Introduction
The rapid advancements in technology emphasize the importance for business managers to ensure effective strategic decisions are made when purchasing new information systems. This planning process is essential as the purchase of hardware and software is a significant investment. Hardware is a physical component of the information system that inputs, processes, outputs and stores data according to instructions provided by programs and software (Kroenke & Hooper, 2011). Software is the instructions the computer employ to perform tasks (Kroenke & Hooper, 2011). Achieving organisational goals and objectives will be easier to obtain if business managers understand and utilize information technology. This essay will discuss human, technical and organisational factors; these key elements are crucial for managers to consider when planning buying software and hardware. This will be demonstrated in relation to the Ministry of Educations recent controversy over the Novopay payroll system.

Ministry of Education
The Ministry of Education as part of the public sector plays a substantial role in advising the Government on the New Zealand education system. Novopay is an initiative created by the Ministry of Education that aimed to deliver greater efficiencies, and reduce technical risk in order to improve the payroll systems for schools in New Zealand (Jackson, 2013). The Governments investment in Novopay demonstrate a support system, as reduces the number of staff required, allowing these resources to be better allocated (Joyce, 2013). The Ministry of Education maintains a competitive strategy, as the objective is to improve results based on the previous year. The payroll service pays approximately 110,000 employees each year, across 2500 schools within New Zealand. (Deloitte, 2013).
Paying such a substantial proportion of New Zealand employees is a huge