Information Systems Management|My homework helper

Posted: March 8th, 2023

Stage 4 – System Report

Information Systems Management: IFSM 461 6380

February 21, 2023

 

 

Table of Contents I. Introduction 1 A. Background 1 B. Subject of the Investigation 1 C. Project Scope 1 D. Project Justification 2 II. Current System 2 A. Current System Overview 2 B. Purpose of the Current System 2 C. Problem Statement 3 D. Current Operating Expenses 3 III. Proposed System 4 A. Proposed System Overview 4 B. Improvement Project Scope 4 C. Benefits of the Proposed System 4 D. Feasibility Analysis 5 E. Improvement Project Time and Cost Estimates 6 F. Requirements 6 G. System Data Models 10 H. Process Models 13 I. System Design Specification 15 J. Recommended Acquisition Strategy 24 K. Implementation Plan 25 IV. Financial Information 27 A. Current System Operating Costs 27 B. Estimated Implementation Costs 27 C. Estimated Operating Costs 28 D. Proposed System Benefits 28 V. Summary 28 References 29

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I. Introduction

A. Background

Over the past year, Precision Electronic Parts’ (PEP) explosive growth into new markets has exceeded the capacity of its business processes and now-dated technical solution. To keep pace with current and anticipated growth, both processes and technology require modernization. The CIO, Mark Temple, requested this preliminary investigation report to accelerate the implementation of a modern business solution. All relevant details are sourced from interviews of the Information Technology Steering Committee (ITSC) and analysis of the existing system.

B. Subject of the Investigation

PEP is a specialized electronics manufacturing company with an experienced leadership team. The company implemented an IT Steering Committee (ITSC) to set technology strategy and manage associated processes. The current system workflow depends on direct participation from the Sales, Invoicing, and Accounts Receivable departments. Other operational support tasks are performed by the IT, Marketing, and Ordering & Shipping departments. The affected departments report to the CFO, the VP of Business Administration, and the CIO. Given the cross-functional nature of the project, a project manager should be appointed by the ITSC to coordinate efforts between the different areas of the company.

C. Project Scope

The most effective way to scope the improvement project is to focus on addressing the end-to-end business process and associated data rather than individual departmental activities. Narrowly focusing on just the pain points in the process can create new bottlenecks in other departments if the entire workflow and supporting data is not brought into the new system. The scope will include the sales process from account creation to customer payment processing. The inclusion of each step in the workflow limits duplication of data between the old system and the new one as well as creating more opportunities for process automation. One of the risks of the current system, frequent data entry operations, is largely eliminated by bringing each step of the process into the new system. The system will not address the full accounting, inventory management, and shipping requirements of PEP during the implementation phase. The inclusion of all manufacturing and financial operations would significantly extend the duration of the project. The demands of keeping PEP operational under current demand is already stretching resources that would be needed to support such an endeavor.

D. Project Justification

The current process relies upon a complex lifecycle of report creation and data entry by the Ordering & Shipping, Invoicing, Marketing, and Accounts Receivable departments. The ability to support ad hoc reporting on the fly for leadership will also provide real-time insights into the business. Significantly reducing the risk of human error is a major benefit of adopting an end-to-end solution. The ability to take advantage of modern, electronic invoicing and payment options is assured through the adoption of a cloud-based solution. The planned features for volume discounts, electronic billing, and electronic payments that are currently targeted for implementation in six months are out of the box features for the popular cloud-based solutions.

II. Current System

A. Current System Overview

The existing Microsoft Access solution is a flat-file database implemented on the corporate network, and it currently supports all business operations for PEP. Microsoft Access, an Office Suite application, does not support integration with custom or cloud solutions, but it can export and import data using standard text formats. PEP may need to adopt short- and medium-term workarounds in lieu of system integration.

B. Purpose of the Current System

PEP’s current, Microsoft Access-based system supports all its major core business activities. The system is the repository for all sales, accounting, and fulfillment data. The data and reports stored in and generated by the system are integral to back office activities including customer account management, sales, pricing, billing, shipping, and payment processing. All business operations teams use the system and its reports to complete business processes.

C. Problem Statement

PEP’s accounting and business processes are unable to keep pace with current growth in demand. Manufacturing and Sales teams have been expanded to support demand but back office operations have not been similarly expanded. As evidenced by the short-term fix of assigning additional staff to support the process, invoicing and payment work requires significant manual effort to complete in the current system. The existing system, built using Microsoft Access, was never designed or intended to scale to the level of operations currently required by the company. While the current pain points are being experienced at the end of the sales process, there is more overhead in other areas of the workflow that can be optimized with better flow and more automation. In resolving the highest priority issues, PEP will also be in a better position to achieve the strategic business goals for the Invoicing, Marketing, and Accounts Receivable departments.

