4.

What would you do as a system analyst if a vice-president of your company came to you and insisted that a system be computerized, but, at the conclusion of the preliminary investigation phase, you knew that the system could not be justified?

The first step in the systems development life cycle is to survey or do a preliminary investigation of the existing information system. It is important to understand the system before proposing changes or modifications. As one of the information system development team, we need to ensure that the system serves the needs of the organization. In order to do that, the development team must find out and analyze the causes of business problems rather than just dealing with the symptoms of these problems, ensure that the needs of all those who are affected by the new system are considered and they need to consider on how the proposed system may integrate with other system in the organization. Other than determine the nature of the problem, the most important things that the information systems development team need to do is establish the scope of the problem. This is because, by establishing this kinds of scope, we can ensure the system to stay within the budget and schedule besides we can avoid the problem to be expand if no firm boundaries are established. Furthermore, we can evaluate the system by do a feasibility study. This is an analysis in order to determine whether the system is worthy of further consideration or not. In term of economic feasibility, it involves determining whether a proposed information system will yield benefits that exceed its costs. But if the information system steering committee determines that the system is not economically, technically and operationally feasible, the system can be rejected with a minimum of cost and effort. Then, after all the necessary information are gathered, it ready to analyze that information to identify alternatives with associated costs and benefits and to determine a recommended course of action. After conducting the preliminary investigation and knew that the system could not be cost justified, as a system analyst, I will report my findings to the information system committee or to the top management who are vice-president of the company.

In the preliminary investigation report, it should be included with the subject matter that I found concerning the operation of the system, the problems that appear in the system which is, the system could not be cost justified and as a system analyst, I need to suggest some relevant recommendations for the future action. Lastly, in addition to the written report, as a system analyst, I required to do a presentation of my finding. I need to inform the audience regarding what is taking place in the existing system, direct their attention to the problems that have been occurred within the system and explain the reasons why they have been occurring and present a recommendation whether the request should proceed to the next phase or not.

5. Scheduling tools could increase project managers efficiency when scheduling an information system projects. A popular scheduling tool is the use of a Gantt chart. Explain what Gantt chart is and suggest to the management the most appropriates project management software to be used by Pahang Electronics Sdn. Bhd.

Generally, information systems project management is an ongoing process of directing and coordinating all phases of the systems development life cycle. The objective of this system is to deliver a system that is acceptable to users and that it is developed within time and budget. Project management is the process of planning, scheduling, and controlling the activities during the systems development life cycle. After estimating the time needed in the planning phase, the project manager is responsible to schedule the tasks. Scheduling is the second process in the project management which determining the dependency of the tasks. It means, some tasks can start or finish at the same time and some tasks must wait upon completion of their predecessor tasks. In term of Gantt chart, it is a very popular tool that can be use in scheduling process. A Gantt chart is a graphical tool for project management that represents project tasks over time as a bar chart. Gantt chart allow to access about the duration of the project should take, determine the resources needed and lay out the order in which the tasks must be carried out. It is very useful in managing the dependencies between tasks. In connection with that, for the most appropriate project management software, I suggest to Pahang Electronics Sdn. Bhd. to use the Microsoft Project. It is because, this software will be automatically displayed with a Gantt chart. As we know, Gantt chart are useful tools for planning and scheduling project. In addition, it is also useful for monitoring the projects progress. So, the project manager can immediately see what should have been achieved at a point in time. For a more complex project, detailed Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) or Critical Path Method (CPM) charts may be necessary to control the development process. We can automatically switch from Gantt chart to PERT/ CPM chart by using the same Microsoft Project software.

There are several advantages of PERT/ CPM chart over the Gantt chart which are, first, easier identification of the order of the precedence and critical path or tasks and easier determination of slack time. As a conclusion, by using a very useful project management software which is, Microsoft Project Software, the manager or company itself can ensure all the project management process are under- control. Besides to ensure that all people who have some interest in the system are aware of what is going on.