MIS – Cool Care Manufacturers in Botswana

Table of contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………1
Introduction of the proposal to the Board…………………………………………………1
Background of the organization/department………………...…………………………….2
The Existing System (Critical analysis and evaluation)…………………..………………2
Part A: Systems Analysis………………………………………………………………….4 1. Problem description……………………………………………………………….4 2. Feasibility Study………………………………………………………………….5 3. Cost Benefit Analysis……………………………………………………………..6 4. Information Requirements………………………………………………………...7
Part B: Systems Design and Development………………………………………………..8 2.1 Proposed IT Infrastructural Design (Hardware and Software)……………………8 2.2 Networking and Telecommunication options…………………………………….9 2.3 Storage…………………………………………………...………………………11 2.4 Back up……………………………………………………………………..……11 2.5 Security…………………………………………………………………………..12 2.6 Systems functionality…………………………………………………………….13
Part C: System Implementation………………………………………………………….14 3.1 Systems Testing………………………………………………………………….14 3.2 Implementation strategy………………………………………………………….15 3.3 Resolution of problems………………………………………………………..…16
Part D: Systems Maintenance……………………………………………………………16 4.1 Maintenance Procedures…………………………………………………………16 4.2 Updating and Upgrading…………………………………………………………18
Conclusions and Recommendations …………………………………………………….18
Bibliography ………………………………………………………...………………….19
Appendix A …..…………………………………………………………………………20

Question 1
Using the structured systems analysis and design approach, prepare a proposal for an information system (IS) at Cool-care manufacturers in Botswana. The document which is to be presented to the Board of Management must propose an IS design and inform board members about the value adding dimensions of an IS at Cool-care as well as the procedure involved in systems development.

Introduction

According to Bentley and Whitten (2007:34) information systems in an organisation captures and manages data to produce useful information that supports an organisation and its employees, customers, suppliers and partners. Schach (2004:5) is of a similar view that information systems is a system that achieves business outcomes by collecting, manipulating, storing and reporting information regarding business activities, in order to assist the management in managing the operations of the business.

Introduction of the proposal to the Board

In the ever growing business environment, demands such as aggressive cost control initiative, the need to analyse costs or revenue on a product or customer basis, flexibility to respond to changing business requirements, informed business decision making and changes in ways of doing business necessitates organisation to take steps to act.

The company profile show that the scope definition for our project is triggered by a number of challenging problems and opportunities. Difficulty in getting accurate data, timely information and growing business needs, application and planning systems have been introduced into the business world for clearing hurdles and enhancing required growth. It is impossible to create and maintain a custom designed software package that will cater for all your requirements Enterprise Resource Planning software can offer a

1 cohesive software solution across all company functions. ERP seeks to integrate operation processes and information flow in the company.

Background of the organization/department

Cool-care manufacturers were established in May 1997 and are based in Gaborone, Botswana. It manufactures compressors used in motor vehicle air-conditions units. There are four departments which are human resources, operations, sales and finance with a total capacity of 412 employees including 34 mangers. Only 113 employees have access to a computer and 12 printers. Cool-care has seven international customers in Motor Manufacturing business who are already digitally enabled. The annual sales were $17.5 million in 2008. The increasing inefficiency of legacy system contribute to information inconsistency, unavailability and accessibility across the organisation coupled with peer-to-peer network system and unavailability of a website. The personal computer used for a server does not have the capacity to sustain the company data and is insecure. Poor control and management of information due to independent information storage.

The Existing system

The existing legacy system faces a number of challenges in running business activities due to unreliable infrastructure, network systems, database servers, storage or personal computers to assist with the day-to-day business processes. An Information Technology department does not exist to support and maintain information technology infrastructure, their international customers are digitally enabled, and information management and control arises from poor data quality in giving satisfactory customer service, inaccurate inventory and lost orders. Lack of data sharing between functional departments and timely availability inhibits information sharing thereby slowing company growth. Unavailability of a website contributes to difficulty in winning or looking for new business prospects.

