Assignment:
Respond to the discussion post below. Your response must be at least 100 words long with proper punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. Support your response with at least 3 sources (articles/journals) written/published in the United States of America within the last 5 years. You may use the same sources used in the discussion post if they support your response. Consult the grading rubric to ensure requirements are met for this segment of the assignment.
Discussion Post:
Metrics can be defined as "parameters or measures of quantitative assessment used for measurement, comparison or to track performance or production (Investopedia, 2016)." Metrics are important in the world of Information Technology (IT) because analysts and managers use the information gathered to evaluate IT systems. Without the ability to evaluate something, it would be hard to determine whether or not it needs to be improved upon.
Whether or not an IT system or device meets a requirement determines if it is effective. If the requirement is met it is considered effective; if not, it is ineffective. Efficiency refers to the "ability to accomplish a job with a minimum expenditure of time and effort (Dictionary.com, 2016)." Efficiency can also include other expenditures such as the cost in money or materials. In terms of IT and systems development, the system has to first be effective. Once the system can accomplish a particular job, there is a constant cycle of evaluating the system and improving it in order to become as efficient as possible. Without IT metrics there would not be a way to measure or quantify the system.
According to ISTQB, systems development has six phases which are: requirement and Analytics, Design, Implementation or coding, testing, deployment, and maintenance (2016). IT metrics would play a critical role in the testing phase because that is when the system's abilities are measured to determine if it is effective. During the maintenance phase a help desk is established and the system is constantly revised to become as efficient as possible, so IT metrics are important in that phase too.
References:
Dictionary.com. (2016). Efficiency. Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/efficiency
Investopedia. (2016). Metrics. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/metrics.asp
ISTQB. (2016). What are the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Phases? Retrieved from http://istqbexamcertification.com/what-are-the-software-development-life-cycle-sdlc-phases/