D. Current Operating Expenses

The costs of the current system include direct and indirect costs. The system was developed and maintained by the IT department. The direct IT costs include software licensing, hardware and software maintenance of the file server hosting the file server, updates to the Access database application, and managing database backups. Updates to the application include the creation of new reports and user support activities. The indirect costs come from time spent performing manual operations that the application does not support as well as rework to resolve issues. Access databases can have data integrity issues with multiple users actively working in the system at the same time.

III. Proposed System

A. Proposed System Overview

The proposed system will encompass the Sales and Accounting processes that form the entire sales lifecycle from customer account creation to payment processing. The proposed Sales and Accounting system is a process of processes that have areas of overlap. The proposed system focuses on automating current labor-intensive activities to best address the problems identified in the existing system. Adoption of a Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) product or service is a core component of the proposed system.

B. Improvement Project Scope

The PEP Sales and Accounting System improvement project includes the creation of new interfaces and processes for new account creation, invoicing, and payment processing. The System Design Specification builds upon the foundation of the requirements detailed in the System Requirements Specification to define the shape of the solution. The design incorporates functional and data requirements into mockups, interfaces, and data diagrams. The design is a transitional step between requirements gathering and development work in the SDLC. The design process also supports refinement of requirements before development or build time is invested. Leadership and stakeholders can provide additional meaningful input with the artifacts created from the system design process.

C. Benefits of the Proposed System

The benefits of adopting a standard accounting package will come from the time saved in performing standard business processes. Adopting a system that supports automated workflows and automation of the sales cycle reduces the time spent just entering data into the system and generating reports. Shifting staff responsibilities from data entry to data verification reduces the possibility of errors and the time it takes to complete tasks. COTS products will follow a standard release cycle allowing technical staff to focus on customization and configuration rather than maintenance activities.

D. Feasibility Analysis

The two key factors to address in identifying a technically feasible solution are in the areas of technical complexity and ability to execute. The technical complexity of building a custom solution to meet PEP’s growing operational requirements is high, however, the company is part of a well-known industry and the processes in question are established parts of that industry. These factors in combination mean that there are system replacement options to choose from on the market that can be configured rather than customized. With the understanding that buying a solution is the only technically feasible approach, the determination of ability to execute shifts greatly. The IT Department does not need to evaluate its technical ability to replace the current system with a new one based upon a different development platform. The IT Department’s subject matter expertise in maintaining the data and reports in the existing system then becomes a key asset to successfully and quickly implement a replacement system.

The software industry uses two methods of delivering software and services to customers, on-premises and cloud-based. The key difference from a cost perspective is the licensing model used for each approach. On-premises software is typically licensed by product and number of users in combination with one-time costs for acquisition and annual costs for user support and software patches or upgrades. The cloud model aligns more with system and resource utilization. License fees are typically paid monthly for active users, system feature availability, and resource utilization. This a la carte approach to software provisioning allows companies to limit their costs to just the features they need with the ability to expand over time. Often, cloud providers separate user licensing costs into separate roles and responsibilities creating potential savings for users that only need limited access.

Change management and organizational adoption are the key intangible factors in successful implementations. The capacity for the organization to change how it operates and the tools it depends upon needs a strong commitment from leadership and among the users. Given the strong motivation to improve efficiency at the leadership level, consistent and frequent messaging should reduce resistance among staff. Setting expectations for the target state and staffing levels will alleviate the concerns usually brought about by changes like process automation.

E. Improvement Project Time and Cost Estimates

The system replacement project duration and cost depend upon the PEP’s requirements compared to the out of the box features of the selected platform. The project could be completed in as little as 10 weeks with close adherence to standard accounting practices and industry standards. The cost is dependent upon the number of active users required for initial implementation of the system. The scope of the recommended replacement solution is fully covered by the accounting packages offered by solution providers such as Oracle NetSuite and Intuit QuickBooks. Vendor selection should focus on alignment with current requirements and future strategy. Oracle NetSuite can scale to accommodate small, medium, and large organizations where Intuit QuickBooks is focused on the small-medium business market. (QuickBooks, 2021) Depending on the selected feature set and number of users, QuickBooks will cost anywhere from $2400 to tens of thousands of dollars per year. (Fan & Crawford, 2023) The base starting price covers the scope of the current system replacement project and allows for upgrades and expansion in the future. Initial implementation support is sometimes included with the service, provided as part of an initiation fee, or in complex scenarios professional consulting services. PEP’s needs can be met using out of the box features of the software platforms to handle standard accounting practices.

