Touch Me

  Business Intelligence   Strategy  

The conversion from one system to another is often a substantial undertaking. There are so many elements to consider such as feature sets, system interfaces and so on that it is all too easy to forget about the people impacted by the change. It will aid in the understanding of the scope of the project to spend some time mapping the various stakeholders of the existing system, their functional requirements, likes, concerns and so on.

These "touch point" maps, where the stakeholders and systems meet, are valuable tools to assist in documenting utilization.

The Value Chain

Much like a network, the value of an application increases exponentially for each user added to the system, provided, of course, that the system meets the user's needs and the user actually makes productive use of the system. However, the number of parties impacted by a system is far greater reaching than those who simply log in to the system each day and use it. For example, if a critical system fails and profits suffer, then ultimately the shareholders may suffer due to a drop in share prices. To further illustrate the differentiation, let's look at both direct and indirect stakeholders.

Direct Stakeholders

Parties that actually use the system as part of their regular operations can be considered direct stakeholders. By virtue of the system, their day-to-day operations are affected by the system'…

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