1. Chapter 3
Determining Feasibility and
Managing Analysis and
Design Activities
Systems Analysis and Design
Kendall and Kendall
Fifth Edition

2. Major Topics
 Project initiation
 Determining project feasibility
 Project scheduling
 Managing project activities
 Manage systems analysis team
members
Kendall &
Kendall
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3. 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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Kendall
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4. 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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Kendall
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5. Organizational Problems
 Observe behavior of employees
 High absenteeism
 High job dissatisfaction
 High job turnover
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Kendall
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6. Organizational Problems
 Listen to feedback from vendors,
customers, and suppliers
 Complaints
 Suggestions for improvement
 Loss of sales
 Lower sales
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Kendall
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7. 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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Kendall
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8. 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
integration
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Kendall
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9. 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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Kendall
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10. 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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Kendall
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11. 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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Kendall
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12. 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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Kendall
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13. 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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Kendall
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14. 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
Kendall &
Kendall
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15. 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
Kendall &
Kendall
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16. 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
optimistic estimates for time
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Kendall
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17. Gantt Charts
 Easy to construct and use
 Shows activities over a period of time
Kendall &
Kendall
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18. Gantt Chart Example
C o n d u c t I n t e r v i e w s
Kendall &
Kendall

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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

19. 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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Kendall
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20. PERT Diagram Example
A C o n d u c t I n t e r v i e w s N o n e 3
B Q u e s t i o n n a i r e s A 4
C R e a d R e p o r t s N o n e 4
D A n a l y z e D a t a F l o w s B , C 8
E I n t r o d u c e P r o t o t y p e s B , C 5
F O b s e r v e R e a c t i o n s E 3
G P e r f o r m C o s t / B e n e f i t D 3
H P r e p a r e P r o p o s a l G 2
I P r e s e n t P r o p o s a l H 2
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Kendall
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10
20
30 50 60 70 80
40
A, 3 B, 4
C, 4 D, 8 G, 3 H, 2 I, 2
E, 5 F, 3

21. 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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Kendall
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22. 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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Kendall
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23. 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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Kendall
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24. 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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Kendall
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25. Goal Setting
 Successful projects require that
reasonable productivity goals for
tangible outputs and process activities
be set
 Goal setting helps to motivate team
members
Kendall &
Kendall
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26. 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 implementation
 Security is of utmost importance
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Kendall
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27. Project Failures
 Project failures may be prevented by
 Training
 Experience
 Learning why other projects have failed
Kendall &
Kendall
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Prentice Hall, Inc. 3-27