D2: Evaluate the risks involved in the installation or upgrade of software and explain how the risks could be minimised. Loss of Income: Companies can easily lose income if their computer systems shut down. When the system shuts down, no actions can be done, meaning no orders can be accepted. In this way it is very likely that the organisation will lose customers, also money or maybe get a very bad reputation. So when upgrading or installing a new software there is a miner chance of this happening, as it is not that easy to shut the whole system down. If this happened, it would have a severe impact for a company.
They would lose a lot of money fixing it, as well as losing customers and their reputation. Also time needed to fix the software. There are many ways of minimising risks, Creating a backup file should be done before changes are being made, new software installation” as if anything goes wrong, the files can be reinstated which can save time. So it is easy to create a backup file, as you can choose what you want to backup and where you want to save it. Next is low risk time installation this is another way of minimising risks as you can carefully choose what time the installation starts, so it has to be planned before.
The most suitable time to do it would be the weekend as this will give you time testing or restoring any data. Lastly is the Pilot Deployment you can reduce any risk to the company’s data, for example when installing a software to one department to check if it runs side by side with the old software. So if something goes wrong only a small part of the organisation will be affected. Incompatibility issue: This happens when the software is out of date, or it might be with a bug.
So in order to fix this you would have to download a patch or maybe install a new software, as if you leave the software like this, it could end up in the system where it could take a long time for the problem to be fixed. So there is a server chance of this happening, as mostly all the new software may be bugged or may need patches to work properly. Depending on the occasion, if this happens to a big business this would have a huge impact on it, as no work could be done, as this may result in the business losing time and money until the issue is resolved.
So to minimise this happening to a business you would have to think of the list below: Creating a backup file before any changes are being made “new software installation” as if anything goes wrong, this can mean the files might be reinstated as this can save time. So creating a backup file is very easy and fast. Low risk time installation, you can choose the time for the installation. so it has to be planned before. The most suitable time to do it would be the weekend as this will give you time testing or restoring any data.
Pilot deployment, you can reduce any risk to the companies’ data, for example when installing a software to one department to check if it runs side by side with the old software. So if something goes wrong only a small part of the organisation will be affected. Potential Loss of service: If a company system isn’t working properly after you’d installed a new software, they might be chance that the company will stop working. So the company may have to spare their own time resolving the issue and find out how much money is needed to fix it.
For example if an online shop stops working, many people will not receive their orders, so this again would make them lose customers and have to spend time apologising to each different customer. So to minimise the risk of this happening is first creating a backup file. But this has to be created before any changes are being made also new software installation as this tells you if anything goes wrong, the files can be reinstated which saves time. Next is low risk time installation as businesses should think of doing this at a suitable time.
The best suitable time would be the weekends as it will give time testing and restoring the data. Next again is Pilot deployment as business can reduce the risk to the organisations data by installing a software in one place, instead of installing through the whole company and checking to see if it works properly alone. Unstable Software: When a business gets a new software it may not be working right. This is a high chance of happening as when you’re downloading something you may think nothing is going to happen, but once you have installed, your system might not support, as your software may be old and may need to be pdated.
The new software may have lots of bugs, like it may crash, or sometimes destroy some of the data or just may harm your computer. So the software being unstable gives you a big impact, because you don’t know what could happen. So again how to minimise these risks are the following: Creating a backup file as this should be done before you are making any changes and also the new software installation as if anything goes wrong, they can be reinstated which saves time.
Low risk time installation is another way of minimising risks as you can choose the time for the installation. So again the best time would be on the weekend, as there wouldn’t be that many people on. And the final one is the Pilot deployment as this would be useful to see if the installation is running well, as again working side by side with the old software. So to see if anything goes wrong and only one department may be affected.
