A critical part for systems analysis is the collection of information. From the very beginning, analyst need to understand the information systems that are currently in use. Besides, analyst has to find out expectations of users about how they prefer to improve the current systems and organizational operations with the new or replacement information systems. Last but not least, analyst will need to discover how users feel about the new or replacement information systems. There are many techniques for collecting these information. Face-to-face interviewing and self-administered questionnaires are two main techniques among them. This report is about a comparison of face-to-face interviewing and self-administered questionnaires. Recommendation will be given for using which technique to collect information about how the staff feel about the Guernsey Ranch Information System.
Valacich, George and Hoffer (2006, p.123) state that one of the best ways to get this information is to talk with the people in different part of the organization who are directly or indirectly affected by the possible system changes. In fact, interviewing is seen as one of the main ways for analysts to gather information about an information systems. In the outlet, a large amount of time is spend for interviewing people about their work and the information they use to do it. A Analyst also need to spend time to understand the types of information processing that might supplement their work. Another way is to do self-administered questionnaires relevant to the new or replacement systems and business processes. Shelly, Cashman and Rosenblatt (2008, p.116) indicate that a questionnaire can be a valuable tool when it is desirable to obtain input from a large number...
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...line contact system. However, you would be better to choose an interview if you want an in-depth analysis of a manager’s decision-making process. Kendall and Kendall (2006, p.110) contend some guidelines to help you decide whether use of questionnaires is appropriate. Questionnaire will be useful if:”
1. The people you need to question location in different branches of the same corporation. In other words, people are widely dispersed.
2. There exist a large number of people in the systems project, whilst there is a need to know what proportion of a given group approves or disapproves of a particular feature of the proposed system.
3. While doing an exploratory study and you want to gauge overall opinion before the systems project is given any specific direction.
4. There is a request that any problems with the current system should be identified and addressed.”
The company first needs to collect demographic and geographic information relevant to potential store location choices in order to segment its market. It is extremely important that the marketing team gather thorough information in order to ensure they are focusing efforts in areas where the company’s products will be best received. This will help them in achieving maximum sales.
Saunders, C. S., & Pearlson, K. E. (2009). Managing and Using Information Systems. John Wiley&Sons, Incorporated.
Adapt to externalities. Correct evaluation, however additional analysis is required. The IT department needs to collaborate with the business to better understand how organization changes impact applications and systems. Moreover, IT needs to strengthen the IT-business alignment to stay abreast of future changes. One methodology that may assist here is business architecture, a blueprint of the business that supports aligning strategic objectives and tactical demands.
It was an attractive system that added long term improvements; yet it had an adoption rate <50% because of certain pitfalls. The conventional ABC system worked well for a limited settings – such as a small firm or one department – however it became unnecessarily complicated for multiple facilities. This was because: (1) it was time-consuming and tedious data had to be collected from all employees regularly, (2) surveying, data storage, data processing, and data reporting was expensive, and (3) the system was n...
Asemi observe that Management Information System (MIS) is one of the information systems that is computer based. Besides, Asemi defines MIS as “an organizational method of providing past, present and project information related to internal operations and external intelligences. It supports the planning, control and operation functions of an organization by furnishing uniform information in the proper time frame to assist the decision makers,” (2011). The aim of MIS is to satisfy the general information need of the entire manager in an organization. Before the advent of computers, the process of decision-making was one that was full of built-in advantages and ad hoc methods. Computers technologies have changed the landscape of the decision-making process completely by making the process less demanding and easy to undertake. The reason for this situation is that information technology has made access to information more automated, efficient, effective, timely, and less ambiguous. Consequently, the ordinary t...
