ITC540 IT Infrastructure Management: IT Implementation Failure
Case study and IT Research
Task A:
1. What were the key reasons for the IT implementation failure?
Task B:
Possible topics
· E-Commerce Models and/or Implementation Strategies.
Approach
Answer:
Task A
- What were the key reasons for the IT implementation failure?
Before any IS system is implemented, it should have gone through various activities and processes, upon which the Queensland Health system did not undergo, this led to its implementation failure. Some of the activities which the system didn’t undergo leading to its failure include the following; There was no appropriate implementation strategy. Queensland Health did not perform a complete parallel test of the system. Queensland Health was supposed to give the system a pre-trial period rather than just making it go live where this stage was crucial as it highlights the defects which are likely to occur. Client consultation and communication with the vendor is very essential during the development plan of the system. In this scenario, there was three involved parties who had different roles and different goals, CorpTech responsible for the prime contract management, the prime contractor who was IBM and now Queensland Health. This was a quasi-multiple party relationship which needed proper communication and since it lacked to be utilized, failure was the outcome of this. Furthermore, there lacked proper project management which would have put in place legacy systems which guides the general implementation of the system.
- In your view, who is responsible for the failure and why?
The prime contractor in this case; IBM is responsible for this IT implementation failure. Any company which is responsible for delivering an Enterprise Resource Planning system should do a complete analysis and also foresee any shortcomings which could arise and hence look for ways to curb the problems. IBM was supposed to conduct a severe and in-depth research on the ERP system before letting it go online despite the pressure it had been given. IBM should also have given the workforce in Queensland Health a prior training on how to use the system.
- Do some research on the use of IT by hospitals/health departments – give examples of success stories of the IT implementations and outline reasons for the success?
Technology nowadays is now being integrated almost in every health facility all over globally. Medical
technology changing at a good significant pace, where now every detail concerning an individual in a health facility is captured and put into the database for real time reviews. Examples of use of technology in health facilities include the following;
Invention of Hybrid operating rooms.
Numerous hospitals have incorporated technology and installed hybrid operating rooms over the years. A good instance which was successful is Lourdes Hospital in Paducah and St. Vincent's Medical Center (Beckershospitalreview.com, 2018)
Surgical technologies
Surgical technologies invention has been utilized by many health facilities. Doctors suggest and say that currently surgery processes have been made mass scale to slightly invasion procedures where the systems acts as robots. An example of a well implanted surgical technology is the da Vinci Surgical System which provides high quality care to the patients.(Beckershospitalreview.com, 2018)
- Why was ‘’WorkBrain’’ not utilized properly?
WorkBrain system had some purpose it was developed for which involved to processes time sheets and then pass them to the SAP system where SAP system would then further process the time sheets into a modes that was agreed to the necessary financials departments so that the Queensland employees could be paid. WorkBrain roistering system was not properly utilized since there before it had not been incorporated in any other government agency and in this specific scenario, its use resulted in lagging the system and this emphasized on the call for better interfaces between it and the SAP system. Furthermore, WorkBrain has not been implemented in a big organization as this one.
- What would you recommend the Health Department to do to fix the current problems?
Basing the recommendations according to the Queensland health facility problem, there are many of them that other Health Department should follow;
These departments will need to appoint dedicated and self-driven project managers. This is the person who manages system implementation projects.
Health Departments will need to hire risk analysts who perform risk analysis before a system is implemented and give a fined turned report on the likely risks to occur when a system is being implemented. (Hoebler, 2018)
In order to fix the current problem, the department should appoint a piloting committee who will be responsible for overall implementation of the project and oversee overall resources are well used and more importantly champion the projects to a success. (Hoebler, 2018)
Task B
Topic: Enterprise systems and applications
The current trend in business industries is that many organizations depend on information systems to assist them to make information up to date & accessible and also to do their day to day operations efficiently and effectively. Enterprise systems (ES) are large-scale application software packages that support business processes, information flows, reporting, and data analytics in complex organizations. (En.wikipedia.org, 2018) Enterprise Systems are replacing the small and the specialized software which are not well integrated with other systems. Enterprise systems are widely scaled application packages which cover almost every department in an organization and integrate with any other system may it be internally or externally. The main characteristic of these systems is the complexities they poses both in regards to processing business data and the way they affect business practices & individual tasks. (Lech, 2014)Examples of enterprise applications includes Customer Relationship Management (CRM), enterprise resources planning (ERP) systems,& Supply Chain Management (SCM) whereas Enterprise systems include like SAP’s NetWeaver & Oracle's Fusion.
