GG Freightways (GGFRT) IT Decision Paper Assignment

Running head: GG FREIGHTWAYS (GGFRT) IT STRATEGIC PLAN

GG FREIGHTWAYS (GGFRT) IT STRATEGIC PLAN 7

GG Freightways (GGFRT) IT Strategic Plan

Part 1 and 2

Ayomide Ajayi

IFSM 301-7382

04/13/2021

Part One

1. Business Statement-

a. GG Freightways (GGFRT) is a shipping and delivery business organization and has been operation for over 30 years. The company operates in major cities throughout the southwestern region of the United States. The company’s headquarter is situated in Los Angeles, California.

b. The company has 8 terminals in total, and they are in the following areas: Los Angeles CA, San Diego CA, San Bernardino CA, Bakersfield CA, Scottsdale AZ, Phoenix AZ, Tucson AZ, and Las Vegas NV. Additionally, it has two maintenance facilities in San Bernardino CA and Scottsdale AZ.

c. On the other hand, the company has a fleet section which consists of; 400 delivery vehicles (average of 50 per terminal) which include: 80 tractor/semi-trailer units, 160 box trucks and 160 panel vans.

d. Financial posture of the company indicates a total annual revenue of an estimated $35,000,000 while the current economic climate is noted to be stable while at the same time being highly competitive. Meanwhile, 8% represents the future financial profit goals with 8% in cost-saving.

2. Business Strategic Objectives- The company management team has identified three new strategic objectives namely as freight tracking, improve the percent of load miles in their fleet, provide warehousing services, and collaborations. Freight tracking, improved the percent of load miles in their fleet, provision of warehousing services, and collaborations are key business strategic objectives that will ensure the company is able to dispatch or share information with the concern customers in addition to improving delivery, cost reduction efforts, and create new opportunities (Hampton, 2015). 

Business Strategic Objective	The Objective	Explanation
Freight tracking	The first objective is freight tracking which will enable the company to track the whereabouts of cargo movements both in the terminals and on the trucks and the essence is to deliver customers with accurate delivery schedules.	GGFRT operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and tracking of cargo will include shipment information such as origin, destination, product description, weight, and number of packages. This will enable coordination of events and dispatching of information to the concern party.
Improve the percent of load miles in their fleet	The company want to improve the percent of loaded miles in their fleet and the main goal to be achieved by this strategic objective is cost reduction as coordination of pickup and delivery of cargo in the same geographic area will enhance truck optimization.	Improving the percent of load miles of their fleet is important to the company as this will result in reduced waste whereby trucks do not return without cargo on their return trip.
Provide warehousing services	The company anticipate to provide warehousing services for customers who want to improve delivery time to their customers. For instance, companies who manufacture products locally can arrange storage services with the company so as to facilitate quick pick-up and local delivery.	Provide warehousing or storage services for customers who want to reduce delivery time to their customers
Collaboration	Collaboration is the other added strategic objective and it is involves creating and developing partnership with other industry-based stakeholders and the essence is to share information, research exercises, and complementary services.	Dynamic data and asset sharing platforms with other cargo companies so that trucks and assets can be shared in the event they are operating in the same route. In addition, truck that breakdown on transit can transfer their load to other empty trucks of other companies operating in the same route.

3. IT Mission and IT Vision Statements

a. IT Mission Statement- We are determined to employ the best freight services and rapid movements of goods. We trust the efficiency and effectiveness of our employees, stakeholders, and technological platform will transform the confidence of our customers.

b. IT Vision Statement- our vision is to drive our freight services into a new level second to none.

4. Governance-

a) The participants who be involved in the development of the desired and most appropriate governance plan include the Chief Financial Officer, system and network administrators, members of third-party service providers, volunteering customers, system users, enterprise-based IT system developers, and external IT security experts (Williams, 2016). 

b) The governance body will include the chief information officer, IT security administrators, and IT security advisors or experts. The chief information officer will be responsible for resource allocation, ownership of the entire security plan, coordination of tasks, and effective management of all employees in the department, and enforcing policies. The chief financial officer has direct responsibility for leading development and implementation of the financial strategy necessary to deliver the organization’s strategic objectives sustainably. On the other hand, IT security administrators will be delegated with deployment of all security tools and practices, monitoring current activities, risk management, allocating roles and access rights, and reporting deficits or violations. Finally, the IT security consultants will be utilized for advisory roles and coordination of compliance requirements as well as conducting impartial audits.