Sallam, (2011) developed a survey based on customers rating their BI platform designers. Sallam gathered data on major corporations such as IBM Cognos, Oracle, Microstratgey, and Microsoft to small companies such as Corda and Qliktech to compare end user satisfaction. “With the exception of development tools and BI infrastructure, in general, the satisfaction with capabilities rises along with the prevalence of use. Only reporting is used extensively by most respondents (68%) while six capabilities are extensively used by 25% or less. Use of reporting and ad hoc analysis experienced the most significant decline in extensive use while interactive visualization and dashboard use grew the most” (Sallam, p. 6, 2011). End users utilize BI that is easy to understand and offers them value. Some BI systems may be easy to use but offer no value to the end user or the system could offer value but its complexity reduces efficiency elsewhere muted or canceling out the BI systems
Being user friendly, the IS analysts thought that user compliance would boost the usage of the product. Much to the IS analyst’s dismay, surveys concluded that the program had small differences with usage. This problem was due to the socio-economic factors within the company which caused the sales representatives chosen to operate the system to shun the system. These excuses were due to disincentives such a lack pay bonus or reward for using the system, and being obtrusive toward their responsibilities. As sales representatives, they made excuses such as the system being “dirty work” for the manufacturers. Behind the excuses, the process of using the system was sub optimized by the sales representative’s subprocess within the company which was optimized for efficiency. Unfortunately, the IS analysts in charge of the project were not in a position to make changes regarding who used their system. Communication issues between the creators of the product and the managers who employed the product caused this
As technology advances so should the products and services provided by companies. In every industry, technology is becoming the key success factor to growth and profit. The ability to communicate with people all around the world has created a new marketplace for business. In order to remain competitive, it is important for companies to utilize the most current technology. At ABC Inc., the use of the latest technological tools allows the company to provide first-rate, quality architectural engineering services to its clients. As part of the company's strategic goal to increase profits and clients, the board of directors established an information technology steering committee to look at how the company could improve its' technology. The committee was tasked to make sure the company had the latest available industry computer tools and to make sure all employees were uniform in terms of the technology. One of the most important findings of the committee's research was the fact that the company and its branches were using varying types of software and hardware systems. The findings also showed that this lack of uniformity caused numerous communication problems not only with the branches and corporate offices, but also the clientele. These findings were reported to senior management. Based on the findings, recently, senior management made the decision to ensure all employees, branch offices and corporate office were working on the same software and hardware systems. Management decided to move the entire company to a Windows NT environment, in order to improve productivity, to create uniformity, to create a more functional network infrastructure and to develop an Intranet and Internet web sites. The Information Technology department (referred to as the "Team") was asked to take a look at the pros and cons of moving to Windows. The Team has prepared the following report based on its research efforts.
Research attitudes about the issue at hand; Action. Identify action of the client in the public interest. Communication. Communicate that action to gain understanding, acceptance, and support. Evaluation. Evaluate the communication to see if opinion has been influenced.” (Seitel, Fraser P. 2014)
...on and parole officers by gathering data from line officers and middle managers. It is shown that not many respondents contributed to the research study. In my opinion, I do agree that the information regarding decision making might have been better coming from seasoned and experienced veterans of the job. Overall, the experience and almost every case being different and unique, the answers may have been more reliable and more valid on different types of circumstances.
I will use 4 subjects for the study; they are all from different backgrounds and have different perspectives on the usage of the system. There is a support worker working for Leeds Met, a computing student from Huddersfield University, a graphics student from Newcastle University, and an accounting student from Stafford University. This should mean that the overall view we get is a general view.
Suggest possible solutions to cope with the issues as well as recommendations for further improvement
One main apprehension that they have against Information System is the high investment cost. In addition to this there is the high maintenance and upgrade costs associated with the deployment of new IT systems. In fact they prefer to outsource the heavy IT department expenditures to other companies having IT as their core activities. In return they expected to receive a full solution pack to meet their requirements and they are ready to pay these IT services as an operating cost. At the same time the risks associated with IS are being shifted to the other
This research report aims to explore how such a system can be altered and adapted with aid of recent developments in ICT to a more modern level which will aid the way we conduct research in business.