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Practice and Exercise Question Essay Why is it important to use systems analysis and design methodologies when building a system? Why not just build the system in whatever way seems to be â€Å"quick and easy? † What value is provided by using an â€Å"engineering† approach? It is important to use systems analysis and design methodologies when building a system because it improves organizational systems that can help employees reach important business tasks easily and more efficiently. Although, quick and easy is just that, it might not work properly. It is best to have a design and a way to improve. Using the â€Å"engineering† approach will allows you the option to add or remove any pieces that does not work well in your design. 8. How might prototyping be used as part of the SDLC? Prototyping is building a small model of the information system you want to design. This can be very useful because you are able to see, in smaller scale, how your information system will work. When used as a part of the SDLC, it can help the analyst understand what the user wants. With the prototype, you are also able to make changes based on user needs, and then see how well the changes work. Chapter 2 3. In the section on choosing off-the-shelf software, eight criteria are proposed for evaluating alternative packages. Suppose the choice is between alternative custom software developers rather than prewritten packages. What criteria would be appropriate to select and compare among competing bidders for custom development of an application? Define each of these criteria. The eight criteria for evaluating alternative packages are cost, functionality, vendor support, viability of vendor, flexibility, documentation, response time, ease of installation. I believe that vendor support would best the most important criteria to use on deciding which path to take. With custom software, there is usually bugs in the system, and having vendor support to help with these issues would be helpful. That way your business down not have any down time. Vendor support would include everything for installation to problems happening after install. ? 4. How might the project team recommending an ERP design strategy justify its recommendation as compared with other types of design strategies? The project team could justify recommending an ERP design strategy by stating that this design would keep the business data in location that is usable by the company. It would also allow for other modules to be added and usable immediately.