Accounting Information Systems 8th Edition by James Hall

Exercise 30

BIG BANG VERSUS PHASED-IN APPROACH
The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is the agency responsible for licensing both drivers and vehicles in the state of Nevada. Until recently, legacy systems were used for both licensing needs. The legacy system for drivers' licenses maintained the following information about each licensed driver: name, age, address, violation, license classification, organ donation, and restrictions. The vehicle licensing system maintained information about each vehicle, including cost, taxes, vehicle identification number (VIN), weight, insurance, and ownership. In the summer of 1999, over a three-day weekend, information from the two legacy systems was transferred to a new ERP. The ERP and all new hardware were installed in every DMV across the state, and when employees returned from their long weekend, an entirely new system was in place.
The DMV employees were not well trained on the new system, and the system itself presented a few bugs. As a result of these obstacles, customers at the DMV faced excessively long lines and extended waiting times, and several of the employees simply quit their jobs because of frustrations with the system and difficulty dealing with irate customers. Knowing that the waiting times were so long, many drivers simply refused to renew licenses or obtain new licenses.
Assume that the ERP the DMV management selected was correctly configured and was capable of meeting all requirements of the DMV; consider data warehousing implications, business culture implications, and disruption to operations; and discuss the advantages and disadvantages associated with the decision to implement the new system using the big bang approach versus the phased-in approach.