| Course | AC550 Accounting Information Systems |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 7 |
| Paper type | Implementation plan |
| Length | About 800 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MS in Accounting |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for AC550 Unit 7
Find 14,200 Cylinders Before Billing a Month: A Unit 7 Implementation Plan in Four Stages
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
AC550: Accounting Information Systems
Unit 7 Implementation Plan
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Halvorsen Welding Supply, its staff and every figure are composite; the textbooks and framework cited are real.
Stage 1: The Field Count
The new system bills from serial-level holdings, and the old system has none, so the first task is to build them. For six weeks, drivers will scan every company cylinder at every stop, including cylinders not being exchanged. A two-person team will visit the 180 largest accounts, which hold about 40 percent of all cylinders, and scan every cylinder on site. Counter staff will scan cylinders at the branches.
Exit test: the stage closes when 97 percent of the 14,200 cylinders in the asset register are located by serial at a site. The remaining cylinders, about 430, are listed by the account last known to hold them for follow-up.
Risk: customers refuse access or hide cylinders. Fallback: for accounts with more than five unlocated cylinders, sales staff call before the next delivery, and holdings are set to the scanned count plus a flagged estimate pending resolution.
Stage 2: Conversion
Open invoices convert individually, with invoice number, date, amount and balance, so that collections continue without interruption. Customer master data, rent rates and contract dates convert from the old system after the sales manager reviews every rate against a signed contract. Holdings convert from the field count, not from the old system's totals. The general ledger receives opening balances only.
Exit test: converted receivables equal the old system's aging to the cent; every account has a rate tied to a contract; every holdings list matches the field count.
Stage 3: Parallel Rent Cycle
For one month, both systems compute rent. Every difference above $5 per account is investigated and explained. Differences are expected, since the new system uses serials and the old one uses counts; the purpose is to show that each difference is caused by the correction of an old error, not a new one. A sample of fifty accounts will be checked by hand against the field count.
Exit test: every difference above $5 is explained, and no difference is caused by a defect in the new system's rules (Romney et al., 2021).
The parallel month is not meant to make the two systems agree; it is meant to prove that every place they disagree is the old system's error, which is the only evidence that justifies switching off the system that has billed customers for twelve years.
Stage 4: Cutover
Cutover occurs on the first business day after the parallel month closes. The old system is set to read-only and kept for eighteen months for reference. First-month rent bills carry a note explaining the change to serial-level billing and inviting customers to view their holdings online.
Fallback: if a critical defect appears in the first billing run, bills are held for up to five days while the vendor fixes it; the old system is not restarted, because its counts are now known to be wrong.
People and Training
Training is planned by role, since adoption fails most often with the people who capture data (Hall, 2019). Drivers and counter staff receive half-day training on scanning procedures before Stage 1. Billing staff receive two days on the new package before Stage 3. The branch operations manager, as owner of holdings under the governance brief, signs off each stage's exit test.
Communication With Customers
Customers will notice the field count, because drivers will scan cylinders they are not exchanging, and the 180 largest accounts will receive a site visit. A letter from the owners will go to every account two weeks before Stage 1, explaining that Halvorsen is moving to cylinder-by-cylinder records so that rent bills can be checked against a list, and inviting customers to tell their driver about cylinders kept in unusual places. The sales team will call the 180 largest accounts to schedule visits. Customers with open disputes will be told that the count is the way their dispute will be settled.
Timeline
Stage 1 runs in weeks one to six, Stage 2 in weeks five to ten, overlapping the end of the count, Stage 3 covers the following calendar month, and Stage 4 begins on the first business day after the parallel month closes. Allowing two weeks of contingency, the plan takes about five months from the customer letter to the first live rent run.
Controls During Implementation
Access to conversion tools is limited to two named users, and every conversion load is reconciled and signed. The complementary user controls listed in the vendor's SOC 1 report are assigned to named staff before cutover (ISACA, 2018).
References
Hall, J. A. (2019). Accounting information systems (10th ed.). Cengage.
ISACA. (2018). COBIT 2019 framework: Introduction and methodology. ISACA.
