MIS 581 Final Exam
MIS 581 System Analysis, Planning, and Control
DeVry University
(TCO A) List and describe the three primary roles of the systems analyst.
Systems analyst acts as a consultant, as a supporting expert, and as an agent of change. A
systems analyst is a problem solver, a communicator, self-disciplined, and a self-motivated
individual with excellent interpersonal relation, coordination, and project management
skills. In order for a systems analyst to achieve these roles they should be able to: seek to
understand what humans need to analyze data input or data flow, process or transform
data, store data, and output information in the context of a particular organization or
enterprise.
(TCO B) One of the difficult decisions a systems analyst has to make when it
comes to software is whether to recommend making, buying, or outsourcing
software for information systems projects. What are the advantages of
purchasing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software? What are the
disadvantages of this approach?
There are several advantages of purchasing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software one
is that it is refined to the commercial world, which also means other companies and
industries are using the software. When I think of this I think instantly that if a competitor
is able to use it in my particular industry then I should be able to use it to (helping
eliminate doubt on it won’t work for us because we do XYZ). With COTS software being
widely available to the commercial world that also means that its reliability must also be
high (especially if multiple industries and companies use it) the creator of the software
wants to make sure that their software has very limited failures and issues that may cause
its customers to be frustrated. Along with the increase in reliability the functionalities that
the software may have could be large amounts allowing it to be flexible in the manners in
which the customer/company may look to utilize the software. The initial cost of the
software will generally be low, especially if the company sells its software based on licenses
and not the number of computers it has to be installed on. And finally the COTS company
can offer some sort of training or customer services to the users of the software if
something were to malfunction or if it was a brand new software install an subject matter
MIS 581 System Analysis, Planning, and Control
DeVry University
(TCO A) List and describe the three primary roles of the systems analyst.
Systems analyst acts as a consultant, as a supporting expert, and as an agent of change. A
systems analyst is a problem solver, a communicator, self-disciplined, and a self-motivated
individual with excellent interpersonal relation, coordination, and project management
skills. In order for a systems analyst to achieve these roles they should be able to: seek to
understand what humans need to analyze data input or data flow, process or transform
data, store data, and output information in the context of a particular organization or
enterprise.
(TCO B) One of the difficult decisions a systems analyst has to make when it
comes to software is whether to recommend making, buying, or outsourcing
software for information systems projects. What are the advantages of
purchasing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software? What are the
disadvantages of this approach?
There are several advantages of purchasing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software one
is that it is refined to the commercial world, which also means other companies and
industries are using the software. When I think of this I think instantly that if a competitor
is able to use it in my particular industry then I should be able to use it to (helping
eliminate doubt on it won’t work for us because we do XYZ). With COTS software being
widely available to the commercial world that also means that its reliability must also be
high (especially if multiple industries and companies use it) the creator of the software
wants to make sure that their software has very limited failures and issues that may cause
its customers to be frustrated. Along with the increase in reliability the functionalities that
the software may have could be large amounts allowing it to be flexible in the manners in
which the customer/company may look to utilize the software. The initial cost of the
software will generally be low, especially if the company sells its software based on licenses
and not the number of computers it has to be installed on. And finally the COTS company
can offer some sort of training or customer services to the users of the software if
something were to malfunction or if it was a brand new software install an subject matter
