Final Paper Questions

The final paper is an analysis of the McGraw-Hill MIS Video Case: Primis. Students are to review the case questions in advance of watching the videos located in the Final Paper link in the left navigation panel of your Online classroom. In an eight to ten page, APA style, cohesive paper, answer the following questions:

Analysis

1. What kinds of questions might McGraw-Hill have asked as part of determining the feasibility of the Primis idea? Be sure to address the needs of the organization, end users (sales reps., faculty, students), IT specialists, and the groups involved in producing the finished custom books.
2. How well did the systems approach work for the initial stages of the Primis system?
3. What could the team have done differently in the preliminary stages? How might this have affected the end result?
4. Would you have implemented the system, armed with the information the team had at the time? Why or why not?

Design

1. "Process engineering" is the design of business processes to achieve competitive advantage in cost, quality, speed, and service. Which of these advantages were driving the development of the Primis system for McGraw-Hill?
2. What types of systems design tools do you think McGraw-Hill used to develop the system's functional requirements and technical specifications?
3. Business customers must perceive that products/services are solutions to their problems. How did the Primis system design keep this objective in mind?
4. The Primis team knew that technology would change in the short and long run, affecting the design of the system. How did the team deal with the knowledge of this inevitable change and uncertainty?

System Development

1. Would prototyping have helped the Primis team? Why or why not?
2. What role should end users have played in the development of the system?
3. What change management techniques did McGraw-Hill use to increase the chances of success for the system?
4. Why was it important to consider the relationship of Primis to back-end systems at McGraw-Hill?
5. If you were the project manager for Primis, what would you have done differently? Explain your response.

Maintenance

1. If you were a professor considering adoption of a custom textbook for your students, which form would you choose: black and white print, or color eBook? Support your answer.
2. Part of system maintenance is managing the growing volume of content in the Primis database. If you were managing this content, what criteria might you use for determining what gets added? Since many print textbooks are revised every few years, how would this process affect contents in the Primis database?

Primus Case Study Videos (please scroll all the way down if you are having any problems with the videos).