BUSINESS INFORMATION SYSTEMS 3

SEMESTER 1/2024
SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT
REVISION EXERCISE
QUESTION 1 (40 MARKS)

The following case study appears in Stair R M, Reynolds G W; Principles of Information

Developing Systems at Froggies

Froggies is a large company that manufactures and sells commercial sandals, shoes
and boots. It is a family-owned organization and many of the employees have worked
for the organization for many years. Froggies had separate software systems for the
processing of orders, accounts receivable (debtors) and inventory (stock). The software
was twelve years old and did not integrate very well as the three systems were
developed at different times. Froggies decided to develop a new system by following the
traditional systems development life cycle (SDLC) method. This attempted development
was not without its problems.

Froggies did not spend time analyzing the current system properly with a view to making
improvements in the new system. Because the organization did not have a big budget
for the systems development project they decided to use the technical expertise of some
of the staff that worked within the organization, instead of considering outsourcing some
or all of the systems development functions. They could have made use of an alternative
to speed up the development process, without compromising the phases of the SDLC.
Whilst Froggies conducted behavioural, and technical feasibility, they failed to give due
consideration to the economic and operational/organizational feasibility. As a result, after
nine months the budgeted amount was depleted. This was also due to the fact that in the
systems planning they had budgeted for purchasing new hardware and software, without
considering alternative strategies for acquiring IT applications.

The conversion from the old system to the new one was already three months behind its
implementation date. This was due to the staff’s inability to provide information that they
required in the form of outputs (i.e. reports) from the new system. As a result
management decided to implement the system directly without ensuring it was working
properly, or that the staff could use the new system. After it was implemented there
were still some issues. The processing of orders and accounts integrated well, but the
stock system did not integrate with the order system. This was problematic because the
organization never knew what stock was needed and shoe orders were delayed by up to
8 days. Many orders were taken and delivered incorrectly due mainly to the
incompetence of staff who were working on the new system. As a result the
management of Froggies decided to outsource the order processing system to the Fini &
Company and to focus only on the maintenance phase of the system once it was
implemented. Cloud computing services would be provided by ITSavy to ensure that
software and storage are provided as an Internet service and are accessed by users
through their web browser.

REQUIRED:

Refer to the above case study, as well as your own knowledge and experience to answer,
with a full motivation, the questions that follow:

1.1 Critically assess the role of the end user in each phase of the Systems
Development Life Cycle. (6)
1.2 The scenario states: “…management decided to implement the system directly
without ensuring it was working properly, or that the staff could use the new
system”.
(3)
1.2.1 Critically assess why a direct implementation method was an
inappropriate choice for Froggies.

1.2.2 State which method they should have adopted in order to avoid the
problem of the stock system not integrating with the order system. (2)
Motivate your answer.

1.3 The scenario states: “Whilst Froggies conducted behavioural and technical
feasibility, they failed to give due consideration to the economic and
operational/organisational feasibility.” Discuss economic and
operational/organisational feasibility as it relates to Froggies. (2)

1.4.1 Justify three reasons why Froggies would outsource the order processing system
to the Fini & Company. Relate your answers to the facts given in the case. (3)

1.4.2 The scenario states: “…due to the fact that in the systems planning they had
budgeted for purchasing new hardware and software, without considering
alternative strategies for acquiring IT applications.”

Suggest three possible strategies that Froggies could have considered.

1.5 Paragraph two states “They could have made use of an alternative tool to speed
up the development process, without compromising the phases of the SDLC. ”.
Evaluate one such tool. (3)

1.6.1 What is the purpose of the systems operation and maintenance phase of the (2)
SDLC?
1.6.2 Discuss three types of maintenance that takes place during the operations and
maintenance phase of the SDLC. (3)

1.7 Assume that Froggies opted to use Agile development in order to develop their
order processing system. Critically evaluate the benefits of XP Programming for
this purpose. (3)

1.8 With reference to gathering user requirements for Froggies’ new system, contrast
three features of the SDLC with Agile Development. (3x2=6)

1.9 Assume that Froggies has opted for cloud computing. Differentiate between public (2x2=4)
and private cloud computing and provide an example of each type.