Options for Personal Trainer to explore
- Personal Trainer has many options to explore for developing new systems. At the start, they need to look at whether they want to develop this software in house or look for outside for their software. Given that software development isn’t a core competency we believe it is in Personal Trainer’s best interest to look outside. Susan needs to consult with companies and see who can provide the most cost effective solution that meets the specific needs of Personal Trainer. Susan also needs to decide between a web-based or traditional software environment. To move forward and keep its different locations connect we recommend that Personal Trainer use a web based application from a company that offers it software as a service. Although software as a service will typically cost more money it will allow for the software to be continually updated and supported to meet the changing needs of Personal Trainer.
- The main elements of Susan’s systems requirement document should be the requirements for the system, alternatives that were considered, as well as a specific recommendation to management on how to proceed. These requirements should have been gathered during the fact-finding process. These requirements are written in a way so that users can easily understand them and offer input and suggest improvements.
- Based on the information from Toolkit A we believe Susan should use graphs that show performance benchmarks of proposed systems and cost benefit examples. Susan should also create bulleted lists of important points. One of the easiest ways to do this would be to create a PowerPoint however one should prepare for the possibility that there may be technical difficulties. Susan should have print outs of her slides available for use in case of this. The slides will also give managers the opportunity to review the presentation later their own time. Susan should make sure that her PowerPoint will be viewable from anywhere in the room she will be presenting in and most importantly practice the presentation.
- There are a few different financial analysis tools Susan can use including payback analysis, return on investment(ROI) and net present value (NPV). Payback analysis determines when a new system will pay for itself through reducing costs and increased benefits. ROI is a percentage that compares the net benefit to the total costs of the information system. Lastly NPV is the total benefits less the total costs adjusted to reflect the points in time at which they occur. Payback analysis is advantageous because it is the easiest and quickest method however many are critical of this method because it does not look at benefits later in the information systems life cycle making it a bad choice for comparing projects. ROI analysis can be used to compare projects however ROI fails to include time if benefits are received earlier in the year this could have huge implications when implementing new systems. NPV offers the best numbers to act upon but is also the most expensive and costly of the methods. It addresses the criticisms of the other methods but does so by adding cost, complexity, and requiring more time.
Personal Trainer 