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xxiv PREFACE

Consulting oPPortunities

This ninth edition presents more than 50 Consulting
Opportunities, and many of them address significant and AUDIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION REPORT
First
emerging topics arising in information systems, including Patient Last Name Date of Exam Middle Initial
Examining Station
Patient Number
Social Security Number
First Exam Claim number
designing systems from an HCI perspective, ecommerce Right ear AIR CONDUCTION Left ear
500 1000 2000 4000 6000 500 1000 2000 4000 6000
applications for the Web, cloud computing decisions, and
Right ear BONE CONDUCTION Left ear
using UML to model information systems from an object- 500 1000 2000 4000 6000 500 1000 2000 4000 6000
oriented perspective. Consulting Opportunities can be SPEECH AUDIOMETRY SECT. Comments [
SPEECH RECEP. THRESHOLD
Right Ear [ ]
used for motivating thoughtful in-class discussions or as- Left Ear [ ] Referred by [ ]
Reason for referral
RIGHT EAR DISCR.
% [ ] Masking [ ]
Examining Audiologist
signed as homework or take-home exam questions. LEFT EAR DISCRIM. Exam. Audiologist’s No. Next Appt.
% [ ] Masking [ ]
Because not all systems work demands extended
two- or three-year projects, our book contains many Consulting Opportunities that can be solved
in 20 to 30 minutes of group discussion or individual writing. These minicases, written in a hu-
morous manner to enliven the material, require students to synthesize what they have learned up
to that point in the course, ask students to mature in their professional and ethical judgment, and
expect students to articulate the reasoning that led to their systems decisions.
hyPerCase exPerienCes
®
HyperCase Experiences that pose challenging student
HYPERCASE ® EXPERIENCE 3.2
exercises are present in each chapter. HyperCase 2.9 has
organizational problems featuring state-of-the-art techno- “Sometimes the people who have been here for some time are you find. Hint: Create an inventory form to simplify your
task.
surprised at how much we have actually grown. Yes, I do admit that
logical systems. HyperCase represents an original virtual it isn’t easy to keep track of what each person is up to or even what 2. Using the software evaluation guidelines given in the text, do
purchases each department has made in the way of hardware and
a brief evaluation of GEMS, a software package used by the
software. We’re working on it, though. Snowden would like to see
Management Systems employees. In a paragraph, briefly
critique this custom software by comparing it with
more accountability for computer purchases. He wants to make sure
commercial off-the-shelf software such as Microsoft Project.
organization that allows students who access it to become we know what we have, where it is, why we have it, who’s using it, 3. List the intangible costs and benefits of GEMS as reported by
and if it’s boosting MRE productivity, or, as he so delicately puts it,
‘to see whether it’s just an expensive toy’that we can live without.”
employees of MRE.
4. Briefly describe the two alternatives Snowden is considering
for the proposed project tracking and reporting system.
immediately immersed in organizational life. Students HYPERCASE Questions 5. What organizational and political factors should Snowden
consider in proposing his new system at MRE? (In a brief
1. Complete a computer equipment inventory for the Training
paragraph, discuss three central conflicts.)
and Management Systems Unit, describing all the systems
will interview people, observe office environments, ana-
lyze their prototypes, and review the documentation of
their existing systems.
HyperCase 2.9 is Web-based, interactive software that
presents an organization called Maple Ridge Engineering
(MRE) in a colorful, three-dimensional graphics environ-
ment. HyperCase permits professors to begin approaching FIGURE 3.HC1
The reception room resembles a typical corporation. While you are in this HyperCase
screen, find the directory if you want to visit someone.
a systems analysis and design class with exciting multi-
media material. Carefully watching their use of time and managing multiple methods, students
use the hypertext characteristics of HyperCase on the Web to create their own individual paths
through the organization.
Maple Ridge Engineering is drawn from the actual consulting experiences of the authors of
the original version (Raymond Barnes, Richard Baskerville, Julie E. Kendall, and Kenneth E.
Kendall). Allen Schmidt joined the project for version 2.0 and has remained with it. Peter Schmidt
was the HTML programmer, and Jason Reed created the images for the initial Web version.
Each chapter contains HyperCase Experiences that include assignments (and even some
clues) to help students solve difficult organizational problems including developing new systems,
merging departments, hiring of employees, security, ecommerce, and disaster recovery planning
they encounter at MRE. HyperCase has been fully tested in classrooms and was an award winner
in the Decision Sciences Institute Innovative Instruction competition.
exPanded weB suPPort
Systems Analysis and Design, ninth edition, features Web-
based support for solid but lively pedagogical techniques
in the information systems field:
● The website, located at www.pearsonhighered.
com/kendall, contains a wealth of critical learning
and support tools, which keep class discussions ex-
citing.