WHAT’S NEW IN THE FIFTH EDITION
The fifth edition contains several significant enhancements, including new and
updated content, a new Spotlight on Ethics feature, a new example scenario, and
many new Concepts in Action.
In Part 1, Planning, the discussion of the role of the systems analyst has been
revised, with new emphasis on the business analyst role, plus an overview of potential
career path options. New to this edition, Business Process Management (BPM)
is introduced to provide a context for how well-managed organizations continuously
seek to refine and enhance business processes. BPM frequently identifies the
need for new or revised information systems to support business processes. This
important connection between BPM and information system development projects
is emphasized. The discussion of Business Process Automation (BPA), Business
Process Improvement (BPI), and Business Process Reengineering (BPR) has
been moved to Chapter 1 to help classify the types of projects that may be identi-
fied from BPM initiatives. The section on Economic Feasibility has been revised
and reorganized in response to requests from adopters of the book. We have moved
the explanation of the detailed calculations associated with project cash flow analysis
and measures of project value from an appendix into Chapter 1, and have
improved and clarified the discussion to aid student understanding. Finally, we have
expanded our discussion of Agile Development in the section on development
methodologies in order to provide more coverage of this development approach.
This textbook does not attempt to provide complete coverage of Agile Development
methodologies, however.
Part 2, Analysis, has been substantially changed in order to provide a more
rigorous and thorough treatment of Requirements Determination. We provide an