1)
Form teams and discuss the pros and cons of the selecting packaged
software as outlined in lecture 1
Firstly our group addressed the reason for selecting the software packages, and why this was seen as a solution. Our reasons where software packages are usually a lot cheaper than getting a programmer to come in a write a program customised software for your system. This also contains the added cost of maintaining the system, which is not as cheap as the package software because the programmer needs to be consulted and the professional program should charge by the hour. If he wasn�t a good programmer to start with and his code would be hard to change and this would be effectively very costly for the firm, or detrimental if the code was coded so badly it could not be changed or maintained. Basically as for our reading of the lecture notes it would strongly advised not to create in-house software if the business was not in the software industry.
The positive factors being less programming time, or basically no programming time involved if the software package does not need to be customised or adjusted in any other way. Less duplication or effort would also such as multiple copies of the program lying all over the place and different versions or different versions making it confusing so this would be annulled with purchasing software packages.
Implementation is also a lot faster with the software packages because it was tested for many different types of systems and also made to be user friendly with the specific platform such as Windows 98, whereas customised in house packages are usually not portable and don�t provide the same compatibility software packages do.
Software packages are usually superior packages, this is because they are usually produced by multi million / billion dollar firm such as Microsoft, meaning they have the means to employ top grade programmers and also have the means to have a big trial of the program and made amendments way before the program is released, thus to correctly any forthcoming problems.
Also we have the issue of lower cost this is usually the case because most of these software packages are sold in the millions and thus the cost can be spread whereas employing one person or one firm the cost would be directly on the firm.
Better support is obvious because most of these firm such as Microsoft have hot lines, web page support and employ people in nearly ever part of the world to provide physical support, instead of having to directly call and rely on the one firm that created the program for your office there are many more alternative means of support with software packages.
Better documentation with software packages because of the means tests they have done with the program they have probably identified the most common problems and provided solutions for these problems. Whereas programmer would not have means tested or basically means tested his program and may not ever have seen or known of the problem.
Staffed freed for other
work, basically with software packages there is usually less problems meaning
staff are free to get on with the work instead of fooling around trying to fix
the program or try to get use to it with, when there is no documentation
provided.
These are, suitable packages may not be available or can�t be located, and an example of this is for system analysis and design we use the program Ascent to draw, data flow diagrams, and relationship diagrams, etc however I find the program still quiet user unfriendly and quite primitive in may aspects, for a firm they require a lot more and this may be more suited to programmer creating a custom software package.
Possible inefficiency occurs because the program is built so broadly with so many functions it is hard for each function to really work as effectively as it was maybe intended. So with software packages it is usually the case that a function would may be weak and ineffective in comparison to the fewer maybe more effective customised program designed by the firm.
Need for tailoring refers again to the fact that most software packages are usually created to do everything but aren�t usually good or configured well for a certain purpose, a person buying a software package may have to buy an upgrade or employ some expert in the software to configure it or customise it to suit the related business.
Inflexible, because these software packages are made to do so many functions and are usually very complicated when it comes to their coding and structure it is very difficult to change really any the program at all, and thus it is quite inflexible in that sense. High capital outlay it is extremely costly to register software packages. Microsoft office for example one copy is one license if it is to be copied for multiple computers it needs to be licensed separately, or if it was to be use along a network so it is very costly to run software packages. Lack of support in a sense we said before that it has good support however this support usually comes at a price or usually not that good because for Microsoft their support is usually in a big city of the country or their capital city so it isn�t really that accessible for someone in Perth calling someone based in Sydney for help on a question the support isn�t really local and can be often described as a lack of support. Poor documentation, basically windows platforms I believe are very poor when it comes to documentation it is rather poor it doesn�t really help most of the problems that arise in the system such as crashes, or installing certain hardware that create conflicts. Lack of acceptance in the installation, I believe because the software is made to be compatible with so many systems sometimes it crates errors it isn�t personalised to your system so errors can and will usually occur with programs made to fit for too many platforms.
2) Read notes regarding a �make or buy� and make possible suggestions to Jeff Stevens as to the approach he should take.
Next the Jeff should really consider the management board and have them agree that it is a general consensus that this change is needed to be brought on for the benefit for the firm and their staff.
Next Jeff should compile a checklist when selecting a application package to replace the currently one which should include these points.
Functionality � which should imply that it includes all at least all the same functionality the last software program did.
Flexibility � which refers to the easy in which it can be altered or changed so that problems such as the Y2k will be less likely to occur.
User Friendless � The ease of use and the help files available.
Hardware and software resource � this is wether the hardware and other software are compatible and support this software.
Database characteristics � this is wether the software supports the database information currently running so information can be retrieved from the database and allows some processing of this data.
Installation effort � the ease of installing the program
Maintenance � so it is how much on going support and help the vendor will provide once the software has been sold and installed.
Documentation � how clear the help and complete the help files.
Vendor quality � wether the vendors are reputable and experienced such for example Microsoft, Borland, etc.
Cost � wether there would be additional costs such as maintenance fees, enhancements, upgrades, etc).
Compliance � Product must be already compliant with Y2k.
Next Jeff should confirm all replacing hardware and software must already be Y2k complaint.
Next Jeff should have a contingency plan, which should have back up strategies this should include a constant review of the progress and constantly checked to see wether the backup strategy needs to be implemented.