Romney, M. B., Steinbart, P. J., Summers, S. L., & Wood, D. A. (2021). Accounting information systems (15th ed.). Pearson.
The Purdue Global AC550 Unit 7 instructions
The seventh AC550 unit asks you to plan a system implementation. Break the work into stages in a logical order, and for each stage state its activities, its exit test, its main risk and a fallback. Decide what data converts from the old system and what must be rebuilt, especially where earlier work showed the old data to be unreliable. Specify how converted data will be reconciled. Plan testing, such as a parallel run, and state what it is meant to prove. Describe cutover, what happens to the old system and what the fallback is if a defect appears. Include training by role, communication with customers or other affected parties, controls during implementation and a timeline. Assign an owner to sign off each stage. Support the plan with accounting information systems texts and an IT governance framework in APA 7.
How the AC 550 Unit 7 example is put together
Stage 1 of the sample is the field count: drivers scan every cylinder at every stop for six weeks while a team visits the 180 largest accounts, closing at 97 percent located with about 430 cylinders listed for follow-up. Stage 2 converts open invoices individually, rates against signed contracts and holdings from the count, with reconciliation tests. Stage 3 runs a parallel rent month, investigating every difference above $5, and the highlighted sentence explains that its purpose is to prove the old system wrong where they differ. Stage 4 sets cutover and a hold-and-fix fallback. Sections cover training, a customer letter, a five-month timeline and conversion access controls.
Where the points sit in the AC550 Unit 7 rubric
Implementation plans in AC550 earn points for a sound sequence and measurable exit tests. Graders check that each stage states what must be true before the next begins, with a named owner. The rubric rewards recognizing which data cannot be converted as is and must be rebuilt, reconciling every converted balance and stating what a parallel run is meant to prove. Fallbacks should be realistic, including a reason for not restarting the old system when its data is known to be wrong. Training, communication and controls during conversion show completeness. Plans that list tasks without exit tests, convert unreliable balances unchanged or omit fallbacks lose credit. A clear timeline and APA 7 references support the plan.
AC550 Unit 7 help from the desk
Common Unit 7 weaknesses include converting old balances that earlier units showed to be wrong, which carries the errors into the new system. Stages have no exit tests, so nobody knows when to move on. A parallel run is planned without saying what differences are expected or how they will be explained. Fallbacks are missing or impractical. Training is described in one line, and customers are not told about changes that affect them. Access to conversion tools is not controlled. If your section's implementation is a phased or pilot approach instead, a writer can build stages and exit tests for that approach.
Get an AC550 Unit 7 example written to your instructions
Implementation depends on the system, the data and the calendar in your case, so the custom plan starts there. Provide the Unit 7 prompt, what the case reveals about current records and timing, and the rubric. A sequenced plan with stage risks, gates and a fallback is ready within 24-48h, and the first custom sample is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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AC550 Unit 7 questions, answered
Why count cylinders before converting balances?
Because the balances in the old system are the figures earlier units found unreliable. Converting them unchanged would give the new package the same errors on its first day, now with a cleaner interface disguising them. A field count establishes a trusted starting position. The plan accepts that the count will not reach every cylinder and says what happens to the remainder.
Is a parallel run always required?
Not always. Some cases call for a pilot at one branch or a phased change by function instead, and those can be acceptable when the proof they provide is stated. Halvorsen runs a parallel cycle because rent billing is monthly and every account can be compared. Where a parallel run is impractical, the plan has to name its substitute and the criteria ending it.
How detailed should a fallback plan be?
Detailed enough that someone could carry it out under pressure: what triggers it, who decides, how long the old system remains usable and what happens to transactions entered in the new one meanwhile. The sample writes its fallback as a short timetable. A single sentence promising to revert if problems arise tends to be marked down.
Where can I find a free AC550 Unit 7 sample paper?
This page holds a full AC550 Unit 7 implementation plan for Halvorsen Welding Supply with a cylinder field count, conversion, a parallel rent month, cutover, fallbacks and APA 7 references.
Why count every cylinder before converting?
Because the old system's holdings are totals that earlier units showed to be unreliable. Converting them unchanged would give the new package the same errors on its first day.