F. Requirements

The functional requirem

 

PEP Sales and Accounting Project SWOT Analysis

IFSM 461 6380

PEP Sales and Accounting Project Background

Purpose of the briefing

Business Strategy/goals

Factors or influences that determine SWOT

Controls

Solution overview

Technology-People roles & functions

Integrated

Modernized

Efficient

The brief will analyze the existing factors or influences that PEP Inc. Has and what it would take for them to achieve their end state. Identifying strenghts and weaknesses, opportunities, or threats will give them awareness into improvement or steps to fix.

The solution is to replace the old system with a Sales & Accounting platform that will automate taskings and conform to commercial standards. This will reduce cots and allow PEP to perform other functions or continue growth.

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SWOT Analysis: Strengths

Strengths a are internal factors that the company will leverage to gain the competitive advantage over peers or market

Strengths of the company help sustain their growth as they will be able to effectively build upon past successes

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Unique, low-cost, and efficient products for the industry

Established process and defined roles for the business

Single and centralized access database for all users

Expansion of sales staffing & manufacturing capacity

Engagement with leadership and managers for adopting changes

SWOT Analysis: Weaknesses

Weaknesses for SWOT are areas that PEP struggles with due to complacency, lack of training, or lack of up-to-date IT systems. They also have growth that they did not plan for and are establishing new requirements.

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Outdated and time-consuming processes by staff

Prone to human error and bottlenecks due to inefficiencies

Limited ability to extract data for manager analysis

SWOT Analysis: Opportunities

In a SWOT analysis, Opportunities are identified based upon external factors. External factors include business impacts that originate from outside of the organization and its influence. (Schooley, 2023) Opportunities also relate back to strengths and weaknesses. A strength could combine with a market situation to create an opportunity. Weaknesses that the organization intends to address can lead to an opportunity in the market. This is especially true where a weakness is consistent across an industry.

New Market Expansion:

PEP has demonstrated that it can successfully capture a new market. What is has done successfully once should be used as a model for identifying new markets and partners to fuel future growth.

Process Improvement:

Focusing on resolving the deficiencies in existing business processes will create an opportunity to take advantage of major improvements in process automation. This will have a leapfrog effect compared to large manufacturers with greater investment in legacy solutions than PEP has made to date.

Volume Discount Offering:

PEP can push the market further to its products by creating incentive to buy more products at a time. Creating a deeper sales pipeline helps to secure cash flow and the future of the company.

New Product Expansion:

Expand the scope of engineering research to identify markets where our innovative offerings can create competitive advantages. The technology and patents at the core of PEP’s success should be leveraged to continue to refine and expand the products offered by the company.

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Continue expansion into new markets with additional Sales staff

Leverage industry standard solutions to address process inefficiency

Marketing campaign for the Volume Discount offering

Expand product offering through engineering innovation

SWOT Analysis: Threats

The Threats category of a SWOT analysis accounts for external threats to the success of the company. Threats can relate to weaknesses such that a combination of a weakness and a threat represents a serious risk to the company. (Schooley, 2023) The threats to PEP come from a competitive market from larger organizations and overseas competition. Aside from competition, the other major area of concern is regulations and laws, especially as PEP expands into new and less familiar markets.

Excess Demand:

If PEP is unable to meet the demands of the market, customers will be encouraged to seek alternatives or forgo the benefit’s of PEP’s products. Growing the customer base also creates greater demand for regular improvements to existing products to address industry or technology changes.

Competitors with better B2B offerings:

PEP’s competitors are currently ahead with their Business-to-Business (B2B) customer experience. Competitors that provide a better sales and purchase experience could succeed in winning contracts even considering PEP’s superior technology. Partner channel integration allows customers to efficiently manage their supply chain and could be a requirement for some organizations.

Loss of Technical Advantage:

PEP has cornered a market, but strong competition could erode the technical advantage. Competitors will work aggressively to respond to the threat of losing their customers. Continued success will be impacted by competitors moving to retain or reacquire customers lost to PEP.

Regulatory Risk:

Expanding into new markets creates compliance risks from new regulations and laws. The cost of non-compliance can be heavy fines, production stoppage, or criminal charges. Ensuring that products and PEP itself meets requirements is a costly activity that could impact short term profitability or the speed with which PEP can enter a market. Competing with companies already operating in this space is a significant disadvantage for PEP due to lack of experience.

