Chapter 5

Systems Development and Program Change Activitie

Review Questions

1. Distinguish between systems professionals, end users, and

stakeholders.
Response: Systems professionals are systems analysts, systems
designers, andprogrammers; these individuals actually build the
system. End users are the individuals forwhom the system is built.
End users are found throughout the organization. Stakeholders
areindividuals either within the organization or outside who have an
interest in the system but arenot the end users.

2. What is the role of the accountant in the SDLC? Why might

accountants be called on forinput into the development of a
nonaccounting information system?

Response: Accountants are involved in systems development

in three ways. First,accountants are users. All systems that process
financial transactions impact the accountingfunction in some way.
Like all users, accountants must provide a clear picture of their
problemsand needs to the systems professionals. Second,
accountants participate in systems developmentas members of the
developmentteam. Their involvement often extends beyond the
developmentof strictly AIS applications. Systems that do not process
financial transactions directly may stilldraw from accounting data. The
accountant may be consulted to provide advice or to determine ifthe
proposed system constitutes an internal control risk. In all cases, the
level of auditorparticipation is limited by independence issues in
professional standards and ethics. Third,accountants are involved in
systems development as auditors.Accounting information
systemsmust be auditable. Some computer audit techniques require
special features that need to bedesigned into the system during the
SDLC.
3. What are the three problems that account for most system failures?

Response: This is a thought provoking question and student answers

will vary. Examplesare: Poorly specified systems requirements,
ineffective development techniques, and lack of userinvolvement in
systems development.

4. Why is it often difficult to obtain competent and meaningful user

involvement in the SDLC?

Response: This is a thought provoking question and student answers

will vary. Users must be actively involved in the systems development
process. Their involvementshould not be stifled because the
proposed system is technically complex. Regardless of the the
technology involved, the user can and should provide a detailed
written description of the logical needs that must be satisfied by the
system.

5. Who should sit on the systems steering committee? What are their
typicalresponsibilities?CIO/CFO as the leader, managers from involved
divisions.
Their typical responsibilitiesare:
-Resolving conflicts that arise from new system
-Reviewing projects and assigning priorities
-Budgeting funds for system development
-Reviewing the status of individual projects under development
 -

Determining at various checkpoints throughout the SDLC whether to

continue withthe project or terminate it.

7. What is the purpose of project planning, and what are the various
steps?
Response: The purpose of project planning is to allocate resources to
individual applications within the framework of the strategic plan. This
involves identifying areas of user needs, preparing proposals, evaluating
each proposal’s feasibility and contribution to the business plan,
prioritizing individual projects, and scheduling the work to be done.
The basic purpose ofproject planning is to allocate scarce resources to
specific projects.
 The product of this phase consists of two formal documents: the project
proposal and the project schedule

8. What is the object-oriented design (OOD) approach?

Response: OOD builds systems from the bottom up through the
assembly of reusable modules rather than create each system from
scratch. OOD is most often associated with an iterative approach to
SDLC where small chunks or modules, cycle through all of the SDLC
phases rather rapidly, with a short time frame from beginning to end.
Then additional modules or chunks are added in some appropriate
fashion until the whole system has been developed.

9. What are the broad classes of facts that need to be gathered in the
system survey?
Response:
 Data sources, users
 data stores,
 processes,
 data flows
 controls,
 transaction volumes,
 error rates,
 resource costs,
 bottlenecks and redundant operations

10. What are the primary fact-gathering techniques?

Response:
 Observation
 task participation
 personal interviews
 reviewing key documents

11. What are the relative merits and disadvantages of a current systems
survey?
Response: An advantage of studying the current system is that it provides a
way to identify what aspects of theold system are positive and should be
kept. Further, the tasks, procedures, and data of the old systemneed to be
understood so that the phase-in of the new system can handle any
changes. Also, a surveyof the current system may help the analyst
determine the underlying cause of the reportedsymptoms. A disadvantage
is that the analysis of the current system may be too time-
consuming,especially if conducted at too detailed a level. Further, the study
of the current system maycreate tunnel vision and/or prohibit the analysts
from thinking in an innovative fashion.

12.Distinguish among data sources, data stores, and data flows.

Response: Data sources include two types of entities:
(a) external, such as customers or vendors, and
(b)internal, other departments in the organization. Data stores are the files,
databases,accounts, and source documents used in the system. Data flows
represent the movement ofdocument or reports among the data sources,
data stores, processing tasks, and users.

13.What are some of the key documents that may be reviewed in a current
systems survey?
Response: Some of the key documents that may be reviewed are
organization charts, job descriptions,accounting manuals, charts of
accounts, policy statements, descriptions of procedures,financial
statements, performance reports, system flowcharts, source documents,
accounts, budgets,forecasts, and mission statements.