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The limitations of a legacy system is which inhibits managers from having timely information for decision making and making forecasts. This contributes to reduced revenues and potential loss of customers. Independent functional data storage has draws backs of file duplication, data redundancy and inconsistency which leads to lack of data sharing and availability of timely information therefore affecting the opportunity innovation, poor understanding of market dynamics and market growth. The peer to peer network system warrants poor security and management data control resulting in the vulnerability of company information to loss, theft or being tempered with by unauthorized individuals. The server lacks the capacity to sustain massive data storage for a long time which can be costly because more servers need to be added to accommodate ever increasing information and wastage of space. Unavailability of a website to advertise its products and services to the global business environment makes it lose the opportunity to increase clientele base, suppliers and opportunity to discover new markets and growth. Management’s performance is affected because the valuable timely information needed to analyze customer purchasing patterns and preferences, planning, decision making and achieve the company goals cannot be attained easily due to the hurdles contributed by the legacy system.

By comparison with the legacy system, a fully integrated information system can produce benefits to Cool-care such as: a) operational excellence in achieving higher levels of efficiency and productivity in business processes; b) improved the quality and efficiency of customer service, production and distribution through integrated and improved internal business processes; c) provides cross-functional information on business performance to assist mangers in making better decisions; d) customer and supplier relationship is reinforced through providing consistent customer service experience; e) faster decision making through provision of timely information thereby making

3 informed decisions, improve planning and allocation of resources accordingly; f) helps the company identify, reward and market to their most loyal and profitable customers; g) survival in the market is enhanced through network systems and online website as its international clients are digitized (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:43-45).

Part A: Systems Analysis

1.1 Problem description

The current legacy system is a combination of obsolete applications which service the firm’s operational day to day processes. A website needs to be created to enable the company’s survival and compete in the current global environment. The peer to peer network is limited and should be upgraded to local area network to enable many personal computers and workstations to be connected to share resources and communicate with one another (Bentley and Whitten, 2007:485). A centralised database server will enhance business services as the finance and sales departments will work faster on requests, order and calculations. The company can also cut costs of keeping good customers through accessibility of consolidated view of the customers’ needs and their performance. Database management systems solves the traditional filing system in alleviating data redundancy, inconsistency, reinforce management control and security. Customer relationship management system helps incorporate some of the independent data into single information. It would also solve administration’s use of traditional filling system which may result in data loss, file duplication and redundancy.

Enterprise applications are costly but some measure of information integration can be achieved using intranet and extranet which connects employees with each other or external users. It is cost effective and requires very little work to maintain (Laudon and Ladudon, 2010). The enterprise resource planning solutions seeks to integrate and automate many business processes and information systems.
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ERP include tools like decision support systems, executive information systems and data mining for decision making and this improving business processes. Supply chain management assist all movement and storage of raw materials collaborates with supplier and customers, plan production based on actual customer demand and reduce inventory, transportation and warehousing costs (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:373). Customer relationship management systems, according to Laudon and Laudon (2010:87) help companies manage relationships with their customers and consolidate customer information from many communication channels.

The systems developed should be able to interface with existing legacy data and computational systems that are already running.

1.2 Feasibility study

Laudon and Laudon (2010:516) define feasibility study is undertaken to determine whether the solution is feasible, achievable for financial, technical and organisational standpoint.

Organizational feasibility involves efforts to ascertain how the system is going to affect Cool-Care Manufactures stakeholders. Having conducted a survey on the main stakeholders to establish how the system is going to affect them and how they perceive these anticipated effects, and found out that it is going to positively affect the duties and roles of management. The success of management largely depends on the disposal of information and one of the objectives of this project is to improve the quality and flow of information as well as to incorporate decision-making supporting mechanisms. The employees’ morale among Cool Care Manufactures staff members will be boosted due to the alleviation of the legacy system.

Operational feasibility is to establish the urgency of the problem and the acceptability of the proposed solution by its systems users as communication is important in sharing a
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language Crowe, Beeby and Gammack (1996: 98-108). In order to achieve this and to establish whether the managers and users would accept the proposed solution, we first found out how they both feel about the system. It turns out that they both equally feel that it has out-lived its purpose and something needs to be done. I went on to explain the proposed solution and gave an abstract overview of how it is going to solve some of the identified problems, at the same time getting feedback about how they feel about this idea through use of questionnaires and group meetings. Most of those presented with the idea were pleased that something was about to be done though a minority were sceptic about the proposed system being locally developed and lose of jobs.

Technical feasibility is performed in order to assess whether it’s technically feasible to support the project in terms of hardware, software and technical expertise. Technical Feasibility is inclined on the technical expertise and the availability of the equipment to be used and competent to produce the specified product.

The new systems will address the requirements of owners by making data more organized, easier to retrieve and enhance performance. Both management and staff feel that the system needs to replace the legacy system which concludes that the project is operationally feasible.

