[Year 12 Its] 2006 exam post mortem

[Mark Kelly]

Hi David.  I always tell my kids in IPM that pilot and parallel are not 
actually implementation strategies: they are optional extras.  You can 
mix & match the strategies.  e.g. pilot, then parallel, then direct or 
phased.  But yes, neither pilot nor parallel achieves much by themselves.

David Dawson wrote:
>  Thanks Mark and Kevork for making this exam more easily understood.
> The only thing I might add to this discussion is for the implementation
> strategy mentioned in Section B Qn 13.
> It would seem from the question that the desired answer is "pilot".
> However, when you think about it IMHO a pilot is not an "implementation
> strategy" as after it is tested it still needs to be implemented - and
> if it is used in a small section of a network and then expanded
> throughout - then it is indistinguishable from "phased implementation".
> (I might be shaking the foundations here a little.)
> If a pilot was trialled outside of the system - as a much smaller system
> - it could still be implemented in the real world using a "direct
> cutover" - or in theory, it could be applied in parallel across the
> system - hence it could be "parallel" conversion. Or it can be expanded
> from use in a part of the system - "phased".
> There is nothing in utilising a pilot that determines 'implementation',
> I feel.
> So IMO the answer in this case should probably be either "pilot" or
> "phased" depending on student descriptions.
> David Dawson
> 
> 
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