Computer Upgrade Case Study
...e correct manner. Of course, a larger corporation would probably have the staff to perform the upgrade in just a few weeks, but for smaller companies, it would take a much greater time frame from months to even a year, or possibly even longer. 3. Financial losses are another element involved. If the upgrade is company wide and the computers are required for every day business, downtime would be required and possible loss of revenue would be imminent. This would require a lot of planning prior to beginning the upgrade. 4. Employee training is one of the most tedious and frustrating parts of the upgrade. Employees come from all lifestyles and vary in intelligence levels. This can also be a costly venture due to the nature of how you approach the training. In addition, outside vendors may be required if the information systems department is short of adequate personnel. Alternatives for problem resolution 1. The information services department will train employees on using the new operating system (XP). Solves training issue by cutting down on time and training costs. Pros – Training costs are potentially less costly. The organization can customize training. Some training time can be saved, because only minimum operating system topics need to be covered in order to teach employees how to access their programs. Cons – Uses IS resources, which already have difficult time with keeping up with current workload. IS department may not be as well equipped to perform training as a vendor that specialized in training. 2. Outside vendor will perform training at their facility. Solves training issue and is cheaper thant getting a vendor to hold training at our facility. (CompUSA) Pros – Employees usually receive outside training better because the vendor provides professional training and documentation. Cons – Although less expensive than in-house professional training, this is still a costly option. Vendors usually do not customize training without charging a high fee. 3. Only essential PC’s get upgraded. This solves PC budget issue. We have determined that there are certain employees that only use the PC for email, office products, and internet access. Pros – Keep the organization within budget parameters. Employees that really need the PC upgrade, will get new PC’s Cons – Most of the non-essential PC users that only use email, office, and internet are at a management and supervisor level. It may be difficult to persuade the people with power to approve this option. Another problem is that old PC will still need to be supported by the IS department. Usually older PCs require more maintenance hours. More hours will be needed for the IS department to spend on maintenance issues, rather than project issues. 4. Upgrade to the lowest possible PC configuration. This solves budget issue. Pros – All 200 employees get upgraded PCs. Cons – Since this will be a lower end PC, replacement issues will have to be addressed sooner than if they would purchase computers that are more powerful. 5. Hold trained users accountable for using the new operating system. This solves the problem of employees being resistant to going to a new operating system. Pros – Employees will confirm when you take direct measures to hold them accountable for using the new system. Cons – Possibility of creating bad morale for the employees and might not get the training required to operate the computer and software correctly. 6. Create a system where key people of each section get extra training on using the operating system. The key people will be the front line for getting the rest of the employees acclimated toward the new operating system. This solves the problem of employees being resistant to going to the new operating system. Pros – This personal approach would keep morale at a higher level. The extra training could ease demands on IS department to help ease employees with transitioning to the new system. Cons – This type of responsibility would take time away from the key personnel’s primary duties. Analysis and Recommendation We have tried to work through this problem critically and took emotion, logic, and problem solving into consideration to make our recommendations (Alexander, 2003). In order to correctly perform this upgrade, some of the alternatives must be combined to resolve the issues. Since personnel are short and time is limited, users in mission critical areas must be taken care of first. In addition, the company cannot afford to spend $160,000 ...