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Strategy
Strategy stage focuses on development of a detailed understanding of the
strategic requirements envisioned by the client for the newly developed
system.
Strategy stage interviews often involve managers who can provide a clear
understanding of the high-level motivation for the development project.
Common motivations include: changes in processes, a need for systems that
better support work tasks, or resolution of
problems with existing systems.
Typically, a high-level data model is developed, user demographics and
needs are outlined, and high-level descriptions of desired system features and
data processing modules are developed. In addition, a detailed
examination of the organization's existing data is often performed as a
cross-check on information obtained by other methods, and also to highlight
data characteristics that may have major impacts on data migration complexity
and expense.
The end goal of this stage is to propose a "plausible system
architecture" for the new system that demonstrates the basic
feasibility of the project, and to provide a reasonably reliable set of
cost estimates for the development effort.
Products
- High-Level Data Model - diagram or series of diagrams outlining the
major data subjects tracked within the new
system, together with the relationships between them.
(high-level data model example)
- Legacy Data Report - highlights features of existing
data systems that may have significant impact on data migration expenses
and timelines. Data migration expenses can sometimes be so high that
development plans must be altered in a fundamental fashion to remain on
budget.
(legacy data report example)
- Preliminary System Architecture - provides high-level outlines
of system architectures that might work for the current development. These
are not final proposals, but are developed primarily to demonstrate fundamental
feasibility of the development by outlining plausible approaches that might be used.
These outlines also occasionally help guide information gathering activities
needed to distinguish the most advantageous approach.
(proposed design example)
- Preliminary Work Plan - outlines each major task in the project and
the resources required to complete that task. This document often provides
the basis of further discussions to ensure that project goals are
appropriate to the available budget.
(prelim work plan example)
- Statement Of Work - provides high-level description of work to be
completed in later stages of development. Also provides summarized estimates of
resources and expected costs derived from the Preliminary Work Plan.
(statement of work example)
- Tangential Study Reports - outlines conclusions of any studies
performed to clarify high-level feasibility issues.
(tangential study example)
- Vision And Scope - outlines the
high-level features of the system to be developed, including important
features of the business and computing environments and characteristics
of prominent user groups.
(vision and scope example 1,
vision and scope example 2,
vision and scope explanation)
Work Process
Work on strategy stage products typically overlaps, but the majority of the work usually
proceeds in this sequence:
- User Requirements Interviews
As information from interviews is accumulated, the following products
are updated to include that information:
- Vision and Scope
- High-Level Data Model
- Legacy Data Report
- High-Level Data Model
Usually incorporates a great deal of information derived from the
examinations of current systems leading to the Legacy Data Report
- Tangential Study Report
- Preliminary System Architecture
- Preliminary Work Plan
- Statement of Work
Last modified: 12:38:19 23-Jan-2009