SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE

Feasibility (Possibility) Study:

The feasibility study is basically the test of the proposed system in the light of its workability, meeting users requirements, effective use of resources and .of course, the cost effectiveness. The main goal of feasibility study is not to solve the problem but to achieve the scope. In the process of feasibility study, the cost and benefits are estimated with greater accuracy. The objective of a feasibility study is not to solve the problem, but to acquire a sense of it's scope. The rest of feasibility study is a formal proposal.

Depending on the results of the starting investigation, the survey is expanded to a more detailed feasibility study. Feasibility study is a test of a system proposal according to its workability impact on the organization, ability to meet user requirements and effective use of resources. Feasibility study focuses on three questions: 1. What are the users demonstrable requirements and how does a candidate system meet them? Is there a new & better way to do the job that will benefit the user?

2. What resources are available for given candidate system? Is the problem worth solving? What are the costs & savings of the alternatives?

3. What are the likely impacts of the candidate systems on the organization? How well does it fit within the organizations plan? What is recommended?

The above questions must be answered carefully. They revolve around investigation & evaluation of the problem, identification & description of candidate system, specification of performance & the cost of each system and final selection of the system.

This phase determines the objectives of the feasibility study and who this task belongs to -- analysts or the project team? It lists out the steps required to complete a feasibility study, identifies the scope of the current system, problems and unexploited opportunities

in the current system, which may be either manual or automated. It then discusses the major objectives for the new system, and the various methods to gather data and determine how to use the methods. It also helps to estimate the costs of each possible solution, and develops estimates of the benefits and shortcomings of each solution. It presents users and the management views on the above issues and their decision of whether to commit to the analysis part of the project.

This phase may be included some related sub-phases: Current physical model: The descriptions of the system as it is now, including the mechanisms used to accomplish tasks (e.g., people, devices). Current logical model: The system description in term of functions, processes, and data with the mechanisms removed. New Logical Model: The Current Logical Model with new features added. New Physical Model: The Current Logical Model with the various processes allocated to automation, manual procedures, other mechanisms. The rest of the feasibility study is a formal proposal.

Factors that depend upon feasibility study are:

1. Statement of the problem: A carefully worded statement of the problem that led to analysis.

2. Summary of findings & recommendations: A listed of the major findings & recommendations of the study. It is deal for the user who requires quick access to the results of the analysis of the system under study.

3. Details of findings: An outline of the methods & procedures undertaken by the existing system, followed by coverage of the objectives & procedures of the candidate system, including personnel assignments, costs, project schedules & target dates is also discussed.

4. Recommendations & conclusions: Specific recommendations regarding the candidate system, including personnel assignments, costs, project schedules & target dates.

Since the proposed is reviewed by the management, it becomes a formal agreement. This is a crucial decision point in the life cycle. Changes in the proposal are made in writing, depending on the complexity, size & cost of the project. It is simply common since to verify changes before committing the project to design.

Depending on the results of the staring investigation the survey is expanded into a more detailed feasibility study, it is a test of a system proposal according to it's workability impact on the organization, ability to meet user requirements and effective use of resources. Feasibility study focuses on three questions:

Steps in feasibility analysis:

Feasibility Analysis involves 8 steps:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Form a project team & appoint a project leader. Prepare system flowcharts. Enumerate potential candidate system. Describe & identify characteristics of candidate systems. Determine & evaluate performance & cost effectiveness of each candidate system.

6. 7. 8.

Weigh system performance & cost data. Select the best candidate system. Prepare & report final project directive to management.

Form a project team & appoint a project leader:

The concept behind a project team is that future system users should be involved in its design & implementation. Their knowledge & experience in the operations area are essential to the success of the system. The analyst & an assistant is sufficient for small projects but for complex studies project team is required.

Team consists of analyst & the user staff. An outside consultant & information specialist may also join the team.

The senior system analyst, the most experienced analyst in the team, is appointed as project leader. He has to conduct regular meetings to keep up the momentum & accomplish the mission (selection of the best candidate system). A record is kept of the progress made in each meeting.

Prepare system flowcharts:

The next step is to prepare generalized system flowcharts for the system. In the initial investigation stage information-oriented charts & data flow diagrams prepared & they are reviewed in this stage also. The main reason to prepare system flowcharts is that they bring up the importance of inputs, outputs & data flow among key points in the existing system. All the flowcharts needed for detailed evaluation are completed at this point.

Enumerate potential candidate system:

In this step identification of the candidate systems that are capable of producing the outputs will be carried out, which are included in the generalized flowcharts. This is nothing but transformation from logical to physical system model.

In this step consideration of hardware that handles the total system requirement is also done. An important aspect of hardware is processing & main memory. Because there are large numbers of computers with different processing sizes, main memory capabilities, & software support. The project team may also contact vendors for information on the processing capabilities of the system available.