1.3 Cost benefits analysis

Cost benefit analysis is a system for calculating and comparing benefits and costs for two purposes, to determine if it is a sound investment and to see how it compares with alternate project. It is an analysis of the cost effectiveness of different alternatives in order to see whether the benefits outweigh the costs.

Use of a computerized management information system, manual filing will be replaced by a database management system, once the program is implemented costs will not be above average costs of maintaining any other system and tried and tested solution can
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prove to be cheaper and reduce costs if the appropriate package is purchased. Improved decision making capabilities will be incorporated as desired as well as customer relations features will be incorporated like web site development, customers queries can be posted online and quality flow of information. The hardware and software selection has to be compatible with the requirements of the owners such as server, network system that is standard and easy to maintain, latest operating systems and security maintenance. Buying could be a bit costly for hardware but there are other computer vendors who lease and maintain their hardware which could be cheaper in a way. There are open source software which can be used to manage and maintain security and protect company systems from invaders, these are free and can be downloaded form the internet.

The benefits derived are reduced to errors and cost, increased operation, flexibility and timely consistent information for decision making. Communication is improved thereby transactions and agreements can be done more swiftly without having too much money

1.4 Information requirements

According to Bentley and Whitten (2007:83) the requirements analysis does not specify any technical possibilities or solutions and that the systems analyst has to work closely with systems users to identify needs and priorities. Laudon and Laudon (2010:516) argue that faulty requirements analysis leads to systems failure and high systems development costs, therefore thorough investigation and causation needs to be observed. The new system should provide:
• Database servers to record different functional information to appropriate users on time, adjust and correct error promptly;
• Should handle the accessibility of the employees in effective manner and fast data access;
• Provide tools that enable a business and its employees to provide fast, convenient, dependable, consistent service;

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• Informative website to target regional and international new markets and enhance company growth and profits;
• Support daily operations smoothly and easily and standardization of information;
• Support management decision making processes and planning;
• Client computer specifications must have the latest versions if we are to replace personal computers that are durable and capable;
• Provide customer-facing employees with single, complete view of every customer at every touch and across all channels;
• Network system that connects management, employees, customers and suppliers thereby reducing costs.

These need to be compatible and build the legacy system to minimize costs and time.

Part B: Systems Design and Development

2.1 Proposed IT infrastructural design (Hardware and software)

According to Laudon and Laudon (2010:45) information technology consist of all types’ hardware and software that a firm need to use in order to achieve its business objective. The information technology is made up of seven components which should be coordinated to provide the firm with coherent infrastructure (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:203). [pic]
Source: (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:203)
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Software includes operating system software, Web browsers, software productivity suites, database management systems, software for business applications like customer relationship management and supply chain management. The following are software requirements for Cool-care:

• Database management and storage – SQL Server • Internet platform – Microsoft IIS • Operating system – Microsoft Windows XP • Enterprise software applications – SAP • Network/Telecommunication –Microsoft Windows Server/Verizon

2.2 Networking and Telecommunication options

Network telecommunications technology consist both physical devices and software, which links the various pieces of hardware and transfers data from one physical location to another (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:51). Client/server computing network and use of packet switching integrates computing across the entire Cool-care company (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:280). [pic]
Source: (http://www.google.com/images)

The networking requirements for the ideal system are based on: ◆ Performance ◆ Consistency ◆ Flexibility
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◆ Availability ◆ Reliability ◆ Recovery ◆ Security
Network topology is defined as the physical interconnection of the various elements of a computer network, which can be a physical design including the devices, location and cable installation or logical, how data actually transfers in a network as opposed to its design. The rules and regulations of communication as well as the language of communications are collectively called access protocol and communication protocol. The most popular hardware protocol available for Local Area Network is Ethernet and the Transmission Control Protocol or Internet Protocol is for communications protocol.
A bus topology links a number of computers by a single circuit; failure of one does not affect the entire network and is used for a small network that is not expected to grow much. In a star topology all computers and other devices are connected to a central host computer. It is easy to modify and add new computer to the network. If the central hub fails then the entire network is down and is used for a large network which is expected to grow in future. In a ring topology each computer is connected to the next computer in line forming a circle of cable which uses a token to pass information. Failure of one computer can affect the whole network and requires a higher speed network. A mesh topology has a dedicated point to point to every each device. Failure of one node computer does not affect the network by is expensive due to the amount of cabling

