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Discuss various issues in developing information systems and fulllinginformation needs at dierent levels in the organization.
Information Systems functionality is increasingly becoming a necessity and not anoption. Imagine a company that relies on e-commerce that has its website takendown due to software failure and security issue. This fault in the software canmake the company lose thousands if not millions of dollars in revenue. Thus,robustness and security of the system are equally important to ensure systemcondentiality, integrity and availability !I"#. The two main challenges facingtoday$s information systems are operational and technical challenges. Thesechallenges must be addressed from the very beginning to ensure softwarepro%ects do not fail.
Operational Challenges&erhaps designing information systems software may have become easier thanwhat it was in the past, however, operational challenges have become even moredemanding. Some of the key operational challenges facing today$s information
system$s development include'
• Bad Communication: (ack of understanding)planning for customer, organi*ation
and other stakeholders requirements)needs for the pro%ect.
• Unclear Reuirements: +hen requirements are not clearly identied, this will lead
to change of requirements during middle of the pro%ect which will increase pro%ect
delivery time and anger many customers.
• !ncreasing Cost: "ll of this will lead to added labor and pro%ect cost. Thus making
the pro%ect less protable and takes away interest from stakeholders.
• Delayed "ro#ect Delivery: The result of what mentioned above will cause pro%ect
milestones to be pushed back and a potential software with less functionality than
what agreed upon in the beginning agreement with the client.• $ar%et "ressure: "nother important aspect is the rapid development of software to
meet the ever-changing market demands.
In order for the pro%ect to succeed from an operational perspective allstakeholders including the end-user customers#, managers who inuencedirection and budget, and software developers must be in full collaboration toensure successful delivery of the new information system.
&echnical Challenges The other main and important part of information system$s development
challenges are the technical challenges. Technical challenges determine the truesystem functionality, reliability and availability. Today$s information systemschallenges include'
• 'no(ing the &echnical needs: This is about understanding programing languages,
the frameworks, the systems and the algorithms needed for a particular information
system to be successful. "n important factor today is making sure that your web
based information system works on all browsers and devices. It is also about knowing
your developers programming epertise and using that to your advantage.
• Right Design "atterns: Identifying the right design patterns for your information
system software and establishing an actual design review, quality evaluation criteria
and design management is something highly neglected today because of the time
and eort it takes.
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• )uality Control: Sometimes codes are not built with a /sanity in mind/ which can
lead to signicant challenges in the future. 0uilding quality and maintainable code
that can scale to multiple systems to serve millions and millions of customers is a key
challenge today if addressed can save the company from catastrophes and put them
ahead of their competition.
• *ecurity: Security is highly important especially with today$s cyber warfare and
attacks. 1nsuring no leaks are open during information system development is key in
safeguarding your customer and employee private data. 1ducating your employees
about reverse engineering is also another key important thing that developers and
technical sta overlook.
• +l(ays De,ugging: 2ou3re always on the lookout in ing logical errors, debugging
those innite loops or divide by *ero bugs in the code. "ccording to (inu$s law, always
have enough eyeballs to lookout for bugs in the system.
+n alternative approach to systems development
Incorporation of research interests into information systems may result in thecollection of too much data that will rarely, if ever, be used, making the systemsunworkable. 4owever, there is merit in looking at systems development as aresearch)learning eercise in order to start the process of training participants inthe use of the information as soon as development of the system starts. Thesteps that would be involved in this approach follow'
• Dene a very specic o,#ective. This is analogous to dening the ob%ective or
hypothesis of a research pro%ect. 5aintaining a narrow focus will enable the
participants to keep the nal ob%ective in mind throughout the system development
process. 6or eample, answering the question /4ow many doses of each serotype of
657 vaccine do I need net year8/ as opposed to /(et3s computeri*e the 657 controlprogramme/ is a much more attainable ob%ective. It keeps the focus on the important
question - number of vaccine doses - instead of on the computeri*ation eercise.
• Collect and process data manually. The second stage should be to involve the
user group in the collection and processing of the required data manually. This will
accomplish several ob%ectives. 6irst, it will integrate the user group into the process.
