Analyzing Value of IS

Redmine (http://www.redmine.org/) is a project management web application. It falls into the software category of a computer-based information system.

Input - Redmine inputs consist of 2 main sets of data, tasks and people (human resources). Initially a new project is created and all of the potential people allocated to the project are added into the system, than tasks can be added as needed. Tasks are input into the system along with several corresponding properties such as description, priority, due date, and estimated completion time. Another important input is the time someone spends on a given task.  

Process - The core process of the Redmine system is to take the tasks that were input and assign them to people working on the project. Tasks can be quickly and easily moved from one assignee to another.

Output – Redmine outputs useful information in a variety of ways, including what human resources were spent on which tasks, via graphs and spreadsheets, and what tasks have been completed overall for a given time period. This is particularly useful for management to see how far along a project is and how much resources it took to get there which can be used to keep things on track.

Feedback –  The most critical form of feedback given from Redmine is overall progress on a project and how it correlates to deadlines. When things start to fall behind Redmine catches it and makes it very clear that there is a problem, enabling project managers to fix the situation before it gets worse and deadlines are not met.