Identify one stakeholder to be considered when planning the new system.

Outline one consequence of not including all stakeholders in the design of the new system.

Describe two appropriate techniques to gather the information needed to find a suitable solution for the updated system.

Outline one reason testing should take place at every stage of the development process.

Evaluate two methods the business could use to implement the new system. Include the benefits and drawbacks of each.

Award [1 max].
End users/ employees/ customers/ community members/ media/ suppliers;
Business owners/ managers/ shareholders/ investors;

Award [2 max].
User dissatisfaction;
because the system does not meet user requirements;

Developers not being paid for the final product;
as the business owner requests are not evident in the final product/ or outside of the project's scope;

Unsuccessful final product;
the developed system may either solve a different problem/ is not user friendly as compared to the existing system;

Note to examiners: Reward other reasonable responses.

Award [4 max].
Examining current systems (using interviews/ surveys/direct observation);
To compare the existing system against possible requirements to identify missing features;

Examining competing products;
To compare own system with competitors to enable decisions on features to add;

Review of organizational capabilities;
To determine how well the organization manages resources to gain an advantage over competitors;

Literature searches;
To research current methods and to help inform development choices;

Mark as 2 and 2

Award [2 max].
Testing is important (at every stage) to make sure the system operates in line with user requirements/as intended;
To prevent the end user being dissatisfied with the final system;

Testing is important to enable early discovery of errors;
to reduce time delay/ using more resources / avoid higher cost;

Award [6 max].
Award [1] for method, award [1] for benefit and award [1] for drawback.

Parallel running;
The old and new systems run together, so if a problem is found with the new system, it can be repaired/the old system can take over;
This is expensive as duplicate systems and staff are needed;

Pilot running;
The new system is only implemented in one branch of the organization so disruption is kept to a minimum;
It can take a long time for the new system to be fully implemented / two systems are still in operation within the organization, leading to duplication and possible errors;

Direct changeover;
The new system is implemented overnight so the changes happen very quickly;
If the new system fails, the company has no working system to fall back on;

Phased conversion;
Only one area/department/part of the system is updated at a time, so the disruption is kept to a minimum;
Multiple systems which may not be compatible with each other will be running at the same time;

Note to examiners: Accept other suitable examples of benefits and drawbacks.

Mark as 3 and 3.

Candidates identified a range of correct stakeholders who should be considered when planning a new business computer system. 

In general, they then correctly continued and outlined a consequence of not including all stakeholders in the design of the new system. If marks were lost, it was most likely due to not expanding on the consequence they had named, and then, had gone on to name one or more additional consequences.

Candidates mostly misinterpreted this question as requiring methods of data collection, so talked about surveys, interviews or observations, when the question was asking about techniques to gather information, which meant, for example, examining current systems, examining competing products or literature searches. A small number of candidates did identify appropriate techniques.

Virtually all candidates were able to talk about the reasons for testing, but the question specifically asked about the reason for testing at every stage of the development process. Many good answers were seen, but there were also some answers that gave generic benefits of testing. In addition, candidates were asked to outline one reason, so candidates who gave simple answers covering more than one reason lost out on the expansion mark.

Candidates who chose to evaluate the direct and parallel running methods of implementing a new system often scored high marks and generally scored higher marks than those who chose to write about other methods. Candidates often mixed up the meaning of pilot and phased implementation, so therefore didn’t get all the available marks if they chose either of these methods.