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Failure to meet market demand creates opportunity for competitors

Larger manufacturers offer more modern customer interfaces

Established manufacturers surpass PEP offering

Expansion into the medical equipment market creates significant compliance exposure

SWOT Analysis Matrix

Strengths

Unique, low-cost, and efficient products for the industry

Established process and defined roles for the business

Single and centralized access database for all users

Weaknesses

Outdated and time-consuming processes by staff

Prone to human error and bottlenecks due to inefficiencies

Limited ability to extract data for manager analysis

Opportunities

Continue expansion into new markets with additional Sales staff

Leverage industry standard solutions to address process inefficiency

Marketing campaign for the Volume Discount offering

Expand product offering through engineering innovation

Threats

Failure to meet market demand creates opportunity for competitors

Larger manufacturers offer more modern customer interfaces

Established manufacturers surpass PEP offering

Cashflow lagging demand creates budget shortfalls in the short-term

Engagement with leadership and managers for adopting changes

Expansion of sales staffing & manufacturing capacity

Bridging the Gap Between Strengths and Weaknesses

Update their technology systems and train staff to operate & maintain

Integrate their product development and sustainment operations (sales, invoicing, shipping, and billing)

Real-Time system access and updating

Automatically generated reports and actions

Customer Account interface

Invoice interface

Payment processing interface

Pep Inc. Managers and executives should identify ways to improve their services or processes. They can establish training and documentation for new technology and new hires. Reports will provide them all the data but they must quantify and assess the metrics to see if there is gain or loss in performance. They must continiously re-assess their performance and ask for feedback from supervisors and the job performers and even customers.

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Mitigating Threats and Risks

Identify consumer targets and focus on them.

Adopting consumer-friendly products and interface variations.

Increased learning about their competitors.

One major step ITSC and PEP can take that will allow them to deal with cases of inability to meet market demands and extra competition ( results from a situation where your customers shift allegiance) is to identify their consumer targets and focus on them. If PEP has a 20 % base of a population consuming its products, then they can plan well for this number and their demand trends that will allow them to all the time meet their demands.

In cases of when consumers are tempted to change to a more desirable manufacturer, PEP knowing its consumers can plan well for expansions and any variation in taste that will prompt any switch to the competition. PEP can do this by adopting consumer-friendly products and being able to design their systems to adapt to consumer tastes and consumer-preferred interfaces. Thus, having an interface that variable enough for all kinds and types of consumers to use.

PEP can mitigate the competition of established manufacturers by learning more about them. What makes them different? What do they do that PEP doesn’t do? Where did they come from and how they got where they got to? PEP can study their products, services and the experiences they give their customers and strive to do better. For instance, if the more established competitors have more income flow and that supports their established efforts, what makes it easier for them to balance their cashflow and revenue? And if found out, how or what could PEP do to become better. Knowing their competitors will help PEP make informed decisions to be able to stay I the competition and ousted by the competion.

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Strength Leveraging Steps

Steps PEP can take to leverage strengths. The following steps to leverage strengths has been determined

Establish a process

Define business roles

Centralize data access

Product efficiency

Cost reduction

Apply discounts

SWOT Analysis Matrix

Action Plan Marketing and Organizational Enhancements

Summary/conclusion slide (keep in mind the purpose of the briefing is to obtain executive approval to implement the SWOT Analysis process)

References

Alouffi, B., Hasnain, M., Alharbi, A., Alosaimi, W., Alyami, H., & Ayaz, M. (2021). A systematic literature review on cloud computing security: threats and mitigation strategies. IEEE Access, 9, 57792-57807.

Mishra, S., Anderson, K., Miller, B., Boyer, K., & Warren, A. (2020). Microgrid resilience: A holistic approach for assessing threats, identifying vulnerabilities, and designing corresponding mitigation strategies. Applied Energy, 264, 114726.

Schooley, S. (2023, February 21). SWOT Analysis: What It Is and When to Use It. Business News Daily. How SWOT Analysis Can Help Grow Your Business (businessnewsdaily.com)

Zhang, N., Mi, X., Feng, X., Wang, X., Tian, Y., & Qian, F. (2019, May). Dangerous skills: Understanding and mitigating security risks of voice-controlled third-party functions on virtual personal assistant systems. In 2019 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP) (pp. 1381-1396). IEEE.

 

SOLUTION

The scope of this investigation is to identify the deficiencies and limitations of the current system and propose a modernized solution that supports the needs of PEP’s growing business. The proposed system must be able to manage the company’s operations across all departments, including Sales, Invoicing, Accounts Receivable, IT, Marketing, and Ordering & Shipping. The system must also be scalable, flexible, and adaptable to future business growth and changes.