370 Part III • Acquiring Information Systems
The SDLC Project Team
Most application systems are developed by a temporary proj-
ect team. When the system project is completed, the team is
disbanded, but a small core of the team may remain to pro-
vide continuity for maintenance tasks. Most project teams
include representatives from both the IS organization and rel-
evant business departments. If several organizational units or
several levels of people within a unit will use the system, the
project team might include representatives from only some
of these different units, including higher-level managers and
experienced end users who will work with the new applica-
tion on a day-to-day basis. The selection of the project team
is therefore critical to the success of a given systems project.
The project team can also vary in membership during
the system’s life cycle: A few members might be assigned
full-time to the project for its entirety, while others might join
the project team only temporarily as their specific knowledge
or skills are required. In addition to an IS manager in a project
leadership role, other IS personnel will be assigned as needed
for the specific application, including systems analysts, appli-
cation programmers, data administration specialists, telecom-
munications specialists, and others. It is also not unusual for
IS specialists from outside the organization to also be used on
systems projects. The IS specialists hired from a contract firm
might bring specific IS knowledge to the project or might be
needed due to the lack of internal resources available to assign
to the project. These personnel could be so well integrated
into the project that they are almost indistinguishable from the
firm’s internal IS personnel.
Historically, the project managerfor a custom appli-
cation was always an IS manager. Today, however, a business
manager with information technology (IT) management
knowledge might be asked to be the project manager, or a
project might have two project managers: a business manag-
er responsible for all user activities, especially for the imple-
mentation phase, and an IS manager responsible for the
activities of all IS personnel. Some guidelines on whether the
manager of a specific project should come from the IS organ-
ization, a business unit, or both are provided in the box “Who
Should Lead the IT Project?” The practitioner press suggests
that assigning both IT and business managers to lead IT proj-
ects is a way to tighten the overall alignment between the IT
organization and the business. According to a recent report,
Cisco Systems, Inc., is giving IT and business leaders joint
responsibility for every IT project (Hoffman, 2003).
Whether or not this role is shared, the project manag-
er(s) is held responsible for the success of the project—for
delivering a quality system, on time, and within budget.
Managing a systems project typically involves coordinat-
ing the efforts of many persons from different organiza-
tional units, some of whom work for the project only on a
part-time or temporary basis. The project manager must
plan the project, determine the SDLC tasks that must be
carried out and the skills required for each task, and esti-
mate how long each will take. The skills of the IS
resources assigned to the project can be just as important
as the number of resources assigned.
The system documentation produced at each step of
the SDLC methodology provides a major tool for communi-
cation across team members and for assessing the quality of
the development effort throughout the life of the system.
Most organizations require that systems for which an SDLC
process is appropriate include business management beyond
those on the project team to provide formal sign-offs at each
milestone of the project.
Thesystems analystrole is also a critical one. These
IS professionals are trained to work with business man-
agers and end users to determine the feasibility of the new
system and to develop detailed system requirements for the
custom application. During the Construction phase, they
work with other IS specialists in designing the system and
help to monitor the adherence to the system requirements.
A good systems analyst has problem-solving skills, a
knowledge of IT capabilities, and a strong understandingWho Should Lead the IT Project
If the project involves new and advanced technology,
Then it should be managed by someone from the IS department.
If the project’s impact would force critical changes in the business,
Then it should be managed by someone from the business unit.
If the project is extremely large and complex,
Then it should be managed by a specialist in project management.
If a project shares all of the above characteristics,
Then senior management should consider multiple project leaders.
[Radding, 1992, based on Applegate]