Stage 4

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Maryland Technology Consultants, Inc Business Analysis and System Recommendation

Hayden Theel

IFSM 300 7995

March 30, 2020

INTRODUCTION

Maryland Technology Consultants (MTC) has been a very successful Information Technology (IT) consulting firm. However, the director of Human Resource (HR) is concerned because of the recruiting and hiring process will not give his department the ability to figure out the demands for future growth and the increased hiring requirements. Very soon MTC is projecting to have an additional 75 consultants. He has asked to find a way to make it where the current hiring process can be somewhat automated, and can it reduce the amount of time it takes to hire a new individual.

STRATEGIC USE OF TECHNOLOGY

Business Strategy

The business strategy of MTC is to be able to provide extraordinary consulting services and be able to provide recommendations to their customers by employee consultants who are highly skilled. They are also staying ahead of new concepts of business, technology and are developing new business concepts. The issue is that the director of HR is concerned that with the current hiring process will cause a problem that can prevent HR from doing their job and helping out the MTC’s future growth. This can also make it much more difficult to compete against their competitors. The director of HR also mentions of also allow MTC to hire people that are located in different countries (Maryland Technology Consultants case study [Course Resource, 2018).

By doing this it will allow more consultants more quickly. It can help give the company a competitive advantage over their competitors. By people from different countries will help increase diversity within the company and get make the company have much more of broader customers (Maryland Technology Consultants case study [Course Resource, 2018).

Competitive Advantage

The competitive environment that MTC is in is one that contains large IT firms along with smaller ones that have many skill sets, market niches, and more established customer bases. MTC will find a way how to improve itself for the future and can recognize the ability to identify its core competencies. It can help increase the company’s reputation for having IT consultants. These consultants should be highly skilled when it comes down to technology and innovation. Due to the competition, MTC has an idea to incorporate a few consultants from other countries ti help provide more remote research and analyzing.

Strategic Objectives

Strategic Goal (from case study)	Objective (clear, measurable and time-bound)	Explanation (2-3 sentences)
Increase MTC Business Development by winning new contracts in the areas of IT Consulting	Increase the business development by winning new contracts is to be able to expand the company. Increase MTC Business Development by winning new contracts in the areas of IT consulting. This can be done by people who are highly qualified and can be achieved within two years.	When a company has qualified employees, they will be able to deliver better quality services. This will attract more clients and help expand the company out.
Build a cadre of consultants internationally to provide remote research and analysis support to MTC’s onsite teams in the U. S.	Increase international recruiting efforts and employ 5 research analysts in the next 12 months.	The new hiring system would allow applicants from around the world to apply online, increasing the number of international applicants. It would enable the recruiters to carefully monitor the applications for these positions, identify the necessary research and analysis skills needed, and screen resumes for these key skills. Recruiters could quickly view the number of applicants and identify when additional recruiting efforts are needed to meet the objective.
Continue to increase MTC’s ability to quickly provide high quality consultants to awarded contracts to best serve the clients’ needs	The technology can help identify employees who are qualified and will be quick to find high quality consultants.	Technology can make a process at which it I easier to identify quality employees. The company won’t need a lot of time of producing high quality employees.
Increase MTC’s competitive advantage in the IT consulting marketplace by increasing its reputation for having IT consultants who are highly skilled in leading edge technologies and innovative solutions for its clients	When the company has consultants, who are skilled and qualified, then the reputation of the company will improve. Which can allow the company to be comparable to its competition.	The clients will seek for services from the company because of its reputation. Which will mean the company will have more clients will improve allowing the company to be comparable to their competitors.

When all of the goals have been achieved, this can display that the company has succeeded in using technology when recruiting more employees. They can identify certain goals they were not able to do accomplish (Howard & Hargiss, 2017).

Decision Making

When making a decision within an organization, there some factors that should be considered. These factors can help make a decision in which can help a company achieve it objective. The appropriate information will be collected depending on which decision needs to be made.  For MTC therefore, before implementing the technology which will be used during the recruiting process, importance should be known so that when it is being implemented, the importance is well known. 

