Chapter 10:
Selecting the Best Alternative
Design Strategy
Plus
Project Management Concepts
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Chapter Objectives
– Design Strategy
– Types of Design Strategies
– Scoring Method
– Project Management Concepts
(link to Lab)
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Deliverables for Design
Strategy Selection
•high-functionality high-cost solution
•minimum functionality low-cost solution
•middle-of-the-road solution
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Features (Benefits) & (Constraints) Costs
Features are
determined
from
requirements.
Constraints pertain
to limitations on
development
efforts.
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Generating a Design Strategy

Design strategy = A decision on how to design a
system, accounting for system features and
constraints, and software and hardware solutions.

Enumerate different potential implementation
environments (hardware and system software
platforms)

Propose different sourcing possibilities for
obtaining the necessary software
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Outsourcing Strategy

The practice of turning over responsibility
of some or all of an organization’s
information systems applications and
operations to an outside firm

Can produce cost savings for the client, by
leveraging the outsourcer’s economies of
scale
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Request For Proposal

Request for Proposal – a document
provided to vendors to ask them to propose
hardware and/or software products or
services that will meet the requirements of
an organization’s new information system

Based on vendor bids, analyst selects best
candidates
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Sourcing Software
– Hardware & Software Manufacturers (IBM)
– Prepackaged Software Producers (Microsoft,
Enterprise System Vendors)
– Custom Software Producers (EDS, Accenture)
– In-house Development (own IS department)
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Prepackaged (off-the-shelf) Software
Many factors go into
selection of off-the-shelf
software, many of which are
relevant for other software
purchases.
Vendor support and viability
are always among the most
important criteria.
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In-house Development

If sufficient system development expertise
with the chosen platform exists in-house,
then some or all of the system can be
developed by the organization’s own staff

Can play a role also when an external
consultant carries out the job (ERP)
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Example: Pine Valley Furniture
• System requirements categorized into mandatory,
essential, and desired capabilities
• Constraints established
• Low-end, high-end, and moderate design
strategies are generated
• Weighted approach (scoring method) used to
compare alternative design strategies
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Application Server/Object Framework is the highest scoring
alternative
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3-Tier architecture is
scalable, and consists
of a Web server
providing the interface
to the Internet in the
1st tier, an application
server running the
business rules of the
application in the 2nd
tier, and the corporate
databases in the 3rd
tier
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Baseline Project
Plan goes through
significant update as
a result of design
strategy generation
and selection.
Cost-benefit analysis
goes through
significant update and
revision after
selecting a design
strategy.
The System
Description section
is changed the most,
and all sections are
refined and altered.
Schedule estimation
goes through
significant update and
revision after
selecting a design
strategy.
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