Ch16 - Software Evaluation and Criteria

7/31/2019 Ch16 - Software Evaluation and Criteria

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Software Evaluationand CriteriaCh16 A2


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What happens first?If software is required then a company needs to

set up a meetingwith relevant departmentalmanagers that require the software:

To establish department needs by finding out what

is essential and desirable ie apply an Evaluationcriteria (see next slide) Arrange questionnaires,interviews, work shadowing ..to establish need.

To ensure both parties have a clear understanding

of the problem

So suitable software can be sought out

To ensure the departments have involvement


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Evaluation criteria (RSPPCCT)Robustness The company will be dealing with vast quantities of dataand the software will have to cope without crashing

Support The company will require access to support initially astraining, but also in future if things go wrong by ringing a help desk

Performance The company will require results to be produced in areasonable time so the software package must be more efficient than

current methodsPortability The company may use other software to create reports, &so this package must have an export function

Compatibility Will the new software run on the existing hardware andunder the existing operating system?

Cost/benefit The company needs to be able to show that the newsystem will have been a good investment within a certain time limit

Transferability Any existing data the company holds should be able tobe converted and imported without the need for re-entering data

Respect the Evaluation Criteria!


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Evaluation Report

Give seven reasons for producing an evaluation report when youconsider alternative software solutions to a particular problem.

To present the overall findings of the evaluation to the person requiring theevaluation to be carried out

To show the end user which packages were being considered as possiblesolutions

To detail the required functionality that was being checked for in thisevaluation

To describe how the evaluation has been carried out /methodology

To show the results of the evaluation for each package being considered

To give the end user a recommendation based on the evaluation carried out

To give the end userjustification for the recommendation made


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Benchmark

A benchmark is a standard set of computer tasks designed toallow measurements to be made of computer performance.These tasks can be used to compare the performance of

different software or hardware.Examples

Word-processor: How long it takes to reformat a 40 pageword processed document

Printer: How many pages can be printed in one minute

Hard disk: How long it takes to save 1000 database recordsto disk


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Question Jan 05A large college requires a new Management Information System to be created,

which will replace several separate departmental systems. This new system

will be used to provide information to external agencies, as well as statisticalinformation to college staff. A small software company has won the contractto supply this software, although it has no previous experience of workingwith educational establishments.

(a) The college and the software company feel that it is important to discuss therequirements of the system. Explain why this meeting is important for both

parties. (3 marks)(b) Evaluation criteria have been established by the two parties to compare the

possible solutions that the software company could produce. These criteriainclude cost-benefit and compatibility.

(i) Explain why cost-benefit. is a useful criterion in this situation. (2 marks)

(ii) Explain why compatibility is a useful criterion in this situation. (2 marks)(iii) Name and describe two other criteria that would be useful in this

situation stating why each one is useful. (6 marks)

(c) A report is produced for the college that compares various possiblesolutions. Name four sections that are likely to form part of the report,stating the purpose of each section. (8 marks)

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Ch16 - Software Evaluation and Criteria