To improve the networking systems requires a client/server networking technology that uses packet switching, transmission control protocol/internet protocol for linking desperate networks and computers. A local-area network with a star topology would be ideal to connect all computers in several buildings in close proximity, can link to wide-area networks, internet or other networks (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:283). Cool-care would be able to hold conferences with its international customers and share information with its employees.
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2.3 Storage

Laudon and Laudon (2010:205) state that there are a few choices for enterprise database management software for organising and managing the firm’s data so that it can be efficiently accessed and used such as DB2, Oracle, SQL server, Adaptive server enterprise and MySQL, a Linux open source and Storage-area network. Companies can use different types of store their data depending on their business processes such as:

a) Hard disk storage which have low access times, availability, capacity; b) External hard drive c) Optical disk is recordable CD and can be restored on any machine with a CD-ROM drive and is cheap and rewritable’s such as DVD-Ram and CD-RW ; d) Floppy disk has a low data capacity which makes it an unpopular and obsolete choice today; e) Flush memory, thumb drives, USB flash drives, Compact Flash, Smart Media, Memory Stick, Secure Digital cards, etc., these devices are relatively costly for their low capacity but offer excellent portability and ease-of-use; f) Remote backup services, backs up data via internet to a remote location are gaining in popularity; g) Magnetic tape can be used for bulk data storage, backup, archiving and interchange; h) Network based storage technologies such as storage area networks (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:205).

For Cool-care’s, storage area networks would be ideal as it creates a large central pool of storage that can be rapidly accessed and shared by multiple servers, cost effective and is reliable in case of a crash data will not be lost.

2.4 Back up

The process of backing up refers to making copies of data which will be used to restore
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the original in the event of loss, accidentally deleted or disaster such as: • Traditional backup software simply copies critical business data; • Blade servers are cheaper and easier; • IBM mainframe computers are more expensive and require Unix software; • A backup site or data recovery center can be another location operated by the organization, or contracted to a third party such as Symantec Backup Exec 2010; • Floppy disks or CD-R/DVD-R media which takes minimal information; • Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is a relational data model that adequately provides the levels of data independence and includes services to facilitate the changes; • Symantec Enterprise Vault automates the migration, storage and retention of unstructured information in accordance with IT policies while improving performance, reducing costs and simplifying management.
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is a management system that provides backup services to improve reliability, has a wide range of data types, permits concurrent access, spontaneously updates and edits a new transaction.
2.5 Security

There are four security requirements widely agreed on (Parker, 1981, 1988) discuss confidentiality, integrity, availability of information should only be made available to authorized personnel and (Chokhani, 1994; Rohm, Pernul and Herrmann, 1988) came to a similar conclusion about non-repudiation being important in enabling financial transactions and data interchange which are keys to electronic commerce. Laudon and Laudon (2010:323) refers security to policies, procedures and technical measures used to prevent unauthorized tempering, damage to information systems and managements standards. Types of security are:

• Firewalls prevent unauthorized users from accessing private networks which is a
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combination of hardware and software that controls the flow of incoming and outgoing network traffic. Cisco Pix, Symantec firewall and Sonicwall are commonly used for corporate environment and are very expensive; • Antivirus software is defensive technology for both individuals and businesses and these must continually be updated to remain effective and antivirus software vendors are McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro as well as Norton and AVG open source; • Antispyware software tools such as Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D and Spyware Doctor are used in combination with antivirus software; • Encryption and public key infrastructures are used to protect digital information sent over the internet enables the client and server computer to communicate securely; • Access control are polices and procedures used to prevent improper access to systems by unauthorized insiders and outsiders and users must be authorized and authenticated; • Authentication established by password systems, tokens, smart cards and intrusion detection systems (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:345-347).

2.6 System functionality

According to Laudon and Laudon (2010:340) a good acceptable use policy defines unacceptable and acceptable actions for every user and specifies measures for noncompliance. An authorization policy determines different level users who can access to information assets and authorization management systems establish permission to certain parts of the corporate database. User rights are put in place to protect privileged information of internal users e.g. employers and customers’ information.

Bragg (2004:526) is of a similar view that systems functioning user rights are defined by domain controller security policy. The important thing is not to give full right to users, default settings maybe adequate and additional user rights must be given after a thorough
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investigation. Companies have policies and procedures in place to control and prevent improper access to systems by unauthorized insiders or outsiders e.g. staff in human resource department some have user rights to access employee benefits information and some have access to update employee information e.g. contract extensions. Laudon and Laudon (2010:344) argue that user access or rights must be authorized and authenticated using a password only known to the user.

