How to competently draw up a TOR for the development of an automated database system?

Question

ACS

Good afternoon, hackers!

Given:

There is an old state institution.
There is an old ACS DB (1995 onwards) - 100 workstations
ACS DB provides a complex technical process.
ACS DB implies the receipt of data from professional chemical analyzers (now the exchange is provided by manual data entry).
Within the framework of the ACS database, communication with remote branches (Dual-Up) is implemented using special. ON.
There are many problems with this DBMS.
Lost contact with developers.
There is no documentation for the ACS

DB I really don’t want to once again become tightly dependent on a particular developer, with all the problems that follow from this.

Answer 1

If the organization is large (from 100 people in the state ... this is an abstract definition, the question is simply the availability of money), then to create and maintain an individual ERP system (of any type) to protect against vendorlock (and this is the norm for such systems), the best thing you can think of is to create your IT department.
A department is not a single programmer coming on call, but at least three people, preferably more, with an organized staff turnover (i.e. new people must constantly appear and someone leave, otherwise vendorlock will be provided already at the level of employees, although this is less scary, especially if the development will take place at least with a normal organizational component, at least the presence of supported documentation).
Believe me, this has already been achieved through suffering by more than one organization, especially if these are state offices. When the choice arises, pay an external developer 1kk-10kk or pay the same money to your employees for 1-3 years. And believe me, there will always be a need to upgrade the system, there are no static business processes. An external serious developer will require at least millions to add a couple of buttons and you won’t get anywhere, your own programmers are at hand, and you can fire them for impudence (remember the specially organized staff turnover), moreover, control the intermediate result. And most importantly, your people are better versed in the subject area!
It’s good for universities, their specialists are forged on the machine and the turnover is ensured (only you shouldn’t bring it to insanity and you need a competent leader ).
The bad thing is that not for every organization such an approach is easy to implement (cost-effective). It will be difficult for smaller organizations to single out a couple of three rates, while the load on these workers is not uniform, it’s good if the rates can be combined (loader-tester, accountant-programmer, product manager - system administrator), otherwise you will have to stomp into outsourcing (just don’t try look for a lead programmer there, only your own at hand).

Answer 2

Sympathize with you. There is a gigantic work ahead - the transition from an outdated system to a new one - a very big hemorrhagic. I recommend looking for a contractor who will undertake this and conduct a free pre-project study. The first contract will be for the preparation of the TOR.
Well, already the second - for the performance of work on this TOR (not necessarily by the same contractor).
PS If all your work will be through government contracts, everything will be more complicated, of course ...

Answer 3

Let's start with who is the initiator and stakeholder in this project? What specific problems should the new system solve?
In general, the preparation of technical specifications for a large system (and the previous mandatory examination) is a lot of work, a lot of man-hours. So if no one is going to pay for it, then, as they say, "it won't take off."
It's like developing design documentation for the construction of an apartment building. Despite the fact that there are standard projects, the work is dofiga.

Answer 4

I understand that you just want to rewrite the existing system?
In this case, first of all, it is necessary to describe it in sufficient detail. Look at the book "Use Case Driven Object Modeling with UML" for example.
The development process is best organized iteratively (based on one of the Agile methods) with a two-week review of intermediate versions. This way you will be able to make adjustments as you develop and have a better chance of having a system that works for you.

Answer 5

To begin with, you need a specialist in the staff who already knows how to draw up such a TOR, who already knows how to choose a contractor, who already knows what to require from him, who already knows whether it is possible to do without a contractor, and if possible, how .
And having such a person in your hands, it will make sense for you to somehow move on.
If we are talking about a serious project, then all other options are obviously a failure.