Components of an Enterprise Systems
Enterprise Systems is composed of several and different installations which make up the entire project a whole. These different modules are the different subsystems used in different departments to ensure the core functionality is effectively developed and put online. A typical Enterprise System consists of three systems;
Development system
Unit testing is performed at this very stage and the testing rarely involves the client. The functionality system is usually developed and the testing is initially done here. Real business data is not used in this system. (Hoebler, 2018)
Integration system
This system is also referred to as simulation system as well as the test system. Real business data is used to set up the system and testing of functionalities is done under realistic circumstances. The intended functionalities are not developed and the client experts conducts tests and give the analysis. (Hoebler, 2018)
Production system
The Enterprise system is put into actual use. The intended functionalities have already been tested in the integration system. Due to the business´ daily operations, the system is usually run under parallel traditional system as the new system stabilizes. Any upgrades and bug fixes are usually fixed at the time when the business is closed like in the evening. (Hoebler, 2018)
Types of Enterprise Systems and applications
Enterprise Systems have evolved into different enterprise software applications. Examples of available types of enterprise systems and where applied include;
Supply Chain Management (SCM)
Supply Chain Management system involves the management of supply chain activities through efficient and effective supply chain firms that offer a business a strategic advantage. Some of these activities include; production and logistics, product development, information systems and also coordinating these processes into one activity. (Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2018)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
These type of systems were designed and developed to curb the need that had aroused of wanting to increase the department’s productivity and also to provide an effective way of increasing a company sales. CRM provides subsystems such as sales opportunity management which assists a company management to know more about its customers, its products & services, selling patterns and also integrates the market information which results in proper marketing plans and eventually leading to provision of quality services and products. CRM has other attributes which include allowing integration of mobile devices with it allowing accesses of the systems remotely and also allows mail communication between the workforces.(Bizfluent, 2018)
Enterprise resources planning (ERP)
The enterprise resource planning system combines applications modules as a company integrates its different business department such as human resources department, finance department, purchasing department, inventory among others. The key focus is integration of different processes within a company hence utilizing the meaning of enterprise word. ERP allows resource sharing hence reducing resource and waste inefficiencies. (Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2018)
Business Intelligence (BI)
These type of systems began to be heard of in 21st century where they are used to describe the application of data and software solutions to get out more informed decisions. BI implementers are intended get lid of intuitions in making business decisions. Generally and more specifically, BI systems are currently used to trail business performance in making of decisions gathering, packing, and analyzing information across a company. (Bizfluent, 2018)
The importance of Enterprise Systems
Enterprise systems are systems that can be used with great benefits to the business organization. The potential benefits of these systems vary on the strategies they are employed to increase and improve the whole organization processes. Enterprise Systems are replacing the small and the specialized software which are not well integrated with other systems. Enterprise systems are widely scaled application packages which cover almost every department in an organization and integrate with any other system may it be internally or externally. The main characteristic of these systems is the complexities they poses both in regards to processing business data and the way they affect business practices & individual tasks.
Improved Productivity
Redundancies in business processes are experienced sometimes when an ERP is not available since there is repetition of tasks manually. This can have a large negative impact at the end line. This ERP system will eliminate the wastage of time which in turn have a positive ending of improved productivity and profitability.
Upgraded Inventory and Production Management
If a business involves production and inventory management, an ERP simplifies the task of reducing the overall management and improves the delivery schedules plus the production. Through implementation of an ERP system, there is optimized efforts and increased inventory management. (Eresourceerp.com, 2018)
Reduced costs
Purchasing and implementing an ERP system may seem very expensive and rather not save a business costs but this is the opposite. The ERP system combines all of the very many systems that are fragmented in the business like the finance systems, supply chain managements among others. By combining all these small systems, ERP lays a platform which is cost effective and efficient. This is due to not having to hire many experts of different systems and rather training few users on one system which is associated with time and cost savings. (Eresourceerp.com, 2018)
Customer satisfaction
Despite an ERP system being an internal system, one may think that it has nothing to do with customer satisfaction but alas, it has all what it partakes to improve the satisfaction. The right ERP system helps the business to conduct better communication with its clients through all processes involved. The system is involved in marketing strategies and client acquisition leading to customer retention and contentment.
Improved Partnership
ERP applications depend on the program and system the business is using. These subsystems assist the businesses workforce to share and edit information data and also to improve and increase security and access. Since all business´s data is collected, stored and made accessible through one general system, there is improved partnership across the entire organization. (Eresourceerp.com, 2018). Enterprise systems and applications aims at integrating and be able to bring all the business´s or institution’s data at par and how it can also be connected to the business partners of the company. These Enterprise applications embrace an open-integration strategy that will incorporate and support other business’ applications as part of its enterprise computing platform. Furthermore these ES applications comes with pre implemented modules which are usually the different businesses departments where these modules requires the best skills of implementation approach and a strong key focus on modeling and project management skills analysis.
