5-2 Activity: Implementation Method
Amanda Putzier
Southern New Hampshire University
IT 409: Impact of Systems on Organizations
Professor Anthony Robinson
April 5th, 2026
, Lakeside Community College took on a project to replace its legacy Student Information
System (SIS). The project initiated with a planning phase led by the IT department and senior
administrators, who established a fixed budget and a non-negotiable go-live date. Following this,
the vendor produced a centralized web-based architecture during the system design phase,
prioritizing performance, database structure, and regulatory compliance. Development proceeded
strictly according to approved specifications, with limited communication between developers
and the college, leading to assumptions being made when requirements were unclear. Testing
was delayed until late in the project, focusing primarily on functional accuracy and data
migration, with limited User Acceptance Testing conducted by a small group of administrators.
Finally, the system was deployed campus-wide in a single release, two weeks before the semester
began, with training provided through recorded webinars and written documentation.
Several critical points of failure were evident in Lakeside Community College's SIS
implementation. The project suffered from a lack of meaningful involvement from key
stakeholders, resulting in a system that did not accurately reflect real-world workflows.
Requirements were locked in early, preventing adaptation as new issues and better solutions
became apparent. This approach, which is typical of a Waterfall model, makes changes difficult
and often excludes the client or end-user from ongoing input (Lucid Software, 2026).
Testing was also conducted late in the project and was insufficient, allowing major
usability problems to reach production. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) was limited to a small
group of administrators and was too short in duration. This issue is also common in the Waterfall
methodology, testing occurs after the development phase is complete, making it costly to correct
errors discovered late in the process (Lucid Software, 2026).
Amanda Putzier
Southern New Hampshire University
IT 409: Impact of Systems on Organizations
Professor Anthony Robinson
April 5th, 2026
, Lakeside Community College took on a project to replace its legacy Student Information
System (SIS). The project initiated with a planning phase led by the IT department and senior
administrators, who established a fixed budget and a non-negotiable go-live date. Following this,
the vendor produced a centralized web-based architecture during the system design phase,
prioritizing performance, database structure, and regulatory compliance. Development proceeded
strictly according to approved specifications, with limited communication between developers
and the college, leading to assumptions being made when requirements were unclear. Testing
was delayed until late in the project, focusing primarily on functional accuracy and data
migration, with limited User Acceptance Testing conducted by a small group of administrators.
Finally, the system was deployed campus-wide in a single release, two weeks before the semester
began, with training provided through recorded webinars and written documentation.
Several critical points of failure were evident in Lakeside Community College's SIS
implementation. The project suffered from a lack of meaningful involvement from key
stakeholders, resulting in a system that did not accurately reflect real-world workflows.
Requirements were locked in early, preventing adaptation as new issues and better solutions
became apparent. This approach, which is typical of a Waterfall model, makes changes difficult
and often excludes the client or end-user from ongoing input (Lucid Software, 2026).
Testing was also conducted late in the project and was insufficient, allowing major
usability problems to reach production. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) was limited to a small
group of administrators and was too short in duration. This issue is also common in the Waterfall
methodology, testing occurs after the development phase is complete, making it costly to correct
errors discovered late in the process (Lucid Software, 2026).
