Information Systems - Essay Example

Number Information Systems The goal of the private medical practise is to continue serving its effectively and timely by utilizing an electronic medical records system. The motivation behind this project is to seek an efficient mechanism for patients to electronically enter their data for safe uploading into the EMR. In the design, development and implementation of an IT support to satisfy the patient requirements, a hybrid of agile and extreme software development methods is employed. However, following a pure agile course is not suitable for this task.

A pure agile methodology exhibits its advantages but lacks some of the traditional software development features that are crucial for success. One, if the problem does not fit squarely into the agile methodology, issues are encountered during development and the desired application functionalities is not achieved (Scott W. Ambler). This calls for a hybrid method which leverages the positives of each end. A hybrid of agile and extreme development methodology will deliver the desired product. The methodology adopted in this development process can be referred as disciplined agile delivery.

This is because it is build upon rock-solid foundations of other development methodologies such as agile modelling, agile data and extreme programming. Extreme programming is an agile development methodology that primary concentrate on construction-oriented practices, rapid feedback loops, team working, continuous testing, and sustainable development pace, simplified designs and frequent but small releases (Scott W. Ambler). The project will be developed using agile development methodologies.

This is because agile modelling fits perfectly into this scenario where continuous prototyping is required until the final desired system is produced. Extreme methodologies in essence employ architecture envisioning, just in time model storming, continuous documentation among others. This method implies that the functional requirements are continually defined, put into code and documented. It is then released upon which user feedback is analyzed and derived into new requirements which are subsequently introduced in the application.

The iteration continues until all the needs have been meet. System Interface is a candidate for extreme programming while databases and database integration is a candidate for agile modelling and agile data methodologies. Using extreme programming in the case of developing an application that will allow patients to easily enter electronic data for safe uploading is convenient and relevant. Given that the practice serves a wide variety of clientele with different needs and capabilities to operate the devices they use to enter data, continuous and rapid releases experimented on users will allow refinement of the product to the desired levels of functionality and usability.

Varied groups of users have varying levels of needs in terms of a user-friendly interface (either computer or mobile). Coupled with disabilities such as vision and level of comprehension, a fit-all product developed using traditional SDLC cannot be usable. The continuous integration and test-driven model acquired by combining extreme programming and agile methodologies would ensure that the final product is both usable but and friendly. Agile data is applied on the data aspects of the application.

Since the functional requirements of the system require the entering and uploading of patient information in a secure manner, agile data techniques are applied on the data aspects of the software system. Agile database development processes and integration include database refactoring, DB regression testing, agile data modelling and continuous database integration (Scott W. Ambler). Works Cited Scott W. Ambler, Mark Lines. Disciplined Agile Delivery: A Practitioners Guide to Agile Software Delivery in the Enterprise.

IBM Press, 2012.