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Conclusions

27 August, 2015 - 13:02

This chapter has introduced you to some of the important management issues surrounding the development of new or revised Information Systems. It also describes how to conduct the first two steps in systems development, the systems survey and structured systems analysis. Let’s expand on the implications of two issues that we raised.

As discussed in the next chapter, organizations continue to increase their reliance on outside resources to conduct their systems development projects and to operate their Information Systems. As this trend continues, the mix of IT-related skills that an organization must have in-house changes. For example, as an organization contracts out for the development of computer programs and communications networks, it needs to retain fewer of those technical skills in-house. At the same time, IT-savvy management team members must make decisions about these outsourcing arrangements and manage outsource contracts and relationships with the vendors.

Second, the implementation of very large systems, such as enterprise systems, makes project management more important and more difficult. These systems affect literally every unit and every person in an organization. If the organization is large and international, as many are, the project management problems are compounded. As a result, most major enterprise system vendors provide tools to help manage the implementation process.