tech alert

HW #2: Tech Alert on Software (Ch 11 or 12)

Chapter 11: Understanding Software or Chapter 12: Software in Flux

• Find an article that focuses on managerial advice or trends relating to Cloud Computing, Open Source Software, Service-Oriented Architecture (SoA), Enterprise systems, ERP, Software as a Service (SaaS), or;

• Look for an article that covers user interface design and/or trends/advances in the user interface (speech, gesture recognition, mobility, etc.), or;

• Find an article that discusses new system development or implementation in an organization--Success or Failure; or

• If you have participated in the implementation of a new information system deployment at work (even as an end-user), you can write up your experiences. No article is required if you choose this option, but the rest of the tech alert requirements must be followed (quote from text, etc.)

REQUIRED FORMAT & CONTENT OF TECH ALERTS

Technology alerts are one full-page (no more or less) memos addressed to the instructor. The focus should be to 1) introduce the article by first explaining why it is relevant to our chapter topic, 2) summarize the main points of the article, and 3) provide a ‘response’ to the article.

Unless otherwise specified, the source used should be an article published within the last 6 months from a credible source. Acceptable sources are published articles in magazines, newspapers, scholarly journals, or on- line publications. Company web sites, personal sites, blog entries, Wikipedia entries, etc. are not valid sources of information for this assignment. Do not use company press releases or product announcements. Rule of thumb: If you can’t find an article title, date when published, AND author name(s), then you are not looking at a suitable article for this assignment.

I recommend finding in-depth articles in business magazines or newspapers that focus on USE of technology rather than the technology itself. An appropriate article selection with clear relevance to the chapter content is required. The business databases available from www.sou.edu/library may be helpful. Another good option is to browse or search specific on-line IT/business publications – links to some of these are provided in Moodle.

The callouts on the following page highlight the format and content requirements for each tech alert.

Additional comments:

• Include at least one direct reference (quotation) from the assigned chapter of the text. This quote must be used to provide a logical connection from the textbook to the information in your article summary. Cite the quote properly (e.g. (Gallaugher, 2014, p. 123)) or ((Gallaugher, 2014, sec. 5.3) for e-book users) and use the format shown on the next page. Do not include our text under the memo heading where you will list the article reference that you found.

• Any text that comes straight from the article must also be in quotes. Because the memo is a summary of the article and you have given all the proper citation information in the first paragraph, you can cite the article within the text by referring to the article itself, the writer’s name. (See tech alert for example.)

• If you read terminology or see acronyms that you are unfamiliar with, look them up (in the book glossary or in an on-line computing dictionary), and include the definition in your write-up. If you don’t understand what you are writing about, that defeats the purpose of this assignment. Do not use an article you don’t understand – look for another.

• Conclude your memo with your own thoughts/comments. Do not provide new information from the article in this paragraph. This paragraph can include, but is not limited to:

o personal observations,

o your perception of the importance of the issue or your response to what you learned, or

o conclusions about how the information from the article supports or refutes information from the text, or from something you’ve learned in another class

Identifying the source of your information: As shown in the example on the next page, use published articles and include the name of the article, the author, the date posted (not the date you accessed it), and the name of the journal, newspaper, or magazine. Do not identify the search engine (Google or the library database (EBSCO-Host) as the source of your article. Use the name of the publication itself.

The sample tech alert on the next page is an illustration of the content and format of a tech alert.

Please Note: the sample assignment uses a bullet format to summarize some points made in the article. Using bulleted points can be helpful, but this is not required. If you do use bulleted points, be sure that you provide a logical ‘introduction’ to the points, that each point corresponds with that introductory statement, and that the points you make are consistent in style, verb use, etc.

EXAMPLE:

BA 382 Tech Alerts: REQUIRED FORMAT--each “callout” below indicates a required element to be included in each tech alert.

Include

this line.

Technology Alert #n

To: Prof. Williams

From: your name

Include book chapter in Subject line

Specific and

Subject: Outsourcing Software Development (Ch) Date: Today’s Date

relevant reference to textbook content

Pickering, C. (2015, October 10). Choosing the best software sourcing solution.

Retrieved from http://itmanagement.earthweb.com// article.php/3629041

In response to our discussion concerning the trends towards outsourcing software development, I thought you might be interested in the article cited above. Outsourcing is defined in the textbook as “the purchase of any product or service from another company” (Gallaugher, 2014, xx) or ((Gallaugher, 2014, sec. x.x) for e-book readers).

This article compares the benefits of outsourcing software development to the benefits of developing software in-house. According to a recent survey, “50% of existing production applications were delivered by in-house development, 46% by purchased packages, 3% by domestic outsourcing, almost 1% by Application Service Providers (ASP),

and less than 1% by offshore outsourcing.”

The article mentions the following advantages of in-house development:

· Employee commitment: employees realize that their success depends on corporate success.

· Company knowledge: employees know the company products, they know how the company operates, and they understand company culture.

· Physical proximity: the developers and users can have regular face-to-face meetings as well as informal contact around the “coffee pot”. As noted in the article, physical proximity “promotes better personal relationships that, in turn, promote better project results.”

Pickering notes that the primary advantage of outsourcing is to save on costs, but notes that the advantages of in-house development as stated above are hard to overcome. He concludes the article by stating that internal and external projects are not suited for the same types of projects. “The more commodity-like the project the better suited it is for external development. The more unique-which usually means the more critical to corporate success-the better suited it is for internal development.” He goes on to state that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing: the simple functions of a large project are subcontracted, while the subtle or complex functions can be developed internally.

Many of the points made in this article were consistent with those made in the text and it was helpful to read about how the approach taken may depend on the type of system in development. However, the article overlooked several disadvantages of insourcing software development discussed in our text, particularly the lack of expertise that in-house developers may have with new technologies.

What do you think? The concluding paragraph should be your own thoughts about the topic, or observations on how issues discussed in the article compare to points made in the book or in class discussions. (This paragraph should address the topic of the article. Do not provide general critique such as “I thought the article was well- written” or “I wish that the author had included more information about…”