If you purchased canned software, but it must be modified to suit the needs of your company, who should do the modifications your programmers or the vendor?

Benchmarking is recommended as a way of making a purchasing decision among several possible software products for your company. Define benchmarking in this context.

I want you to be a highly-valued member of your professional team. What important contributions can you, as an educated accountant with your unique skills, make to an enterprises computer acquisition process?

A city with a population of 50,000 was using its in-house programmers to develop needed software. Four years later, only one incomplete and poorly functioning application had been developed and none of software met users minimum requirements.

Why do you think the city was unable to produce quality, workable software?

Would the city have been better off purchasing software? Could the city have found software that met its needs? Why or why not?

You are a systems consultant for a large CPA firm. The firm pays for your membership in a country club with the expectation that you will meet and impress potential clients. At your clubs annual golf tournament, Frank Fender, an automobile dealer, describes a proposal from Turnkey Systems and asks for your opinion. The system will handle inventories, receivables, payroll, accounts payable, and general ledger accounting. Turnkey personnel would install the $40,000 system and train Fenders employees.

Before even getting into a turnkey system specifically, identify the major themes you would touch on in responding to Fender.

Now identify the advantages and disadvantages of using a turnkey system to operate the organizations accounting system.

PROBLEM 9 about Quickfix and Business Process Management / Redesign

Quickfix is rapidly losing business, and management wants to redesign its computer repair processes and procedures to decrease costs and increase customer service. Currently, a customer needing help calls one of five regional service centers. A customer service representative records the relevant customer information, finds the closest qualified technician, and calls the technicians cell phone to see whether the repair fits into his or her schedule. If not, the representative finds the next closest technician. When a technician is located, customer repair information is provided over the phone. The technician calls the customer and arranges to pick up the computer and replace it with a loaner. Making these arrangements takes one to two days and sometimes more if technicians are not available or do not promptly return calls.

If a broken computer cannot be quickly repaired, it is sent to a repair depot. These repairs take another four to seven days. If problems arise, it can take up to two weeks for an item to be repaired. When a customer calls to see whether the computer is ready, the service representative calls the technician to find out the status and calls the customer back. The repair process usually takes five phone calls between the customer, the service representative, and the technician.

There are several problems with this process that have led to a significant drop in business: (1) it is time-consuming; (2) it is inconvenient for a customer to have a computer removed, a new one installed, and then the old one reinstalled; and (3) service representatives do not have immediate access to information about items being repaired. Quickfix decides to use BPM principles to redesign its business processes.

What are the 3 or so events involved in the process?

How can the processes be redesigned (using the latest technology) and what benefits would this produce?