Software Selection Process Organizations try consistently to incorporate newer technology into their business to increase efficiency, reduce cost, support growth and generally improve how the company does business. A business can choose to upgrade existing software, build a custom application or purchase a new system that will meet needs based on defined requirements. After accomplishing due diligence, a company might realize they are underutilizing existing software and find that upgrading is a viable solution that will meet the business needs. In the past, many businesses felt they could reduce costs by building their own custom software but this strategy has often proven to be more costly with difficulties in managing the product. Selecting and purchasing software for business needs is often the more justifiable option when considering a software provider who has an established reputation for quality products, excellent product support and proven expertise in their given field. Based on the three options provided, this paper will focus on the process of new software selection. Stockholder issues and strategies will also be addressed prior to a discussion on how the software application will meet the needs of the business. Lastly, decision matrices and criteria for a weighted evaluation of the software will be provided. Software Selection Process Organizations must consistently review the tools and applications to determine needs for redefining and improving existing processes for efficiency or preparing for expected growth. Either need could make a difference in how competitive the business is within their individual industries. Oftentimes a review of existing processes will lead to the decisio... ... middle of paper ... ...n a successful implementation. References Burns, M. (2007, December). Top 10 Software Selection Mistakes. CA Magazine, 140(10), 14. Ellis, D. and Banerjea, D. (2007). Successful Software Selection. Quality, 46(8), 44-46,48. Retrieved September 12, 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database. Roberts, T. (2000, April 1). Perceptions on Stakeholder Involvement in the Implementation of System Development Methodologies. Retrieved on September 13, 2008, from http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/1155106-1.html Shenk-Evans, D., and Zamor, R. (2007, April). Software Selection. Community IT Innovators (CITI). Retrieved September 12, 2008, from http://www.citidc.com/doc/whitepapers/CITI_SoftwareSelection.pdf Software Selection Process Steps. (2008). Technology Group International. Retrieved September 12, 2008, from http://www.tgiltd.com/Software_Selection_Process_Steps.pdf.
The first part has a list of outdated software, legacy system. They are commonly referred to by their names such as MAS, SQL, Adhoc and other slight variations. What makes our project complex is that the systems are not operating on the same level. Some keep only our transactions and the other systems contain financial data that is booked for record. To transform all that into one system requires understanding the design of the legacy systems. Unfortunately, some of the design is not intuitive but after going through iterations of mathematical formula, you can validate some of the data. The second part called “proposed” has a list of the newer software that can be a one stop place for all data. When the project ends, the sections in the table above will be available in
In today's competitive marketplace, all firms are seeking ways to improve their overall performance. One such method of improvement, recently adopted by many firms, is benchmarking. Benchmarking is a technique used to evaluate internal business processes. "In this analysis, managers determine the firm's critical processes and outputs, baseline those processes, then compare the performance of each process against a standard outside the industry" (Bounds, Yorks, Adams, & Ranney 1994). To effectively improve a business process to world-class quality, managers must find a firm that is recognized as a global leader, not just the industry standard. Successful benchmarking requires tailor-made solutions, not just blind copying of another organization. Measurement and interpretation of data collected is the key to creating business process solutions.
This phase is the main focus of the project managers and stake holders. Meetings with managers, stake holders and users are held in order to determine the requirements like; Who is going to use the system? How will they use the system? What data should be input into the system? What data should be output by the system? These are general questions that get answered during a requirements gathering phase. After requirement gathering these requirements are analyzed for their validity and the possibility of incorporating the requirements in the system to be development is also studied.
Bjerke, Juel M. "Week 2 Lecture Notes - Achieving Business Process Excellence and Process Re-engineering." MFGO 601 - The Globally Integrated Manufacturing Company. 2 Nov. 2011.
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1.0 IntroductionIn this report I will be concentrating on the failure of software systems. To understand why software systems fail we need to understand what are software systems. Software systems are a type of information system. This is because a software system is basically a means for hardware to process information. Flynn’s definition of an information system is:"An information system provides procedures to record and make available information, concerning part of an organization, to assist organization-related activities."Humans have been processing information manually for thousands of years, but with the vast increase of demand for knowledge this century has meant that a new method of information processing has been needed. Software systems have provided a new means that is much faster and efficient.
Whittaker, B. (1999). What went wrong? Unsuccessful information technology projects. Information Management & Computer Security. 7 (1), 23-30.
In today's world there is very unusual to have a program developed that will not have further development after release. The requirements of the time that we live are very dynamic and there is a need for constant adaptation. A basic requirement for any new software product is to be adaptable, easy to maintain and modify. Time factor and cost factor are ruling in the agitated competition and only those who are well organized and prepared are able to survive. The question for software maintenance and change control is taking key position in both perspectives: the perspective of the manufacturer of the software, and the perspective of the consumer. In the negotiation and management of these two major players is the complexity of the software maintenance and change control. In this paper we will focus on some important specifics of these processes.
Effectively integrating information technology (IT) into an organization’s business processes is critical if the organization wants to increase productivity and remain profitable. IT includes items such as the systems software, application software, computer hardware, and the networks and databases that help manage the organization’s information. When implementing quality standards and processes that are forever changing in the IT world, organizations must balance these changes while continuing to rapidly implement new systems technologies in order to stay competitive.
Maher (1999) states that the different packages on the market have different strengths in different areas, it is important for the customer to recognise this and select the package with the strengths that are appropriate. Only when top management have reached consensus on what the business requires, should package vetting and selection begin.
The first phase of system development life cycle is system planning. The important processes in planning phase is understanding the reason of building the system and identify how the project team built the system (Alan Dennis & Barbara Haley Wixon, 2000). There have two primary activities in planning phase. The first activity in this phase is determines the requirements for new or enhanced system. This acknowledgement is part of the panning phase in larger organizations. Examination of organization about the information requirements and projects to fit these needs are determined. Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Joey F. George, & Joseph S. Valacich (2011) mentione...
In past few years, companies and industries of various sizes have become aware that they need to improve business processes such as product development, order fulfilment, planning, distribution, and customer service. So everybody is now focusing on doing process improvement or redesigning.
The software maintenance process is a long-term support tier for any and all computer-based business systems. In the age of computer automation and electronic commerce, many businesses have become dependent upon scalable and error proof software platforms. The ongoing support of these systems by the software manufacturer is crucial for the business owner, and the software's longevity. Software Maintenance is a detailed process for weighing suggested program additions, making program updates, supporting user-related questions, and fixing latent errors. This process is both heavily time and resource consuming for software firms. This is why it is important for all software firms to have a strong and well-organized software maintenance plan, in which any changes to a given product are, to be followed.
...igure within the system. The software should enable usability in accordance to the company requirements; it should be in a position to have the functionality that meet the need of the company.