cohesive paper

System Changeover

March 6, 2017

System changeover

The system changeover affects a lot in the overall system. Some decisions about development, user training and data take on will be affected by the method of system transition the user has selected. The commonly available changeover techniques are phased installation, direct transition, and parallel running, and this will need to have been agreed on before the analysis phase is complete because it will affect the system design and will impact on the project planning.

The parallel changeover is the most expensive method, but also the most reliable, especially for new systems where users need adequate training to operate but the best choice when migrating from a manual to an automated system as in the case of HWE Accessories website. It requires that both the old system and the new run side by side over a given period. HWE Accessories Company in their changeover shall adopt this method due to the following reasons;

The primary goal of a parallel changeover to HWE accessories is to validate the new system by checking the results it produces the effect generated by the old manual system. HWE Accessories need a way of trusting the new system in their daily production process. This option offers a better choice for HWE Accessories in their website system.
Being a new system, user experience may hinder the performance of the company if it was changed directly. Online commerce systems require a high level of security. The only commerce systems are guaranteed over a period.
The new system shall be staffed with less temporary workers, where they will be running a percent of the work, while the same transaction is recorded using the manual system until a certain level of trustworthiness is accredited to the new system.
Most developers usually offer the first few months of a new system as a trial version for users to test and give feedback. At this period, the user can make a narrow decision regarding the system. They can be in a position to tell whether the system meets their requirement and needs or not. Therefore, the parallel changeover will be the best choice to offer this field testing moment for HWE Accessories before purchasing the system and as well as not having made a lot of changes to their current system.

In phased installation, one part of the system is installed first and go live for a period. A second part is then connected after a given period and go live. With direct changeover at given time on a specified date, one system must end while another takes over. It has significant alterations of the current system and policies and procedures of the company. It is the cheapest option, but in case it goes wrong leaves the client unable to carry out regular business. This is the reason why these changeover methods cannot be recommended for the new HWE Accessories system (Tanya, 2017).

The insertion and migration of data including the related tools and processes

In the transition from the old manual system to the new automated system, it is essential that the data the organization already has is safely transferred to the new system. There are several ways in which HWE Accessories data can be migrated from their old manual system to the new automated system.

One of these techniques is that HWE Accessories will employ data entry clerks who will quickly enter quantities of data from the hard copy file to soft format. This is a traditional method but very powerful when migrating from a manual system to an automated system. Errors can result in the process especially when dealing with large data. HWE Accessories Company staffs can also be used in entering the data as a way of familiarizing them with the new system. Since this process is done early enough before the system development, this data may be out of date when the system goes live. Microsoft Excel is one of the essential tools which will be used for the data entry.
An approach to data take-on that is less prone to error is data conversion. The data in old format is run through a program or a series of programs which are not part the application under development to convert it to a new format. Conversion can also be from one hardware medium to another. Here HWE Accessories will employ a bureau who are used in this kind of conversion. It would be of important especially if HWE Accessories Company were operating on tapes as a way of archiving their data and this need to be migrated into modern hard drives. After this, the structure and the format of data will come clear to aid developers in the development process of the website. After the system has been finished, the data will be converted to a right format such as comma separated values (CSV) to import to the system.

Configuration management including recommend tools

Configuration management is a system engineering process used to establish and to maintain the consistency of the product performance, physical and functional attributes as well as design, and operational information throughout its life. HWE Accessories Company will keep track and control changes in their new automated website system by adopting the following techniques:

Revision control. A one-time delivery of a software product never means it is over. Over time, HWE Accessories Company will demand some changes as well improvement and enhancement in the software product from the developers.
The establishment of baselines. HWE Accessories Company will set policies and procedures which will be used as a measure of quality assurance of the delivered system.

Tools such as Chief which is an open source product and a paid enterprise subscription is one of the configuration management tools which can be used to provide some functionalities. Another tool is puppet which is started as DevOps and is a very popular configuration management tool. It’s written in Ruby and available in both open source and paid version. Most of its advanced feature are found in the paid version. Other tools which can be used include Salt, Ansible, and others.

Release processes for updating the system

Once the system has been installed, and in operation, a maintenance phase kicks off. Here, the HWE Accessories and the developers will negotiate a warranty contract.

Once HWE Accessories request for an update either based on security patches, performance tuning or advanced functionalities and others, the developer shall improve the existing system based on the HWE Accessories Company's needs and arrange with them for the installation period and process (Craig, 2009).

References

Craig, B. (Feb 12, 2009). Sample System Implementation Guide. Retrieved from http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/enterprise-solutions/sample-system-implementation-guide-29950

Tanya, R. (2017). Changeover Techniques. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/changeover-techniques-34890.html