A key element in making IT a success is choosing the correct software. There are a number of areas to consider when buying new software:
- Establishing what we need the software to do
- Deciding between generic and bespoke solutions
- Choosing a supplier of our chosen solution
- Implementing the software solution
A key element in making IT a success is choosing the correct software. There are a number of areas to consider when buying new software:
– Establishing what we need the software to do
– Deciding between generic and bespoke solutions
– Choosing a supplier of our chosen solution
– Implementing the software solution
Establishing business information needs:
Various methods are available for establishing business information needs, including the following:
Technique | Suitability |
Interviewing | Standard technique for most scenarios. |
Written questions | Where people are not available for interview. |
Questionnaires | Where the user population is too large to interview. Generally unsuitable due to superficial nature of questions and lack of interaction. |
Observation | Particularly useful if carried out before interviewing. |
Document analysis of existing processes | Good source of design and analysis material. |
Workshops | Useful for resolving conflicts and for new processes where high uncertainty exists. |
Protocol analysis – a mixture of interview and observation | Ensures all aspects of the process are considered and none ‘taken for granted’ by users. |
Prototyping | Where requirements are unclear. Where requirements are unclear. |
Using generic software solutions:
There are various ways to produce a software solution.
Purchase a standard (‘generic’) software package and:
– Use this without any modification
– Make suitable amendments to customise this for the organisation’s specific requirements
– Add company specific modules as necessary.
Pay for a bespoke system to be developed using existing hardware.
Advantages:
– They are generally cheaper to buy than bespoke solutions are to develop.
– They are available almost immediately.
– Any system bugs should have been discovered by the vendors before sale.
– Good packages are come with good training programs, excellent documentation and on-screen help facilities.
– New updated versions of the software should be available on a regular basis.
– The experience of a great number of users with similar needs to those in the organisation has been incorporated into the design of the package.
– Different packages will be available for different operating systems or data structures.
Disadvantages:
– They do not fit precisely the needs of the organisation.
– The organisation is dependent upon an outside supplier for the maintenance of the software; they are larger than most of their customers, and so difficult to influence.
– Different packages used by the organisation may have incompatible data structures.
– Different packages used by the organisation may have incompatible data structures.
Application packages can be altered and tailored to a buyer’s requirements, but amendments to an existing package have to be paid for, and so add to the purchase cost of the software. In addition, an altered package may not accept the standard updates provided by the supplier.
Implementation:
Implementing software solutions involves three key elements:
- Data migration – transferring data from the old system to the new
- Training – training staff on the new system
- Changeover – introducing the new system to the business operations.
Data migration:
It is vital to consider the stages that will be addressed during the migration process. Some of the stages include:
– Planning
– Data mapping
– Manual input
– Testing the solution
– Implementing the solution.
Training:
Training and a strategy for training are crucial. In order for this to be successful and resources not to be wasted it is vital that there is clarity about a number of issues. These are:
– Who needs to be trained and why.
– Whether training takes place on or off the job.
– Who will provide the training.
– If training should occur in a short period or be ongoing.
– What the line management involvement will be.
