Ravi is an experienced mechanic who has worked for many years at major automotive dealerships and garages servicing a wide range of vehicles and has been certified by multiple automotive brands in the servicing of their respective vehicle ranges. He has now saved enough money to start a business of his own, which has been his dream for several years. Rather than start a business from the ground up, Ravi found a reputable garage that was put up for sale by the previous owner who ran the business by herself. The owner, Indira, has sold Ravi the garage and all its assets, which included the garage equipment and the office assets, including the computer hardware and accounting software that she uses, as well as the data on her current clients who will now become Ravis. Indira is an expert with computers and previously ran a computer services business before she sold her share of that company and started a garage instead. She therefore serviced the computer equipment of the garage herself. With her database and software development skills she had created the small, custom accounting software program used by the business herself and continued to maintain it. She also maintained the electronic data managed through the software, including the client data that is stored electronically on the local computer drives. Ravi also plans to run the business by himself and does not anticipate being able to profitably hire other staff, and strongly prefers to work alone anyway. He also plans to continue to offer a professional client experience, which includes the use of accounting software that will serve his needs, those of his clients, as well as his obligations regarding tax reporting and audits. For the new software, Ravi believes that he needs the following functionality: Maintain client contact information, Maintain information on client vehicles and vehicle service history, Record sales transactions, Record purchase transactions (e.g. for parts), Record activities that were subcontracted e.g. if a vehicle has to be towed to the garage by a third party, record how much had to be paid to the towing company by the garage and how much the garage will bill the customer for the service, Produce invoices for clients, including both direct and subcontracted services, Produce various reports including revenue and expenditure reports for business purposes and for tax purposes, customer listings, individual customer details, and vendor / supplier / subcontractor listings, Export data electronically for use by the business, accountants, and tax and other government entities. Ravi is an average computer user, but he cannot service computer hardware or software. Indira has advised Ravi that it is time for him to change the accounting software at the garage because it will not meet the requirements that he has expressed. She also advised Ravi to migrate to an off-the-shelf vendor software. Furthermore, she advised that the computer hardware is old and due for a refresh, or otherwise it might soon crash permanently. Fortunately, Indira backs up the transaction data and the client data daily to minimize the risk of data loss. Ravi ideally wants to minimize tasks such as software installation, hardware maintenance, and the maintenance of computer data disks with the transaction and client information. He also ideally wants to be able to use the new software on a tablet computer as he works in the garage. Indira has suggested that he should check out cloud computing options but Ravi only partially understands these capabilities. Indira will not be able to help Ravi with his accounting information system needs going forward as she plans to truly retire. She is also unavailable to help him with his transition tasks at this crucial time because she is leaving for a cruise to celebrate her retirement. Ravi has therefore contracted your accounting information systems consulting group to advise and help him as he transitions into his new business.

Question 1 (3 points): In no more than one page, list or tabulate for Ravi the relevant requirements for the accounting software that your group has both in terms of core functionality as well as other relevant factors, whether Ravi has expressed those requirements or not. Within that page, briefly justify any additions, subtractions or changes to his stated requirements.

Question 2 (1 point): In one paragraph explain to Ravi why a vendor solution is better for his business than software that is custom-built just for him.

Question 3 (3 points): Using the requirements listed in Question 1, create an evaluation matrix where weighting is applied to each requirement to evaluate the best option of a list of accounting software. Use it to evaluate and rank five (5) popular accounting software that are viable options for his business.

Question 4 (2 points): Ravi is concerned about ensuring that his transaction and client data are backed up and available, while at the same time safeguarding the privacy of client data especially in a possible cloud computing solution. In one or two paragraphs explain to Ravi what the main consideration(s) should be regarding legal and ethical privacy-related obligations and the jurisdictions in which the data will reside in cloud computing, and what control(s) he should consider using.

Question 5 (1 point): Of the four popular implementation methodologies (Direct Cutover, Pilot, Parallel and Phased), in one paragraph recommend an implementation methodology with some details on your approach and explain why that approach is best for his business.