Maintaining a secure password is sometimes difficult due to sniffing, sharing them or poor password that easy to guess hence new authentication technologies have been device such as tokens a device for a single user like identification card, smart cards like credit cards that which reads and interpret individual human traits such as finger prints, irises or voice to grant access.

Part C: System Implementation

3.1 Systems testing

There are three testing methods that can be used for systems testing which are unit testing, systems testing and acceptance testing (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:518 and Bentley and Whitten, 2007:709).

Unit testing or program testing are were individual components of the system are tested independently without other system components to locate errors and trying to find all ways to make a program fail as there is no program that is error free. Once the errors are found they are rectified. Systems testing ensure that the entire application of which the modified program was a part still works or there are any discrepancies to the way the system works and the way it was programmed as well as checking performance time, file storage capacity, handling peak loads, recovery and restart capabilities and manual procedures. They are evaluated by users and reviewed by management.

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Acceptance Testing determine whether functioning as per user requirements and ready to be used in a production setting. Once all parties are satisfied the system is formally accepted for implementation.

The system testing is a better method as it tests the modified program and the main users are the role players. Also considering their business operations, there is need to check the entire program and rectify any errors.

3.2 Implementation strategy

According to Laudon and Laudon (2010:521) conversion is the process of changing from a legacy system to the new system and four strategies may be used. The parallel strategy allows both the legacy system and the potential replacement to run concurrently for a time until everyone is satisfied that the new functions are correct. This strategy is safe in case of errors or processing disruptions the old systems can still be used as backup though is very expensive as additional staff or resources may be needed. The direct cutover strategy replaces the old legacy system completely with the new system on an agreed dated. This can be risky compared to running two systems at the same time in the event that serious problems are found. As there would be no system to fall back on while rectifications are made can be very expensive and time consuming. The pilot study strategy introduces the new systems to a section of the organization e.g. human resource or operations department. Once the new system is operating correctly the new system can be implemented through the entire organization or can be in stages. The phased approach strategy introduces the new system in stages such as stating with the headquarters and then moving down until the whole organization in installed.

As Cool-care’s legacy system has been running though obsolete I would recommend the pilot study approach as it is not very expensive and there is a back when things go wrong. Also the installation of the new system will be installing once and for all once all the errors have been rectified in the pilot study phase.
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3.3 Resolution of problems

Laudon and Laudon (2010:422) defines call centre as an organizational department responsible for handling customer service issues by phone, email or other channels which is cheaper than a live customer representative. Bentley and Whitten (2007:709-10) discusses the system recovery methods to resolve problem such as the systems analyst acts as intermediary between the user and those who can fix the systems. The roll forward method is used to recover lost data between the last back up and the database’s reprocessing recovery. In cases where a crash occurred during a transaction, then any updates done to the databases before the crash must be undone before reprocessing the complete transaction using the roll back method.

The other technique to resolution of problems is to call technicians or vendor service representatives to fix the hardware problems or the analyst will automatically or by coaching users to manually avoid a software bug or debug. Technical support is provided to users routinely, conducting user-satisfaction surveys and meetings, providing additional training as necessary and logging enhancement ideas and request in the repository.

As Cool-care is a manufacturing company dealing with international motor manufacturer, having a call centre would prove to be a worthwhile move as it quickly responds to client queries regarding also time difference between countries.

Part D: System maintenance

4.1 Maintenance procedures

Once the system has been installed it needs to be maintained. Outsourcing can be used to maintain a system. There are three external sources for software maintenance which are

16 software packages from a commercial vendor, software services from online provider and outsourcing custom application development to an outside software firm (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:217).

Software package is a prewritten, predesigned and pretested commercially available program which organization can buy to use instead of writing up its own software. SAP and Oracle-PeopleSoft are vendors that have developed these software to support business processes of a firm worldwide at a cost less than developing it themselves.
Package vendors provide ongoing maintenance and support. A company can customize its unique requirements as the vendor packages include capabilities for customization. It can be expensive and time consuming if additional programming is required. Analyst evaluate the functions provided by the package for flexibility, user friendliness, hardware and software, data requirements, installation and maintenance efforts, documentation, vendor quality and cost. Once the analyst is satisfied with the selected package the organization will have no total control over the system design process (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:531).

