System Development Methods

CT00046-3-2

Comparing Methodologies
 System Development Methodologies (SDM)

SDM

Structured/ Agile/ Modern

Traditional Methodologies Methodologies

V-
Waterfall SSADM DSDM RAD SCRUM RUP SPIRAL XP
Model

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 Topic & Structure of the Lesson

❑Comparing Methodologies
❑Framework
❑Blending Methodologies

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 Learning Outcomes

At the end of the module, you should be able to:

1. Describe the criteria needed to compare methodologies.
2. Explain how a framework is used to select a
methodology for a project.
3. Understand the purpose of blending methodologies.

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 Key Terms you must be able to use

If you have mastered this topic, you should be able to use the
following terms correctly in your assignment and exam:

❑Comparing Methodologies
❑Framework
❑Blending Methodologies

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 Comparisons of Methodologies

❑ Comparison made to select one (or more) suitable methodology for a project.
❑ Wrong selection (or no methodology) would be disastrous. According to the
report by Hass (2007), the following are the troubling results from the past
projects:
▪ $80 -145 billion per year is spent on failed and cancelled projects (The Standish
Group International, Inc.)
▪ 25% - 40% of all spending on projects is wasted as a result of re-work (Carnegie
Mellon)
▪ 50% are rolled back out of production (Gartner)
▪ 40% of problems are found by end-users (Gartner)
▪ Poorly defined applications have led to a persistent miscommunication between
business and IT. This contributes to a 66% project failure rate for these applications,
costing U.S. businesses at least $30 billion every year (Forrester Research)
▪ 60% - 80% of project failures can be attributed directly to poor requirements
gathering, analysis, and management (Meta Group)

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 Comparisons of Methodologies
(continued)

❑ Nearly two thirds of all IT projects fail or run into trouble.

(see figure below for the results of the 2006 CHAOS
Survey)

Source: The blending of traditional and agile project management (Hass, 2007)
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 Choosing the right Methodology
depends on …..

❑The type of problems and suggested solution

▪ Direct solution, hypothesis, anomalies, etc.
❑The type of project
▪ Exclusive, corporate, partnership, outsourced, etc.
▪ Speed of the project.
❑Type of products
▪ Mobile, web, stand-alone, enterprise / corporate, etc.
▪ The expected output (conceptual, working product, etc.)
❑Requirements are fixed or can be often changing.
❑Size and budget of the project

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 Choosing the right Methodology
depends on ….. (continued)

❑Knowledge of developer
▪ Developer trained specifically under one methodology. Have
enough resources for most of the process.
▪ Developers can be easily trained on the methodology.
▪ The Vendor/partner is familiar with the methodology you use.
▪ Tools that developer have VS tools recommended by the
methodology
❑Support for a methodology is easily obtained
▪ Tools, technologies, infrastructure, etc.
▪ Experts are available.
❑Availability of users throughout the project.

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 Comparing Methodologies
Example

Features Waterfall V-Model Spiral RAD

Identification of At the beginning of At the beginning of a At the beginning of a Flexible and

requirements a project project project adaptable to
specifications changes
Cost Low Expensive Expensive Low

Expertise High Medium High Medium

Flexibility Rigid Little flexible Flexible High

Maintenance Least Least Typical Easily maintained

Duration Medium to Long Medium to Long Medium to Long Short term project
term project term project term project

Source: Mishra & Dubey (2013)

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 Framework

❑ Frameworks are a systematic way of applying methodologies

❑ It allows developers to see the system from different ‘point of view’
❑ It shows the most efficient solutions for problems.
❑ Example: MULTIVIEW framework, NIMSAD framework.
▪ MULTIVIEW: Looks at a scenario from many views and creates an
automated design based on the captured tasks. Focuses on
Organizational analysis, Information analysis, Technical design, Human
computer interaction and Work design.
▪ NIMSAD: A methodology for selecting and evaluating a methodology
using three criteria: the problem situation, the problem solver and the
problem-solving process.

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 NIMSAD Framework

❑ Normative Information Model-based Systems Analysis and Design

(NIMSAD) is a general framework that was derived from problem-solving
industry, consultancy practice and ‘action research’, and can be used for
evaluating any methodology.
❑ The reasons for developing a framework for assisting methodology users
arose because of the availability of so many methodologies, and the
difficulties for problem solvers in selection and use.
❑ The aims of NIMSAD framework are:
▪ Serve as a way of understanding the areas of problem solving, in
general.
▪ Help evaluate methodologies, their structure, steps, form, nature, etc.
▪ Help to draw conclusions.

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 NIMSAD Framework
Elements

❑The NIMSAD framework has four essential elements,

namely:
❑The ‘problem situation’ (the methodology context)
❑The intended problem solver (the methodology user)
❑The problem-solving process (the methodology)
❑The evaluation of the above three

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 NIMSAD Framework
The ‘problem situation’

❑Most problem situations are set within an organizational context;

thus, organizations are important for methodologies because:
▪ The effectiveness of information processing systems can be
measured only to the extent of their contribution to
information users in organizations.
▪ In order to develop an information processing system, we need
to interact with organizational members, to know what
information they use now, to discover what problems they are
trying to solve with this information, to understand how the
information processing system that we design are going to
operate, and to know how exactly they are going to solve the
identified problem, etc.

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 NIMSAD Framework
The ‘intended problem solver’

❑Intended problem solvers, tend to select some elements of the

situation as being relevant and useful for study and
transformation. Some of this selection are implicit and
unconscious (based on gut feelings, assumptions), and some are
explicit concepts, models and methodologies that are employed.
❑Some characteristics constitute the intended problem solver’s
‘mental construct’ including:
❑ Perceptual process acts as a filter to information from the ‘action
world’ and determine what information is to be significant.
❑Values help to pass judgement on situations or to assess the actions,
behavior, output and performance of others.

