Memo to Hugh McBride

Memo to Hugh McBride of McBride Financial Services

POS/370 Programming Concepts

Facilitator: Charles Ford

February 19, 2007

Memo

To: Hugh McBride, CEO of McBride Financial Services

From: Abram LaBelle, Head System Networker of Smith Systems Consulting

CC: Joseph Peterson, CEO of Smith Systems Consulting

Date: February 19, 2007

Re: Proposal for Recommended Integrated Enterprise Information System (IEIS)

Dear Mr. McBride:

After reading your recent email, I can understand your concerns. But let me assure you that Smith Systems Consulting has your best interest at heart. With over 13 years experience in designing and maintaining network systems for Fortune 500 companies and several smaller companies like McBride Financial Services, our knowledgeable support team is here for you.

Now, let us discuss your concerns and that of your friend. In your email, you brought up several questions: 1) Whether or not it would be wise to purchase an integrated enterprise information system (IEIS); 2) What is the significance of "programming language" to McBride Financial Services anyway; 3) If purchased, what programming language will the application be written in and will it be supported by McBride's' current Windows platform; and 4) If the proposed application is non-supportable, how will Smith Systems Consulting resolve the incomparability issues and at what cost?

First of all, you must understand what computer programming languages are and why they are significant to McBride Financial Services and its current networking needs. Simply put, a computer programming language is a computer tool that allows a programmer to write commands in a format that is easily understood, and will result in the designated tasks being performed (John Wiley & Sons, 1997). In your specific case, we will specialize in developing the programming languages that will operate the in-house applications and the customer-based online mortgage application that McBride Financial desperately needs.

In addition, please keep in mind that there is no single language that is good enough to satisfy the needs of any application. In order to choose the best languages for your new information system, Smith Systems Consulting will use the "divide and conquer" approach (Paragon Corporation, 2007). Let me explain. We will divide the proposed information system into separate functionalities. With the information you supplied, we will then determine what features are most important to the needs of McBride Financial Services and which are the best languages to make those desires a reality. With this in mind, we will design a suitable IEIS that will not only be supported by your current Windows platform, but will also be maintained and modified easily with little cost. Moreover, since all technical support will be outsourced to Smith Systems Consulting, we will make sure that any applications that are added later are also supported by your system. With the thorough measures that our knowledgeable staff takes to keep our clients' operation systems running, the chances of any language incompatibility issues arising will be significantly lowered. Nevertheless, if any incompatibility issues do arise, our 24 hour, 7 days a week remote support will have you up and running in no time.

Now, to answer your questions concerning what is the best software application, Smith Systems Consulting suggests two vendors: 1) Lawson Software, Inc. - who specializes in web-based designs or 2) Alpha Software, Inc. -- who focuses on developing desktop-based designs. Let me explain to you the difference.

The enterprise web-based application that Lawson Software, Inc. offers is called Financial Enterprise Integration Solution (FEIS). This web application is an application delivered to users from a web server like the Internet. In your case, the web applications