Systems development
process of creating and maintaining informtaion systems (systems analysis and design)
Brooks Law
adding more people to a late project makes the project later
systems development life cycle
the overall process for developing information systems from planning and analysis through implementation and maintenance
cost
the cost of the inputsto a business process plus the cost of the activities involved in the process.
orginational feasibility
Whether an information system fits within an organizations customer, culture, or legal requirements.
systems analysts
IS professionals who understand both business and technology
Test plan
consists of sequences of actions that users will take when using the new system
product quality assurance
testing of a system PQA personnel usually construct a test plan with the advice of users
Beta Testing
the process of allowing future system users to try out the new system on their own.
system conversion
process of concerting business activity from old system to the new
pilot installation
the organization implements the entire system on a limited portion of the business
phased installation
the new system is installed in phases across the organization
parallel installation
the new system runs in parallel with the old one until the new system is tested and fully operational
Plunge installation
the organization shuts off the old system and starts the new system
maintenance
the work done during this phase is either to fix the system so that it works correctly or to adapt it to changes in requirements.
patch
Used to fix high priority problems for security and other critical problems.
service packs
Used for low priority problems into larger groups.
analysis paralysis
when too much time is spent documenting project requirements
Trade-offs
In project management, a choice amoung scarce resources such as scope, time,cost, quality, rick, people, and other resources. Managers may need to trade off a delay in the project due date to reduce expense and keep crititcal employees.
diseconomies of scale
the situation when a firm's long-run average costs rise as the firm increases output.
baseline
A plan that stipulates the tasks to be accomplished, the labor and other resources assigned to those tasks, and the schedule for completion.
deliverables
The result of each task in a project plan.
work-breakdown structure
defines the hierarchy of project tasks, subtasks, and work packages
Gantt chart
project planning tool that graphically displays activities of a project in sequential order and plots them against time.
critical path
the sequence of activities that determine the earliest date by which the project can be completed
baseline WBS
shows the planned tasks, dependencies, durations, and resource assignments
lines of code
number of lines of text in a computer program
configuration control
a set of management policies, practices, and tools that developers use to maintain control over the project's resources
requirements creep
the process by which users agree to one set of requirements, then add a bit more ("it wont take too much extra work"), then add a bit more, and so forth.