Computer Science learning for school students

Go to top bar navigation
Go to left side navigation

HOME PAGE

A LEVEL COMPUTING

AS OCR Computing Home

A2 OCR Computing Home

SLC

Theory

3. Investigation and Analysis

9. Installation cont.

9. Installation Stage: Methods Continued...

Phased method

This is where the old system is still active but parts of the new system or modules are brought online, for example, perhaps just the data entry screens and the printing modules are made available but the 'back end' of the system remains the same. Once any problems are ironed out with the new modules then extra modules will be introduced. Effectively the installation happens in small chunks.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Less risk of the whole system going wrong, if something happens, it will only affect that specific part.	This method of installation can take a long period of time
Staff are introduced to the changes in small stages	As parts of the system are used, users ask for changes which then hold up the installation of the next phase
	It might be difficult to integrate the old and the new systems

Pilot method

This is where the complete new system is installed and tested in a small number of departments or branches. They then use the system and report their feedback and any issues to the analyst. Once the organisation is confident that the system is working as expected, it will be rolled out across the whole organisation.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Only a small part of the business is affected. The rest of the business continues using the old system for now	Even though it is only introduced to a small number of departments, those chosen will have the same disadvantages experienced as for a 'direct changeover'
Any problems or issues are identified without it affecting the whole company	Those staff using the new system might not be able to easily share data with the rest of the company who are still on the old system
When the rollout happens, staff from the pilot departments can be involved in training other staff	Extra work for IT staff who are having to support two different systems

Challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you

Click on this link: Rollout methods