Gap Analysis
In the complex area of student administration it is often the case that no system will meet your needs fully and you must adopt a "Best Fit" approach. In this situation you should undertake a comprehensive analysis of the "Gaps" in the product and decide how you intend to fill them. This is essential:
If you are to meet your user requirements
If you are to produce an accurate costing for delivering your project
If you are to produce realistic project timescales
| Potential solution to Gap | Key Issues |
| Product Customisation | This should be avoided if at all possible. If you decide to undertake bespoke work make sure you are aware of the implications for design and development costs, support, maintenance and future product upgrades. |
| Process Modification | It may be that you can change your business processes to work in the same way as the system. If your project includes process change remember to allow additional resources for analysis, testing, communication, training and support. |
| Interfacing | You may decide to interface to a different system to carry out some functions. As systems become increasingly open integration becomes less of a technical issue and more about how you manage the information. Technical considerations include the cost of writing, testing, maintaining and supporting interfaces. Business considerations include how you structure data within the different systems so that it can be integrated where necessary e.g. for reporting purposes and the additional user training required to operate a range of different systems. |
