Answers to common accounting questions

¶ … role that the Board of Directors should play in IT governance.

The Board of Directors will have the ultimate responsibility for IT policies within a company. It is the board of directors that determine IT policies will be put into place, and will be responsible for accurately communicating those. The model also be responsible for keeping up-to-date with developments, as well as the determination and monitoring of investments and IT costs. Major aspects of IT within the organization should also be reported to the board, including reports on major projects which will be reviewed by the board to ensure that is suitable support available in terms of both resources and infrastructure

(SO 3, 5) Two feasibility studies occur during the SDLC: one during systems planning, and one during systems design. Describe the differences between these two feasibility studies.

The feasibility study which is undertaken in systems design phase will contain more detail, and is undertaken with a different scope and focuses on only a single design, rather than the multiple designs during system planning. This limited scope is because during the systems design phase has a ready been an assessment of alternative designs, and the decision has been made regarding which design will be chosen. Feasibility during the systems design focuses on the way the chosen design may be unfermented, including assessing the technology which will be required, the operational needs, the costs which will be involved, and the development of an implementation schedule. The schedule may be more accurate due to the high level of development of the project. The feasibility which occurs during systems planning phase is broader and less focused as it is assessing the various alternative designs with the aim of choosing a single design.

35. (SO 4) There are four methods of data collection used in the study of the current system: observation, documentation review, interviews, and questionnaires. Compare and contrast these four methods.

During the observation and the documentation review the project team are not gathering user feedback, instead they is in an perspective in order to assess the strengths and weaknesses. User input will be gathered during interviews and with the use of questionnaires, which may be either structured, or unstructured. Questionnaires provide a written form of data gathering, and may be undertaken with the users remaining anonymous. Interviews are a verbal form of data collection and usually take place face-to-face.

36. (SO 4) Describe the purpose of Business Process Reengineering during the System Design phase.

Underlying business processes may need to be changed during implementation of an IT system, this will be identified during the design phase. When business process re-engineering takes place this is a significant redesign of the underlying business processes, this redesign may be implemented in order to take advantage of increased efficiency offered by the new computer systems, and can facilitate a firm's ability to ensure they are optimizing the benefits they can gain from the improved IT systems.

37. (SO 6) There are four methods of system conversion: parallel, direct cutover, pilot, and phase-in. Describe these four methods and how they differ.

When parallel conversion takes place there will be to systems operating side-by-side, with both the old and the new system being used concurrently for a limited amount of time. By comparison and direct cutover has no concurrent use of both systems, and a date is set when the organization changes from the old system which will be discontinued, and moves onto the new system. A pilot study is a trial process, where the new system is introduced into a small section of the organization, while the old system continues to be used in the rest of the company. A phase-in conversion is undertaken when a new system is gradually introduced, rather than a sudden change over. For example, a phase-in may be undertaken with the introduction of individual modules one at a time. A comparison of the four methods indicates that process which has the most risky is the direct cutover, and the process with the least risk is the parallel conversion. Both the phase-in and the pilot system conversion may require a longer time schedule for the conversion to be achieved.

38. (SO 7) Operation and maintenance is the longest and costliest part of the SDLC. Explain why this is true.

Operation and maintenance is the longest and costliest part of the SDLC because it is the longest part of the process. The implementation of new systems are usually undertaken with the aim of lasting for several years, with the ability to take advantage of their systems for a lengthy period of time, this results in the operations and maintenance having the highest associated costs due to the time period involved.