Hand in 2 pages, single spaced document outlining the decisions you have made and the actions you plan to undertake as Alan Bartt. Include justifications for your actions and (where applicable) key resources you used to make those justifications. Prepare this after you have answered all the discussion questions below. Make two copies and hand one in at the start of class.
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Goals:
1 Align IS with current business process
2 Move to a Customer-Focused business
3 Increase competitiveness
4 Reduce Costs
Things to do:
1 Replace current system with AS/400
2 Implement SYNON/2's CASE tool as a basis for all development
3 Disband the data center
4 Centralize all System Administration and Development
5 Reduce IS staff from 80 down to 20 people
6 Include end-user (i.e. the five business divisions) in the development process
Action Plan
Do one system replacement at a time, based on need. According to the casebook reading, Strategic Information Systems Alignment, the move to downsize IS departments and to rely more cheaper networked PCs over Mainframes can reduce operating costs but many fail to consider the impact it has on IS strategic alignment. By gradually implementing the system, Alan Bartt can limit the impact each successive change makes so that there's time to gauge the response and adapt to meet them. Since the CASE system hasn't been proven, there's an inherent risk involved. According to the web article Risk Management: The undiscovered dimension of project management, it's important to recognize all risks and classify them.
(Although it is ideal to redevelop the core money market system first, since it acted as the hub for many of the systems, customer service and hence reliability has a higher priority.) Sentence Structure? It's important to verify that the system will function inside this company before spreading it around. This is because Leavitt's Balancing Act model in the casebook article: The Line Takes the Leadership - IS Management in a wired Society says that technology will directly affect not only the Roles and Structure of a company but it's Managerial Process as well.
Go ahead and begin redevelopment on ET&A's system. The current system there is falling apart, the transactions are unreliable, efforts to maintain and upgrade the system are expensive, and they just barely made the year-end books on time. (Have the least to lose by doing ET&A's system.) Sentence Structure? The TS/MF (Trust Services and Mutual Funds) is small as well with only 39 people, so the potential negative consequences wouldn't have a large impact over Windemere's systems. So according the web article Risk Management, there is a lower level of risk for replacing as opposed to not replacing the system. Having the SYNON/2 vendor do the work helps mitigate the risk.
Keeping within the customer-oriented focus, the next Division that should be re-developed is the Savings Division. This department lacks customer focus and has historically been product-focused. The existing system within the Savings Division has a cumbersome interface that customers find annoying, made information difficult to analyze thus making it hard to develop any customer driven policies and over 300 requests outstanding for maintenance and enhancements. Replacing this system would be the ultimate symbolic display for both Windemere's customers and employees that it is serious about being a customer-focussed organization. Having everyone know this would make an excellent External Opportunity according to the SWOT matrix in Chapter 2: Business Strategy and Information Systems. Successfully completion of this part of the project will serve as the litmus test that either totally unites the business units with the Alan Bartt vision or turns them against.
With these both these divisions' upgraded, the most urgent IS issues will be met. The Treasury/Investment division's system should be redeveloped next because they are only running third-party software applications and they are not compatible at all with any of the other divisions' systems which the SWOT matrix in Chapter 2: Business Strategy and Information Systems would describe as an internal weakness. Upgrading the system here would integrate their division with the entire company and facilitate better communication between departments.
The Equipment Financing Group should be upgraded next because its high growth which according to the BCG matrix in Chapter 2: Business Strategy and Information Systems is a star. The Treasury/Investment Division, which is a cash cow, should be upgraded last.
The benefits are that it would serve as a training ground for Windemere staff to learn how to use SYNON/2 by working with the vendor's staff and to become more familiar with the AS/400 hardware. It would also provide a testing-ground for the AS/400 system, CASE tools and user-centered development methodology. ET&A will get a new system, which they needed anyway.
Do the layoffs last. Offer generous incentives for all employees to stay until the very end. For example one package might be a year's severance pay for all employees who stay beyond a certain date. Keeping the 20 "rocket scientists" at $100,000/yr is a recommendation that the Mythical Man Month makes in chapter 3. This may cost more in the short term, but its more important to have a smooth switch over. The soon-to-be unemployed IS people would probably stay as well, mainly because this is 1993 and the flow-blown recession limits job opportunities elsewhere. <- How do you support this?