Discuss Software Weaknesses

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You hear voices coming from the chief technology officer’s office as

you approach to hand in your weekly status report.

As you walk in, he looks up and says, “Perfect timing! I have a new

project for you.”

John introduces Brenda, the director over in Accounting Systems.

“Brenda, please explain why you’re here and what you need from us.”

Brenda smiles. “Sure. As I was just telling John, accounting needs a

more efficient way to handle our month-end closing procedures.

“Currently, this process is cumbersome with many tasks that could be

automated. Also, every month during this procedure, we process a

high volume of sensitive data that could be at risk while we implement

any type of change.

“In a few weeks, John and I must make a recommendation to the CEO

whether to purchase new software or develop an original application to

improve the efficiency of month-end processing. We need to present a

recommendation that will consider the needs of accounting while

keeping the data secure.”

John turns to you. “I would like you to look into solutions and provide

me with a recommendation prior to our meeting with the CEO. There

are several factors that I would like you to think about.

“First, consider the importance of supply chains. I would also like some

slides on supply chain risk management concepts that I can include in

my presentation. Next, conduct your due diligence on software

development. The third factor to consider is software assurance,

whether we develop or procure. And finally, should we be considering

open source options?