Summary of Construct, Deliver and Maintain Systems Project

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Summary

The chapter dealt with the construction and delivery of information systems. The first section presented topics and issues related to in-house development. This began with a review of techniques used for improving systems construction, including prototyping, CASE technology, PERT charts, and Gantt charts.

Next, we discussed two design approaches: the structured approach and the object-oriented approach. The discussion followed a design sequence that dealt with system components in the following order: create a data model of the business process, define conceptual user views, design the normalized database tables, design the physical user views (output and input views), develop the process modules, specify the system controls, and perform a system walk-through. The delivery stage involves populating database structures, purchasing and installing equipment, employee training, and system documentation. This phase concludes with the roll-out of the new system and the termination of the old system. The section concluded with a discussion of the accountant’s role in in-house development.

We next examined issues related to commercial software, an option that businesses are increasingly using. After briefly identifying the pros and cons of commercial software, we examined a four-step procedure that can be employed in the selection of commercial software packages. The chapter concluded with a brief discussion of the strategic role of system maintenance and the importance of group memory as a key input to systems strategy.

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