HOUSTON BUSINESS REVIEW

COST-EFFECTIVE IT: Testing and Reaping Your Reward
By Richard Sonnier

Houston Business Show Commentator Richard Sonnier, of the Information Technology Services firm Nimble Services, provides weekly information on our show about information technology issues. Mr. Sonnier can be reached at 281.445.4800 x 250 or via email.

This week I will wrap up my discussion of saving money with information technology. In the last article, I reviewed the sixth step: training your staff.. Now, you can run the new system in parallel with the old manual processs and then reap your reward.

Testing the New System in Parallel

For some systems, it is not cost-effective to run parallel. If you cannot run your full production in parallel, consider converting a single user to the new system first. Alternatively, you can capture some input data from the old process and run this sample data through the new system. This is called a production test. It allows you to work out the last issues of the new system and to build some confidence with the users.

Be patient with the production test. It may seem to drag on and on. Focus on the number of issues that are outstanding. Don't aim for perfection, but do wait until the new issues with the system have drop to a rate of 1 per week. At that point, make sure any major issues are fixed; and then turn of the old process.

Congratulations! You have successfully use information technology to improve your business and increase your profits.

Next week, I will review new IT.