Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The System Lifecycle
- Definition of the problem
- The feasibility of the proposed system is considered.
- This stage is also known as "the feasibility stage"
- An initial look at the existing system to see how it can be improved or meet the needs of the end user
- A feasibility report is produced at the end of this stage
- Main Process Constraints
- Time
- Budget
- Hardware Choice
- Software Choice
- Important Questions that should be answered in this stage
- Can the need for a new system be justified?
- Is it technically feasible and economically desirable to the end users?
- Can the solution be designed and implemented within
the given constraints of timescale allocated and budget?
- Will the solution have a positive impact on
the end users and will the new system
bring benefits
- Will the solution fulfil all the needs and requirements of the end users
- Design
- The design stage follows a set of objectives (the
requirement specification) that have been defined in the
investigation and analysis stage
- The methods of data capture that are going to be used have to be
considered to make sure that they are compatible with the new system
- The preparation, input, process, output and storage of the
data must also be considered
- This also covers such activities as the design of the user
interface and the screen layout
- The structure of the data must be
defined together with the processing and
the validation routines that will be used
- Development of any user feedback
requirements (error messages) should be
linked with this
- The design of the queries and reports that
have to be identified as requirements during
the investigation stage needs to be
considered as well
- The main output from this stage is
the design specification
- Doumentation
- The documentation that gets passed to the end user includes
- Detailed program specifications
- Recovery procedures
- Operating procedures
- User manuals
- Test plans, data and logs
- Security details
- Version details
- Technical details for associated hardware
- Investigation and Analysis
- This stage uses the feasibility report as its main input
- The full nature of the problem is investigated in this stage
- Methods of investigating the current system
- Questionnaires
- Interviews
- Meetings
- Document Analysis
- Observations
- The results of the investigation have to be fully analysed to
gain a full understanding of the current system
- If the investigation is incomplete, the new system may not
cover all the issues with the current system
- Therefore, the new system may not benefit the organisation
- The user requirements have to be defined during this stage
- The requirements are agreed with the client and will
form the basis for the rest of the system lifecycle
- The agreed needs/ requirements are the output of this stage (the
requirement specification)
- The requirement specification has to be constantly referred to to make sure
that the new system meets all of the criteria of this
- Implementation
- This stage is also known as the development stage
- This stage uses the design specification as its main input
- During this stage, programmers will create the code required for the software solution.
- This includes the development of the
user interfaces and outputs, which
were designed in the design stage
- Any macros, processing and queries that are
required by the client must be developed as well
- The main output of this stage will be working software code that is ready to be tested
- Testing
- Two main functions of this stage
- If there are any bugs or
errors in the code
- If the system correctly meets the
defined user requirements
- A well-defined and comprehensive test plan must be produced
- The test plan must be followed and results must be documented
- This stage can be vey expensive and time
consuming but if it carried out correctly and
throughly there will be fewer bugs and issues
with the new system
- Evaluation and Maintenance
- This is the final stage of the system lifecycle.
- This stage concludes the whole cycle and a report is
produced to summarise each stage of the project and all
finds, problems encountered.
- Installation
- Parallel
- This type of installation is when the new system is run along
the existing system. This allows any persistent bugs with the
new system to be corrected without affecting the day to day
running of the company. Once all problems have been resolved,
the existing system will be withdrawn from operation and the
new system will run on its own
- An example of this type of installation is self service checkouts in supermarkets
- Phased
- This type of installation is when a new system is introduced into the
company is stages ("phases"). This is done by running the new system
in certain departments or areas
- An example of this is self service checkouts in supermarkets. This is because they were
introduced to a few shops to start with to see how consumers reacted to the change and then
converting the rest of the stores to the new system
- This is still an ongoing process for some supermarkets because
not all of their stores are running the new system. In this case,
self service checkout system
- Pilot
- This method of installation is done by
introducing the system to one
department or store to see how it
works
- There is less of a risk involved in this type of
installation because if the new system is
unsuccessful, it can be withdrawn easily with little
disruption
- Direct
- This type of installation is done
by introducing the new system to
the company in one hit. The
existing system is removed and
the new system is left to run on its
own.
- This is a risky method of installation
because the new system may not work due
to undiscovered bugs or because users
may not be able to adapt fast enough to use
the new system