eannine Strother, investment manager, has submitted numerous requests for a new investment

tracking system. She needs to make quick decisions regarding possible investments and

divestments. one hour can cost her thousands of dollars in profits for her company.

She has finally given up on information systems for not giving her request high enough priority

to get service. She goes to a computer store and buys a microcomputer along with spreadsheet,

database, and word processing software.

The computer store salesperson suggests she

i. build a database of her investment and options,

ii. subscribe to a computer investment database (accessed via a modem in the microprocessor)

iii. feed data from her database and the bulletin board into the spreadsheet.

iv. play " What if " investment games on the spreadsheet, and then

v. update the database to reflect her final decisions. The word processor could draw date from

the database for form letters and mailing lists.

After discussing her plan with Jeff, a systems analyst at another company, he suggests she take

a system analysis and design course before beginning to use the spreadsheet and database.

The

local computer store says she doesn't need any system analysis and design training to

develop

system using the spreadsheet and database programs. The store

personnel's reasoning is that

spreadsheet and database tools are not programming languages, therefore, she shouldn't need

analysis and design to build system with them.

Questions:

Is the computer store correct? why or why not? can you persuade Jeannine to take the

system analysis and design course? What your arguments be?