Enterprise Systems failure
Implementing an ERP system in a business or organization is the best investment a business can consider doing. This system creates the central backbone and nervous system in a company. It assists business´s management on understanding what is happening to clients, suppliers and also the workforce. Despite any ERP having all those advantages and crucial enabled processes, it sometimes fails in some business when it comes on the implementation of the system. Some of the reasons that led to this failure include the following;
Lack of a project manager
Sometimes business lacks an expert in project management which is a crucial thing in ERP implementation as it makes a lot of difference. It can either be the business should hire a person skilled in project management or the ICT department manager should be equipped with project management skills. Software projects like in this case of ERP, needs experienced and self-dedicated project managers. The business owners or the executive of the company cannot manage a project as well as other managerial activities since neither will be done according to standards. The project manager requires to steer and oversee the whole system providing accountability and transparency. (Bistasolutions.com, 2018)
Under-estimating the required resources
Resources such as time and cost in an ERP system implementation are very hard to estimate and come up with a crucial analysis. It is advisable to come up with a solid plan and understanding of the internal and external properties required to see the implementation a success. Time constraints on the workers and users of the system really affect on how they will train with the system. Costs resources should be done in phases so that consultants and prime contractors can have the right resources and on time without lack. (Bistasolutions.com, 2018)
Too much reliance on consultants
Depending on the hired consultants can make the business teamwork start having redundant issues. Consultants are helpful since they provide experienced assistance but it poses a risk that the business teamwork will become over reliant on them. The management board should make the users have a hand in the development of the system as it will assist the knowledge transfer process to be smooth. (Bistasolutions.com, 2018)
Insufficient initial testing
In integration type of system during implementation, initial testing is one of the key activities that happens. This should happen as a rectifying stage which should be seen as a test if the business requirements are met and also if the system outputs the needed results and rather not as a test for if the system works. Poor system testing increases the risk of having defects as well as the ERP having some functionalities not functioning leading to abandoning of the system.
Poor employee training
Poor user training is a key important issue which leads to project failure if not well addressed. The implementation of the system should not commence before the employees of the business have adequate training. ERP system is used many users with the business department and hence it needs expertise training. If the system is not accepted by the users themselves, it is a definite way that the system will eventually collapse.(Bistasolutions.com, 2018)
No conclusive plans in place
A detailed and pivoted plan is very important for a successful implementation of enterprise system. Sometimes business draft a plan that is too broad or that underestimates the change in business which results to poor development and implementation of the system. This remains the most and common reason for enterprise system failure. IT systems and business systems plans needs to be well versant, detailed and all rounded such that nothing unusual will come out of its way. This also means that there will be smooth development and implementation of the system.(Bistasolutions.com, 2018)
Conclusion
When summarizing this study, it is crucial to note that Enterprise systems are very expensive to implement and maintain but the end results of their systematic use provides smooth running of activities & processes and also it minimizes the running cost of activities. Enterprise systems failure can easily occur if the right procedures were not put in place.
References
Barry, B.R., Chodoronek, M.A., DeRose, E., Devine, C.Y., Studness, M.N., James, A.R., Levy, L. and Tusa, M., Verizon Business Global LLC. (2011). Integrated business systems for web based telecommunications management. U.S. Patent 8,073,777.
Bizfluent. (2018). Types of Enterprise Systems. [online] Available at: https://bizfluent.com/info-8061463-types-enterprise-systems.html [Accessed 18 Sep. 2018].
Bistasolutions.com. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.bistasolutions.com/resources/blogs/erp-implementation-failures/ [Accessed 18 Sep. 2018].
Dorantes, C.A., Li, C., Peters, G.F. and Richardson, V.J. (2013). The effect of enterprise systems implementation on the firm information environment. Contemporary Accounting Research, 30(4), pp.1427-1461.
En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Enterprise system. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_system [Accessed 17 Sep. 2018].
Eresourceerp.com. (2018). Importance of ERP Software to Company | Importance of ERP in Business | EresourceERP. [online] Available at: https://www.eresourceerp.com/why-is-erp-important-to-a-company.html [Accessed 18 Sep. 2018].
Hoebler, J. (2018). 4 Things to Consider When Planning a System Implementation Project. [online] Insights.crosscountry-consulting.com. Available at: https://insights.crosscountry-consulting.com/4-things-to-consider-when-planning-a-system-implementation-project [Accessed 17 Sep. 2018].
Lech, P. (2014). Managing knowledge in IT projects: a framework for enterprise system implementation. Journal of Knowledge Management, 18(3), pp.551-573.
Maier, R., Ha?drich, T. and Peinl, R. (2015). Enterprise knowledge infrastructures. Berlin: Springer.
McLeod, L. and MacDonell, S.G., 2011. Factors that affect software systems development project outcomes: A survey of research. ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), 43(4), p.24.
Smallbusiness.chron.com. (2018). Three Different Types of Enterprise Systems. [online] Available at: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/three-different-types-enterprise-systems-73267.html [Accessed 18 Sep. 2018].
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