c) COBIT is the specific governance methodology that should be established in the organization because it presents the organizations well-defined framework for developing IT management guidelines, security and privacy policies, audits, risk management, enforcement, forensic efforts, and financial audit and reporting requirements (Williams, 2016). 

d) The responsibilities of the governance body include approving and validating the established IT management guidelines, setting up the baseline code of conduct and acceptable/unacceptable behavior components, conducting audits and risk assessments, enforcing and sanctioning, and reporting discrepancies or malicious activities.

e) Prioritization of IT projects will depend on how they enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the organization’s operations. For instance, mobile application system is vital in enhancing access to information and resources will on the go and it has to be highly prioritized. However, projects that will improve IT security are to be prioritized highly in order to avert security incidences (Williams, 2016). 

5. Inventory of current IT systems- GGFRT is current technology products for finance and accounting reporting systems, fleet management system, mobile application system, and route and freight tracking system. They are utilized in the organization to coordinate information and resources as well as underway and scheduled operations.

Current System Spring 2019	Function/ Description	Strategic Goal	Business Unit/ Department	Business Benefits	IT spring ‘19
Precise Financial Reporting System	Financial reporting	Ensure accountability	Accounts	Improved profit margins	Staff, systems, and external auditors
Fleet management system	Coordinate truck maintenance	Improve service delivery	Operations	Improved movements	Drivers, automobile dealers
Route optimization and freight tracking system	Dispatch management	Reduce costs	Operations	Coordination of movements	Operations staff, drivers, management systems, customers
Mobile marketing application	Digital marketing	Improve market presence	Sales and Marketing	Mobility and productivity	Sales and marketing staff, social networks, emails, and partners
Management reporting	To extract information from precise financial reporting system	Daily reporting and current status reports	Operations and Finance	Urgent monitoring of current activities and support immediate decision making	Interface system between the route optimization/freight tracking system and precise financial reporting system, staff, spreadsheet applications.
Automated inventory systems	Track products	Scheduling	Customer relationship	Support customer services	Customer systems, staff, data centers, networks.

Part Two

1. IT strategies

IT strategy	Strategic objective and its alignment to Business Strategic Objective	Internal/Business-Enabling
Management and streamlining current projects	Achievement of the four business strategic objectives in a timely manner	Business enabling
Alignment of the available resources to meet the demands of the current projects	Provides support to the four current business objectives. In addition, it provides support to any extra projects that may be added to the IT collection, the logistical tracking system upgrade.	Internal
Implementation of the current projects	Working towards completing the Accurate Financials will help in making resources available for the rest of the IT collection and the entire business strategic objectives.	Internal
External IT strategy	Seeking for advice from external consultants or from short-term staff and providing for more support hours to ensure that the four business strategies are met in a timely manner.	Business enabling

2. IT Portfolio Roadmap

Drawing from the above case, GGFRT has already implemented three projects and has proposed one project. The timeline for each of the projects is outlined in the table below and the manner in which the Financial Reporting System upgrade must be done before commencing on the projects of the Management and Sales areas.

Projects by

Qtr. 1

Qtr. 2

Qtr. 3

Qtr. 4

Qtr. 5

Qtr. 6

Running head: GG FREIGHTWAYS (GGFRT) IT STRATEGIC PLAN

Functional Area Sales

Sales Force Automation Online Quoting

Product Development Collaboration – Wikis, Blogs Showcase Company Products

Marketing

Customer Experience Marketing Analytics

Finance

Business Intelligence Global Payroll

Technical Support Network Upgrade Data Center Move

3. Proposed project

The proposed project is an upgrade of the network that would in turn enhance the logistical tracking system and ensure optimization off the route and freight system. In addition, the upgrading system will include movement of the data center which will further increase the efficiency of the company in its automation of the sales force, and digitization of its activities. This upgrade will also enhance the collaboration activities of the company by facilitating its connectivity to social networking sites besides Wikis and Blogs. With the increasing evolution of technology, more innovations are coming up and competitors are opting for more efficient and effective means of carrying out their activities. Therefore, to stay ahead of the competition, the company has to invest more in its network and hence the significance of this project. There is a need for the company to use the solution requirements specification document (SRS) for this project as a way of creating and identifying the required standard. It will also play a significant role in facilitating other processes such as user data entry, functional and performance requirements, and any obstacles that may hinder the company from performing its processes. The proposed project will require the company

to apply the Plan, Design, Build, Test, launch convention, which is a software development life cycle (SLDC) formal deployment approach.

