Kitchen Plus is one of the nation’s top kitchenware producers. The company has several product lines, including cookware, small appliances, cutlery, and tableware. Over the past several years, the company has watched its market share begin to slip. Several information system projects were rushed into development, including an MRP project. Kitchen Plus executives felt that the new MRP system would enable the company to reduce escalating costs, especially in the areas of inventory, labor, and shipping.

The new MRP system has just been installed, and it is now time to close down the project. As project manager, one of your tasks is to evaluate project team members. Most of the team members performed well, and their work is exemplary. However, Joe McIntire’s performance is a different story. Joe was asked to complete several tasks for this project, assisting with interviewing, diagramming, testing, and documentation preparation. Several end users called and complained about Joe’s interrogation methods. Additionally, his diagrams were incomplete, sloppily done, and not completed by the due date. During the testing phase, Joe took a week off from work; Pauline Applegate was assigned to take over Joe’s duties.

a. Identify the tasks involved in project closedown.

b. How would you evaluate Joe’s performance?

c. What types of maintenance problems can you expect from this information system?

d. What factors will influence the maintainability of this system?