System development life cycle consists of four major phases namely: systems analysis, design implementation, and operations (Gelinas & Dull, 2010). The first phase involves the organization undertaking of structured system analysis to determine the key features of the system they intend to acquire. This involves gathering feedback from various stakeholders such as the system users, system customers, system managers, and system sign-offs.
The second phase is system design and involves developing an information system based on the needs identified in the system analysis phase in addition to choosing the appropriate hardware and infrastructure that are the pillars to the system the organization intend to acquire (Gelinas & Dull, 2010). In this stage, the system analyst converts the user needs into an accounting information system.
Implementation phase comes after designing, where the organization deploys the new information accounting system. Gelinas and Dull (2010) argue that the implementation phase is a complex process that involves training of personnel, testing of the system and migrating from the old to new system. Implementation within organization can take place through any of the four commonly known methodologies namely: direct cut over, pilot implementation, parallel operation and phased implementation (Gelinas & Dull, 2010). In the case of cut over system, the company selects a specific dateline when the old system would be out of use and the new system is fully adopted. Alternatively, the company may opt for pilot implementation. This methodology comprises the adoption of the new system in some sections of the organization to test the effectiveness of the new system before adoption to the rest of the organization (Gelinas & Dull, 2010). Parallel operations on the other hand is when the company prefer to run both the old and new systems simultaneously while it tries to see whether the new method would work (Gelinas & Dull, 2010). Finally, the company may use phased implementation in which different functions of the new applications are used and the old system is gradually phased out.
The final stage is the systems operation phase. In this stage, the system analyst conducts post implementation review and evaluation of the system development progress and relevance to the organization. The organization gives more attention to details in this stage as it servers as landmark for the future projects.
Organizations face many challenges in the system development including lack of adequate training on the accounting information systems to the managers and the personnel. Poor training combined with internal control weakness makes the organization end up underutilizing the system and therefore may not realize the intended outcome of using the system. Additionally, if the organization fails to follow accurate guidelines on the system upgrade inputs due to the changing nature of technology, it will pose serious challenges to the usefulness of the system. The system may malfunction as some of the initial features may become outdated and some key elements of the data retrieved may miss (Simkin, Rose & Norman, 2014).
Information systems need to be replaced whenever they become obsolete as technology changes. Technological changes bring about changes in computer language, changes in hardware that make it difficult and costly to get a replacement in case of damage (Simkin, Rose & Norman, 2014). Changes in information technology has also resulted increased complexities in the accounting operations. Sometimes, the information system vendors may stop supporting a particular version of information system requiring the business to switch to an information system that the vendor supports. In addition, the company may opt to change their information system if they are dissatisfied with the level of support the current vendor is offering and or to lower the cost by switching to a cheaper provider.
Business operating in highly dynamic environment may find the need to replace their information system with one better adapted to handle the dynamic changes in business requirements and to ensure the competitiveness and success of the organization (Simkin, Rose & Norman, 2014). Without replacement, the system fails to work as a complete and comprehensive system that covers all interconnecting subsystems of the organization. For instance, financial institutions are early adopters of technology as they try to increase their service offerings to their customers in a safe and convenient way.
Businesses also replace their information systems when they become prone to security issues such as hacking especially with increase in cyber crime. According to Simkin, Rose and Norman (2014) systems that lack proper encryption makes system vulnerable to the hackers who can easily intercept and gain access to the data transmitted by the organization using the system. Businesses worry about the integrity of their information system and have to replace any system that fails to guarantee the integrity of the information system.
References
Gelinas, U., & Dull, R. (2010). Accounting information systems. Australia: South- Western/
Cengage Learning.
Simkin, M. G., Rose, J. M., & Norman, C. S. (2014). Core concepts of accounting
information systems (13th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