4. Risk management

Risk management refers to the necessary steps that a company can take to mitigate risks and avoid unprecedented losses (Bin Shawiah, 2016). The first step in the risk mitigation process is identification of the risks to the planned project. In the case of GGFRT, below is a list of four identified risks for the company’s projects.

1. Risk 1: a risk of projects not being completed according to plan or not being completed according to the budget set aside. In the event of delays or changes to the current project new project timelines may be affected and this may in turn interrupt the resources and the capital required for the new projects. An intervention for the mitigation of this risk will involve making regular reports to the senior management team and making sure the current project plan is executed in phases. This will help in

ensuring that any deviations to the plan are identified early enough and rectified.

2. Risk 2: Alterations of the Business Strategic Objectives by the senior management. In the event that the business strategies or the desired outcomes were to change drastically, the deliverables of the project may be affected. This risk can be mitigated by the IT project team anticipating such changes and communicating effectively with the project stakeholders and delivering on the IT roadmap in line with the budget and

in a timely manner. The IT team has the ability to reject with changes if needed.

3. Risk 3: Changes in the current business environment. The business environment is often quite dynamic and any unanticipated changes such as new competition, or government regulations may alter the focus of the company. To mitigate this risk, there should be constant and actionable communication with the management team as well as with the stakeholders to respond appropriately to the changes in the operations

of the business. The IT department can transfer this mandate to the Board in the event

that external factors require it.

4. Risk 4: Underestimation of new projects and their deliverables. The lack of proper estimation of the proposed projects may have an impact on the current projects, which will in turn affect the systems of the main company and all of its business objectives. The company can mitigate this risk by ensuring a proper understanding of the time and the budget constraints. The IT team can come up with a prototype of the new system to guide on resource allocation.

5. Business Continuity Planning

In order to come up with Business Continuity Plan, there are some basic steps that the company can take.

1. Business Impact Analysis. The company can carry out a business impact analysis to identify the impact of loss of main systems. This effort should come from the management board who include the company’s President, Vice President of

Operations, CIO, the Sales Manager, and a Fleet Manager.

2. Recovery Strategies. The company should focus on recovery strategies that are chosen

based on the input from the management board.

3. Plan Development. The company should undertake plan development in which the

business team is identified as well as the plan framework in which procedures re developed and appropriate ways to mitigate the business disruption established.

4. Testing and exercises. The company should focus on testing and exercise that involves training of the business continuity team and identifying shortfalls and incorporating them as lessons learnt (Department of Homeland Security, 2018).

The business continuity plan of the company will focus on three key systems and their impact to the ongoing business operations, and these include:

5. Finance and accounting system. The company will have to ensure that the mission essential systems continue to be operational even during the transition of the Accurate Financial Systems. There will be a need to create a daily back system of both the old and the new systems until the implementation and the testing, together with the completion of the new systems. The old system will continue being in place and

continue operating until the completion of the full vetting of the new system.

6. Route optimization system. Whereas the company should focus on the upcoming

upgrade, the older system should continue operating until full vetting of the new system. This will ensure that no data is lost.

7. Maintenance of other systems. The company should ensure that even other systems that are not scheduled for an upgrade are continuously supported to operate in an optimal state or condition. The company should ensure a proper maintenance of its back up system to avert the risk of losing its important documents.

References F. F, B. S. (2016). Risk Management Strategies for dealing with Unpredictable Risk in Saudi Arabian Organization. Salford: Doctoral Dissertation, University of Salford.

Hampton, J. J. (2015). Fundamentals of enterprise risk management: How top companies assess risk, manage exposure, and seize opportunity.

Silbey, S. S., & American Academy of Political and Social Science. (2015).Organizational challenges to regulatory enforcement and compliance: A new common sense about regulation. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Top of Form

Williams, B. L. (2016). Information security policy development for compliance: ISO/IEC 27001, NIST SP 800-53, HIPAA standard, PCI DSS V2. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Business continuity plan. (2018). Retrieved April 11, 2021, from https://www.ready.gov/business/implementation/continuity

The role of a Chief Financial Officer. (n.d.).