Key Outcome:
To give key users (management team) the information they need, when they need it, to make the best, most timely decisions so the company can achieve its strategic goals.
System Project Lifecycle:
Define – Design – Construct – Test – Train – Convert ( – Operate – Evaluate – Improve)
10 Stages:
1. Assess the Current Situation
What is the current system? Where does the info come from? How reliable is the information? How easy is it to access by anyone/by all the people who need it? How/how often/by whom does it get updated and published?
2. Define the Ideal Situation
What information does the business need for decision-making? (Not ‘nice-to-haves’, but what info the key people really need and will use to make decisions.)
2.a. Interview key decision-makers to identify each one’s information needs/metrics/CSF’s
2.b. Ditto for all individual decision-maker’s in the business (functional heads, managers)
2.c. Aggregate and analyse all CSF’s
2.d. Agree company-wide CSF’s
2.e. Use company-wide CSF’s to develop/design MIS priorities
3. Prioritise the Company’s Strategic Goals (in tandem with 2.)
Identify company’s strategic goals and identify the critical success factors/key metrics which need to be measured/improved to allow the company to achieve those goals.
3.a. Identify Strategic Goals (small number of easily identifiable operational goals)
3.b. Identify Critical Success Factors (key metrics)
3.c. Revisit final agreed company-wide CSF’s as necessary to prioritise Strategic Goals
Example Strategic Goals with Critical Success Factors
i. Stable/growing customer base
– Increase new customers acquired (risk metric)
– Reduce new customer attrition (risk metric)
– Reduce existing customer attrition (risk metric)
ii. Stable/growing sales
– Increase new customer sales (revenue metric)
– Increase existing customer sales (revenue metric)
– Increase repeat purchases (revenue metric)
iii. Generate profits
– Improve campaign contribution (profitability metric)
– Improve company profitability (profitability metric)
iv. Generate cash
– Maintain positive cash flow (risk metric)
4. Design Best Fit MIS
4.a. Design prototype of ideal system to fit company’s informational needs
4.b. Take account of new system constraints and project time/resource constraints
4.c. Create detailed statement of new system information requirements covering:
i. logical design (system components & data)
ii. physical design (physical location/configuration of system components & data)
Design specification to incude:
⦁ Inputs (transactional data, other data, in-system data, data from external sources)
⦁ Outputs (data, reports, visuals)
⦁ Cross-flows (OMS > Financial; Financial> OMS)
⦁ User interfaces – inputs & outputs (data enry forms, dashboards, report-writers, etc)
⦁ Database design – specifically file organisation
⦁ Data structure – Chart of Accounts, data analysis structure, etc
⦁ How to handle any manual processes (what, who, how)
⦁ Controls over processing, accessing data/reports
⦁ Security (user access levels/controls; backups/recovery plans; audit trails)
⦁ Documentation & Training (who, what, when)
⦁ Data Conversion (cleaning, migration, testing, cutover)
⦁ Organisational changes (tasks, processes, jobs, organisational structure/reporting lines)
5. System Configuration (System Vendor)
Build as per detailed spec. Convert existing reports. Create new reports. Prepare system configuration documentation.
6. Data Conversion
6.a. Plan conversion (including dry run(s) for problem-identification)
6.b. Clean data
6.c. Migrate test data
6.d. Prepare data documentation
7. Testing
7.a. Prepare detailed test plan
7.b. General testing: individual functions/modules; data integrity
7.c. Whole system testing: OMS-Financials integration; data integrity
7.d. Reporting: functionality & integrity
7.e. Error correction & retesting
7.f. User acceptance testing & final certification
8. Training
8.a. Train technical staff (during data conversion / before testing)
8.b. Train end users (during user testing / before cutover)
8.c. Documentation complete (technical, end-user)
9. Cutover
9.a. Cutover / Final data migration
9.b. Final live tests
9.c. Ongoing reviews by live operators
9.d. Live support, debugging, live problem resolution
10. Ongoing Maintenance & Development
Operation. Ongoing evaluation. Identification of opportunities for development and improvement.