Provide solutions for the issues mentioned in the case study. Case Study Overview: New Energy, Inc. is

Provide solutions for the issues mentioned in the case study.

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Case Study Overview: New Energy, Inc. is a fast-growing supplier of "green" energy solutions, including wind turbines, solar technology, etc. Their growing sales force and varying sales commission plans prompted the need for a centralized and automated commission system to replace their spreadsheet- intensive procedures. Project: Don is the head of Accounting and approved the project plan developed by the assigned project manager, Mary. Their preliminary research showed that a software package was the most cost- effective solution. Mary's scope statement included these project objectives: o Research and produce a list of the three packages that best fit the company's need. o Facilitate a decision for the best package to obtain o Procure the package. o Install the package. Progress: It took months to research and find the three packages. Selecting the package was contentious. The Sales department wanted a web-based solution, which the VP of sales, Chris, said would be easiest for the salespeople to use. Accounting wanted a product that had tighter security and was easier to customize. Since the system was being paid for with Accounting's budget, Don prevailed. Issue 1: Once the software contract was signed, Don became busy and largely left the installation to Mary and the technical team. Don wanted the project completed by a fixed date, and Mary felt pressured to get installation done without much requirements analysis, especially given she had only one systems analyst, Bob, on the project. Issue 2: Bob focused his time on converting the spreadsheet data to the new system, and on customizing the many new user interfaces available. He conducted extensive interviews of key staff to learn their needs for the interfaces. As Bob was interviewing, Chris requested that the most common sales interface be duplicated as a web page, and Bob agreed because it was easy. While they were at it, Bob showed Chris a nifty Flash component for the page, which Chris loved, and it was added as a requirement. Issue 3: During the package installation, Sales announced the addition of a new product line with an entirely different commission structure. Don held a meeting and informed the team that the new commission plan had to be incorporated into the project and that the deadline could not slip. Issue 4: During installation, Bill, a developer, and the Accounts Payable lead, Allison, discovered that the project scope did not include changes to other systems like General Ledger (G/L). Bill said he could code something quickly and that this would save Allison's team many hours every payroll. He was ahead of schedule, so Mary agreed. Unfortunately, it took longer to code and test than Bill thought, and consequently he didn't finish testing all of the exceptions for the new commission system. The package was implemented on schedule, but with several problems due to some exceptions not working correctly. There were other problems with bad data and incorrect reports. Don was not happy. Case Study Overview: New Energy, Inc. is a fast-growing supplier of "green" energy solutions, including wind turbines, solar technology, etc. Their growing sales force and varying sales commission plans prompted the need for a centralized and automated commission system to replace their spreadsheet- intensive procedures. Project: Don is the head of Accounting and approved the project plan developed by the assigned project manager, Mary. Their preliminary research showed that a software package was the most cost- effective solution. Mary's scope statement included these project objectives: o Research and produce a list of the three packages that best fit the company's need. o Facilitate a decision for the best package to obtain o Procure the package. o Install the package. Progress: It took months to research and find the three packages. Selecting the package was contentious. The Sales department wanted a web-based solution, which the VP of sales, Chris, said would be easiest for the salespeople to use. Accounting wanted a product that had tighter security and was easier to customize. Since the system was being paid for with Accounting's budget, Don prevailed. Issue 1: Once the software contract was signed, Don became busy and largely left the installation to Mary and the technical team. Don wanted the project completed by a fixed date, and Mary felt pressured to get installation done without much requirements analysis, especially given she had only one systems analyst, Bob, on the project. Issue 2: Bob focused his time on converting the spreadsheet data to the new system, and on customizing the many new user interfaces available. He conducted extensive interviews of key staff to learn their needs for the interfaces. As Bob was interviewing, Chris requested that the most common sales interface be duplicated as a web page, and Bob agreed because it was easy. While they were at it, Bob showed Chris a nifty Flash component for the page, which Chris loved, and it was added as a requirement. Issue 3: During the package installation, Sales announced the addition of a new product line with an entirely different commission structure. Don held a meeting and informed the team that the new commission plan had to be incorporated into the project and that the deadline could not slip. Issue 4: During installation, Bill, a developer, and the Accounts Payable lead, Allison, discovered that the project scope did not include changes to other systems like General Ledger (G/L). Bill said he could code something quickly and that this would save Allison's team many hours every payroll. He was ahead of schedule, so Mary agreed. Unfortunately, it took longer to code and test than Bill thought, and consequently he didn't finish testing all of the exceptions for the new commission system. The package was implemented on schedule, but with several problems due to some exceptions not working correctly. There were other problems with bad data and incorrect reports. Don was not happy.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

The software development that was being implemented by the company faced some challenges that could ... View the full answer