Information Systems Development Methodologies

Learning Outcomes

This course analyses the five main components of an Information System, the different types of IS and issues associated with the implementation and application of IS. With the completion of the course, the student will be in position:

• to understand and become familiar with the key concepts and principles of information systems, addressing both architectural and implementation aspects.
• to know the main characteristics of the programming languages used to implement information systems, as well as the key principles for the interconnection of different application components of an information system.
• to implement IS projects using various programming techniques and methodologies, including modern tools for code generation and low/no-code development.
• to incorporate modern methodologies and techniques like DevOps and CI/CD into the development process.

to assure the quality of large-scale software and systems in a production environment.

General Competences

• Search for, analysis and synthesis of data and information by the use of appropriate technologies.
• Adapting to new situations.
• Decision-making.
• Individual/Independent work.
• Working in an interdisciplinary environment.
• Project planning and management
• Critical thinking.
• Development of free, creative and inductive thinking.

Course Contents

• Introduction to the field of Information Systems (IS) and a presentation of their basic concepts and structural components. The basic principles of systems theory, the life cycle of an Information System, and the IS-organization relationship will be examined (software, hardware, processes, and human resources).
• Special emphasis will be given to business processes, as their automation via computers is the most significant reason for the adoption of IS by organizations. The study of business processes, their modeling, and their improvement will be covered.
• Analysis of the main categories of modern information systems development methodologies (evolutionary, agile, etc.) for different project types, and a study of the most popular methodologies (AGILE, Waterfall, Spiral, Rapid Application Development – RAD, Rational Unified Process – RUP, etc.), as well as of the related tools and techniques.
• To make IS development more understandable, practical methods like the critical path method are expected to be used. Subsequently, factors influencing IS adoption will be studied, along with issues related to the organizational changes brought about by IS development.
• Study of DevOps methodologies and techniques and creation of continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) processes, automated testing, and operational monitoring.
• Application of software quality assurance processes and operation of large-scale systems in a production environment.
• In parallel, the socioeconomic impacts of information technology and IS will be studied, as well as their strategic role.

Suggested Bibliography

• Βασιλακόπουλος Γ.: “Πληροφοριακά Συστήματα” 2η έκδοση, Εκδόσεις Τσότρα, 2018.
• David Avison, Guy Fitzgerald, “Information Systems Development”, McGraw-Hill Education, 2002
• Laudon K.C. & Laudon J.P.: “Management Information Systems”, 14th edition, Pearson Education (US). 2022.

Related scientific journals

• Information Systems Journal, Wiley. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652575
• Information Systems Frontiers, Springer. https://link.springer.com/journal/10796
• IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. https://www.computer.org/csdl/journal/ts