Information Systems Life Cycle
David L. Cannon · CISA · 2016
This chapter provides an overview of the preferred management techniques for designing, building, and maintaining custom computer software. All business applications undergo a common process of needs analysis, functional design, software development, implementation, production use, and ongoing maintenance in a never?ending series of patch updates and retesting of system integrity. The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) uses process maturity techniques copied from assembly?line manufacturing. SEI estimates that it may take 13 to 25 months to move up to each successive level. A significant number of the best practices for quality in American manufacturing have been adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO is a worldwide federation of government standard bodies operating under a charter to create international standards to promote commerce and reduce misrepresentation. One of the functions of the ISO is to identify regional best practices and promote acceptance worldwide. The ISO 9001 quality manual specifies detailed procedures for quality management by an organization. The same quality manual calls out exact procedures for strong internal controls. A record is expected to reflect the truth of the communications between the parties, the action taken, and the evidence of the event. Records are expected to be authentic with reliable information of high integrity. Auditors need to be aware of the legal challenges whenever records are introduced as evidence in a court of law.