The Advantages and Challenges of Using a Team, Essay Example

When developing an Access database there are a number of advantages to using a team approach. These include that of delegation of duties, the concept of splitting the tasks into discrete components, thereby facilitating speed of production e.g. systems analysis, preparation of data schema, data modelling etc.  The other advantage is subject matter expertise the concept of getting experts for specific components of the database construct process. Cross-functional teams are also better able to determine the organisational landscape and work across borders.  (Goedert, J. 2009)

When using the team-based approach two problems that may incur are (1) Incompatibility of results – The person conducting the systems analysis work may have different data constructs to that which is produced in the data model. This has certain advantages too because it performs a consistency check.  (2) Lack of Contrrol – As an individual you have direct control over the entire process, with a team based approach you may lose an element of that control and this may create issues in the decision making process. (McKinstry, 2007).

When constructing a database the size of the team will vary in accordance with the size and complexity of what is being built.  In a large Enterprise planning system, the team is likely to consist of a number of functional specialists in order to cover the landscape and build more objectivity into the design and development of the database.  Small Access databases for small-medium sized business may only require a team of 1-3 people.  Doug Putman, CEO of Quantitative Software Development, felt that the optimum team size for database and software development was between 3-5 people and this in broad terms generated the most efficient and effective results.  (Putnam, D. 2011).

In very small applications, it is not unusual to see a single person, with the requisite skills, completing small database constructs in Access.

Works Cited

Goedert, J. (2009, 6 8). Team approach to IT building. Retrieved 7 28, 2011, from Information Management: http://www.information-management.com/news/information_technology_it_team_building_project-10015521-1.html

McKinstry, D. (2007, 7 17). Take control of “building” your database (3/3). Retrieved 7 28, 2011, from Ponder.net: http://weblogs.asp.net/dmckinstry/archive/2007/07/17/take-control-of-quot-building-quot-your-database-3-3.aspx

Putnam, D. (2011). Team Size Can Be the Key to a Successful Software Project. Retrieved 7 28, 2011, from QSM: http://www.qsm.com/process_improvement_01.html