Selecting from the many currently available systems development methodologies (SDMs) and development techniques is a difficult problem with economic, technical, and behavioral implications. A quantitative approach to the selection problem is presented. The selection model begins with a definition of a superset of functions expected of a systems development tool. Functions are then weighted, using a Delphi approach to achieve acceptable valuations among System managers. Next, each approach under consideration is evaluated with respect to each function desired. After scores are computed for each methodology, economic arid qualitative aspects such as training availability and cost can be used to differentiate the highest ranked alternatives. A four-person MBA project team from the Graduate School of Management at the University of Minnesota, with the guidance from the authors, applied the model to a methodology selection problem. In addition to producing a quantitative ranking of competing methodologies, the approach described furthered understanding of the functions to be performed by the methodologies being considered. It also gained acceptance, admittedly reluctant, of the recommended methodology from managers who strongly advocated their own favorites.
Leading MIS executives and academicians have identified systems development as one of the most critical issues of the 1980s. Their concerns include providing user accessibility to stored information, reducing development cost and delay, increasing developer productivity, and increasing MIS's impact on organizational growth, productivity, and profitability. Among the number of proposed alternative approaches to traditional systems development, prototyping is mentioned frequently. Prototyping is routine in hardware development but not software. The authors review published references to prototyping and related concepts and synthesize a process model for information systems. In this model, resource requirements are enumerated and discussed. The article includes an analysis of the economics of prototyping, and a brief discussion of several examples. Prototyping for information systems development addresses today's critical issues; it will no doubt raise a new set of research questions for tomorrow.