IT Deployment

Risks
 I. Developing Strategic
Plans
 Strategic planning serves as the primary
guideline for allocating scarce resources
throughout the firm and keeping the
organization headed in a profitable
direction.
Putting it all together
VISION
Represents what “might be” or an image
of the future
 The growth and success of a business
organizations are limited only by their
vision of what they believe they can
accomplish
MISSION
Represents the guiding light for
developing a set of objectives
 A mission statement translates the
vision and articulates it in a crisp,
understandable language.
OBJECTIVES
 Help shape the articulation of a formal strategy
 IT Objective serves as the foundation for setting
an explicit IT strategy, which details how the IT
function will achieve its objectives through its
organizational structure, relationships with
others and IT configurations.
STRATEGY
 Used to develop a set of policies
 It should support the mission and objectives of the
organization
POLICIES
Designed to enact the realization of the strategy
 IT Planning Process
Company Vision

Mission Objectives Strategy Policies

Overall Company
 Participants in
Systems Development

1) Systems Professionals
2) End Users
3) Stakeholders
4) Accountants/ Auditors
 Important Policy Areas
for IT Function
1) Planning 6) Network
2) Organizational 7) Security
3) Human 8) Operations
Resources 9) Contingency
4) Software 10) Financial and
5) Hardware Accounting
 II. Managing
Development Projects
The overall purpose of a project is to solve
a problem

Each Project should be properly managed

to meet time, cost and quality objectives
 Project Manager
 overall responsible for the project
 should have a great deal of experience in
the domain area and skill at managing
projects
 should work with representatives from
senior management, the IT staff, and
affected users in planning and executing
the project
 Project Life Cycle
First Phase
 Plan the project
 Involves setting the time, scope and cost parameters for the entire project
 Project resources are identified and project outcome is clearly articulated
Second Phase
 Schedule the specific sequencing and timing of each activity and associated resources
Third Phase
 Monitoring of activities
 As the project unfolds, one should use benchmarks, milestones and deliverables (including QA)
to track progress
Fourth Phase
 Controlling
 Development of specific actions aimed at keeping a project moving forward in the most efficient
and effective manner possible, considering unexpected issues, delays and problems that arise.
Fifth Phase
 Close the project
 PM should obtain client acceptance (in writing), release and evaluate project personnel, identify
and reassign remaining project assets, consider a post-project evaluation and chronicle the
history of the project
 III. Acquiring Software
Application
 How does the software maps into the
Strategic Plan of the organization?

 Software acquired should be in the best interest of the

company
 IT auditor should determine if the new application would
fit into the company’s strategic plan.
 There should be a formal software application
acquisition policy.
Software Acquisition Policy
1) Map upcoming application needs to the
strategic plan
2) Begin formal selection process, starting
with highest priority
3) Identify and compare alternative
solutions
4) Consider total cost of ownership
 IV. Developing Software
Application
First Step?
~ alignment with the strategic plan

Information Systems Development Proposal

 formally documents the reasons why the project should
be considered and how it maps to the strategic plan

 reviewed by the Steering Committee (are typically

permanent in nature, in that the members serve in this
capacity over multiple years and guide or steer numerous
projects)
 Feasibility Study
Conducting Feasibility Study
- focuses on assessing whether current, affordable, and reliable technology can be reasonably applied to the project

Financial Feasibility
 Determines if the project can be justified on an economic basis or if
the project is financially feasible

Cultural Feasibility
 IF the company were to develop and implement the proposed system, the group should
question the adequacy of intellectual skills within the company to keep the system
operating.
 Additional System
Development Issues
 Business Process Analysis
 Development and Testing
• Development, Production, Test Library
 Security and Controls
 Conversions and Interfaces
 Implementation Testing
• Unit, Module, System and Stress Testing
 Training and Documentation