ICAA4233A Determine and apply appropriate development methodologies

Unit contents

For most tasks in this unit might undertake more than one way of carrying them out. The method I choose will depend on a variety of factors, but the most important considerations will often be which method will get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible while ensuring that the result is the best I can achieve. Once I have identified the most appropriate method for the task, I must then make sure that I follow the method to achieve the required outcome. This involves a high level of planning to ensure that all areas have been addressed and close monitoring of the progress of the project so that it will be completed as planned.

This unit (ICAA4233A) will give you the knowledge and skills to determine and apply appropriate development methodologies for an information technology project. You will learn how to do the following:

• Determine and select appropriate methodology for a given activity


• Apply the selected development methodology
  

1: Determine and select appropriate methodology for a given activity

This blog will help you to determine and select an appropriate development methodology for a specific activity within an information technology environment.

In this topic you will learn how to:

• Determine and define subject activity
• Define the criteria for selection of development methodology
• Review and evaluate a range of traditional and non-traditional system development methodologies
• Select appropriate system methodology to suit the activity.

Determine and select appropriate methodology for a given activities

Activity 1: Knowledge of the client business domain

Visit the Coca-Cola website (http://www2.coca-cola.com/ourcompany/index.html) and read the company’s welcome statement. Does it give you a clear idea of the company’s core business? Which of the business documents mentioned in the reading notes for this section can you find on the site?

A: This welcome statement clearly indicates the goal of manufacturing, marketing and distributing non-alcoholic beverages. There are links to sections such as ‘Our Beliefs’, ‘Our Diversity’, ‘Leadership’ and so on, which would come under the heading of mission statements and strategic goals.


Activity 2—Obtain knowledge of the client business domain

Use the Internet to answer the following questions about the Environment Protection Authority Victoria as an example of a potential client.
Go to the website at http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/, then select About EPA and EPA Organisation chart.

Q 2.1: In which directorate would you find the Community Relations department?

A 2.1: Sustainable development

Q 2.2: Under which department does Regional Support Systems come?

A 2.2: Regional services

Q 2.3: If you wanted to apply for a job with the EPA, to which department would you address your application?

A 2.3: Human Resources

Q 2.4: If you had a complaint about excessive noise at a neighbouring business premises, to which department would you complain?

A 2.4: Atmosphere and Noise

Activity 3—Identify stakeholders

Read the scenario below:

Southern Dental Services is a small dental practice in a regional town. There are two dentists: Pamela Jones and Brian Huang. The practice has four support staff to manage the day-to-day running of the practice: Jane Emerson, who looks after the appointments; Brenda Gale, who handles the accounts; Keith Dickson, who manages the patient details; and Pauline Santoro, who organises the ordering of supplies, etc. Pauline obtains most of the supplies for the clinic from David Andrews, who runs a business selling medical and dental supplies. She orders all the other office-related products from Peter Smith’s business, OfficeStuff. The clinic has five hundred patients on its books, some of whom, like Mrs Mary O’Halloran, have been coming to the clinic since it opened ten years ago.

Q: For each of the people listed here (Peter Smith, Keith Dickson, Mary O’Halloran, Brian Huang, David Andrews, Pauline Santoro), identify which type of stakeholder they represent from the following three choices: supplier, staff or client. Complete the table and check your answers in the Feedback.

A: Following table is shown the identifying stakeholders.

Determine and select methodology quiz

1. Answer TRUE or FALSE:

Q 1.1: An organisational chart gives an overview of staff and the functions of a business.

A 1.1: True

Q 1.2: An incremental methodology is best used for a system that has a clear, fixed set of objectives.

A 1.2: False

Q 2: A mission statement states the main purpose of the organisation and usually incorporates which of the following goals?

A 2: financial, social and/or environmental goals

Q 3: What is a traditional system development methodology?

A 3: Waterfall model

Q 4: Which methodology requires a high level of user involvement throughout the project?

A 4: Rapid application development (RAD)

2: Apply the selected development methodology

Refering to the previous section, you should already know about determining and selecting appropriate methodology for a given activity. This blog will help you to apply the appropriate systems development methodology to an activity.

In this section you will learn how to:

• Create a project plan
• Clearly describe project tasks
• Define suitable project controls
• Estimate task duration and cost
• Sequence tasks
• Estimate resource requirements
• Monitor project flow
• Review and document the project.
  

Apply the selected development methodology activities

Activity 1: Work breakdown structure

Try the top down method and break down the following goal into several tasks and subtasks and develop a simple work breakdown structure (WBS).

Q: Develop a work breakdown structure for the LAN for Urban Wear’s new retail outlet.

A: This table is a possible WBS. Remember that every project manager may approach the tasks differently and this is just a sample for you to try out your WBS skills.

Activity 2: Factors that impact on time estimates

Q: What factors could impact on your time estimate for the installation and configuring of the workstations for the LAN from Activity 1?

A: There are many factors that may impact the installation and configuration of the workstations including delayed delivery of hardware, slippage of task dependencies (for example, if the network has not been configured before installation of workstation stats, it will not be possible to use the disk cloning tool to install the standard operating environment); workers skill level; availability of tools.

Activity 3: Determining the positions required

Your company, Herriard, which has a staff of 600 full time and 200 part time employees, has decided to introduce sales training techniques on their Intranet site. The training course needs a Learning Management System (LMS) which allocates units of work to the staff. Once in the system, the staff can receive automated feedback and trainers can view staff progress through the system. Herriard has decided to get an off-the-shelf product and adapt it to the company’s needs. You have been given the job of managing the project.

Q: List the job roles or positions that you would include in your team.

A: The team could be comprised of the following:

• an instructional designer to design the structure of the site and to train staff
• course writers
• a graphic designer to create a shell to reflect corporate identity
• a development team of 1–2 programmers to adapt the off-the-shelf Learner Management System to company needs
• a part-time network engineer
• a part-time server support

Activity 4: Gantt chart
In your notebook, draw a Gantt chart corresponding to the specifications in the table below

Table: Gantt chart specifications

Figure : Gantt chart

Apply the selected development methodology quiz

Q 1: Which three processes are involved in the development of a project?

A 1: planning, assessing and monitoring

Q 2: Project controls are usually designed to focus on which three major aspects of project measurements?

A 2: monitoring and tracking progress, determining variation from plan, taking corrective action

Q 3: In which phase of a project would you estimate activity duration and resources?

A 3: Planning phase

Q 4: What is the primary goal of a project review?

A 4: to answer questions about the conduct of the project for the benefit of future projects