Political feasibility
- Legal feasibility
What is the triple constraint?
Relationship between the three primary and independent variables in any project - time, cost, and scope. If one changes, at least one other will likely be affected.
What is a project charter?
Written description of the project’s intended work. May contain the name of the sponsor, project’s benefits to the organization, a description of the objectives, the expected time frame, and a budget.
What is a kill switch?
A trigger that enables a project manager to close a project before completion.
What are the two primary diagrams used most frequently in project planning?
PERT and Gantt
What is a PERT chart?
Project Evaluation and Review Technique. Graphical network model that depicts a project’s tasks and the relationships between them. They define dependency between project tasks before those tasks are scheduled.
What is a critical path analysis?
Project diagramming method used to predict total project duration.
What is slack?
The amount of time an activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date.
What is a critical path?
Series of activities that determine the earliest time by which the project can be completed
What is a Gantt chart?
Simple bar chart that lists project tasks vertically against the project’s time frame (horizontally)
What is scope screep?
Tendency to permit changes that exceed a project’s scope and may wreak havoc on schedule, quality or budget.
What is a scope creep parking lot?
A list of additional ideas proposed during a project parked to be revisited later
What is a work breakdown structure (WBS)?
Plan that breaks down a project’s goals into the many deliverables required to achieve it. WBS subdivides complex activities into their most manageable units.
How does offshore outsourcing differ from nearshore outsourcing?
Offshore means using organizations from developing countries to write code and develop systems. Nearshore outsourcing is contracting an outsourcing arrangement with a company in a nearby country.
What are (3) challenges associated with outsourcing?
- Length of contract - can be difficult to break
- Threat to competitive advantage
- Loss of confidentiality
