Reference no: EM132789716

HS3021 Strategic Information Systems Management - Holmes Institute

The purpose of this assignment is to discover opportunities to use information systems and to participate in the design and implementation of solutions to business problems employing information systems.

Students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the models and techniques to analyze the strategic contribution of Information Systems to an organization,
2. Understand the different methodologies, tools and frameworks to evaluate business strategy.
3. Develop the knowledge and skills to understand the business value of Information Systems and formulate strategies and plans to meet business requirements,
4. An understanding of the strategies, methods and approaches used by organizations to develop innovative solutions to support IT enabled business transformation,
5. Work autonomously as well as within group to develop a strategy to a business scenario and to be able to communicate this strategy to a diverse range of stakeholders.
6. Understand the ICT profession and the expectations of ICT professionals in strategic development and implementation roles.

Assignment Requirements:

Information systems must be implemented in such a manner that they are accepted and work well within the context of an organization and support its fundamental business goals and strategies. You are required to analyse the requirements in each task and provide a good understanding, views and ideas about the suitable IS strategy.

Case Study PART 1: CSA IT 'a turkey from day one'

The Child Support Agency computer system has cost millions and created chaos, but MPs remain skeptical about its replacement. A Parliamentary committee has concluded that reforms of the troubled Child Support Agency (CSA) have been "one of the greatest public administration disasters of recent times".

Despite £539m of taxpayers' money spent on a new IT system, and a further £91m on external advisers, the agency continued to underperform, said the committee. To date, some £3.5bn of maintenance has not been collected and 60 per cent is considered uncollectable. IT problems have resulted in a backlog of 239,000 cases, with an additional 36,000 new cases stuck in the system. Commenting as the committee published its report, chair Edward Leigh said: "The agency threw huge sums of money at a new IT system which was intended to underpin the reforms."

The Department for Work and Pensions never really knew what it was doing in dealing with the contractors EDS and the system was a turkey from day one. "Three years after it was introduced, it still had 500 defects and staff confidence has been seriously damaged." The CSA was introduced in 1993 to collect child maintenance payments from absent parents. From the outset, its complex administration procedures and inadequate IT system resulted in poor performance and enormous backlogs of unprocessed cases.

In 2000 the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) tried to remedy the situation by signing a £427m private finance initiative contract with EDS to deliver a new IT system. But technical faults and delays to delivery led to a lengthy commercial dispute. The DWP agreed to contract changes which increased the overall price to £457m. Some of this was eventually clawed back, including a £53m penalty for EDS's failure to meet the contract terms. The company also agreed to provide the CSA's original IT system - still in use alongside the new system - free of charge. This avoided £24m of costs to the agency. In 2004 the DWP had an opportunity to terminate its deal with EDS, but decided against this despite warnings that the IT system was two years behind schedule. A key problem identified in the report is the agency's lack of in-house IT expertise, which left it unable to challenge EDS or remedy the numerous technical defects which emerged as the system was rolled out. Some 500 defects still existed three years after the system went live. "It took 13 years of failure for the department to reach the conclusion that the agency was not fit for purpose. During this time, thousands of children suffered; as thousands of absent parents have neglected their duties," said Leigh.

"It is hard to think of a body in which the public has less confidence: in 2005-06 alone, there were 55,000 complaints about the CSA." From 2008 the CSA will be replaced by a new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. The decision was taken following a root and branch review of the agency by Sir David Henshaw, a former chief executive of Liverpool City Council. Henshaw was instrumental in pushing through Liverpool's e-government programme.

The committee, however, remains skeptical about the potential for success. "It is by no means clear how this will benefit citizens or regain the confidence of those the agency was intended to help," said Leigh. "The government must keep an iron grip on this new organisation to ensure that the lessons have been learned from the CSA debacle." Civil service union, the PCS, which represents many CSA staff, echoed the committee's criticisms of the massive failure of the IT system. Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: "There is a real danger that child support reforms will be undermined from the start if there are insufficient resources and if the historical problems of failing IT that created backlogs and pushed staff to the point of breakdown aren't addressed."

The report emphasises that the new commission will have to make a break from the past, with a simpler more enforceable system incorporating good practice from other countries. Examples of successes are New Zealand and Australia, where compliance is higher and costs are lower. The Australian child support agency is able to make immediate checks on the tax status of the absent parents because of links with the taxation office.

Case Study PART 2: CSA's systems were given green light despite 52 critical defects

The Treasury's Office of Government Commerce secretly gave a green light to going live with IT systems that supported reforms of the Child Support Agency, although there were known critical defects, which later hit staff productivity. This is one of the disclosures in a report of public spending watchdog the National Audit Office which supports ministerial statements that the agency is not fit for purpose. Its work is expected to be run down gradually. Today, three years after the systems went live, there are 600 manual "workarounds". But the report put the blame for the system failings on the agency as well as EDS, the Child Support Agency's main IT supplier. It said there was a lack of clarity in what was wanted from the IT, and staff did not always comply with rules which governed the use of the technology. Even before contracts with EDS were signed in 2000 the agency knew that the high risks of the IT plan were compounded by trying to reform an agency that was "under- achieving and stretched", it said. The ITrelated project was judged to be so high risk in 2000 that PA Consulting warned, in a report commissioned by Whitehall, that no risk mitigation strategy would be sufficient to guarantee success. Despite this there was unrealistic optimism, said the report. Before systems went live in March 2003, the IT-related reform programme had been subject to 40 internal audits, 70% of which rang alarm bells. Parliament was left uninformed of the dangers highlighted by the audits, and none was published. In February 2003 the agency asked the Office of Government Commerce to do a "healthcheck".

