Bsa375 - Week 5 Team Paper

Week Five Team Assignment

Learning Team A

University of Phoenix

November 01, 2010

Week Five Team Assignment

* Questions 1 – 22 on page 487 of Chapter 13, "Transition to the New System", in System Analysis and Design.

1. What are the three basic steps in managing organizational change?

Organizational change, first defined by Kurt Lewin, states that the three steps of for organizational change are: unfreeze, move, and refreeze. This summarizes a process of changing employee habits. Unfreeze breaks old and sometimes bad habits. Move is the transition to the new process that alters attitudes and defrays resistance to change. Freeze is the process of ingraining new habits and making them permanent. Methods for assisting this process are system support and system improvement.

2. What are the major components of a migration plan?

A. Prepare the Business

a. Determine the Best Conversion Strategy

b. Create Business Contingency Plans

B. Prepare the Technology

a. Install Hardware

b. Install Software

c. Convert Data

C. Preparing the People

a. Revise management policies

b. Asses costs and benefits

c. Motivate Adoption

d. Conduct Training

3. Compare and contrast direct conversion and parallel conversion.

Users are more comfortable with a parallel conversion and the business is less likely to have problems with system crashes and data-dumps.

A. Direct Conversion

A direct change is an abrupt change, which is the instant replacement of the old system with a new system. This method is dangerous as the new system may not yet work correctly and personnel are less likely to adapt to the new system as easily using this method.

B. Parallel Conversion

A parallel conversion uses both systems at the same time. This allows the system administrators to find the bugs in the new system, prior to a permanent changeover. This method allows the users to adjust to the new method and recommend changes to the system.

4. Compare and contrast pilot conversion, phased conversion, and simultaneous conversion.

A. Pilot Conversion

A pilot conversion introduces a program to select groups of people, by location, section, or small groups within each section. This method is less hazardous than introducing a system to an entire business as fewer people are affected, when something goes wrong with the new system. Traditionally this method is used to complete further testing, prior to introducing the system to the entire organization.

B. Phased Conversion

Phased conversion introduces a system to the network based on location or section in waves or one location at a time, until the implementation is complete. This method also limits the problems that arise at any given time. Based upon circumstances or requirements, a delay may occur between phases. This method works as well as the pilot program for reducing problems, but requires more staff to handle the issues that arise.

C. Simultaneous Conversion

The simultaneous conversion has the benefit of having everyone using the same system; however, this method requires a massive support staff to handle the problems that will occur during the transition.

5. Compare and contrast modular conversion and whole-system conversion.

A. Modular Conversion

Modular conversion requires special care when developing the system. Each module must be written to work with the old and new systems. This method is often used when the software is written with loose association between modules. This method also reduces the amount of training needed but does require significant time to introduce each module of the system in sequence.

B. Whole System Conversion

Whole system conversion installs the whole system at once. This is the most common method. If the system consists of tightly integrated modules