Project

Initiation
Topic Objective(s): Understand how projects
are initiated and selected
Projects are initiated
for two broad reasons:
Problems that lend themselves to
systems solutions

Opportunities for improvement

through:

Upgrading systems
Altering systems
Installing new systems
To identify problems
and/or opportunities:
Check output against performance
criteria
Observe behavior of employees
Listen to external feedback from
vendors, customers, and suppliers
Check output against Look for these specific
performance criteria signs:

Too many errors

Work completed slowly
Work done incorrectly
Work done incompletely
Work not done at all
Observe behavior of Look for these specific
employees signs:

High absenteeism
High job dissatisfaction
High job turnover
 Listen to external
feedback from Look for these specific
vendors, customers signs:
suppliers Complaints
Suggestions for improvement
Loss of sales
Lower sales
 P.I.E.C.E.S
Problem-Solving
Framework

Wetherbe's "PIECES" problem solving

framework is a CHECKLIST for identifying
problems with an existing IS

Performance | Information and Data |

Economics | Control and Security |
Efficiency | Service
Defining the problem
Whether using classical SDLC or an Object-oriented (O-
O) approach, analysts first define problems and
objectives of the system.

A problem definition usually contains:

problem statement
followed by series of issues, or major, independent
pieces of the problem
series of objectives, or goals that match the issues
Issues are the
current situation;

objectives are the

desired situation"
Example:
Problem Controls inconvenience
customers and employees

meaning, some controls of the

current system are
"inconvenience" for most
customers, even employees;
not user friendly, hard to use, etc.
Example:
Objective Improve controls for the
convenience of the the
customers and
employees
Writing the objectives seems to be easy
but it really needs a complete
understanding of what really the problem
is on the part of the analyst ;)
Project
Selection
There are five (5) criteria for
project selection:

Backed by management
Timed appropriately for commitment of
resources
It moves the business toward attainment of
its goals
Practicable
Important enough to be considered over
other projects
 Possibilities for Improvement

Reducing errors.
Speeding up a process. Reducing Improving system
Streamlining a redundant storage. and subsystem
process. Reducing
integration.
Combining processes. redundant output.
 Topic
Summary
Identified how projects are initiated.
Described characteristics of a
problem statement.
Identified problem selection criteria.
Project
Initiation
IT120: Information Systems
~eldiem~