Page 532 - Using MIS

500 Chapter 12 Information Systems Development

have 1 week between semesters and nearly no money and you 12-12. In Case Study 7 (pages 288–290), you learned that
plan to take a first-class, 2-month jungle excursion in Africa. three vendors had been considered as outside contrac-
Hello? Anyone home? tors, but two of them bowed out of the competition.
Software and systems are made of pure thought-stuff. Easy Describe three reasons that they may have done so.
to imagine a glorious future of amazing capability. But they 12-13. The project was known to be in trouble, but it seemed
are constructed by costly human labor, and nine women can’t to have a life of its own. Ying Kwong, a technology
make a baby in 1 month. Remember that sentence when you analyst at Oregon’s Department of Administrative
are asked to help determine requirements for your new infor- Services, said in May 2013 that the Cover Oregon proj-
mation system. ect reminded him of the science fiction movie The
Will this case still be relevant 40 years from now? It’s up to Blob: “You simply don’t know how to shoot this beast,
you and your classmates.
because it does not have a known anatomy with the
10
normal vital organs that make it tick.” Had you been
Questions
a senior manager at Cover Oregon, what would you
12-10. Describe three reasons why cases like this will remain have done when the problems became apparent?
relevant 40 years from now. Describe three develop-
ments that could make these cases obsolete. Which 12-14. In a June 2014 survey, a majority of Oregonians held
will pertain? Will such cases be relevant 40 years from Governor Kitzhaber responsible. But in that same
now? Justify your opinion. survey, 48 percent say they would vote for his reelec-
11
tion. Bruce Goldberg, former head of OHA and
12-11. Read the Executive Summary of the First Data report acting head of Cover Oregon, was fired on March
located at www.oregon.gov/DAS/docs/co_assessment 18, 2014, yet by May 15 was back on full salary with
12
.pdf. Applying your knowledge about the SDLC, de- OHA. Given these results, does it seem likely that
scribe what you think are the three major reasons that anyone will bear the consequences for these mis-
Cover Oregon failed. takes? Consider who that might be.

MyMISLab ™

Go to mymislab.com for Auto-graded writing questions as well as the following
Assisted-graded writing questions:
12-15. Assume that your company has just licensed a cloud-based SaaS CRM system.
Your boss asks you what needs to be done to make it operational. Using the
SDLC, summarize on one page the work to do to transform that SaaS into a
working IS.
12-16. Read the criteria for team success in Chapter 2. Explain scrum characteristics
that support achieving team success.

10 Nick Budnick, “Cover Oregon: Health Exchange Failure Predicted, but Tech Watchdogs’ Warnings Fell on Deaf Ears,” The Oregonian, January 18, 2014,
accessed June 14, 2014, www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2014/01/cover_oregon_health_exchange_f.html.
11 Hillary Lake, “Exclusive Poll: Majority Holds Kitzhaber Accountable for Cover Oregon Failure,” KATU News, June 11, 2014, accessed June 14, 2014,
www.katu.com/politics/Exclusive-poll-Majority-holds-Kitzhaber-accountable-for-Cover-Oregon-failure-262818611.html.
12 Nick Budnick, “Long after Announced ‘Resignation,’ Ex-Cover Oregon Director Bruce Goldberg Draws $14,425 Monthly Salary,” The Oregonian, May 21,
2014, accessed June 14, 2014, www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/05/long_after_publicized_resignat.html.