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 identified 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.