Stages of SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle)
System development life cycle is an interactive process with different stages.
Stage 1: Requirement gathering
System analyst must gather the requirement from the client and document it into a requirement document. The requirements gathered at this stage would direct all further stages.
Stage 2: System design
The analyst forwards the requirement document to the engineering team where the designers and architect create a high-level and low-level design document. The business use cases are identified based on the requirement document.
Stage 3: system development
The engineering team starts coding and development of the system based on the designed documents. In this stage as well, a reference to original requirements is maintained.
Stage 4: Testing
A testing team must perform a system testing and acceptance testing for the developed code. The test cases are created by referring to requirement and the design document. This stage is followed by deployment and maintenance stages.
(Balaji, & Murugaiyan, 2012)
Criteria to Prioritize IT Projects
The three criteria to prioritize the project by the IT steering committee are profitability, risk, and value to the customer. The value to the customer as highest priority is followed by risk and profitability (Teece, 2010). The customer is at the highest priority because it is the source of the projects.
IT Architecture and the IT Roadmap Relationship
IT roadmap is the vision of the project. A roadmap defines the starting points and the path to reach the goals. Road Map is the blueprint while IT architecture is the building block. Roadmap can be strategic or technology (Huang). IT architecture fulfills for both the type of road map as it defines the strategic choice of technology and the technology stack for the actual system development (Garlan, 2000).
IT Positions
a. An organization whose IT strategy is to outsource their IT operations must have a director of operations. The director of operations ensures that the vendor and contractors perform their work and deliver as promised.
b. An organization with in-house IT operations must have a director of IT strategic planning and a director of technology architecture. Both would have several low-level managers and technical leaders for performing the specific IT related activities spanning the SDLC.
Business Continuity Planning
Business continuity planning refers to the task of creating a plan that prevents potential threats to the organization and also creates a recovery plant in the event of a disaster. It consists of a life cycle that includes analysis, ution design, implementation, testing, and maintenance (Melton, & 2009). A business continuity plan must be carried out under the supervision of the IT architect in consultation with the solution design team.
IT Strategic Plan and Business Strategic Plan
IT strategic plan and the Business strategic plan must be in alignment to create a successful IT strategic roadmap. It consists of an understanding of the IT applications, services, and technologies along with the business objectives. The IT and Business alignment consists of having a shared focus, credible working relationship, and a deep understanding between both the teams. A successful alignment must consist of support from executives of both the teams, clear expectations and the articulated role of IT and business teams (Teece, 2010, pp. 172-194).
IT Architecture
IT architecture provides several benefits including a well-designed product, defined rules and standards for the system development, leveraging of existing knowledge, flexibility and experience of architects. The IT architecture is in alignment with the IT roadmap (Bosch, 2004, pp. 194). IT steering committee of an organization utilizes the IT architecture to drive the system development. It also uses an effective architecture to oversee risk, create practices and a collaborative development environment. It enables the IT steering committee to respond quickly to business requirements and identify opportunities and threats.
Outsourcing Reasons
A CIO of an organization must choose to outsource the products sometimes at a greater cost to another company because of several reasons. The reasons mainly consist of a cost analysis and analysis of the focus of the company. Outsourcing enables an organization to free their internal resources and drive the core business process (Earl, 1996). A CIO might take such a decision to expand and gain new markets. Essentially the outsourcing decision by a CIO is based upon the vision and purpose of taking the decision.
Role of CIO (Chief Information Officer)
The role of CIO is evolving as the businesses evolve. A CIO of current businesses must take decisions and actions that directly impact the business growth ("The evolving role of the CIO", 2008, pp. 266). IT is not a support function anymore rather it is now a key function for business growth in most organizations. A CIO has to provide delivery of infrastructure and services, for any new implementation, the CIO must be requirement centered and flexible to change of requirements.
Change Management
Change Management has three essential stages that include adapting the change, controlling the change and effecting the change (Aladwani, 2001). For an IT organization change management means implementing and defining the new procedures, processes and technologies. More specifically to IT, it is the track of the details of the system including monitoring through various tools like SiteScope, a log of applied fixes and a track of regular system releases.
Reference
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