Describe & identify characteristics of candidate systems:

The candidate systems are considered. Now from this the team begins a preliminary evaluation in an attempt to reduce them to a manageable number.

Technical knowledge & expertise in the hardware/software area are critical for determining what each candidate system can & cannot do.

Determine & evaluate performance & cost effectiveness of each candidate system:

In this step the performance of each candidate system is evaluated against the system performance requirements set prior to the feasibility study. There has to be a close match as practicable, although the trade-offs is necessary to select the best system.

The cost encompasses both designing & installing the system, which includes user training, updating the physical facilities & documenting. System performances are evaluated against the cost of each system to determine which system is likely to be the most cost effective as well as meets the performance requirements. Costs are more easily determined when the benefits of the system are tangible & measurable. An additional factor to consider is the cost of study design & development. The cost of the study phase is a fixed cost (sunk cost). The analyst can plot the performance criteria & costs for each system to determine how each fare.

Weigh system performance & cost data:

The performance & cost data of each candidate system show which system is best choice. This outcome terminates the feasibility study. Some times the performance/cost evaluation matrix is used to clearly identify the best system. So in this step weight the importance of each criterion by applying a rating figure. Finally the candidate system with the highest total is selected.

The procedure for weighting candidate system is as follows:1. Assign a weighting factor to each evaluation criterion based on the criterions effect on the success of the system. 2. Assign a quantitative rating to each criterions qualitative rating. 3. Multiply the weight assigned to each category by the relative rating to determine the score. 4. Sum the score column for each candidate system.

Select the best candidate system:

The system with the highest total score is judged the best system. This assumes the weighting factors are fair & the rating of each evaluation criterion is accurate.

Prepare & report final project directive to management:

The report is a formal document for management use, brief enough & nontechnical to be understandable, but has to be detailed enough to provide the basis for system design.

There is no standard format for preparing feasibility reports. Usually the analyst decide on a format that suits a particular user & system.

The report contains the following sections:-

1. Cover letter - formally presents the report & briefly indicates to management the nature, general findings & recommendations to be considered.

2. Table of contents - specifies the location of the various parts of the report so that management can quickly refer to the sections that concern them.

3. Overview - is an explanation of the purpose & scope of the project, the reason for undertaking feasibility study, the department involved or affected by the candidate system. Names of the persons who conducted the study, when it began, other information that explains the circumstances surrounding the study. 4. Detailed findings - the methods used in the present system, systems effectiveness & efficiency, operating costs, descriptions of the objectives, general procedures of the candidate system, a discussion of output reports, cost & benefits gives management a feel for the pros & cons of the candidate system.

5. Economic justification point-by-point cost comparisons, preliminary cost estimates for the development & operation of the candidate system. A return on investment (ROI) analysis of the project is also included.

6. Recommendations & conclusions suggest to management the most beneficial & cost-effective system. Any conclusions from the study may be included. 7. Appendixes document all the memos & data compiled during the investigation. They are placed at the end of the report for reference.

If the feasibility team has maintained good rapport with the user & staff it makes the recommendations easier to approve. Disapproval of the feasibility report is rare if it has been conducted properly. The report is only a recommendation, but it is an authoritative. Management has to finally approve. Approval of feasibility report is required before system design is initiated.

Types of feasibility study: After possible solution options are identified, project feasibility-the likelihood that these systems will be useful for the organisation-is determined. A feasibility study is carried out by the system analysts for this purpose. Feasibility study refers to a process of evaluating alternative systems through cost/benefit analysis so that the most feasible and desirable system can be selected for development. The

feasibility study of a system is undertaken from three angles : technical, economic and operational feasibility. The proposed system is evaluated from a technical view point first and if technically feasible, its impact on the organisation and staff is assessed. If a compatible technical and social system can be devised, it is then tested for economic feasibility. A feasibility study assesses the operational, technical, human factors, legal, economic merits of the proposed project. There are six types of feasibility: Technical feasibility Economic feasibility

 Operational feasibility Legal and Political Feasibility Schedule Feasibility

Technical feasibility assesses whether the current technical resources are sufficient for the new system. Focused on understanding the technical resources and their applicability to the needs of the proposed system Hardware parts required for the proposed system (candidate system). Software necessary for the proper working of the candidate system. Operating environments the environment in which the proposed system has to be operated.

If they are not available, can they be upgraded to provide the level of technology necessary for the new system. The technical resources needed to develop, purchase, install, or operate the system. The feasibility study has to ensure that the company have the necessary hardware, software, and network resources, have the needed technical expertise, the hardware and software environment be reliable, the system should be able to handle future transaction volume and company growth.

Economic feasibility determines whether the time and money are available to develop the system. Economic Feasibility means that the projected benefits of the proposed system outweigh the estimated costs usually considered the total cost of ownership (TCO). Determine whether the proposed system will provide positive economic benefits to the organization.