It was known then that the system would go live with 52 critical defects, 14 of which had no clear fixes, or where mitigation plans were unsatisfactory. But the review team "accepted that other drivers to the programme needed to be brought into account such as the risk of demotivating the agency's client teams, the risk of loss of momentum of the programme", and the significant cost of delay. The conclusion of the health check was, "Despite the increased risk, the March date was acceptable and assessed the programme as being at status green." The impact of defects soon became clear. "Staff had to spend large amounts of their time navigating cases around known defects in order to prevent the system from causing the case to delay or get stuck. A large number of these manual workarounds still remain," the National Audit Office report said.

TASK:
The CSA articles indicates that there were major systemic failures with the systems development process. As such assume you are team of external consultants hired by the CSA to resolve the issues highlighted within the systems development process. To this end:

1. You have to review a number of alternative ISD approaches and recommend one approach/methodology that could possibly have avoided the failures to prevalent within the CSA system

2. Highlight trends and issues in ISD methodologies.

3. Why Information Systems Development (ISD) is key to business strategy? And

4. Why Information Systems Development (ISD) is difficult?

Critical Thinking 1: Door-to-Dorm Laundry Service

You have decided to start a door-to-dorm laundry service for the college students at the local university. Students log on to your Web site and provide specific information to create an account including address information needed for pickup and delivery plus credit, charge, or debit card information for payment. At the time of the initial pickup, students are given a large plastic bag that they fill with their laundry. You pick up the laundry and wash, dry, fold, and return it within one week. Once the student has created an account, they can text, email, or logon onto the Web site to request future pickups.

Questions:

1. Define the basic functions that this Web site must perform in order to meet the basic needs of the laundry service as well as attract and maintain the interests of students.
2. What are some things you might do to entice students to return time and time again to your Web site?
3. What actions can you take to increase traffic and draw students to your Web site?
4. Can you identify additional laundry-related services that might be added to your basic wash, dry, and fold offering that would be attractive to students?
5. How could the initial Web site design allow for these potential opportunities?
6. What steps might you take to personalize the Web site so that the students feel welcome each time they visit?

Critical Thinking 2: Third Party Operation of Web Site
Your firm has been hosting and operating its own Web site for over five years now. However, in the face of negative consumer reviews and poor performance, management is considering having a third-party host and operate the Web site.

Questions:

1. What parameters might be used to measure the current performance of the Web site?

2. What are the pros and cons of having a third-party host and operate your Website?

3. Management is concerned that the migration to chip-and-sign EMV cards will increase the level of online consumer fraud. Do you have any ideas to combat this increase in fraud?

4. What other potential risks and opportunities lie in the future of B2C e-commerce?

Critical Thinking 3: Knowledge Management Experiment

You are a talent scout for a professional sports team. Over the years, the players you have recommended have had outstanding performance records for your team. Indeed, although you are only in your late thirties, you are frequently cited as one of the top talent recruiters in the league. You have read and reread the study guide on knowledge management your general manager provided you two weeks ago. In addition to some basic definitions and discussion of KM, it includes several examples of successful applications of KM to the selection of top recruits for academic and athletic scholarships. Now you are sitting in your hotel room staring at the email from the general manager. He wants you to become the subject of a KM experiment for the team. The goal is to train the other three talent scouts for the team in your approach.

Questions:

1. Do you think that shadowing or joint problem solving would be a more effective way to share your tacit knowledge with the other scouts? Why?

2. Would the formation of a community of practice be an effective method for sharing tacit knowledge among all the scouts? How might such a CoPoperate?

3. For years, you have competed against the other scouts to sign the most productive new talent. How do you feel about being asked to share your insights and expertise with the other scouts?

4. What sort of bonus or incentive could management offer to make you strongly motivated to participate in this experiment and make it a success?

Critical Thinking 4: Implementing CRM

iProspect is a global digital performance marketing firm. It works to increase Website traffic for its clients through services such as search engine optimization, lead generation, Web site analytics, and Web site conversion enhancement. Its clients include such firms as Adidas, American Express, Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Sharp Electronics. The firm needs a formal means of capturing information about its customers and their interactions with the company. It also hopes to implement a CRM system that will capture its best business practices to enable it to build on sales and customer satisfaction successes.

Question:

1. What specific tasks must this CRM software perform?

2. What are the potential benefits that iProspect might capture from use of a CRM system?

3. The CFO has asked you to lead a team to assess the potential benefits associated with this system. Who would you choose to make up this team (job title and organization)?

4. How could your team attempt to quantify the potential benefits of such a system?

5. What are the pros and cons of choosing a hosted software solution to "testdrive" a potential CRM solution?

Attachment:- Strategic Information Systems Management.rar