Diploma in Information Technology

System Development Techniques

Lesson 17
Learning outcomes
After studying this chapter and the recommended
reading, you should be able to:
• Describe the deployment activities
• List various approaches to data conversion and
system deployment
• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the
approaches
• Describe training and user support requirements for
new and operational systems
Deployment
 Deployment Activities
• Deployment activities
– involve many conflicting constraints
• cost,
• need to maintain positive customer relations,
• need to support employees,
• logistical complexity,
• overall risk to the organization.
– main activities
• UAT
• Converting and Initializing Data
• Training Users
• Configuring the Production Environment
 Converting and Initializing Data
• Converting and Initializing Data
– An operational system requires a fully populated database
to support ongoing processing.
• For example, online order-entry and management functions rely
on stored information about products, promotions, customers,
and previous orders.
– Developers must ensure that such information is present
in the database at the moment the subsystem becomes
operational.
 Converting and Initializing Data
• Converting and Initializing Data
– Data needed at system start-up can be obtained from
these sources:
• Files or databases of a system being replaced
• Manual records
• Files or databases from other systems in the organization
• User feedback during normal system operation
 Converting and Initializing Data
• Converting and Initializing Data
– Reusing Existing Databases
• Most new information systems replace or augment an existing
manual or automated system.
• Pluck the old system out and attached the new system into the
existing database.
• In the simplest form, old system’s database is used directly by the
new system with little or no change to the database structure.
• For upgraded systems, some changes to database content are
usually required. Typical changes include adding new tables,
adding new attributes, and modifying existing tables or attributes.
 Converting and Initializing Data
• Converting and Initializing Data
– Reloading Databases
• More complex changes to database structure may
require creating an entirely new database and copying
and converting data from the old database to the new
database.
• Utility programs supplied with the DBMS are used to
copy and convert the data.
• In more complex conversions, implementation staff
must develop programs to perform the conversion and
transfer some or all of the data.
 Training Users
• Training Users
– is an essential part of any system deployment project
– two type of users
• end users
– people who use the system from day to day to achieve the
system’s business purpose.
• system operators
– people who perform administrative functions and routine
maintenance to keep the system operating.
 Training Users
• Training Users
– Documentation and other training materials
• usually developed before formal user training begins.
• Each documentation type is targeted to a different
purpose and audience.
• Documentation can be loosely classified into two types:
– System documentation.
» Descriptions of system requirements, architecture, and
construction details
– User documentation.
» Descriptions of how to interact with and use the system
 Training Users
• System Documentation
– provides information to developers and other technical
personnel who will maintain and upgrade the system.
– generated throughout the SDLC by each core process and
many development activities.
– System documentation developed during early project
iterations guides activities in later iterations, and
documentation developed throughout the SDLC guides
future system maintenance and upgrades
 Training Users
• User Documentation
– provides ongoing support for end users of the system.
– describes routine operation of the system, including such
functions as data entry, output generation, and periodic
maintenance.
– Topics typically covered include the following:
• Software start-up and shutdown
• Keystroke, mouse, or command sequences required to perform
specific functions
• Program functions required to implement specific business
procedures (e.g., the steps followed to enter a new customer
order)
• Common errors and ways to correct them
 Configuring the Production
Environment
• Configuring the Production Environment
– Modern applications are built from software components
based on interaction standards, such as
• Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA),
• Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP),
• Java Platform Enterprise Edition (Java EE).
• Microsoft .NET
– Each standard defines specific ways in which components
locate and communicate with one another.
 Configuring the Production
Environment
• Configuring the Production Environment
– Each standard also defines a set of supporting system
software to provide needed services, such as maintaining
component directories, enforcing security requirements,
and encoding and decoding messages across networks and
other transport protocols.
– The exact system software, its hardware, and its
configuration requirements vary substantially among the
component interaction standards.
 Configuring the Production
Environment
• Configuring the Production Environment
– The diagram shows a typical support infrastructure for an
application deployed using Microsoft .NET, a variant of
SOAP.
 Configuring the Production
Environment
• Configuring the Production Environment
– Application software components written in such
programming languages as Visual Basic and C# are stored
on one or more application servers.
 Configuring the Production
Environment
• Configuring the Production Environment
– Other required services include
• a Web server for browser-based
interfaces,
• a database server to manage the
database,
• an Active Directory server to
authenticate users and authorize
access to information and software
resources,
• a router and firewall, and
• a server to operate such low-level
Internet services as domain
naming system (DNS) and Internet
address allocation (DHCP).
 Configuring the Production
Environment
• Configuring the Production Environment
– Unless it already exists, all this hardware and system software
infrastructure must be acquired, installed, and configured
before application software can be installed and tested.
– In most cases, some or all of the infrastructure will already
exist—to support existing information systems.
• In that case, developers work closely with personnel who
administer the existing infrastructure to plan the support for the
new system.
– In either case, this deployment activity typically starts early in
the project so software components can be developed, tested,
and deployed as they are developed in later project iterations.
 Summary
The main activities for deployment are
• UAT
• Converting and Initializing Data
– Reusing Existing Databases
– Reloading Databases
• Training Users: End users and System operator
– System documentation for System operator
» Descriptions of system requirements, architecture, and
construction details
– User documentation.
» Descriptions of how to interact with and use the system
• Configuring the Production Environment
– Modern applications are built from software components based on
interaction standards. Each standard defines specific ways in which
components locate and communicate with one another.
Read

Textbook:
• Satzinger, Robert & Stephen Chapter 14