conversion
the process of transferring information from a legacy system to a new system
systems development life cycle (SDLC)
the overall process for developing information systems, from planning and analysis through implementation and maintenance
legacy system
an old system that is fast approaching or beyond the end of its useful life within an organization
software customization
modifies software to meet specific user of business requirements
off-the-shelf application software
supports general business processes and does not require any specific software customization to meet the organizations needs
planning phase
establishes a high-level plan of the intended project and determines project goals
change agent
is a person or event that is the catalyst for implementing major changes for a system to meet business changes
brainstorming
a technique for generating ideas by encouraging participants to offer as many ideas as possible in a short period without any analysis until all the ideas have been exhausted
project
a temporary activity a company undertakes to create a unique product, service, or result
project management
the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements
analysis phase
the firm analyzes its end-user business requirements and refines project goals into defined functions and operations of the intended system
business requirements
the specific business requests the system must meet to be successful, so the analysis phase is critical because business requirements drive the entire systems development effort
requirements management
the process of managing changes to the business requirements throughout the project
requirements definition document
prioritizes all of the business requirements by order of importance in the company
sign-off
the users' actual signatures indicating they approve all of the business requirements
design phase
establishes descriptions of the desired features and operations of the system, including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams, pseudo code, and other documentation
development phase
takes all of the detailed design documents from the design phase and transforms them into the actual system
software engineering
a disciplined approach for constructing information systems through the use of common methods, techniques, or tools
computer-aided software engineering (CASE)
provide automated support for the development of the system
control objects for information and related technology (COBIT)
a set of the best practices that help and organization to maximize the benefits of an information system, while at the same time establishing appropriate controls to ensure minimum errors
testing phase
brings all the project pieces together into a special testing environment to eliminate errors and bugs and verify that the system meets all the business requirements defined in the analysis phase
bugs
defects in the code of an information system
test conditions
detail the steps the system must perform along with the expected result of each step
implementation phase
the organization places the system into production so users can begin to perform actual business operations with it
user documentation
highlights how to use the system and how to troubleshoot issues or problems
online training
runs over the internet or on a CD or DVD and employees complete the training on their own time at their own pace
workshop training
is held in a classroom environment and led by an instructor
maintenance phase
the organization performs changes, corrections, and additions and upgrades to ensure the system continues to meet business goals
methodology
a set of polonies, procedures, standards, processes, practices, tools, techniques and tests that people apply to technical and management challenges
waterfall methodology
a sequence of phases in which the output of each phase becomes the input for the next
prototyping
a modern design approach where the designers and system users use an iterative approach to building the systems
discovery prototyping
builds a small-scale representation or working model of the system to ensure it meets the user and business requirements
iterative development
consists of a series of tiny projects
agile methodology
aims for customer satisfaction through early and continuous delivery of useful software components developed by an iterative process using the bare minimum requirements
rapid application development (RAD)
emphasizes extensive user involvement in the rapid and evolutionary construction of working prototypes of a system to accelerate the systems development process
extreme programming (XP)
breaks a project into four phases, and developers cannot continue to the next phase until the previous phase is complete
rational unified process (RUP)
owned by IBM, provides a framework for breaking down the development of software into four gates
scrum methodology
uses small teams to produce small pieces of software using a series of "sprints" or 30-day intervals, to achieve an appointed goal