The order processing system at Tasha's company was developed nearly three decades ago and has long since outlived its suitability to their current business needs. Customers complain of inefficiencies, missing information, and even errors. Sales reps and customer service staff spend an inordinate amount of time handling these problems, and new hires require extensive training to learn to use the system. As her company is slowly migrating to the cloud, Tasha's team has already discovered this massive, clunky legacy system requires support processes that can't be transferred to a cloud environment. Despite the high price tag, management has decided it's time for the old system to go and replace it with something more modern, capable, and flexible.

Which of the following statements most clearly and thoroughly defines the current problem that Tasha's team needs to solve by developing a new system?

a. The current system requires unacceptable investments of time and resources in order to complete required business processes.

b. Sales and Customer Service staff are inadequately trained to handle customer concerns.

c. Customers are getting frustrated with Customer Service staff, causing the company to lose business and customer loyalty.

d. The company needs a new order processing system that will function more efficiently and can be hosted in the cloud.

Staff in several departments interact with the order processing system and will be affected by any changes. Tasha's team needs to gather feedback from representatives of all these user groups to ensure users are involved with the system's design without requiring large chunks of their time away from normal operations. She's decided to form a Select: A) task force B) JAD session C) team of analysts D) customer focus group for this purpose.

Tasha has been with this company long enough to have observed the failure of more than one system development project in the past. One particularly frustrating and costly experience involved the implementation of an expensive, fully developed custom system that didn't perform the business functions it was commissioned to do. Tasha invests significant time during the planning phase to schedule various Select: A) feasibility B) checkpoints C) ROI reports D) CBA reports E) intangible benefits to prevent these kinds of problems in this project.

Tasha is leading a team to replace your company's order processing system with a new, customized system that can be hosted in the cloud. As a systems analyst, you've been added to the team to help identify and analyze user requirements for the new system.

Tasha:

This system is deeply integrated with other systems in our company. I think we need a very clear picture of the processes involved that our new system will need to handle before we move into designing that system.

You:

It's a little old-fashioned, but let's take the Select: A) structured systems B) object-oriented C) requirements-gathering D)entity relationship approach to ensure we complete the analysis phase before moving into the design phase of our project.

Tasha:

Okay, let's work with that. First, we need to develop a picture of what all is happening in this system to show the various subprocesses and the data involved. I don't think any of us has a clear vision of the scope of this project yet.

You:

Yes, I'll start working up a Select: A) data flow diagram B) conceptual data model C) flowchart D) context diagram, and you can help me fine tune it as I get into areas I'm not as familiar with.

Tasha:

Do you think we can have the Select: A) system specifications B) data analysis C) context diagram D) data flows documentation ready before the holidays?

You:

That's a tight time-frame, but it would be nice to have it finished before the next scheduled task force meeting so they can review the documentation and hopefully give approval to move this project to design.

Your company is replacing its outdated order processing system with a new, proprietary system that you're helping to develop. As your team moves into the design phase, you and your boss, Tasha, start hashing out the specifics of the new system.

Tasha:

Now that we've got a working understanding of the big picture, we need to start making some hardware and software decisions.

You:

Great, I'll get to work with our CASE tools to start developing the Select: A) logical design B) conceptual design C) physical design D) server design and check in with you as questions come up.

Tasha:

Chet is concerned the new system might have problems interfacing with our accounting system, which has also been around a while. What do you think?

You:

Clearly, that functionality is an important technical feature. My team will put together a Select: A) proof-of-concept B) selling prototype C) code module D) data flow diagram to see if it'll work, given the design decisions we've made so far.

Tasha:

That's good. I'll check back in with Chet when it's ready and we'll see what he thinks.

You:

Yes, he'll have some good insights, then we can Select: A) revise B) develop C)define D) evaluate as necessary.