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Procedure of acquiring hardware and software:
Hardware refers to all physical or tangible devices involved in the process of data processing.
These may be the mechanical, electric mechanical or electronic devices for input, output,
processing and storage of data.
Software refers to all programs, instruction and control devices which influence or facilitate
the data processing work. They include application packages operating instructions or
programming languages. For a computer user to acquire hardware and software, the following
procedure needs to be followed:
1. Feasibility study
The aim of a feasibility study is to make informed decisions whether or not resources
should be committed to development or acquisition of the required hardware and
software facilities. It must reach some conclusions about the hardware and software
requirements for the system. Requirements can only be established from an investigation
of the current system. The most important questions or matters to be resolved during a
feasibility study are:
i) What equipment is needed to handle the software and what software is needed to
handle the equipment
ii) Should the equipment and software be bought, rented or leased.
2. Vendor hardware and software proposals
The stage invoices the selection of the suppliers of the hardware and software required.
In making the decision of the most appropriate supplier the following points may be
borne in mind.
i) How well established is the supplier‘s company. A firm with a reasonably long
history of trading would generally be the most appropriate supplier.
ii) Do the supplier‘s staff appear to have a good knowledge of the application to which
the software relates? For example, a firm that sells accounts software packages ought
to have staff who know something about accounts as well as computers.
iii) Can the supplier introduce the customer to any other users of the hardware or
software who would be willing to demonstrate it and recommend it
Vendors proposals are then obtained through an invitation to tender to a range of
suppliers or simply by shopping around. An invitation to tender sets out the
specifications for the required system explaining hot it is to be used and setting out the
time scale for implementation. The target price will also be stated. Supplier are required
to submit tenders and if they require further information before submitting their tenders,
they will be able to contact the organisation to obtain further details.
Once vendor proposals are obtained they are evaluated using such procedures as bench
making as simulation tests. The customer needs to be aware of other factors such as the
cost of the equipment, availability of utility software and software tours supplied with the
hardware; warranty and maintenance contract, software support by the supplier, training
offered to the customer‘s staff by the supplier and tailor made amendments to software
packages.
3. Delivery and installation of equipment
The supplier after delivering the equipment to the customer may agree to install them for
the customer. If he does not, the customer may have to install the hardware himself. In
this case, he should carefully follow the manufacturer‘s instruction manual provided.
4. Testing
The system installed should then be thoroughly tested before its use starts otherwise
there is a danger that the new system will run with faults that might prove costly.
gregorymasila answered the question on November 30, 2017 at 12:37
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