Organization and coverage. Modular organization allowsflexibility for the instructor. McLeod emphasizes the entire cyclewith more coverage of the phases that follow analysis and designincluding construction, installation and post implementationactivity.
* Project management emphasis. The text is ideal for courses thatassign real client projects. Students have the responsibility ofmanaging their projects, and the text describes the planning andcontrol mechanism used for PM, covering tools such as Gantt charts,network diagrams (CPM, PERT), and milestone charts. A "PM Toolbox"feature is integrated into each chapter, as well.
* Knowledge, tools, skills approach. The combination of chaptertopics with supporting technical modules provide students with whatthey need to know in developing software-based systems. Real formsand templates are provided for students to use with theirclients.
* Integrated case (Advanced Systems Technology Associates or ASTA)throughout the book helps students apply every concept. For courseswhere students do not work with real clients, the extended caseintroduces students to the project management issues, tools andtechniques.
* Equal coverage of both structured and object-oriented programminggives instructors the flexibility to choose which methodology toemphasize.
* Coverage of web-based system design.