Chapter Overview

This chapter introduces students to many of the activities carried out during implementation, including coding, testing, installation, documentation, user training, and support for a system after it is installed. While most systems development texts do not include much material on implementation, the authors remedy this situation by providing material on relevant management issues, including change management, organizational politics, and implementation success. The authors also include a discussion of implementation failure, something few systems developments texts discuss, despite the high rate of information systems failure. The discussion of failure is presented in the context of factors the analyst (and project manager) can control in an attempt to ensure success.

One of Chapter 17’s goals is to show the student that implementation is neither simple nor mechanical. Throughout the textbook, the authors emphasize that systems development is a change process. For many users, the most obvious evidence of change comes during implementation. Once a new system has been coded, tested, and installed, the systems development team does not simply walk away. The organizational members left with the new system, the users, need a solid understanding of how the new system fits into their work lives and how the system can support them in their day-to-day work activities. User documentation, training, and continuing support are all parts of providing this solid understanding to users. In some organizations, other specialists in the IS department, such as technical communicators, trainers, local experts, and help desk employees, are available to help the analyst complete this part of the implementation process. In other organizations, the analyst will do most of this work alone. In the latter case, the importance of user documentation, training,