The decision made to hire an individual is made after reviewing the qualification of the applicant. If the applicant meets all the requirements, then he or she is employed. With the use of the technology, then it will be easy to determine the qualification of the applicant since the technology device containing all the requirements will take a short time to identify if the person is qualified. The reason why qualified employees are considered is because they will help the organization be able to achieve its goals of expanding by winning more contracts. To win more contracts, then the company needs to have qualified and skilled employees who will be attending to the employees. When all the employees are qualified, the company will be delivering quality services to the various companies seeking for the services. 

Apart from the qualifications of an applicant, the experience is also important because if a person has experience on how the clients are handled, then the person will be suitable to work in the company since he or she will be utilizing the experience they have to deliver quality services. The quality services are what will make the clients continue seeking services from the organization and also to win more clients. The recruiting, therefore, should consider qualifications and in addition, the experience of an individual should also be considered (Travica, n.d.).

Role	Level as defined in Course Content Reading	Example of Possible Decision Supported by Hiring System	Example of Information the Hiring System Could Provide to Support Your Example Decision
Senior/Executive Managers (Decisions made by the CEO and the CFO at MTC supported by the hiring system.)	Executive managers should meet all qualifications and have more than a year of experience	Applicant qualifies for the position because all the qualifications needed are met and also have applicant experience for having served in the position	Applicant is qualified because he has met all the qualifications needed.
Middle Managers (Decisions made by the Director of HR and the Manager of Recruiting supported by the hiring system.)	Middle managers should be qualified and work without supervision	Meets all of the qualifications needed and ready to work	Under the position of executive manager and should be ready to listen to the instructions by executive and needs to be skilled
Operational Managers (Decisions made by the line managers in the organization who are hiring for their projects supported by the hiring system.)	Operational manager should be skilled because they are handling clients	Besides the qualifications the applicant should have skills for communication	When they are qualified, have skills like communication, they will be able to deliver consultation services effectively

CONCLUSION

MTC will have to be able to embrace the technology when it comes down the recruiting process. It can also help ensure that the people who are employed are also qualified to do the job. It can also help reduce the employee shortage since more employees are employed for a short period. Technology can also help achieve the company goals of having more clients, the organization is able to expand, and they are able to attract new clients.

References

Howard, C., & Hargiss, K. (2017). Strategic information systems and technologies in modern organizations. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=zIEJDgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Maryland Technology Consultants case study [Course Resource. (2018). In IFSM 300: Information Systems in Organizations: Spring2019. Retrieved from https://learn.umgc.edu/d2l/le/content/445319/viewContent/17081865/View

Travica, B. (n.d.). Decision Making and Information Systems. Retrieved from http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/management/faculty/btravica/2000/Ch9-DecisionMakingAndIS.pdf

STAGE 2

II. PROCESS ANALYSIS

A. Hiring Process

By having a better hiring process MTC will have a stronger pool of applicants, more accurate screening, higher morale, reduced turnover, and a more proactive strategic alignment (Kokemuller, 2019). The hiring process at MTC can will be critical for its success. It can play a role of giving MTC the competitive edge it needs in order to select the most qualified candidates. This hiring process can make sure that hiring the highly qualified candidate will be done in a timely manner. The table below will show how process of the hiring process will be and how can the company benefit from it and how does it go along with the company’s needs and business strategy (Maryland Technology Consultants Case Study, n.d.).