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 NIMSAD Framework
The ‘intended problem solver’
(continued)

❑ Ethics is related to the standards which we and others place on a

person’s expected behaviour.
❑ Motives are those needs that we try to satisfy in each situation but keep
private to ourselves
❑ Prejudices can be defined as persistent opinions which we form from our
values, experiences, or out of insecurity. This may be useful to the extent
that they help to reduce the time we spend on information gathering.
❑ Experiences are an invaluable source for developing knowledge and
skills and help to form implicit models for structuring our understanding
of situations.

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 NIMSAD Framework
The ‘intended problem solver’
(continued)

❑ Reasoning ability is an ability to abstract the essential aspects from any

situation and to understand the concepts underlying out thought
processes i.e., examine what makes us reason in a particular way.
❑ Knowledge and skills are acquired from education, training, experience.
❑ Roles can be defined as the explicit behavioural characteristics sets that
can be attributed to someone responsible for performing a set of tasks.

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 NIMSAD Framework
The ‘problem-solving process’

❑In the problem-solving process, the problem formulation phase

can be expressed in several stages, namely:
❑ Problem Formulation
▪ Stage 1: understanding of the ‘situation of concern’
▪ Stage 2: performing the diagnosis
▪ Stage 3: defining the prognosis outline
▪ Stage 4: defining problems
▪ Stage 5: deriving notional systems
❑ Solution Design
▪ Stage 6: performing conceptual/logical design
▪ Stage 7: performing physical design
❑ Design Implementation
▪ Stage 8: implementing the designs

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 NIMSAD Framework
The ‘evaluation’

❑The evaluation helps to measure the effectiveness of the

problem-solving process and the problem solver in the
‘problem situation’.
❑Some aspects of evaluation to be carried out include:
▪ To assess whether the designed systems were
implemented within the limits or resources, time, and
efforts.
▪ To assess whether the ‘action systems’ do what they are
supposed to do i.e., the features of the notional systems
have been realized.
▪ To assess whether the ‘problems’ have been resolved.

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 Blending Methodologies

❑Sometimes one methodology is not sufficient for a

particular project.
▪ The project might be blended as well
▪ Vendors are involved / part of the project has been
outsourced
❑A blended methodology is a methodology that has been
created by “blending” together other methodologies.

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 Blending Methodologies
(continued)

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 Blending Methodologies
Example

• A study by Rahmanian (2014) has proposed a blending methodology

which composed of the Waterfall methodology and SCRUM.
• The Waterfall methodology provides a sequential development process
with a lack of capability to accept frequent changes. Whilst, SCRUM
provides various types of communication ways i.e. Sprint planning
meeting, daily Scrum meeting, Sprint review, and Sprint Retrospective.
• The blended methodology is divided into two parts: one part requires a
high level of planning, and the other one requires a high level of agility.
During the initial stage. The project team and client apply a "waterfall-
up-front" to determine detailed requirements. While the agile approach
during the design, implementation, and unit testing phases helps to
speed up the process, reduce risks of rework, delays, and rescheduling. At
last, the "waterfall-at- end" support for high-level testing and user
acceptance.

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 Blending Methodologies
Example (continued)

A Blending Methodology for Software Development and Project Management (Rahmanian, 2014)
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 Conclusions on System Development
Methodologies

All Methodologies include:

❑Stages – steps on what to do throughout a project
❑TOOLS – often CASE TOOLS includes any use of computer-
based support in the software development, help to simplify the
task.
▪ Testing Tool to test other software.
▪ Code Generator to generate programming codes from design.
❑TECHNIQUES - different ways of doing tasks.
▪ Prototyping – A model of the system developed to get
feedback
▪ Fact-finding using techniques such as interviews, surveys,
document review, observation, and sampling.
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 Summary

❑ Methodology comparison made to select one (or more) suitable methodology

for a project, as wrong selection (or no methodology) would be disastrous.
❑ Choosing the right methodology for a project should consider the type of
problems and suggested solution, the type of project, type of products, users'
requirements and availability, size and budget of the project, knowledge of
developers, and support to a methodology.
❑ The NIMSAD framework is used to evaluate a methodology based on
‘problem situation’, problem solver, and problem-solving process.
❑ A blended methodology is a methodology that has been created by
“blending” together with other methodologies, for example blending
traditional and Agile methodologies.
❑ All system development methodologies include various stages (– steps on
what to do throughout a project), tools (software that helps to simplify the
task), and techniques (different ways of doing tasks).

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 Question & Answer

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 Next Session

• System Planning

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 References

❑ Rahmanian, M. (2014). A comparative study on hybrid IT project

management. International Journal of Computer and Information
Technology, 3(05), 1096-1099.
❑ Mishra, A., & Dubey, D. (2013). A comparative study of different software
development life cycle models in different scenarios. International Journal
of Advance research in computer science and management studies, 1(5).
❑ Hass, K. B. (2007). The blending of traditional and agile project
management. PM world today, 9(5), 1-8.
❑ Jayaratna, N. (1994). Understanding and evaluating methodologies:
NIMSAD, a systematic framework. McGraw-Hill, Inc.
❑ Tilley, S. (2019). Systems Analysis and Design 12th Edition. Cengage
Learning. ISBN-13: 978-0357117811. ISBN-10: 0357117816
❑ Pressman, R., & Maxim, B. (2019). Software Engineering: A Practitioner's
Approach 9th Edition. McGraw Hill. ISBN-13: 978-1259872976. ISBN-10:
1259872971
❑ Dennis, A., Wixom, B,. & Roth, R.M. (2021). Systems Analysis and Design 8th
Edition. Wiley. ISBN: 978-1-119-80378-2
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