An information system development life cycle describes a step-by-step approach to information systems development. In general, it consists of four major phases.

[1] The Planning phase focuses on determining if there is justification to build and information system and developing a plan to accomplish the development project. The project sponsor works with the I.T. department to develop a preliminary assessment of the projects economic, technical and organizational feasibilities. Questions addressed include: is it worth doing, is it technically possible for the organization, will it be used? Upon review of these feasibilities if committee approves the project, a project plan will be developed. Components of a project plan include project staffing requirements, work schedule and timelines, and project management procedures and policies.

[2] The Analysis phase is focused on understanding the existing situation and determining needs and requirements expected from new information system.

Analyze the current information system (even if its a manual system). List its strengths and weaknesses and used the problems identified to formulate objectives for the new information system by defining the functions and capabilities it should have. Next, express ideas for new information systems processing and data requirements with models business process models (such as the data flow diagram that documents the business processes and data that passes among them, in other words, the transformation process in converting inputs into outputs) and data models (such as the entity relationship diagram). Then, prepare and present a formal information system proposal by assembling the analyses results. The approval committee will determine if the new information system has enough merit to continue development. If there is, move on to the next phase.

[3] The Design phase refines the information system requirements (from Analysis) and develops specifications for how the new information system will fulfill those requirements. In this phase, the appropriate means of developing the information system (in-house development, purchase of pre-written software, or outsourcing development to a third party) will be decided. Next, basic hardware, software and networking (data communications) required are determined. In addition, the overall user interface structure of the information system, including screen displays, inputs and outputs views of the system, and users navigation through the information system are designed. Then, design the database and tables (files) from which data will be drawn from, and, develop plans and outline for each application program that will be written to implement the functions and capabilities of the new information system. Arising from all the above is the Information System Specification which forms the primary basis of construction work.

[4] The Implementation phase involves constructing or installing the new information system, testing, converting, training, and providing support for the new information system. In this phase, programs are developed and tested to verify performance, various data communication infrastructure components are installed. Transition to the new information system is aided by development and conducting training programs in order to enable end users to get thoroughly familiarized with the new information system. User manuals, procedure manuals, training manuals and materials are developed. In this phase, the project team not only should evaluate the development process for lessons learned from the project, but also establish methods for identifying and implementing change to the information system as needed and plans for information system support.

Question 2: Not all information system development efforts are successful. Apart from issues related to failure in communicating a clear set of end-users information system requirements to I.T. professionals building the system, what other factors (provide as many as you can provide), in your opinion, might contribute to the failure of an information system development effort?