ASSIGNMENT TWO

MIS
DIT-0303
Dennis Wanyoike DIT-035-0022/2009
2/7/2010
Contents
Contents..................................................................................................................... 2
PROTOTYPING.............................................................................................................3
Advantages of Prototyping:.....................................................................................3
Disadvantages of Prototyping.................................................................................3
End User Development............................................................................................4
Application Software................................................................................................5
Outsourcing............................................................................................................. 5
Organizational Change...............................................................................................6
AUTOMATION........................................................................................................... 6
BPR..........................................................................................................................7
PARADIGM SHIFT..................................................................................................... 8
RATIONALIZATION OF PROCEDURES.......................................................................8

2
PROTOTYPING
Prototyping is the process of building a model of a system. In terms of an
information system, prototypes are employed to help system designers build an
information system that intuitive and easy to manipulate for end users. Prototyping
is an iterative process that is part of the analysis phase of the systems development
life cycle.

During the requirements determination portion of the systems analysis phase,

system analysts gather information about the organization's current procedures and
business processes related the proposed information system. In addition, they study
the current information system, if there is one, and conduct user interviews and
collect documentation. This helps the analysts develop an initial set of system
requirements.

Advantages of Prototyping:

1. Reduces development time

2. Reduces development costs.

3. Requires user involvement.

4. Developers receive quantifiable user feedback.

5. Facilitates system implementation since users know what to expect.

6. Results in higher user satisfaction.

7. Exposes developers to potential future system enhancements

Disadvantages of Prototyping
1. Can lead to insufficient analysis.

3
 2. Users expect the performance of the ultimate system to be the same as the
prototype.

3. Developers can become too attached to their prototypes

4. Can cause systems to be left unfinished and/or implemented before they are
ready.

5. Sometimes leads to incomplete documentation.

6. If sophisticated software prototypes (4th GL or CASE Tools) are employed, the

time saving benefit of prototyping can be lost.

End User Development

An end user developer is someone who develops applications systems to support

his or her work and possibly the work of other end users. The applications
developed are known as user developed applications (UDAs).

Advantages

1. Frees IS resources for higher priority projects

2. May help reduce the hidden backlog
3. Faster design/implementation cycle
4. More acceptable to users
5. Reduces communications problems between users and IS
6. Encourages innovation and creative solutions

Disadvantages

1. Duplication or effort and waste of resources

2. Greatly increased costs
3. Loss of control over data
4. Loss of control of quality in both programs and data

4
 5. Incompatibles prevent sharing
6. Can be used to circumvent control processes, such as the steering
committee
7. Generally produces narrow, inflexible systems with short lives

Application Software

Application software is computer software designed to help the user to perform a

singular or multiple related specific tasks. Such programs are also called software
applications, craplications or apps. Typical examples are word processors,
spreadsheets, media players and database applications.

Advantages

1. Eliminates need of writing software programs

Disadvantages

1. Cannot provide customized solutions to problems

2. cannot adopt to change easily.

Outsourcing
Outsourcing occurs when a business secures (purchases) products and/or services
from a third party, as opposed to producing them in-house.

Advantages

1. One of the biggest advantages can be lower personnel costs.

2. outsourcing speeds up production time.

5
 3. Outsourcing gives a business the flexibility to change third-party vendors
whenever necessary.

Disadvantages

1. One of the biggest disadvantages of outsourcing is undesirable results.

2. Not only is this a waste of time and materials, it can also be very costly for
the company who outsourced the project.

3. Lack of proper communication channels.

Organizational Change

Organizational change is any action or set of actions resulting in a shift in direction

or process that affects the way an organization works. Change can be deliberate
and planned by leaders within the organization or change can originate outside the
organization and be beyond its control. Change may affect the strategies an
organization uses to carry out its mission, the processes for implementing those
strategies, the tasks and functions performed by the people in the organization, and
the relationships between those people. Naturally, some changes are relatively
small, while others are sweeping in scope, amounting to an organizational
transformation.

AUTOMATION

Automation is a system of manufacture designed to extend the capacity of

machines to perform certain tasks formerly done by humans, and to control
sequences of operations without human intervention. The term automation has also
been used to describe non-manufacturing systems in which programmed or
automatic devices can operate independently or nearly independently of human

6
control. In the fields of communications, aviation, and astronautics, for example,
such devices as automatic telephone switching equipment, automatic pilots, and
automated guidance and control systems are used to perform various operations
much faster or better than could be accomplished by humans. In a correlation to
being a radical change in an organization, automation is the type of change that
uses technology to the tasks in an organization more efficiently and effectively.
Basically the goal of automation is the increased efficiency of the operations in an
organization. Calculating paychecks and payroll registers, giving bank tellers instant
access to customers deposit records this are all examples of automation.

BPR
Business process reengineering is the reorganization of way business is run. It is a
management approach that examines aspects of a business and their interaction
and attempts to improve the efficiency of the underlying processes.
It is in business process reengineering in which business processes are analyzed,
simplified and redesigned. Using information technology, organizations can rethink
and streamline their business processes to improve speed, service and quality.
Business reengineering reorganizes work flows, combining steps to cut waste and
eliminating repetitive, paper intensive tasks. Its usually much more ambitious thank
rationalization of procedures, requiring a new vision of how the process is to be
organized.
Reengineering is the radical redesign of business processes that depends upon
information technology intensive radical redesign of workflows and work processes.
Compared to automation and rationalization of procedures, business process
reengineering change conquers higher risk however it also covers the possibility of
higher rewards for the organization.
Rationalizing procedures and redesigning business processes are limited to specific
parts of a business. New information systems can ultimately affect the design of the
entire organization by transforming how the organization carries out its business or
even the nature of the business.

7
PARADIGM SHIFT
Paradigm shift involves rethinking the nature of the business and the nature of the
organization. In many instances firms seeking paradigm shift and pursuing
reengineering strategies achieve stunning, order or magnitude increases in their
returns on investment.

RATIONALIZATION OF PROCEDURES

During automation, new bottlenecks in production are frequently revealed and

make the existing arrangement of procedures and structures painfully cumbersome.
This is where a deeper form of structural change called the Rationalization of
Procedures can be adapted.
Basically, the rationalization of procedures is streamlining of procedures and
eliminating obvious bottlenecks that are revealed by automation for enhanced
efficiency of operations.
Compared to automation, the rationalization of procedures provides higher risks but
at the same time higher chance of return of investment for the organization.