DCO20404 Exercise 5 (Answer)
1. Refer to the Real World Case on Indiana University in the chapter. Given their challenges and struggles, should companies outsource the tasks required for the implementation of new systems? Why or why not?
Considerations would include:
· Tasks that are one-time activities should be outsourced since there is no need to build that capability internally. Rather the application programming for the business processes are best kept internally since the in-house staff knows the business better than the outside consultant.
· Outsourcing the job of installing hardware avoids adding to a busy internal staff schedule and the vendor knows the ins and outs of its hardware better than the purchasing company does. You can marry the vendors expertise with your business knowledge.
· Strive to achieve the best mix of internal and external development teams that gets you the most skills at the lowest cost. Using your own people means spending less and moving faster. But you need to lean judiciously on experienced vendors and outsourcers in order to gain the greatest benefits out of something that is new to your team.
2. What is the difference between the parallel, plunge, phased, and pilot forms of IS conversion? Which conversion strategy is best? Explain why.
Parallel conversion operates both the old and the new system for a limited time. Phased conversion changes to the new system in phases, introducing some of the new applications while still using some of the old applications, or converting some departments or locations at a time. Pilot conversion lets one department or location try out the new system, while the rest of the organization continues with the old system for a while. Plunge converts the whole organization to the complete new system at one time.
Which conversion strategy is best depends on the specific application and environment. Parallel conversion poses the least risk, but is also very expensive. Plunge may be the cheapest, but entails the greatest risk.
3. Review the Frito-Lay real world example in the chapter. How could these failures have been avoided?
Ways in which these failures could have been avoided would include:
· The Frito-Lay company used prototyping incorrectly. Its end users were not sufficiently involved with Navigator Systems (outsourcer for systems development) to work through the prototype iterations until the supermarket sales team indicated acceptance of the design. Creating a prototype system with continual and in-depth involvement of the end users is critical.
4. Pick a business task you would like to computerize. How could you use the steps of the information systems development cycle as illustrated in Figure 10.3 to help you? Use examples to illustrate your answer.
Many possible answers. This example deals with the information-processing tasks: Capture information (obtaining information at its point of origin), conveying information (presenting information in its most useful form), creating information (processing information to obtain new information), cradling information (storing information for use at a latter time), and communicating information (sending information to other people or to another location).