Software as a service is delivered and used over networks as a service e.g. cloud computing is delivered as a service over the internet. Companies need to really assess the costs and benefits of the services as costs may become more than purchasing and maintaining the application in-house. Outsourcing is when firms contract external source which can be domestic or in another country for custom software development and maintenance of it old system. These companies provide lower-level maintenance, data entry and call centre operations to service their clients. Outsourcing is often less expensive than hiring permanent new employees who would need extensive training in the new software package. Companies need to thoroughly understand the project’s requirements, methods of implementation, benefits, cost and metrics for measuring performance. Though caution need to be taken when using an outsourcer to develop or operate applications that give some competitive advantage (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:532).
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Cool-care is recommended to use outsourcing as it a cost saver and would benefit if they thoroughly investigate the risks and vendor’s service.

4.2 Updating and upgrading

The updating and upgrading procedure for hardware and software is necessary and should be on an ongoing basis. Cloud computing is more appealing to mal and medium-size businesses that have no resource to buy and own their own hardware and software and these are offered as services over the internet. Data is stored permanently in remote mass data centres and is accessed and updated over the internet (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:208).

Autonomic computing is an effort to develop systems that can protect themselves and heal, detect and destroy virus when invaded. IBM and other vendors have started to build autonomic features into products for large systems (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:209). Programs can be updated automatically through online antivirus protection services, designed to check computer systems and drives for viruses. McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro are leading antivirus software vendors. Companies need to remember that antivirus software is effective in detecting virus already known when the software was written, therefore should be continually updated to remain effective (Laudon and Laudon, 2010:347).

Conclusions and Recommendations
In the current global market, business organizations cannot do without information systems and technology. It is the main source of survival and of attaining the competitive advantage positions in the industry. Though business propellers need to understand that the system indeed need the human skills for application of information and sharing knowledge for the continuous growth of the business.
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Bibliography

Bentley, L.D. and Whitten, J.L. (2007). Systems Analysis and Design for the Global Enterprises. 7th edition. McGraw-Hill International

Bragg, R. (2004). Hardening Windows Systems, Bulletproof your systems before you are hacked. McGraw-Hill Osborne.

Chokhani, S. (1994). Towards a national public key infrastructure. IEEE Communications Magazine. 9 (32), 70-74.

Crowe, A., Beeby, R. and Gammack, J. (1996). Constructing systems and information: a process view. Maidenhead. McGraw-Hill.

Laudon K.C. and Laudon J.P. (2006) Management Information Systems. 9th edition. Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River: New Jersey

Parker, D.B. (1998). Fighting Computer Crime – A New Framework for Protecting Information. Wiley Computer Publishing. USA.

Parker, D. (1981). Computer Security Management. Reston, Virginia. Reston Publishing.

Röhmn, A.W., Pernul, G. and Herrmann, G. (1998). Modelling secure and fair electronic commerce, In Proceedings of the 14th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference. 155-164.

Schach, S.R. (2004). Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with UML and the Unified Process. McGraw-Hill

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Appendix A
Problem Statement
|Project: Information systems |Project Manager: Mabel Jiri |
|Created by: Mabel Jiri |Last update by: Ashley Madoda |
|Date created: 16 April 2010 |Date last updated: 18 April 2010 |
|Statements of Problems, opportunities or Directive |Urgency |Visibility |Annual benefits |Priority |Proposed solution |
|2. Currently, four functional departments each has |1 month |Medium |$45,000 |1 |New development |
|its independent databases. Therefore, intent to merge| | | | | |
|databases into a single centralized database | | | | | |
|3. There is lack of access to management and |4 months |Low |20,000 |2 |After new systems is |
|decision-making information. A centralized database | | | | |developed, provide users with|
|will enhance sharing of information. | | | | |easy-to-learn and use |
| | | | | |reporting tools |
|4. There currently exists data inconsistency in |2 months |High |$40,000 |1 |Urgent fix, then new |
|member and order files. | | | | |development |
|5. There is need to create a website. |2 months |Medium |10,000 |3 |Newly developed systems |
|6. Need to improve the P2P network system is limited.|3 months |Medium |$40,000 |2 |New systems |
|There is need to improve networking between | | | | | |
|employees, customers and suppliers (LAN). | | | | | |
|7. The security and control is an issue that needs to|6 months |Low |Unknown |4 |Future version of newly |
|be addressed. | | | | |developed system |

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