The purpose of the Inception Phase

The Inception Phase is that part of the development lifecycle in which you will decide to embark on the development project. This is the time in which you will make a large number of crucial decisions regarding the need for and nature of the proposed system. The questions that must be asked in this phase will depend on particular circumstances, but may include the following:

• Why is the system needed?

• Are there better alternatives?

• Will the system be acceptable to its users?

• At what price will the system be marketed?

• Is there a market for the system?

• What are the legal implications of the system?

• What are the Trade Union implications of the system?

• What is the intended lifetime of the system?

• How reliable should the system be?

• Can management approval be obtained for system development?

• Will sufficient resources be available for system development?

• Will sufficient resources be available to run the system?

• Will the system be developed ‘in-house’ or will its development be put out to tender?

• How will tenderers' responses be assessed?

Although this phase is not directly involved with software development, it is vitally important that you ask the correct questions and obtain the correct answers to lead to a firm system requirement. These answers will affect all subsequent phases and ultimately the usefulness of the entire project.