Chapter 3

Determining Feasibility
and Managing Analysis
and Design Activities

Systems Analysis and Design

Kendall and Kendall
Fifth Edition
Major Topics
 Project initiation
 Determining project feasibility
 Project scheduling
 Managing project activities
 Manage systems analysis team
members

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Project Initiation
 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
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Organizational Problems
 Identify problems by
 Check output against performance
criteria
 Too many errors
 Work completed slowly
 Work done incorrectly
 Work done incompletely
 Work not done at all

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Organizational Problems
 Observe behavior of employees
 High absenteeism
 High job dissatisfaction
 High job turnover

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Organizational Problems
 Listen to feedback from vendors,
customers, and suppliers
 Complaints
 Suggestions for improvement
 Loss of sales
 Lower sales

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Project Selection
 Five specific 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

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 Possibilities for
Improvement
 Many possible objectives exist
including
 Speeding up a process
 Streamlining a process
 Combining processes
 Reducing errors in input
 Reducing redundant storage
 Reducing redundant output
 Improving system and subsystem
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Feasibility Impact Grid
(FIG)
 A feasibility impact grid (FIG) is
used to assess the impact of any
improvements to the existing
system
 Can increase awareness of the
impacts made on the achievement
of corporate objectives

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Feasibility Impact Grid
(FIG)
 Current or proposed systems are
listed on the left
 Objectives are listed on the top
 Red arrows indicate a positive
impact
 Green arrows indicate
implementation

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Feasibility
 A feasibility study assesses the
operational, technical, and
economic merits of the proposed
project
 There are three types of feasibility:
 Technical feasibility
 Economic feasibility
 Operational feasibility
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Technical Feasibility
 Technical feasibility assesses
whether the current technical
resources are sufficient for the new
system
 If they are not available, can they
be upgraded to provide the level of
technology necessary for the new
system
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Economic Feasibility
 Economic feasibility determines
whether the time and money are
available to develop the system
 Includes the purchase of
 New equipment
 Hardware
 Software

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Operational Feasibility
 Operational feasibility determines
if the human resources are
available to operate the system
once it has been installed
 Users that do not want a new
system may prevent it from
becoming operationally feasible

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Activity Planning
 Activity planning includes
 Selecting a systems analysis team
 Estimating time required to complete
each task
 Scheduling the project
 Two tools for project planning and
control are Gantt charts and PERT
diagrams
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Estimating Time
 Project is broken down into phases
 Further broken down into tasks or

activities
 Finally broken down into steps or

even smaller units

 Estimate time for each task or

activity
 May use a most likely, pessimistic,

and
Kendall optimistic estimates for time3-16
& Kendall
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Gantt Charts
 Easy to construct and use
 Shows activities over a period of
time

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Gantt Chart Example
C o n d u c t I n t e r v i e w s

Q u e s t i o n n a i r e s

R e a d R e p o r t s

A n a l y z e D a t a F l o w s

I n t r o d u c e P r o t o t y p e s

O b s e r v e R e a c t i o n s

P e r f o r m C o s t / B e n e f i t

P r e p a r e P r o p o s a l

P r e s e n t P r o p o s a l

1 5  10 15 20
Current Week Weeks

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PERT Diagram
 PERT - Program Evaluation and
Review Technique
 PERT diagrams show precedence,
activities that must be completed
before the next activities may be
started
 Used to calculate the critical path, the

longest path through the activities

 This is the shortest time to complete

the project
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PERT Diagram Example
A C o n d u c t I n Nt e o r vn 3 i e e w s
B Q u e s t i o n n a A i r e s4
C R e a d R e p o Nr t so n 4 e
D A n a l y z e D a B t a, C 8F l o w s
E I n t r o d u c e P B r o, t C 5o t y p e s
F O b s e r v e R eE a c t3 i o n s
G P e r f o r m C o D s t / B3 e n e f i t
H P r e p a r e P r o G p o 2s a l
I P r e s e n t P r o Hp o s2 a l

20
A, 3 B, 4

C, 4 D, 8 G, 3 H, 2 I, 2
10 30 50 60 70 80

E, 5 F, 3
40
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PERT Diagram Advantages
 Easy identification of the order of
precedence
 Easy identification of the critical
path and thus critical activities
 Easy determination of slack time,
the leeway to fall behind on
noncritical paths

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Timeboxing
 Timeboxing sets an absolute due
date for project delivery
 The most critical features are
developed first and implemented
by the due date
 Other features are added later

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Personal Information
Manager Software
 Personal information manager
(PIM) software is useful for
scheduling activities and includes
features such as:
 Telephone and fax number lists
 To-do lists
 Online calendars

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Team Management
 Teams often have two leaders:
 One who leads members to
accomplish tasks
 One concerned with social
relationships
 The systems analyst must manage
 Team members
 Their activities
 Their time, and resources
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Goal Setting
 Successful projects require that
reasonable productivity goals for
tangible outputs and process
activities be set
 Goal setting helps to motivate
team members

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Ecommerce Project
Management
 Ecommerce and traditional
software project management
differences:
 The data used by ecommerce
systems is scattered across the
organization
 Ecommerce systems need a staff with

a wide variety of skills

 Partnerships must be built externally

and internally well ahead of

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Project Failures
 Project failures may be prevented
by
 Training
 Experience
 Learning why other projects have
failed

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