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152 part 2 • inforMation requireMents analysis

CONSULTING OPPORTUNITY 6.1

Is Prototyping King?

“As you know, we’re an enthusiastic group. We’re not a As you formulate a response to Paul, you think back over
dynasty yet, but we’re working on it,” Paul LeGon tells you. Paul the few weeks you’ve worked with Pyramid, Inc. You think
(introduced in Consulting Opportunity 2.3), at 24 years of age, is that the business problems its information system must resolve
the “boy king” of Pyramid, Inc., a small but successful independent are very straightforward. You also know that the people in the
book-publishing firm that specializes in paperback books outside company are on a limited budget and cannot afford to spend
of the publishing mainstream. As a systems analyst, you have been like kings. Actually, the entire project is quite small.
hired by Pyramid, Inc., to help develop a computerized warehouse Ceil, building on what Paul has said, tells you, “We
inventory and distribution information system. don’t mean to be too wrapped up with it, but we feel pro-
“We’re hiring lots of workers,” Paul continues, as if to con- totyping represents the new world. And that’s where we all
vince you of the vastness of Pyramid’s undertaking. “And we feel want to be. We know we need a prototype. Have we con-
Pyramid is positioned perfectly as far as our markets in the north, vinced you?"
south, east, and west are concerned. Based on Paul’s and Ceil’s enthusiasm for prototyping
“My assistant, Ceil Toom, and I have been slaving away, and what you know about Pyramid’s needs, would you sup-
thinking about the new system. And we’ve concluded that what port construction of a prototype? Why or why not? Formulate
we really need is a prototype. As a matter of fact, we’ve tunneled your decision and response in a letter to Paul LeGon and Ceil
through a lot of material. Our fascination with the whole idea has Toom. Present a justification for your decision based on over-
really pyramided.” all criteria that should be met to justify prototyping.

NONOPERATIONAL PROTOTYPE. The second conception of a prototype is that of a nonworking
scale model that is set up to test certain aspects of the design. An example of this approach is a
full-scale model of an automobile that is used in wind tunnel tests. The size and shape of the auto
are precise, but the car is not operational. In this case, only features of the automobile that are
essential to wind tunnel testing are included.
A nonworking scale model of an information system might be produced when the coding
required by the applications is too extensive to prototype but when a useful idea of the system
can be gained through the prototyping of the input and output only. In this instance, processing,
because of undue cost and time, would not be prototyped. Users could still make decisions on the
utility of the system, based on their use of prototyped input and output.
FIRST-OF-A-SERIES PROTOTYPE. A third conception of prototyping involves creating a first full-
scale model of a system, often called a pilot. An example is prototyping the first airplane of a
series and then seeing if it flies before building a second. The prototype is completely operational
and is a realization of what the designer hopes will be a series of airplanes with identical features.
This type of prototyping is useful when many installations of the same information system
are planned. The full-scale working model allows users to experience realistic interaction with
the new system, but it minimizes the cost of overcoming any problems it presents. For example,
when a retail grocery chain intends to use electronic data interchange (EDI) to check in suppli-
ers’ shipments in a number of outlets, a full-scale model might be installed in one store so users
could work through any problems before the system is implemented in all the others.
SELECTED FEATURES PROTOTYPE. A fourth conception of prototyping concerns building an
operational model that includes some, but not all, of the features that the final system will have.
An analogy would be a new retail shopping mall that opens before the construction of all shops
is complete.
When prototyping information systems in this way, some, but not all, essential features are
included. For example, users may view a system menu on a screen that lists six features: add a
record, update a record, delete a record, search a record for a key word, list a record, or scan a
record. In the prototyped system, however, only three of the six may be available for use, so that
the user may add a record (feature 1), delete a record (feature 3), and list a record (feature 5).