Development, Acquisition, Implementation, and Maintenance of Information Systems

I. Introduction
The acquisition, development, implementation and maintenance of new or revised applications
systems makes significant demands upon the financial, human and IT resources of the research
centres. It is essential for efficiency reasons and to ensure the quality of the system implementation
that system development processes are managed in accordance with best practices of the information
technology industry. The detailed systematic comparison of the alternative should be taken in to
consideration before acquiring, developing or implementing an information system.

A. Background: Managing complex and Technology based projects.

In the current competitive world, organizations need to constantly innovate to remain relevant
in the industry. Efficient technology management can expedite this innovation process and
can be a great asset for firms to efficiently service clients or improve their internal processes.
Managing complex projects require in depth analysis at each step to ensure efficient utilisation
of resources at hand.

B. Thesis Statement: Development, Acquisition, Implementation, and Maintenance of

Information Systems

II. Body Topic: Developing or Acquiring Information System

A. Developing Information Systems
1. Implementation:
 What is the origin of problem?
 Why it comes repeatedly?
 Why it is not being solved?
 What is the solution?

In information systems where a systems specialist develop an information, system to improve

an existing system or develop a new system as per user requirements is termed as Information
Systems Development.

Steps that are involved in the information systems development:

 Feasibility Study

 Analysis

 Design

 Development and Testing

 Implementation

 Evaluation

 Maintenance
 B. Acquiring Information System
Formulating & Accessing RFP
 What is RFP
 RFP Includes
 Why RFP
 Evaluation of RFP
 RFP Evaluation Criteria:
o Physical Requirement
o Service Requirement
o Pricing
o Delivery
o Warranties
o Terms & Conditions
o Skills & Abilities
o References
o Intangibles
o Evaluation Scoring
o Evaluation Priority Rankings

Acquiring through offshore provider

MIS Offshoring implies contracting all or part of an enterprise’s Information Technology (IT)
functions with a provider located in a foreign country that will help the customer through the
provision of tangible or intangible, human or non-human resources
The factors, which explain the emergence and growth of, IS offshoring in recent years are very
varied and mutually interrelated:
 Economic and market globalization: Globalization has helped firms expand in various countries
and shift their IT systems to places where cheap, educated workforce is available.
 The cost savings: The cost savings offered by this type of outsourcing are another determining
factor, in fact one of the most relevant ones. For example, a programmer who can earn up to
100,000 $ in California will earn 30,000 $ or less in India. In addition, shortage of qualified labor
in one country can be fulfilled by educated workforce of another country
 The need to shorten the development time cycle of IS projects: IT products and services have
an increasingly short life cycle; a circumstance which has significantly increased the demand for
more flexibility for IT enterprises, which do not have enough time to create and maintain
adequately trained human resources that can cope with the volatility of the demand and the
heterogeneity of its projects. Immediate access to these offshore resources is another growth factor.
 The development of telecommunications and the generalisation of the Internet are other facilitating
factors that must be taken into account

Buying off the shelf packages

Off-the-shelf software is software that is ready-made and available to lots of people. Off the shelf
packages are developed keeping in mind the functionalities and information needs that are
common to most organizations.

The advantages are:

 Cheaper. The development costs are spread across a large number of users, so it costs much less
than building the same software from scratch.
  Available immediately. The development work has already been done, so the firms only need to
set up the software and start using it.
 Lower training costs. If it is a commonly used package, users and I.T. staff may already be
familiar with it, saving on learning time and training costs. Or, there may be pre-existing training
materials and courses that firms can leverage.

 More functionality. Off-the-shelf software often has more functionality, because the developers
tryto meet the requirements of as many users as possible.
However, off the shelf packages fail to address the need of a software solution customized to meet
the information requirements of an enterprise.

C. Comparison between Developing & Acquiring Information Systems

Developing an in-house information system will be, feature wise, the most advantageous. The
programming can be made more suitable for the current business structure and the
implementation is also simpler as compared to acquiring new software for data retrieval and other
business functions. The various modules of business can be designed and customized with great
flexibility. The software developers will have better understanding of the system functions. But,
developing internal system takes more time in production of completed version of the information
systems. Most companies acquire readily available systems and customize based on the required
business modules. As far as the implementation of acquired systems is considered it’s to be
carefully monitored and it takes humongous amount of time in feeding the data. For example,
SAP software takes large time to feed and check the accuracy of data retrieval.

III. Body Topic: Difficulties Involved in implementing Information Systems

A. Leveraging the full potential of Information System
Operational Challenges

Perhaps designing information systems software may have become easier than what it was in
the past, however, operational challenges have become even more demanding. Some of the key
operational challenges facing today’s information system’s development include

 Bad Communication
 Unclear Requirements
 Increasing Cost
 Delayed Project Delivery
 Market Pressure

Technical Challenges

Other important part of information system’s development challenges are the technical
challenges. Technical challenges determine the true system functionality, reliability and
availability. Today’s information systems challenges include:

 Knowing the Technical needs

 Right Design Patterns
 Quality Control
 Security
 Debugging