Acme Medical Data Storage LLC offers consumers a service that allows them to store their personal medical data on the Internet, for fast and easy retrieval by doctors or other healthcare personnel in the event of a medical emergency. Acme provides a website in which customers can set up an account and enter or update their medical information. On receipt of a signed authorization form, Acme will obtain a copy of a customer's medical file from the customer's personal physician, and scan the information into Acme's database. Acme provides customers with wallet cards and medical ID bracelets telling healthcare personnel how to access the customer's information online if needed, even if the customer is unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate. Acme charges customers $25 per month for this service, billed automatically to a credit card.
Acme was founded five years ago by Dr. Stanley Livingston, an entrepreneurial physician, and Bill Doors, a talented young computer programmer. The company has grown rapidly and now earns about $10 million in annual revenue. Stanley is President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Bill serves as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO). Bill and Stanley want to continue to grow the company quickly, expand into related services, and take the company public within five more years.
Acme's Information Systems (IS) staff includes one manager, two systems analysts, five software engineers, two system administrators, one database administrator, two network engineers, and two technicians. The IS group is responsible for the medical records database, the company website, the customer billing system, the company's internal Local Area Network (LAN), and standard internal business systems for accounting, purchasing, human resources management, and marketing/business intelligence.
Since Acme is a Web-based company that is growing rapidly, the IS staff makes frequent updates and enhancements to its website and medical database to improve performance and offer new features. For example, the company is currently working on an upgrade to allow digitizing and storing x-rays and other medical images. Bill and Stanley both believe that the company must upgrade its technology rapidly to stay ahead of larger, better-funded competitors like Microsoft and Google, both of whom are rumored to be entering the field.
Acme deals with sensitive health-related records; therefore, the company is subject to extensive laws and regulations concerning privacy, security, and information accuracy. Its credit-card billing operation must also comply with numerous financial regulations imposed by government and the major credit-card companies.
Up until now, Acme has not used a formal System Development Life Cycle (SDLC). However, Bill believes that it is time to adopt one, as the IS group has grown to the point where informal methods no longer work well. Bill has asked you, Acme's newest systems analyst, to investigate how well one particular SDLC model that he has in mind, would work for Acme.
Upon completing this lab, you will be able to:
- Describe a selected System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) model in terms of its major phases, characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages;
- Examine the fit between a selected SDLC model and the characteristics of a particular organization; and
- Examine the fit between a selected SDLC model and the characteristics of a particular project.