0. Alan Dennis, Barbara Haley Wixom, and Roberta Roth
Systems Analysis and Design 5th Edition Chapter 13. Transition to the New System
Alan Dennis, Barbara Haley Wixom, and Roberta Roth
© Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Chapter 13 Outline
Making the transition to the new system.
The migration plan.
Postimplementation Activities.
© Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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INTRODUCTION
Managing the change to a new system is one of the most difficult tasks in any organization.
There are business issues, technical issues, and people issues that must be addressed for the transition from the as-is system to the to-be system.
Important support and follow-up activities should be performed following the installation of the new system.
© Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

3. Making the Transition to the New System
The existing systems or work processes often limit people’s activities and make it difficult for them to change.
Change is a three-step process:
Unfreeze the existing habits and norms;
Move, or transition, from the old system to the new;
Refreeze the new system as the habitual way of performing the work processes.
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(cont’d)
Implementing change
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The Migration Plan
The decisions, plans, and procedures that will guide the transition are outlined in the migration plan.
It specifies what activities will be performed when and by whom as the transition is made.
The migration plan includes business contingency plans to ensure that the business can continue its operations even in the event of technical glitches in the new system.
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(cont’d)
Elements of a migration plan
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7. Selecting the Conversion Strategy
The process by which the new system is introduced into the organization is called the conversion strategy.
Three different aspects of introducing the system:
- conversion style – how abruptly the change is made;
- conversion locations – the organizational span of the introduction;
- conversion modules – the extent of the system that is introduced.
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(cont’d)
Conversion strategies
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Conversion Style
Direct conversion
The new system instantly replaces the old one.
Parallel conversion
Both the old and new systems are used simultaneously for a period of time. The old system is discontinued when the new system is proven fully capable.
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Conversion Location
Pilot conversion
It selects one or more locations to be converted first as a part of a pilot test. If the pilot test is successful, then the system is installed at the remaining locations.
Phased conversion
A first set of locations is converted, then a second set, then a third set, and so on, until all locations are converted.
Simultaneous conversion
All locations are converted at the same time.
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Conversion Modules
Modular conversion
The old system is converted to the new system one module at a time.
Whole-system conversion
The entire new system is installed at one time.
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12. Evaluating the Strategy Choices
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(cont’d)
There are three important factors to consider in selecting a conversion strategy
- Risk: The introduction of the new system exposes the organization to risk associated with problems and errors that may impede business operations.
- Cost: The various conversion strategies have different costs.
- Time: Time is needed to convert between the old and new system.
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14. Preparing a Business Contingency Plan
Keeping small technology glitches in the new system from turning into major business disasters is known as business contingency plan.
Choosing parallel conversion is one approach to contingency planning.
It is important to involve key business managers and users in the plan development.
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15. Preparing the Technology
There are three major steps involved in preparing the technical aspects of the new system:
- install the hardware,
- install the software, and
- convert the data.
Data conversion is usually the most technically complicated step in the migration plan.
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16. Preparing People for the New System
The process of helping people adjust to the new system and its new work processes without undue stress is called change management.
There are three key roles in any major organizational changes:
- The sponsor is the person who wants the change.
- The change agent is the person(s) leading the change effort.
- The potential adopters are the people who actually must change.
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(cont’d)
The change management plan has four basic steps:
1. Revising management policies,
2. Assessing the costs and benefits models of potential adopters,
3. Motivating adoption, and
4. Enabling people to adopt through training.
© Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

18. Understanding Resistance to Change
People resist change – even change for the better – for very rational reasons.
Every change has a set of costs and benefits associated with it. If the benefits of accepting the change outweigh the costs of the change, then people change.
What is good for the organization is not necessarily good for the people who work there.
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19. (cont’d) Costs and Benefits of Change
The costs and benefits of change
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20. Revising Management Policies
Management policies provide goals, define how work processes should be performed, and determine how organizational members are rewarded.
No computer system will be successfully adopted unless management policies support its adoption.
Three basic tools for structuring work processes:
Standard operating procedures (SOPs);
Measurements and rewards;
Resource allocation.
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21. Assessing Costs and Benefits
This step in developing a change management plan is to develop two clear and concise lists of costs and benefits provided by the new system, compared with the as-is system.
The first list is developed from the perspective of the organization.
The second list is developed from the viewpoints of the different potential adopters, or stakeholders in the change.
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22. (cont’d) Major factors in successful change
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Motivating Adoption
The simple and most important factor in motivating a change is providing clear and convincing evidence of the need for change.
There are two basic strategies to motivating adoption:
- An informational strategy is to convince potential adopters that change is for the better.
- A political strategy is to use organizational power to motivate change.
Potential adopters include ready adopters, reluctant adopters, and resistant adopters.
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24. Enabling Adoption: Training
Potential adopters may want to adopt the change, but unless they are capable of adopting it, they won’t.
Every new system requires new skills.
There are three ways to get these new skills: hiring new employees, outsourcing, and training existing staff.
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What to Train
Training should focus on helping the users accomplish their jobs, not how to use the system.
- The training must focus on those activities around the system as well as the system itself.
- The training should focus on what the user needs to do, not on what the system can do.
One source of guidance for designing training materials is the use cases and use scenarios.
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How to Train
There are many ways to deliver training:
- classroom training,
- one-on-one training,
- computer-based training.
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27. POSTIMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES
The goal of postimplementation activities is to institutionalize the use of the new system.
Three key postimplementation activities:
- support,
- maintenance, and
- project assessment.
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System Support
Once the new system has been installed, the system is officially turned over to the operations group.
Providing system support means helping the users to use the system. This type of support can be thought of as on-demand training.
Online support is the most common form of on-demand training.
A help desk provides a place for a user to talk with a person who can answer questions.
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(cont’d)
The goal of most help desks is to have the level 1 support staff resolve 80% of the help requests. If the issue cannot be resolved by level 1 support staff, a problem report is completed and passed to a level 2 support staff member.
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System Maintenance
System maintenance is the process of refining the system to make sure it continues to meet business needs.
Change requests typically come from five sources:
- The most common source is problem reports from the operations group.
- Second: Enhancements to the system from users.
- Third: Other system develop project.
- Fourth: Underlying software or networks change.
- Fifth: Requests from senior management.
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(cont’d)
Processing a change request
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Project Assessment
The goal of project assessment is to understand what was successful about the system and the project activities, and what needs to be improved.
Project assessment is important component in organizational learning.
It is particularly important for junior staff members.
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Project Team Review
Project team review focuses on the way the project team carried out its activities.
Each member prepares a short document that reports on and analyzes his/her performance.
The focus is on improvement, not penalties.
A summary document is prepared by the project manager and is circulated to help the organization learn more from the project.
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System Review
The focus of the system review is understanding the extent to which the proposed costs and benefits were actually recognized from the implemented system.
System review helps the organization improve in future projects.
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SUMMARY
Making the transition to new system
- is the technical process of replacing the old system with the new one. Designers select the method, timing, and location of the conversion process.
The migration plan
- is aimed at helping system users to adopt the new system and use it productively.
Postimplementation activities
- provide on-going support to users, include training people to use the system and provide participants in the development process the opportunity to learn and grow from their experiences.
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