A Case Study on the Selection and Evaluation of Software for an Internet Organisation

Pieter van Staaden1 and Sam Lubbe2
1 Faculty of Informatics, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa
2 School of Information Systems and Technology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

The authors conducted research to determine whether IT-managers, IT auditors, Users, management, etc. (all decision-makers) use a certain evaluation and selection process to acquire software to meet business objectives and the requirement of users. An argument was used that the more thorough the software evaluation and selection process, the more likely it would be that the organisation will chose software that meets these targets.

The main objective of the research was therefore to determine whether Media24 use evaluation methods and obtain the desired results. Media24 is Africa's biggest publishing group and offers entertainment, information and education 24 hours a day and served as a good example of an Internet Service organisation that made their employees available for this research project. The results confirmed that Media24 uses suggested protocol as noted in the theory for software acquisition correctly during most stages.

Keywords: Black Box testing, business process, commercial software system, document, evaluation, request for Proposal (RFP), requirements, selection, software, vendors.

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