While Business Systems Implementation is an area of great interest amongst our students the school has identified a deficiency in existing programmes in the areas of understanding business motivations for initiating IT projects, alignment of IT projects with business objectives, success and failure factors affeting IT projects, system design and specification and IT specific project management. This unit will remedy the situation.

Upon completion of this unit students should have acquired:

1. Knowledge of alignment between business goals and IS-IT goals and Business motivations for undertaking IS-IT projects. }
2. Knowledge of critical factors affecting success and failure of IS/IT projects in business. }
3. Knowledge of the technical processes of a generic SDLC model including its terminology, phases and work breakdown structure, stakeholders and participants and their respective roles, phase activities, tools, techniques and deliverables. }
4. Knowledge of the project management processes peculiar to the extremely volatile and unpredictable activity of software development. }
5. The same knowledge as 1) and 2) with respect to specific SDLCs used by one or more of the major IT Management Consultancies. }
6. An understanding of why employing an SDLC model and appropriate Project management techniques is likely to produce maintainable and user acceptable Business Information Systems on time and within budget. }
7. Understanding of the similarities of and differences between the specific SDLC models and their relationship to the generic model presented. }
8. Skills to interview users and or determine requirements, produce a formalized analysis and design using both canonical and more recent leading-edge tools and techniques, implement the design and finally maintain a production system. In addition skills to Project Manage all these activities. }
9. An attitude that will permit the quick assimilation of any new unseen SDLC model encountered by comparison with and extension of those already encountered. }

This unit addresses the adoption of IS/IT projects in businesses from organisational viewpoint and analyses success and failure using critical factors approach.

This unit also deals with the technical and business (especially project management) processes involved in the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) of Business Information Systems.

Both generic and specific SDLC models will be examined. The latter will be drawn from case studies using different scenarios of successful and unsuccessful information system developments.

Greater emphasis than is usual for Systems Analysis and Design units will be placed on the management of the technical processes involved. Actual Case Studies will be central to the delivery of the unit.

Recent, well-accepted, developments in all aspects of Business Information Systems development will also be covered.