14.What is the purpose of a systems analysis, and what type of information

should be included in thesystems analysis report?
Response: The purpose of systems analysis is to understand both the
actual and the desired states. The systemsanalysis report should contain the
problems identified with the current system, the user’s needs, andthe
requirements of the new system.
15. What is the primary objective of the conceptual systems design phase?
Response: The purpose of the conceptual design phase is to produce
several alternative conceptual systems thatsatisfy the system requirements
identified during systems analysis. By presenting users with anumber of
plausible alternatives, the systems professional avoids imposing
preconceived constraintson the new system. The user will evaluate these
conceptual models and settle on the alternatives thatappear most plausible
and appealing. These alternative designs then go to the systems
selectionphase of SDLC, where their respective costs and benefits are
compared and a single optimum designis chosen.

16.What are two approaches to conceptual systems design?

Response: The structured approach and the object-oriented approach.

17. How much design detail is needed in the conceptual design phase?
Response: The conceptual design phase should be general; however, it
should possesssufficient detail to demonstrate how the alternative systems
are conceptually different intheir functions.

18. What is an object? Provide a business example.

Response: Answers will vary. The following is one example: Objects are
real-world phenomena that possess two characteristics: They have state
and they have behavior. The object’s state is represented by stored
attributes (variables or fields). Object behavior is displayed through
methods, which are functions or procedures that are performed on or by
the object to change the state of its attributes.Inventory is an example of an
object. It has state (quantity on hand, description, and reorder point). It has
behavior (reduced by sales and increased by purchases).

19. What is the internal auditor’s primary role in the conceptual design of
the system?
Response: The auditor is a stakeholder in all financial systems and, thus,
has an interest inthe conceptual design stage of the system. The audit
ability of a system depends in part onits design characteristics. Some
computer auditing techniques require systems to bedesigned with
special audit features that are integral to the system. These audit
featuresshould be specified at the conceptual design stage.

20. What is operational feasibility and what problems must management

address toachieve it?

Response: Operational feasibility shows the degree of compatibility

between the firm’s existing procedures and personnel skills and the
operational requirements of the newsystem. Implementing the new system
may require retraining operations personnel. Management must determine
whether sufficient personnel can be retrained, and whethernew skills can be
obtained to make the system operationally feasible.

21. What makes the cost-benefit analysis more difficult for information
systems than formost other investments an organization may make?
Response: The benefits of information systems are often very difficult to
assess. Manytimes the benefits are intangible, such as improved decision-
making capabilities. Also,maintenance costs may be difficult to predict.
Most other investments that organizationsmake, for example, the purchase
of a new piece of equipment, tend to have more tangibleand estimable
costs and benefits.
22. Classify each of the following as either one-time or recurring costs:
a. training personnel one-time
b. initial programming and testing one-time
c. systems design one-time
d. hardware costs one-time
e. software maintenance costs recurring
f. site preparation one-time
g. rent for facilities recurring
h. data conversion from old system to new system one-time
i. insurance costs recurring
j. installation of original equipment one-time
k. hardware upgrades recurring

23. Distinguish between turnkey and backbone systems. Which is more

flexible?
Response: Turnkey systems are completely finished and tested systems
that are ready forimplementation. Backbone systems provide a basic system
structure on which to build,and. come with the primary processing modules
programmed. They are much more flexiblethan turnkey systems, but are
also more expensive and time consuming.

24. Discuss the relative merits of in-house development versus

commercially obtained software.
Response: Although in-house programs are very time consuming
and expensive todevelop, and require a lot of skilled systems personnel,
their many advantages lead firms to develop in-house systems. In-house
systems are not dependent upon an outside vendor forupdates and
maintenance; these aspects are controlled locally. The in-house programs
arecompletely customized, whereas commercially developed software is
not.

25. Why is modular programming preferable to free coding?

Response: Regardless of the programming language used, modern
program should follow amodular approach. This technique produces small
programs that perform narrowlydefined tasks. The benefits of modular
programming are:
(1)Programming efficiency; afirm can assign several programmers into a
single system.
(2) Maintenance efficiency,small modules are easier to analyze and change,
which reduces the start-up timeduring program maintenance.
(3) Control, by keeping modules small, they are less likelyto contain
material errors of fraudulent logic.

26. Why should test data be saved after it has been used?
Response:
(1) To have a back up in case of data loss.
(2)To give the auditor a reference pfdesigning and evaluating future audit
test.

27. Explain the importance of documentation by the systems programmers.

Response: System designer and programmers need documentation to
debug erroes andperform maintenance on the system

28. What documents not typically needed by other stakeholders

do accountants andauditors need for the new system?

Response: Document flowcharts of manual procedures are needed by the

accountants andauditors. These flowcharts describe the physical system
by showing explicitly the flow ofinformation between departments, the
departments in which the tasks are actually performed, andthe specific
types and number of documents that carry information. Thus, this
document providesa view of the segregation of functions, adequacy of
source documents, and location of files.