Development Guidelines: 1 - Planning Phase

Last Updated: October 11, 2016 12:58:39 PM PDT

Learn about the first phase, Planning, of a systems development methodology.

1.0 Planning Phase

1.1 Determine if you need to develop or buy an administrative system. When deciding to develop a business system or business software, ask these questions:

What is the business problem or opportunity to be addressed?
If there is an existing system in place, where does it fall short? What are its strengths?
What benefits would a new business system bring and what procedural improvements might occur?
Are there other systems on campus that may be performing similar functions or processing similar data?
Is it possible to salvage parts of an old system?
What are the critical success factors for the department's business? How does the proposed system relate to these factors?

1.2 Identify the primary stakeholders in the proposed system development:

Who would be likely to fund a project?
Who are the primary users?
Who are the secondary users?
Will University policy be affected by the proposed project?
Who are the business experts who will define the business rules?
What departments and external entities will be impacted by the proposed system?
Who will provide final technical and operational approval for implementation of the system?

1.3 Define the scope of the system, including the constraints of the system, and plan to refine this definition as the project progresses:

Business problem to be solved
Business functions to be included
Business functions that will not be included
Opportunities for re-engineering
Security requirements (logical and physical)
Required time-frame to implementation
Estimated resource requirements
Estimated budget
Risks (include obstacles to implementing a new system)
Mitigating actions
Cost/ benefit analysis
Preliminary project plan with time estimates and resource requirements
Note: Assistance from selected central offices may be helpful in fulfilling these planning requirements

1.4 Secure a sponsor for the project. The sponsor will be responsible for:

Approving the scope of the system development project
Securing the requested budget
Acting as a liaison to external staff/ departments
Providing resources as required for success
Defining the governance of the project

1.5 Identify the project team. Members of the team and their roles may include the following:

Project manager to manage the core team
Business experts to provide the business requirements and rules, test the system as it is developed, and define training requirements
System architect to provide technical oversight
Quality assurance coordinator to ensure quality throughout the project
Software developers to analyze, design, and build the system
Others as appropriate (reference IS-10 section 1.4 - Roles and Responsibilities)

UC San Diego Guidelines