Selecting the Best Alternative

Class 19

SDLCProject Identification

& Selection

Project Initiation& Planning

Analysis***

Logical Design

Physical Design

Implementation

Maintenance

Analysis Steps

1. Requirements Determination 2. Requirements Structuring 3. Alternative Generation & Selection

3a. Functional requirements 3b. Environment 3c. Implementation

4. Review Recommendations with Management

Deliverables Usually three different alternatives for

building the replacement or new information system

The alternative judged most likely to lead to the most desirable information system

A Baseline Project Plan for turning the most likely alternative into a working information system

Step 3a:

Prioritize Requirements Refine scope Determine level of automation

Step 3a: Generate and evaluate Functional Requirement alternatives

Generate more than one alternative based on functional requirements Typically 3 chosen

Bare Bones solution Mid-level solution Bells & Whistles solution

Choosing the alternatives Reevaluate feasibility Consider constraints:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Step 3a: Generate and evaluate Functional Requirement alternatives

Propose 3 alternatives Select Best

On a related note, why might a company decide to end the project at this point?

Step 3b: Generate and evaluate Environment alternatives

Hardware, System software, Networks

Development tools

Step 3c: Generate and evaluate implementation alternatives

Outsourcing / Custom-built Packages, Turnkey, ERP In-house

Outsourcing / Custom built The practice of turning over

responsibility of some to all of an organization’s information systems applications and operations to an outside firm

Examples:

Outsourcing: What to consider 1. 2. 3.

Choosing Off-the-Shelf Software

______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________

How Can We Get Information About a Software Package?

_______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________

In-house development Advantages

1.

Disadvantages 1.

Why are we worrying about implementation alternatives now?

Training users Cost Support User acceptance

Step 4: Review with management

How formal? How to compile, organize, and

present