Reference no: EM13172361

Chapter 1 - Mini case 1 Narrative: Barbara Singleton, manager of western regional sales at the WAMAP Company, requested that the IS Department develop a sales force management and tracking system that would enable her to better monitor the performance of her sales staff. Unfortunately, due to the massive backlog of work facing the IS department, her request was given a low priority. After six months of inaction by the IS department, Barbara decided to take matters into her own hands. Based on the advice of friends, Barbara purchased a PC and simple database software (MS Access) and constructed a sales force management and tracking system on her own. Although Barbara's system has been "completed" for about six weeks, it still has many features that do not work correctly, and some functions are full of errors. Barbara's assistant is so mistrustful of the system that she has secretly gone back to using her old paper-based system, since it is more reliable. Over dinner one evening, Barbara complained to a systems analyst friend, "I don't know what went wrong with this project. It seemed pretty simple to me. Those IS guys wanted me to follow this elaborate set of steps and tasks, but I didn't think all that applied really to a PC-based system. I just thought I could build the system and tweak it around until I got what I wanted without all the fuss and bother of the methodology the IS guys were pushing. I mean, doesn't that just apply to their big, expensive systems?" Question: Assuming you are Barbara's systems analyst friend, how would you respond to her complaint? Answer: 1. In this case, Barbara's assumption that methodologies apply only to large systems projects led her to waste valuable time, resources, and effort on a new system that created no value for her company. I would explain that methodologies should be applied to smaller systems projects as well. Methodologies have been developed because they incorporate systems development practices that work. The size of the project does not really dictate the approach to the project. Whether large or small, every project needs to follow a systematic series of steps. Methodologies provide the guideline for the steps to follow. There is a range of methodologies; one of which would have been appropriate for a small, PC-based project like this. "Building and tweaking" the system only produced the failed result that Barbara has now. Using a methodology does not necessary slow down the development of a system. The RAD methodologies are designed particularly for speedy development. Methodologies simply assure that a systematic approach is taken in understanding the problem, designing the solution, and implementing and testing the solution.