Implementing Local or Cloud Business Solutions

Programska in strojna oprema, podatki, ljudje ter procesi so osnovni elementi informacijskih sistemov, ki zbirajo, obdelujejo, analizirajo, shranjujejo in posredujejo podatke. Organizacije torej potrebujejo programsko opremo, na primer pisarniške rešitve za komunikacijo in sodelovanje ter celovite informacijske rešitve, ki podpirajo in povezujejo njihove poslovne procese. Te poslovne informacijske rešitve lahko uvedejo lokalno, na lastnih strežnikih, ali v oblaku, kot storitev – to je model distribucije programske opreme, pri katerem rešitev gosti zunanji ponudnik in je uporabnikom na voljo kot storitev preko interneta. Proces uvajanja poslovnih informacijskih rešitev lokalno ali v oblaku je precej podoben. Ključni deležniki morajo najprej opredeliti namen in cilje projekta, nato pa organizacija analizirati potrebe, proučiti pravne vidike, analizirati in oceniti možne rešitve, narediti študijo izvedljivosti, se pogajati o vsebini pogodb ter končno izbrati najboljšega ponudnika in rešitev. Projektna ekipa je odgovorna za izbiro najprimernejšega pristopa k uvajanju in prilagajanju, pripravo funkcionalnih in nefunkcionalnih zahtev, načrtovanje virov ter upravljanje tveganj projekta. Po vzpostavitvi in prilagoditvi je potrebno novo rešitev ustrezno testirati in predstaviti uporabnikom. Prenos podatkov je običajno zadnji korak pred zagonom rešitve v živo, vendar je to šele začetek obdobja njene uporabe. Takrat je nujno zagotavljati podporo uporabnikom, nadzorovati in vzdrževati rešitev ter upravljati spremembe. V naši raziskavi smo potrdili, da je uvajanje poslovnih informacijskih rešitev v oblaku nekoliko hitrejše in cenejše od njihovega uvajanja lokalno, ne moremo pa potrditi, niti zanikati, da je enostavnejše. V obeh primerih gre za dolg, drag in zahteven proces, opisan v tem magistrskem delu.Software, hardware, data, people and procedures are basic components of information systems, which are designed to collect, process, analyze, store and distribute data. Consequently, organizations need office productivity software for communication and collaboration and business management software like enterprise resource planning systems to support and integrate their business processes. They can deploy this software on their own local servers (on-premises) or in the cloud, as a service. This is a software distribution model in which a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to customers over the Internet. Process of implementing local or cloud business solutions is quite similar. In the first stages of the project key stakeholders need to define objectives and goals of the project. The organization has to perform a requirements analysis, examine legal aspects, analyze and compare possible solutions, conduct a feasibility study and negotiate contract terms to finally choose the best vendor and business solution. Project team is responsible for selecting the most appropriate implementation and software development approach, preparing functional and nonfunctional requirements, project resource planning and risk management. After installation and customization, the new business solution has to be properly tested and introduced to its users. Data transfer is usually the last step before go-live, but this is only the beginning of the operation period. Then it is crucial to provide enough user support, to monitor and maintain business solution and manage changes. In our research, we confirmed that implementing cloud business solutions is slightly faster and cheaper than local implementation, but we could neither confirm nor deny that it is easier. In both cases it is a long, expensive and complex process, described in this master’s thesis