Evaluation

There, the system has been fully installed and it's up & running. The users of the system are to evaluate the system. During this stage, two key questions will be asked:-

Q1) Does the finished solution meet its requirements?

Q2) Does it solve the problem?

 

What's the point of a solution which doesn't solve its corresponding problem? Nothin' right? So when these key questions are answered positively, then the system has succeeded. If otherwise, then it was a waste of time & resources.

Further to those two questions, the evaluation considers:-

* Lessons learnt from the problems encountered, so the next project will be even smoother & successful.

* Any maintenance and support needed in day-to-day running of the system 

By now, the analyst will have determined the success of the new system, that is by getting feedback from the users. He will also have seen if the users are satisfied. He will have recorded the extensions suggested to the system based on the users' opinions. This gives him a clear idea about the limitation of the system.

Once these limitations have been identified, the analyst now has to interview the users and collect their opinions, suggestions regarding the limitations and further extensions. They will have to decide whether the good features of the system can compensate for these extensions. If not, then the analyst will have to analyze the new system and see where the extensions should be included. The system life cycle goes on...