O'Brien CoverManagement Information Systems 4/e - James A. O'Brien
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Chapter 5: Managerial Overview: Computer Software


Application Exercises
Application Exercises

1. ABC Departments Stores

ABC Department stores would like to acquire software to do the following tasks. Identify what software packages they need.

2. Evaluating Software Packages

Have you used one of the software packages mentioned in this chapter?

  1. Briefly describe the advantages and disadvantages of one of the packages you have used so far.

  2. How would such a package help you in a present or future job situation?

  3. How would you improve the package you used?


3. Action Products Software Licensing Costs

Action Products Company wants to provide common application software packages for all its employees who need to use them. Sixty employees at Action Products have PCs on their desks. The plan is to provide E-mail software to each employee with a PC. In addition 55 employees will need word processing software 42 will need spreadsheet software and 22 will need database software. The 22 users who need the database software will all be using the other three packages as well. Action Products has been offered the pricing in the table below by a major application software supplier. The per-unit cost of declines when the number of licenses reaches certain levels and the supplier offers a bundled price for an applications suite including all four of the applications Action Products is considering.

Your task is to create a spreadsheet that will show the costs of acquiring the needed software licenses and allow management to assess all reasonable alternatives with respect to the licenses to be purchased. For instance it may be cheaper to buy the suite package for everyone even though major parts of it will not be used by some workers or it may pay to increase the order for certain packages to the next higher pricing threshold (e.g. 25 copies of the database software. Find the cheapest solution for Action Products. Make sure that you spreadsheet includes at least three alternatives: (1) Buy just the number of units required for each package. (2) Buy a license to the suite package for everyone. (3) Buy 25 licenses for the suite package and buy just the number of additional licenses needed for the E-mail word processing and spreadsheet packages.

  1. Get a printed listing of your spreadsheet showing the alternatives you examined and their costs.

  2. Use a word processing package to write a brief memorandum describing your results and recommending the option you think should be chosen.


4. Employee Training at ABC’s Marketing Department

You have been given the responsibility for planning and implementing a computer software training program for the marketing department at ABC Company. Training topics will include word processing spreadsheet database and Internet use. Training will be provided by outside contractors. Eligibility for training will be based on the employee's job responsibilities and current knowledge level. Among those eligible slots will be allocated based on seniority. You have surveyed each employee in your department about their level of knowledge for each type of software involved. A sample of relevant data for employee in your department appears above.

  1. Using a database software package create an appropriate database table and enter the following sample data.

  2. Use your database package’s querying capabilities to generate a prioritized list of employees who will be offered slots for the following training sessions

    1. Introduction to Word Processing - Employees whose skill level is none or low and whose job type is not technical are eligible for this session.
    2. Introduction to the Internet - All employees whose Internet use skill level is none are eligible.
    3. Introduction to Database Systems - Employees whose database skill level is low or none and whose job is managerial or technical are eligible.

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