Contingent Information Systems Development

Situated approaches based on project contingencies are becoming more and more an important research topic for information systems development organizations. The Information Services Organization, which was investigated, has recognized that it should tune its systems development approaches to the specific situation. A model has been developed, dealing with the matching between prevailing contingency factors and the preconditions of already existing situated approaches. Furthermore, a generic process model for systems development, including the information systems operations stage, is proposed. This model makes it possible to derive from it specific systems development strategies. A number of basic development strategies, specific for the Information Services Organization, are described. Preconditions, specific for this organization, are added to the standard situated approaches

Can anybody help? : mitigating IS development project risk with user

In this paper we aim to gain insight into the relationship between user participation modes and project risk factors, and then we construct a model that can be used to determine how user participation can be successfully applied in ISD projects with a given set of risk factors. We perform an in-depth literature review, which aims to clarify the concept of user participation as part of risk management. We then report on the results of a case study in Cap Gemini where we conduct an exploratory research of the application of user participation in practice. For this exploratory research, a quantitative and qualitative research method was designed in the form of a survey and interviews. Though the results from our case study we gain insight into the relationship between user participation and IS project risk and also determine how user participation can be used to mitigate such risk

Group Decision Support forSoftware Requirements Analysis

The importance of Requirements Analysis (RA) in building quality software systems is well documented. However, the involvement of various individuals in RA including users and developers creates numerous communication difficulties in correctly identifying user requirements. The purpose of this research is to formalize the stages of RA and identify methodologies appropriate for each stage, incorporating components of group decision support systems (GDSS) that exploit the group dynamics in facilitating and improving the process. We develop a prototype of this GDSS and test its impact on the quality of R

Directed Questions for Structured Interviews in Requirements Determination

Requirements determination is a critical stage in systems development. Despite its importance, however, few studies have provided empirical tests of requirements determination issues (Vessey and Conger, 1994). The present study tested several questioning approaches in structured interviews: an Interrogatories technique (Couger, 1996), a Semantic questioning technique (Lauer, 1994), and a Task Characteristics technique developed as part of the current research. Experimental results showed that the Task Characteristics technique elicited a higher quantity of requirements and more detailed requirements from subjects in an application development task than did the other two approaches. Further, the three approaches elicited qualitatively similar requirements, indicating that the use of only the Task Characteristics tool is likely best for systems analysis practice

Planning a portfolio of controls for software development

A growing number of software development projects successfully exhibit a mix of agile and traditional software development methodologies. Many of these mixed methodologies are organization specific and tailored to a specific project. Our objective in this research-in-progress paper is to develop an artifact that can guide the development of such a mixed methodology. Using control theory, we design a process model that provides theoretical guidance to build a portfolio of controls that can support the development of a mixed methodology for software development. Controls, embedded in methods, provide a generalizable and adaptable framework for project managers to develop their mixed methodology specific to the demands of the project. A research methodology is proposed to test the model. Finally, future directions and contributions are discussed

Knowledge Transfer through User-Analyst Collaboration during Requirements Elicitation

Requirements elicitation is a critical phase in information systems development (ISD), having significant impacts on software quality and costs. Prior research suggests that it is a collaborative activity, where system requirements-related knowledge is extensively shared between users and analysts. This knowledge sharing can get extremely tenuous given the different knowledge perspectives of the two participant groups. However, till date, no known research has attempted to understand how this collaborative process unfolds and how knowledge is shared between users and analysts. Using data from in-depth interviews with analysts from two organizations, the proposed research study attempts to understand how the requirements elicitation process unfolds, how knowledge is shared, and what impedes/enables knowledge transfer in this critical process