and authorized the team to base the Initial Study Report on
the development of a new system that they named the
Payables Audit System (PAS).
The Initial Study Report was a high-level presenta-
tion of the business objectives of the new system and how
this system would further those business objectives. A sev-
enteen-page document released on September 21, 1993, it
discussed two major problems with the old system and de-
scribed five major improvements that the new system
would provide. The estimated yearly savings were $85,000
in personnel costs and $50,000 in system maintenance, for
a total of $135,000. On October 9, 1993, the Initial Study
Report was approved by Anderson, and the team was
authorized to proceed with the Detailed Study.
The Detailed Study Report
The Detailed Study Report begins with an investigation of
the current system, and with production of level 1 and level
2 data flow diagrams and an entity/relationship diagram of
the existing system. Then, given the business objectives of
the new system, the project team considers how the current
system can be improved and prepares data flow diagrams
and entity/relationship diagrams for the proposed system.
Much work on the Detailed Study Report had been done
before it was formally authorized, and this report was
issued on October 26, 1993. This report was a 30-page
document, with another 55 pages of attachments.
The major activities in this stage were initial data
modeling workshops whose results were stored in the
CASE tool logical data dictionary. Most of the attachments
to the Detailed Study Report were printouts of data from
this logical data dictionary providing information on the
data flow diagrams and the entity/relationship models that
were included in the report.
The body of this report was mainly an elaboration of
the Initial Study Report. It included the following business
objectives of the new system:
- Reduce the cost of voucher processing over the next
3 years to less than the current cost. - Reduce the staff required for processing vouchers by
50 percent over the next five years. - Significantly reduce the time required to pay vouchers.
- Provide systematic information for the purpose of
measuring quality of vendor and accounts payable
performance. - Support systematic integration with transportation/
logistics, purchasing, and accounts payable to better
facilitate changes due to shifts in business procedures.
Among the constraints on the PAS system cited in
the Detailed Study Report were that it must be operational
no later than September 30, 1994; that it would be limited
to the IBM mainframe hardware platform; and that it must
interface with six systems (Purchase Order Control,
Supplier Master, Front-End Document Control, Electronic
Data Interchange, Corporate Approval, and Payment).
Four of these systems were under development at that
time, and it was recognized that alternative data sources
might need to be temporarily incorporated into PAS.
The estimated savings from the new system
remained at $135,000 per year, and the cost of developing
the system was estimated to be between $250,000 and
$350,000. It was estimated that the next phase of the proj-
ect would require 1,250 hours over 2.5 months and cost
$40,000. The Detailed Study Report was approved on
October 31, 1993, and the team was authorized to proceed
with the Draft Requirements Study.The Draft Requirements Study
As the Draft Requirements Study began, Watkins was con-
cerned about three risks that might affect the PAS project.First, so many interrelated systems were changing at
the same time that our requirements were a moving
target. In particular, the imaging Document Control
System that was our major interface had not been
physically implemented and the technology was
completely new to CIPI. Second, the schedule called
for three other new systems to be installed at the
same time as PAS, and conversion and testing would
take so much user time that there simply are not
enough hours in the day for the accounts payable
people to get that done.
Finally, I was the only full-time person from
the CIPI IS department. Although the contractors
were excellent people, they would go away after the
project was over and there would be little carryover
within CIPI.Watkins discussed her concerns with Carter and
Mason and with Anderson and the steering group. They all
told her that, at least for the present, the project must pro-
ceed as scheduled.
The Draft Requirements Study produces detailed
information on the inputs, outputs, processes, and data of
the new system. In addition to producing level 3 data flow
diagrams, the project team describes each process and pro-
duces data definitions for the data flows and data stores in
these data flow diagrams, and describes the data content
(though not the format) of all input and output screens and
reports of the new system. The project team was involved
in much interviewing and conducted a number of detailed
data-modeling workshops to produce this detail.440 Part III • Acquiring Information Systems