Chapter 1, Problem 1M

Program Description Answer

Systems planning and selection is the first phase of Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) in which the total information system requirements of an organization is analyzed and arranged, a potential information systems project is recognized, and an argument for continuing or not continuing with the project is given.

Hence, correct answer is “Systems planning and selection”.

Explanation of Solution

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC):

• SDLC is also referred to as application development life cycle that is used in systems engineering, information systems and software engineering.
• It is used to describe a process for planning, creating, testing, and deploying an information system.
• It generally applies to a range of hardware and software configurations, as a system can be composed of either hardware or software or a combination of both.
• There are mainly four phases in the SDLC cycle as follows:
  • System planning and selection
  • System analysis
  • System design
  • System implementation and operation

Systems planning and selection:

• Systems planning and selection is the first phase in the SDLC, where a detailed study is performed to identify why the new system is required and how the project team will work in order to develop a new system.
• This phase performs two activities as follows:
  • Project initiation
    • During this step, the project team describes the business values that the system will add to the organization in terms of revenue or cost reduction.
    • This involves in generating a system request which will advise how the system should be built in order to add values to the organization.
    • In order to find out the economic and organizational impact of the system, a feasibility study is conducted before the second phase of SDLC.
    • During feasibility analysis, feasibility of the system is checked in terms of technical feasibility, economic feasibility and organizational feasibility. Then, these reports are presented to the approval committee.
  • Project management
    • In this step, the project manager develops a project plan which is a detailed description of how the project team will complete the project on time and will deliver a system that meets the requirement of the organization.