Economic feasibility analysis is the most frequently used method for evaluating the effectiveness of a candidate system. Most commonly known as cost/benefit analysis. This study is carried out to determine the benefits and savings that are expected from a candidate system and compare them with costs. If the benefits outweigh cost, then the decision is made to design and implement the system. Otherwise further justifications or alterations have to be made to the proposed system. This is an ongoing effort that improves accuracy at each phase of system development life cycle.

In this analysis the expenses/finance provided to people, including IT staff and users, hardware and equipments, software, formal and informal training, licenses and fees, consulting expenses, facility costs, and the estimated cost of not developing the system or postponing the project are considered.

Operational feasibility : It is concerned with ascertaining the views of workers, employees, customers and suppliers about the use of computer facility. The support or lack of support that the firm's employees are likely to give to the system is a critical aspect of feasibility. A system can be highly feasible in all respects except the operational and fails miserably because of human problems. Some of the questions which help in testing the operational feasibility of a project are stated below: Is there sufficient support for the system from management? From users? If the current system is well liked and used to the extent that persons will not be able to see reasons for a change, there may be resistance. Are current business methods acceptable to users? If they are not, users may welcome a change that will bring about a more operational and useful system. Have the users been involved in planning and development of the project? Early involvement reduces the chances of resistance to the system and change in general and increase the likelihood of successful projects. Will the proposed system cause harm? Will it produce poorer results in any respect or area? Will loss of control result in any areas? Will accessibility of information be lost? Will individual performance be poorer after implementation than before? Will performance be affected in an undesirable way? Will the system slow performance in any areas?

This analysis determines whether the management or the users support the projects, users see the need for change, the system result in a work force reduction or not, the training is required for users to operate the system, customers experience adverse effect in anyway, either temporarily or permanently.

Legal and Political feasibility analyzes the potential legal ramification of the new system. Understanding of the key stakeholders within the organization. In this analysis consideration of legal issues like rules and regulations of government, market issues, political factors etc. has to be done. Consulting legal advisors during this process of the system development is must.

Schedule feasibility means that a project can be implemented in an acceptable time. The company or the IT team control the factor that effect schedule feasibility. Conditions that are to be satisfied during the development of the system. Verify that an accelerated schedule pose any risk. Identify and weed out the systems requests that are not feasible. Estimating costs and benefits : After possible solution options are identified, the analyst should make a primary estimate of each solution's costs and benefits. Cost : System costs can be sub divided into development, operational and intangible costs. Development costs for a computer based information system include costs of the system development process such as (i) salaries of the system analysts and computer programmers who design and program the system, (ii) cost of converting and preparing data files and preparing systems manual and other supportive documents, (iii) cost of preparing new or expanded computer facilities, (iv) cost of testing and documenting the system, training employees, and other start up costs. Operating costs of a computer based information system include (i) hardware/software rental or depreciation charges,

(ii) salaries of computer operators and other data processing personnel who will operate the new system, (iii) salaries of system analysts and computer programmers who perform the system maintenance function, (iv) cost of input data preparation and control, (v) cost of data processing supplies, (vi) cost of maintaining proper physical facilities including power, light, heat, air conditioning, building rental or other facility charges and equipment and building maintenance charges, overhead charges of the business firm. Intangible costs are costs that cannot be easily measure. For example, the development of a new system may disrupt the activities of an organisation and cause a loss of employee productivity or morale. Customer sales and goodwill may be lost by errors made during the installation of a new system. Such costs are difficult to measure in rupees but are directly related to the introduction and operation of information system. Benefits: The benefits which result from developing new or improved information systems that utilise EDP can be subdivided into tangible and intangible benefits. Tangible benefits are those that can be accurately measured and are directly related to the introduction of a new system, such as decrease in data processing cost. Intangible

benefits such as improved business image are harder to measure and define. Benefits that can result from the development of a computerised system are summarised below: 1. Increase in sales or profits (improvement in product or service quality). 2. Decrease in data processing costs (elimination of unnecessary procedures and documents). 3. Decrease in operating costs (reduction in inventory carrying costs). 4. Decrease in required investment (decrease in inventory investment required). 5. Increased operational ability and efficiency (improvement in production ability and efficiency; for example, less spoilage, waste, and idle time). 6. New or improved information availability (more timely and accurate information, and new types and forms of information) 7. Improved abilities in computation and analysis (mathematical simulation). 8. 9. Improved customer service (more timely service). Improved employee morale (elimination of burdensome and boring job tasks).

10. Improved management decision making (better information and decision analysis) 11. Improved competitive position (faster and better response to actions of competitors) 12. Improved business and community image (progressive image as perceived by customers, investors, other businesses, government and the public). Intangible though it is important to put a rupee and paise tag to each benefit for purposes of