Page 475 - Using MIS

Q4 What Are Your User Rights and Responsibilities? 443

They know the server requirements in customer support, they know the patterns of usage, and
they know the best procedures for downloading operational data into the data warehouse.
Consequently, lack of knowledge will make it difficult to bring the outsourced service back
in-house.
Also, because the vendor has become so tightly integrated into the business, parting com-
pany can be exceedingly risky. Closing down the employee cafeteria for a few weeks while find-
ing another food vendor would be unpopular, but employees would survive. Shutting down
the enterprise network for a few weeks would be impossible; the business would not survive.
Because of such risk, the company must invest considerable work, duplication of effort, man-
agement time, and expense to change to another vendor. In truth, choosing an outsource ven-
dor can be a one-way street.
At PRIDE, if, after the initial application development, the team decides to change develop-
ment vendors, it may be very difficult to do. The new vendor will not know the application code
as well as the current one who created it. It may become infeasible in terms of time and money
to consider moving to another, better, lower-cost vendor.
Choosing to outsource is a difficult decision. In fact, the correct decision might not be clear,
but time and events could force the company to decide.

Q4 What Are Your User Rights and Responsibilities?

As a future user of information systems, you have both rights and responsibilities in your rela-
tionship with the IS department. The items in Figure 11-7 list what you are entitled to receive
and indicate what you are expected to contribute.

Your User Rights

You have a right to have the computing resources you need to perform your work as proficiently
as you want. You have a right to the computer hardware and programs that you need. If you
process huge files for data-mining applications, you have a right to the huge disks and the fast
processor that you need. However, if you merely receive email and consult the corporate Web
portal, then your right is for more modest requirements (leaving the more powerful resources
for those in the organization who require them).
Figure 11-7
User Information Systems
Rights and Responsibilities

You have a right to: You have a responsibility to:
– Computer hardware and programs that – Learn basic computer skills
allow you to perform your job prociently – Learn standard techniques and procedures for
– Reliable network and Internet connections the applications you use
– A secure computing environment – Follow security and backup procedures
– Protection from viruses, worms, and other threats – Protect your password(s)
– Contribute to requirements for new system – Use computers and mobile devices
features and functions according to your employer's computer-use policy
– Reliable systems development and maintenance – Make no unauthorized hardware modications
– Prompt attention to problems, concerns, and – Install only authorized programs
complaints – Apply software patches and xes when
– Properly prioritized problem xes and directed to do so
resolutions – When asked, devote the time required to
– E‡ective training respond carefully and completely to requests
for requirements for new system features and
functions
– Avoid reporting trivial problems