SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT

CYCLE: EARLY STAGES

Life cycle

- is the basic pattern of change

that occurs throughout the life
of a system
Two ways of considering life
cycles in the systems
approach:

1. To recognize the natural

process that occurs in all
dynamic systems.
2. To incorporate this
recognition into the planning
and management systems.
Project life cycle

- is the sequence of stages a

project follows from beginning to
end which is similar for all
projects
Project Life Cycle
Three measures of
activities that are applied
over the full span of a
project:

1. Time
2. Cost
3. Performance
Managing the Project Life
Cycle

*The management of project

life cycles requires special
treatment.
Systems management

- focuses on the scientific and

technical aspects of systems to
assure that subsystems,
components, support
subsystems, and environmental
subsystems interrelate and
interface to satisfy functional
requirements
Systems development cycle

- is much broader in scope,

encompassing virtually all
considerations in systems
development, not just
configuration and integration
Major constraints in
projects are:

◦ Labor
◦ Facilities
◦ Capital
◦ Schedules
◦ Knowledge
◦ Technology
 Contents of a Proposal
 Cover Letter
- is perhaps the most important part
of a proposal since it must convince
the user that the proposal is worth
considering
 Executive Summary
- is a succinct summary of the
project emphasizing its significant
aspects to enable the reader to
determine its relevance to user
needs and its contribution to solving
the problem
 Technical Section
- indicates the scope of the work –
the planned approach and the
statement of work
 Anticipated Benefits
- describes realistic benefits in
sufficient detail to demonstrate
that user needs will be fulfilled,
but not so specific or enthusiastic
as to promise benefits that the
contractor may have difficulty in
delivering
 Schedule
- when end-items will be
delivered
 Financial Section
- a breakdown of projected hours
for direct, indirect, and special
activities, associated labor
charges and material expenses
Legal Section
- anticipated, possible, or likely
problems and provisions for
contingencies
 Management/Qualifications
- background of the contractor
organization, related experience
and achievements, and financial
responsibilities
Generally, approval and
priority of projects is based
upon considerations of:

 Return on investment
 Relation to organizational
goals
 Value of intangible benefits
 Likelihood of success
 Fit to organizational resources
and technological capability