The Purpose of the Information System - Case Study Example

1. Introduction An "information system" is a collection of people, software, data, hardware, communications, and processes that work collectively toachieve a common purpose. Systems development is the activity of creating a new business system or altering a current business system. Here we are developing a "System Development Plan" for "The Fitness Centre" which will provide guidance on how the information systems infrastructure of the organization will be developed. The plan serves as a road map indicating the direction of systems development. a. Define the purpose of the information system and its alignment with company goals. The system will benefit both members and fitness consultants by tracking participation in various fitness activities, such as free weights, volleyball, swimming, stair climbers, and yoga and aerobic classes. It will help the members (customers of the organization) plan fitness programs to meet their particular needs. Not only will the system ensure easy access to information to the customers but it will also provide information regarding general customer preferences, the number of customers and keep track of and predict revenues to the management. The information system will thus enable the Fitness Center in obtaining a competitive edge over other fitness clubs as envisioned by the top management. b. Roles of the participants involved in the project. "The Fitness Centre" will be required to establish a project team to work on the project from beginning till the end. The team will include all stakeholders such as the managers, fitness consultants, customers, systems development specialists and support personnel. The development team will be responsible for determining the objectives of the information system and delivering a system that meets these objectives to the organization. System development should involve representatives from each department in which the proposed system will be used. This includes both non technical users and IT professionals. Non-technical: Managers - They will be required to convey the vision and strategic goals of the system to the technical personnel Customers - Their input will be necessary to ensure that the final working system fulfills their requirements and is user-friendly. Fitness Consultants (and other employees) - Input from employees will be used to ensure that all tactical and operational requirements are met y the system. Technical: Systems Analyst - A systems analyst is a professional who specializes in analyzing and designing business systems and is responsible for designing and developing an information system. Systems Analyst serves as a bridge or link between the technical and non-technical staff, conveying and explaining the requirements of one party to the other and vice versa. Software builder and programmers - Professionals who will write the coding for the actual software Technical specialists and the support staff: Network engineers - responsible for installing and maintaining local area networks Data warehousing specialists - for developing and designing enterprise-wide applications for data mining Database administrators - administration and control of data and information resources Data communications specialists - they will be responsible for evaluation, installation, and monitoring data communications equipment and software. All the above mentioned groups should be grouped into teams each having a team leader and all the team leaders will be made responsible to the project manager. The project manager is tasked with the responsibility of planning, controlling, staffing scheduling and organizing the whole project. 2. Plan a. Outline the considerations for systems investigation, based on input and output information sources. The basic consideration for systems investigation is that the research should be based on substantive theoretical and methodological grounds. There are two main phases in systems investigation (each with two aspects): Investigation & Analysis Recording & Presentation Important consideration in Systems Investigation Completeness of the investigation Historical documentation Does it exist If there is any then is it complete System investigation process must involve the users.(samples, interviews, questionnaire) Readiness and flexibility to accept and implement changing requirements (expectations and change management). What are the objectives of the system Are they defined clearly Boundaries or the limits of the system Cost (Budget) Financial constraints Time (Schedule) Deadlines People Personnel allocation User availability Presentation of results to whom will the results be shown and in what format b. Outline the steps for systems analysis. There are two major steps in the system analysis phase: 1. Conducting a preliminary investigation 2. Performing detailed analysis. Preliminary Investigation gives an overview of the proposed information system's purpose and feasibility. It includes: Technical Feasibility Economic Feasibility Operational Feasibility The detailed analysis details specific information requirements that are to be met by the system solution selected and presents a detailed description of the functions that the new system must perform. The detailed analysis further contains three activities: Study how the current system works Determine the user's wants, needs and requirements, Recommend a solution Either process or object modeling approach can be adopted during the system analysis phase. Some process modeling tools are: Entity relationship diagram Data flow diagram Repository c. Outline the steps for systems design. Systems design gives an outline of the information system consisting of all the specifications that give the system its structure. System design shows how the system will fulfill its requirements. The design phase consists of two major activities: 1. Logical design 2. Physical design. Logical design is a conceptual model describing the components, their relationships to each other, inputs and outputs, processing functions, data models and controls of the system. Physical design converts the logical model into a specific technical design. Physical design builds up all of the details of the information system to be implemented with respect to appearance, functionality, features, and performance. The output of the design phase is called the data model. d. Create guidelines for a systems review and maintenance schedule. The implementation of the new system at the "The Fitness Centre" will be followed by the systems review and maintenance phase which will be an on-going activity. The system review phase will comprise of sour major activities: 1. conducting a post implementation system review (with all the users) 2. correcting errors 3. identifying enhancements 4. monitoring system performance The post-implementation system review should be held to know whether the information system is performing according to the users' expectations. If the system is not meeting the users' expectations, then the systems developers should revert to the planning phase. If the error is not that serious or the users want some additional improvements then system developers must perform "System enhancement". It is necessary for "The Fitness Centre" to have a framwork of policies in place dealing with all aspects of physical, personnel and information security. This can be done by segregating the roles and duties of all the users of the system and grouping them into separate security levels. This will go a long way in maintaining data as well as system integrity and keep system maintenance costs to a minimum. e. Determine a sequence of activities. The sequence of activities can be grouped into five major phases (divided into sub groups): Phase 1- Planning a. Reviewing project requests b. Identification of objectives c. Developing a plan d. Forming project teams e. Allocation of resources Phase 2- Analysis a. Clearly definition of the problem b. Conducting feasibility studies c. Study current system (whether manual or automated) d. Determination of user requirements Phase 3- Design a. Creation of logical design b. Creation of physical design Phase 4- Implementation c. Acquisition of hardware and software d. Installation and testing of new system e. Training and educating users f. Final implementation Phase 5- Operation and maintenance a. Post implementation review b. Identification of errors and enhancements c. Monitoring system performance 3. Conclusion a. Create an announcement of the new system roll out that includes the benefits to users. The roll-out of the new information system developed for "The Fitness Centre" certainly gives it an edge over its competitors. Not only does the system automate but it also reduces a great number of processes therby decreasing processing time, enhancing simplicity and thus increasing customer satisfaction as enhancing customer satisfaction remains a major part of "The Fitness Centre's" philosophy. The new information system will enable the valued customers to browse through different activity schedules and let them customize their fitness programs accordingly. The increased level of felxibilty coupled with the benefits of automated service result in overall betterment in "The Fitness Centre's" performance. References: 1. Whitten, L., Bentley, D., & Dittman, C. System analysis and design methods. Sixth Edition. 2. Avison, David (2006). Information System Development. McGraw-Hill. Read More