WHAT IS SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT?

Systems development is the process of taking a set of business requirements and, through a series of structured stages, translating these into an operational IT system. The stages vary according to the development approach being used – described more fully in Chapter 2, ‘Lifecycle types and their rationales’ – but typically would include the activities shown in Figure 1.1, including:

Figure 1.1 The main stages of systems development:

Other activities may also be involved, such as the procurement and installation of the hardware on which the system will operate.



At one time, systems development was undertaken in a rather haphazard, ad hoc way, and the result depended to a large extent on the competence and enthusiasm of the individual developers. Today, the core importance of IT systems within most organisations means that more structured and manageable processes have been introduced, to reduce the unpredictable ‘human element’ and to make possible the construction of larger and more complex systems.

SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT AND OTHER DISCIPLINES
Systems development does not take place in isolation; it is part of the intricately connected web of disciplines illustrated in Figure 1.2. 

The relationship of systems development to other disciplines may be summarised as follows:


Project management

If a systems development project is to be successful,
technical expertise is not enough; effective project
management is also required. The project manager plans the
undertaking, mobilises the resources required and controls
and coordinates the work. The project manager also ensures
that the various stakeholders are kept onside and committed
to the project’s success. Good project management frees the
development team to concentrate on the difficult technical
task of devising and implementing the solution.

Business analysis

Business analysis is concerned with investigating the business
situation and finding out what are the problems to be solved
or opportunities to be exploited. It involves developing holistic
solutions to business issues, which very often involve the use
of IT in some way. Business analysts are also important for \
eliciting, documenting and managing the requirements for the
new or enhanced IT systems and services.

Systems architecture

Systems architects are concerned with developing an
architecture for the organisation to support and coordinate its
systems and provide a coherent platform for expansion and
development.

Programming

Although within the span of systems development, this is a
specialist area which calls for high levels of technical expertise,
not least in how to exploit to the full the possibilities offered by
the hardware and software available.

Testing

The tester’s role appears at first to be counter-productive in
that he or she is trying to prove that the system does not work.
This is an iterative process and, when the tester struggles to
identify further defects in any version, it can be stated with
some confidence that the system appears to be satisfactory. An
important point to realise, though, is that no testing, however
thorough, can deliver assurance that the software is one
hundred per cent error-free.

Configuration management and change control

As systems have become more complex, it has become even
management and more important to know the latest version of the system, the
change control components it is made up of and how these relate to each
other. The discipline of managing these components is known
as ‘configuration management’ and it is related to change
control, which is a process for managing changes to a system
or product in a controlled way.


Quality control and Quality control assurance

consists of the processes – for example, reviews
quality assurance or code inspections – that are employed within a project team
to ensure that the delivered products meet their defined quality
criteria. Quality assurance is an external process that ensures that quality control is being exercised; it also puts in place things like standards to assist in quality control.

Service management

 Service management is concerned with managing and maintaining the services provided by IT systems. It includes, for example, such activities as facilities management – controlling the supporting IT infrastructure – and applications management – supporting and enhancing the applications once they have been delivered initially

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