Required Considerations when Acquiring Computer Systems
Introduction
The majority of businesses today rely on some sort of computer or IT system, regardless of the business’ size. The integration of a computer system into a business is not a decision to be taken lightly, as it can be a significant expense to purchase hardware, develop and install software, and train employees on specific procedures.
The Failure of a System: Novopay
In August of 2012, a new salary payment system for those in the educational sector was rolled out, and was quickly found to be riddled with errors, with over 8000 logged errors in the first four months of operation (Kroenke & Hooper, 2013). Whilst the majority of employees received their correct pay check on time, while a significant group of employees did not. This major system fault caused schools and the entire education sector to lose focus on their …show more content…
Despite popular media opinion, it is important to remember that the failure of the Novopay project is not due to the lack of consistent user training – the system itself has inconsistencies and that is what is at fault (Hubbard, 2012).
Project Faults
Kroenke and Hooper (2013) cite five key components for project management when implementing new computer systems. These are purpose, scope, time frame, cost and quality. It appears that there is a significant mistake made within each component of project management, all contributing towards the failure of Novopay.
Purpose
Novopay was planned as a payroll system, handling the salaries of over 100,000 employees within the education sector, and dealing with over 10,000 different pay combinations (Kroenke & Hooper, 2013). Once released for use, it was apparent that Novopay was not able to successfully meet its
Introduction
The majority of businesses today rely on some sort of computer or IT system, regardless of the business’ size. The integration of a computer system into a business is not a decision to be taken lightly, as it can be a significant expense to purchase hardware, develop and install software, and train employees on specific procedures.
The Failure of a System: Novopay
In August of 2012, a new salary payment system for those in the educational sector was rolled out, and was quickly found to be riddled with errors, with over 8000 logged errors in the first four months of operation (Kroenke & Hooper, 2013). Whilst the majority of employees received their correct pay check on time, while a significant group of employees did not. This major system fault caused schools and the entire education sector to lose focus on their …show more content…
Despite popular media opinion, it is important to remember that the failure of the Novopay project is not due to the lack of consistent user training – the system itself has inconsistencies and that is what is at fault (Hubbard, 2012).
Project Faults
Kroenke and Hooper (2013) cite five key components for project management when implementing new computer systems. These are purpose, scope, time frame, cost and quality. It appears that there is a significant mistake made within each component of project management, all contributing towards the failure of Novopay.
Purpose
Novopay was planned as a payroll system, handling the salaries of over 100,000 employees within the education sector, and dealing with over 10,000 different pay combinations (Kroenke & Hooper, 2013). Once released for use, it was apparent that Novopay was not able to successfully meet its