Second, it will clarify in their minds eactly what data are required and what analyses
have to be carried out on those data. Third, it will provide the user group with a clear
understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the data that might go into the
information system. 6inally, it will contribute to the development of the information-
processing and interpretation skills of the user group.
• Determine (hat data are availa,le. 9ne of the failings of many informationsystems is the developers3 desire to produce systems that are self-contained.
7evelopers often ignore information that may be readily available from other sources.
!ollecting and processing data manually in a small-scale pilot pro%ect should lead to
the evaluation of data sources that might otherwise be ignored. It is important to
avoid the duplication of data collection eorts.
• Determine the needs of data collectors. It must be remembered that information
systems often have one group of users contributing data to the system and a second
group using the output. The needs of those who will contribute data to the system
must be assessed. If the system does not meet their local needs, there will be no
incentive for them to ensure that the data going into the system are accurate and
timely. 6or eample, in the development of a hospital record system at the 9ntario
:eterinary !ollege, ;uelph, !anada, the fact that the computer was able to print all of
the instruction labels to be stuck on prescriptions dispensed by the pharmacy ensured
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that the appropriate information went into the system. In turn, this resulted in
accurate medical records and appropriate charges on the bill.
• Revie( availa,le hard(are and soft(are and develop programs. If the focus
of the system development eercise can be kept on the original specic ob%ective,
then the user group will want to meet that ob%ective as quickly and easily as possible.
This may help prevent the /we-can-do-it-better/ syndrome, although there can be no
guarantee of this 9nce the users have become familiar with the data, determined the
needs of all involved with the system and begun to develop information usage skills,the development of the programs should be relatively straightforward.
• !mplement the system. "t this point, the training requirements should be conned
to the relatively simple eort of training specic user groups in the operation of the
system. Those involved in the development should now have considerable skills in the
use and interpretation of the information generated. 4owever, there remains the big
problem of keeping those people in a position where they can use both the new
system and their new skills to help solve the original problem. There are two serious
temptations that must be avoided. The rst is to continually pull people away from
these tasks and assign them to /ght other res/. The fact that they have improved
information-processing skills makes them even more vulnerable to secondment to
other pro%ects. The second problem is that of reward and promotion. 5echanisms
must be found to reward people for superior performance in the %ob that they started
out doing, otherwise, there is a serious tendency to promote people with new skills
and qualications into more senior administrative positions, leaving the information
system devoid of trained users.
$odular system
It is hoped that the end product of the development process described above willbe an information system with a very specic focus, function and set of goals. The
system users will not only be trained in the operation of the system, but moreimportant they will know how to use the output information eectively.
9ne serious potential drawback to such a development process is that it willresult in a variety of systems with specic goals within the overall animal healthprogramme. If the development of these systems can be adequately coordinatedand integrated, then an overall animal health information system with a modularstructure will result. If development is not coordinated, then a group of disparateprogrammes that may or may not relate will result. The most serious problemwith uncoordinated development is that it will inevitably lead to the duplication of data-collection eorts and wastage of resources.
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"lthough resource limitations are not restricted to developing countries only, theyare more acute there. The biggest limitation is not the scarcity of computers andprogrammers, but the lack of animal health specialists with information-processing and quantitative problem-solving skills. 1ducation programmes indeveloping countries often do not emphasi*e the development of problem-solvingskills to the same etent that programmes in developed countries do. Thisproblem is particularly acute in the area of handling and processing quantitativedata. !onsequently, it is imperative that these skills be developed in concert withthe development of the information system.
"s the price of microcomputers drops their availability becomes less of an issue,but it is still critical that resources be directed to the most eective users.9wnership of a microcomputer is still a symbol of prestige and potentially anindication of authority. =nfortunately, this often results in machines being claimedby senior administrators who may have no specic skills in their use. " relatedissue is that of /critical mass/. The use and acceptance of computers is muchhigher if there are su>cient resources in the area so that a group of users can
support each other in the learning process.