10-1 © Prentice Hall, 2004 Chapter 10: Selecting the Best Alternative Design Strategy Plus Project Management Concepts

Chapter © Prentice Hall, 2004 Chapter Objectives – Design Strategy – Types of Design Strategies – Scoring Method – Project Management Concepts (link to Lab)

Chapter © Prentice Hall, 2004 Deliverables for Design Strategy Selection high-functionality high-cost solution minimum functionality low-cost solution middle-of-the-road solution

Chapter © Prentice Hall, 2004 Features are determined from requirements. Constraints pertain to limitations on development efforts. Features (Benefits) & (Constraints) Costs

Chapter © Prentice Hall, 2004 Generating a Design Strategy Design strategy = A decision on how to design a system, accounting for system features and constraints, and software and hardware solutions. Enumerate different potential implementation environments (hardware and system software platforms) Propose different sourcing possibilities for obtaining the necessary software

Chapter © Prentice Hall, 2004 Outsourcing Strategy The practice of turning over responsibility of some or all of an organization’s information systems applications and operations to an outside firm Can produce cost savings for the client, by leveraging the outsourcer’s economies of scale

Chapter © Prentice Hall, 2004 Request For Proposal Request for Proposal – a document provided to vendors to ask them to propose hardware and/or software products or services that will meet the requirements of an organization’s new information system Based on vendor bids, analyst selects best candidates

Chapter © Prentice Hall, 2004 Sourcing Software – Hardware & Software Manufacturers (IBM) – Prepackaged Software Producers (Microsoft, Enterprise System Vendors) – Custom Software Producers (EDS, Accenture) – In-house Development (own IS department)

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Chapter © Prentice Hall, 2004 Many factors go into selection of off-the-shelf software, many of which are relevant for other software purchases. Vendor support and viability are always among the most important criteria. Prepackaged (off-the-shelf) Software

Chapter © Prentice Hall, 2004 In-house Development If sufficient system development expertise with the chosen platform exists in-house, then some or all of the system can be developed by the organization’s own staff Can play a role also when an external consultant carries out the job (ERP)

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Chapter © Prentice Hall, 2004 Example: Pine Valley Furniture System requirements categorized into mandatory, essential, and desired capabilities Constraints established Low-end, high-end, and moderate design strategies are generated Weighted approach (scoring method) used to compare alternative design strategies

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Chapter © Prentice Hall, 2004 Application Server/Object Framework is the highest scoring alternative

Chapter © Prentice Hall, Tier architecture is scalable, and consists of a Web server providing the interface to the Internet in the 1 st tier, an application server running the business rules of the application in the 2 nd tier, and the corporate databases in the 3 rd tier

Chapter © Prentice Hall, 2004 Baseline Project Plan goes through significant update as a result of design strategy generation and selection. The System Description section is changed the most, and all sections are refined and altered. Cost-benefit analysis goes through significant update and revision after selecting a design strategy. Schedule estimation goes through significant update and revision after selecting a design strategy.