Introduction
An information system is a collection of interconnected mechanisms that function together to realize a joint effect, by collecting, processing, storing and providing the output information needed to perform a task (Satzinger 2009). This is a vital area of business management for any company or organization. This paper takes a corporate organization, studies and reviews its systems and suggests business solutions related to a System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) as an analysis of how to utilize resources when implementing an SDLC for a company. In the course of the research, the paper will create tasks through MS Project and create subtasks from the original tasks for the implementation program and eventually add a budget and timeline at the end of the project to sum up the implementation program for the said company.
Problem Description of the Selected Business Scenario
The business scenario taken for this study is the educational system. The University of Victoria is the paper’s case study where it majors on embracing ICT in university systems. This business scenario is found appropriate since a university system collects information on students and their work processes and stores that information and then produces fee balances or clearance grades among other activities. The University administrator’s software collects information on employees and their work such as academic staff or support staff and stores that information then produces their pay checks and pay rolls (Satzinger 2009). The University of Victoria has specific elements that are important for this research such as:
- Communication channels: Faculty members, students and support staff use email and calendar services provided by the university as their main communication channel.
- Information and security: The community is provided with network security and assistance with antivirus software, internet and telephone.
- The research and computing: is assisted by high performance computing systems, storage back up and network connectivity. It also has storage and back-ups systems and website services such as web publishing and hosting and Help and support among others.
This project aims at transforming the university to a considerable extent into a semi e-university with ICT support in all their activities in that the university not only produces graduates but also ICT innovators (Satzinger 2009).
The Human Resources Available at the University
The following table captures the available HR resources at the University of Victoria.
Table 1: Table of the Available HR Resource.
Description of Project Milestones and Associated Schedules and Staff
For a succinct capture of the project milestones and associated schedules and staff, the following table has been designed to give them in a summarized form complete with delivery schedules.
Table 2: Project Milestones and Associated Schedules and Staff.
Description of the Total Cost of the entire SDLC
There are elements of an SDLC that inform the analysis for the university’s management which are relevant fort this paper. These are shown in figure 1 below:
To get an idea of the cost of the SDLC, it is important to indicate the changes that will be required for the university. First of all, the university will have to install modern IT infrastructures. This includes networked multimedia PCs, extensive audio-video equipment in the classroom. This will facilitate the use of IT services within the scientific network that are usually accessed through WLAN (Cummings 2006).
Wireless on the scientific network (WLAN) is a modern infrastructure for internet users of the university (Cummings 2006). This will enables University community to connect wireless to the network at individual level. A chip card has to be utilized since it has various services that include digital key, electronic purse et cetera. The security of the premises has to be enhanced by networked IT systems being used in building surveillance. It will be for the security of the university property and its inhabitants. This will eventually lead to for saving costs and supporting teachings and research activities (Cummings 2006).
There will be an area-wide video surveillance with widely applied automated access control and the controlling and monitoring of the building with a building management system. This management system will regulate and screen all areas used for learning. Passages within the buildings will be electronically accessed. This will be by the aid of the control system. The chip card will function as an electronic key to these doors. This will translate to a secure building with flexible accesses which fulfils all security requirements of teachings, research and administration activities (Satzinger 2009).
Further one can have access to ultra-modern networked IT systems and IT services, such as networked multimedia computers, which are available for all the members of the university (Cummings 2006).
Scholastic activities will be done at The Computer Labs. Free access to databases and multimedia workshops will be given to the Members of the University community. The ICT lab will provide computing facilities, including printing, at various campus locations to the university community. A sophisticated network security will assure optimal data security, storage and backup systems. The information security system contains risk analysis together with risk management strategy, continuity plan and security management as well as monitoring measures and optimization processes. Internal supervision will be of use as well as external supervision. The Scientific Network will extend to Student boarding-houses (Satzinger 2009).
With multifunctional printers the privacy of your documents is definite. For classified print work, a user ID will be the security required to be released. The Virtual Private Network (VPN), handy software for academic staffs. This software facilitates access to the internal network. It does this with the correct tool to connect securely by ensuring data transfers are authenticated and encrypted through a typical internet access (Satzinger 2009).
Academic staff and researchers have the opportunity to publish a personal homepage on the web server of the University Free. The authors will be contracted access by WebDAV, which is an open standard for making data available over the internet. Therefore, different operating systems (Windows, Linux,) are able to work on their files and folders without limitation. It is also possible to access the files from outside of the campus, just as if they were working locally (Satzinger 2009).
A Notebook equipped with wireless LAN can connect to the wireless network, this allows access most of the services from the Scientific Network from ones familiar desktop. It is clear a wire is not necessary to connect to the scientific network. All workstations are equipped with a desktop PC, an LCD monitor and a telephone (Satzinger 2009).
The Help Desk-System for the university community will be of uttermost importance, for it will be used to manage and process the inquiries, problems and disturbances in a swift and perfect manner. The software, called Request Tracker gives the possibility to send inquires or report problems around the clock in a simple and uniform way (Satzinger 2009).
However, this is provided if LAN is in that educational or research institutions. Projecting video sources such as DVDs, videocassettes or digital video cameras onto the large screen will be simple, using common RCA or S-video adapters. Additional, mobile equipment remains available from the support team. Classrooms and lecture halls of the University are equipped with premium audio-video systems.this is to guarantee ideal support to events such as conferences by making presentations very easy (Cummings 2006). A user interface that is simple guarantees the presenters extensive independence in managing these facilities. But of course one of support technicians gives support in case of necessity. Several Video conferencing systems offer the possibility to hold meetings with locations distributed across the globe (Cummings 2006).
The contents of a web page can be subscribed using feeds. This is achieved by using Really Simple Syndication software. Any updated information is automatically downloaded and displayed in specific feed readers. Ex Libris Group software: SFX or link resolver: using SFX one can link bibliographic information with full texts. While searching within bibliographic databases, the list of hyperlinks pointing to complete articles from (scientific) magazines is displayed, for which the University will subscribe for a license.
Apart from that, there is a possibility to integrate also other relevant services (e.g. a completed interlibrary loan form, if the complete article is not available) (Satzinger 2009). With the aid of the e-University, all the authorized users can enrol to educational activities, internships and exams. They can check and modify own study plans, as well as fill out online forms.
References
Cummings, H., 2006. Management Information Systems for the Information Age. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.
Satzinger, J.B., 2009. Systems Analysis and Design in a Changing World. 5th ed. Cambridge Mass.: Course Technology.