The Systems Development Life Cycle: Planning

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The first phase of the systems development life cycle is the planning phase, sometimes called the investigation phase. During the planning phase the goals and objectives of the new system are clearly defined.

A feasibility study is conducted focusing on the technical, organizational, and economical aspects of the new system. The feasibility study should answer the question "Can the problem be solved?" Once the project is believed feasible, a project plan is developed. The project plan includes:

• Project team: This is a list of all the people who will participate in the project. This list should include managers, analysts, programmers, and every person who will be involved in developing the new system.
• A preliminary budget: Creating a budget at the beginning of the project can be a daunting task. It is important to try to gather accurate numbers in order to create realistic expectations.
• Step by step schedule: Each step of the development cycle should be detailed in a project timeline.

	Although this topic discusses the planning phase as part of the general systems development life cycle, this phase can be applied to developing an e-business solution for an organization.
	Some authors refer to this step as Systems Investigation.

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The feasibility study looks at three main areas of feasibility:

1. Economic feasibility: Is building the new system cost effective?
2. Operational feasibility: Will the new system be used by people in the organization?
3. Technical feasibility: Is it technically possible to create the new system?