1- What is an RFP, and how do analysts use one to gather information about hardware and system software?
Request for proposal (RFP) is a bidding term in which an organization communicates the presence of funding to a specific project plus program. Through the utilization of R FP, organizations are capable of bidding for project finishing. The RFP is responsible for the bidding process and the terms company by the RFP. Due to vivid nature of RFP, it is accessible to various organizations creating a competing atmosphere. A company may conduct plus scope of the bids in order to determine their conditions in terms of feasibility.
An organization utilizes the RFP for gathering information from organization plus business branches. This is possible through inquiries of proposals from a variety of business vendors. The programs acquire information of systems hardware plus software through RFP system development procedure. By employing these procedures, analysts are able to provide solutions to organization s regarding the required software. There is an examination protocol for the computer hardware plus software. These include the vendor support, flexibility plus documentation and feedback time. Gathering information entails use of different approaches for development of a system.
2- Discuss the reasons why organizations undertake information system projects. Do you have any experience as a team member in making “go/no go” type of project decisions? If so, why? If not, why not? How would you justify your decision?
Organizations conduct information systems projects for the purposes of improving the welfare of the organization. An organizations goal is to understand information systems so as to determine the best for the organizations operations. The projects are significant in testing the costs plus reliability of various information systems. The projects decisions are done in this manner in order to test projects, which are viable in application.
3- What are the differences between ASPs and MSPs?
ASPs offers computer related services to clients over a set-up and contains a model related to the internet, which is for the purpose of delivery. It consist shared items for example, database, network plus infrastructure. ASP consists of criteria for payment of bills in which a subscription fee is a requirement. MSP Company is responsible for the organizations of information plus technological services for other companies through the internet. An ASP performs delivery of administration technologies and systems for electronic commerce. MSP is capable of performing a direct delivery of services to organizations through provision of services and other tools.
4- What methods can a systems analyst employ to verify vendor claims about a software package?
The software life cycle method is useful in the verification of packages. The ISDLC plus the prototype perspective are also useful .the process requires a criteria which includes, selection, definition, completion, and function. By this procedure, the analysts are capable of performing verifications of the software in question.
5- How reliable are vendor references? What questions would you ask them? How would you look for other customers to talk to about vendor products you are considering?
The reliability of venders depends on their ability to supply required products in time. Through advertising, I would communicate with other vendors and people of the items in consideration. The question posed on vendors relates to business operations plus supply chains. Apart from advertisements using the internet I would ensure product promotion to enable customer awareness.
6- Describe the activities performed by the project manager during project initiation.
During initiation, a project manager has various tasks. It is the managers’ responsibility to supervise the project and ensure that the various tools required are in place. The manager gathers all the needed tools including the workforce and machinery to enhance initiation of the project. The initiation involves the manager’s task of planning plus organization of facts and tools to perform the work. The manager organizes the resources to enable achievement of goals. The initiation aspect entails project nature. This process calls for effective performance because it determines whether the goals of the organization are met. Controlling is another significant aspect of initialization; the manager ensures that the labor force plus the machinery and other project requirements are continuing in a systematic manner.
7- Projects can be difficult to manage. That being said, describe the steps involved in making a Gantt chart. Why is a Gantt chart so important to this process.
To create a Gantt chart a scope of the synopsis of the project is desired. To commence, we draw a list of operations needed for finishing the project plus dates of each task. The next step involves creation of an excel sheet followed by a listing of the operations requiring finishing at the project end. The person creating the chart skips a row in the end of the list. The dates for tasks showing completion of an activity is a requirement offering spaces amid date cells. Formatting of text through use of italics or bold enhances visual qualities.
8- list and describe the common skills and activities of a project manager. Which skill do you think is most important and why?
• valuable preparation for project
• conducting account of the top management
• project coordination
• performance plus training
• enhance project cooperation plus communication between members of departments
The skills above are significant to a manager since they enable proper functioning of an organization. The ability of a manager to plan effectively and coordinate a project through controlling and proper communication is a fundamental aspect. These features performed to initialize a project, without them a project will not exist. The project manager reports to other top executives and thus is answerable if there are failures. A good manager possesses desired qualities that enable training of personnel.
9- What is more important for a PM to have, industry/company knowledge or PM skills? What is easier to train to get a new employee up-to-speed?
The pm requires both skills of management although more on industrial knowledge are vital. The function of a production manager is to enhance proper production through proper planning plus scheduling. Having pm skills would be general thus in case of an industrial set up a person with general pm skills cannot show proper understanding of industrial processes unless he has experience from the same place.
• Review the criteria for selecting off-the-shelf software presented in this chapter. Use your experience and imagination and describe other criteria that are or might be used to select off-the-shelf software in the “real world.” For each new criterion, explain how use of this criterion might be functional (i.e., it is useful to use this criterion), dysfunctional, or both.
The criteria in use for the selection of off-the –shelf software involves selection of information systems and ceasing from using certain documents used for data storage. For example, the company introduced an IBM computer, which reduced the use of paper for data storage. This was important because various operations such as stores management and accountancy improved.
• In the section on choosing off-the-shelf software, eight criteria are proposed for evaluating alternative packages. Suppose the choice was between alternative custom software developers rather than prewritten packages. What criteria would be appropriate to select and compare among competing bidders for custom development of an application? Define each of these criteria.
The criteria for comparison involve a search using the already occurring systems. Usually, the system is easy to operate. The use of latest items for programming ensures proper comparison and search of technology. Performing ones system creation is vital as it ensures an explanation of the requirements. The off-the –shelf system is less expensive, has desired characteristics. A person owning the soft can cease from performing implementation of the software. Custom software is utilized for future purposes if a company has notion s to create sales and improve efficiency.
What are some sources of risk in a systems analysis and design project, and how does a project manager cope with risk during the stages of project management?
The risks originate from various aspects of the project such as planning, control and monitoring plus identification. Project planning is a risk because there is no guarantee that what is planned will go well. Incorrect planning at the initial stages of a project can ruin everything in a project. Control plus monitoring of project is significant in project implementation. However, it must require proper conduct otherwise; the results of the project will be flawed. For a manager to cope with risks during management he must first identify the potential risks involved. Upon identification, he will draw conclusions on how to deal with them. The likely risks to a project include environmentally related projects plus design risks, organizational other risks.
Part 2
What qualities have led to BEC’s success so far?
The company has the ability to incorporate information systems without failure. Its success is due to excellent personnel including the project managers. The project managers have ensured proper operation of the company through effective management plus control of various operation s within the company. The ability of the company to perform effective acquisitions have enabled success in business operations where its profits have increased rapidly. The organization has dynamic and innovation-driven personnel, it is able to keep the personnel inline with ever changing technologies thus it is able to offer competition to other companies. The company uses current best technologies for example, utilization of DTBMS and programming language. The organization success is due to its action of separating personnel into two parts, domestic plus international.
Is the IS organization at BEC poised to undertake significant systems development in the near future?
The organization is likely to experience changes in the in their systems based on the trends in system developments. The company was able to use the first IBM computer and changed its information systems from periodically as technology changed with time. The BEC growth requires information services in order to deal with competition from other companies. Technological changes calls for upgrade of software and hardware to enhance proper project planning plus implementation. Organizations aims are to ensure cost reduction and attainment of profits. If incorporating new system technologies would reduce costs the company will likely think of updating the technology to the most appropriate.