MTC Hiring Process
As-Is Process	Responsible MTC Position	To-Be Process – How the system Will Support and Improve the hiring process	Business Benefits of Improved Process (Align with MTC’s overall business strategy and needs.)
1. Recruiter receives application from job hunter via Postal Service Mail.	Recruiter	System will receive application via on-line submission through MTC Employment Website and store in the applicant database within the hiring system.	A more efficient submission process decreases time needed to receive and begin processing applications. This will present a positive image to potential employees and help MTC compete for top IT talent.
2. Recruiter screens resumes to identify top candidates by matching with job requirements from job description.	Recruiter	The system will sort out candidates by who is qualified based upon preselected qualifiers selected from client requirements.	There would be more highly qualified candidates that are selected at a rapid rate who make MTC the best suited to meet contract requirements.
3. Recruiter forwards top candidates to Administrative Assistant via interoffice mail	Recruiter	The applications of the candidates who are qualified get passed over to another database.	With a different database both having the applications can allow for an expeditious process and easier to access.
4. Administrative Assistant forwards candidates’ resumes and applications to hiring manager for the position via interoffice mail.	Administrative Assistant	The specific needs that the applicant requires gets passed to the Hiring Manager	By have notes attached to the profile of the candidate will allow for much more time being saved.
5. Hiring Manager reviews applications and selects who he/she wants to interview.	Hiring Manager	The Hiring manager will select the candidate who is qualified of who they want to interview and can be best suited for the job.	By selecting a candidate to make it easier their information will be displayed in a system. It can also help them find the more highly qualified candidates.
6. Hiring Manager sends email to Administrative Assistant on who he/she has selected to interview and identifies members of the interview team.	Hiring Manager	The Administrative Assistant has information about the candidate from a database. They will also be able to see what the Hiring Manager has selected for the position. They can also see which members of the interview team is conducting the interviews.	The hiring manager and the administrative assistant is able to access the database. This can allow for quicker scheduling for the interview of the candidates who can be highly qualified.
7. AA schedules interviews by contacting interview team members and hiring manager to identify possible time slots	Administrative Assistant	Having the system that can help that has an automated electronic schedule can help pick dates available for interviews.	By having this system can help save time. It can also limit and prevent errors of any form of scheduled conflict.
8. AA emails candidates to schedule interviews.	Administrative Assistant	The system will send an email over the candidate displaying the date, time, and place for the interview. The database will also have comment section just in case of changes needed to be made.	This can help give out quicker responses to the candidates. It can play role in MTC ability to move quickly.
9. Interview is conducted with candidate, hiring manager and other members of the interview team.	Hiring Manager and Interview Team	Interview is conducted with candidate, hiring manager and other members of the interview team. (Hiring System is not used for this step.)	n/a
10. Hiring manager informs the AA on his top candidate for hiring	Hiring Manager	The hiring manager can send the information through the database informing the Administrative Assistant on which candidate they are hiring.	With the Hiring Manager and AA both on the same database. AA can see that they have made their decision on who the candidate which can allow for a much faster process and easier to access information on the candidate.
11. AA collects feedback from interviews and status of candidates	Administrative Assistant	The database is able to display the information about the candidate. It can also display status of the candidate.	This database can allow the Hiring Managers, Recruiters, and AA to view the current status of the hiring process.
12. Administrative Assistant prepares offer letter based on information from recruiter and puts in the mail to the chosen candidate.	Administrative Assistant	System enables AA to prepare job offer letter by storing the offer letter template and information on each candidate; allows AA to select information to go into letter and put it into the template, which can then be reviewed and emailed to the candidate.	More efficient offer process presents positive image to applicants and decreases time needed to prepare offer letter and enables MTC to hire in advance of the competition.

B. Expected Improvements

By having a process that is self-operating, it will be able to provide some benefits the MTC. This hiring system will be able to make sure that the flow or work is instantaneous and accurate. The communication between individuals within the company is ameliorate. It can also help strengthen the relationships between the individuals who play a role in this process (Analyzing Process Improvements Supported by IT [Course Resource], n.d.). The table below will display the current issues mentioned from the case study and the improvements the hiring process will be able to provide to MTC.

Area	Current Issues (from the Case Study)	Improvements (due to use of technology)
Collaboration:	The Hiring Manager states that recruiting is only one area he is responsible for and he isn’t as responsive to HR as he could be. Therefore, he counts on the Recruiters to help manage the process and keep him informed. Current manual system causes considerable communication breakdowns and takes additional effort and time to stay on top of the hiring process.	An efficient system with all information in one place, easily accessible via a dashboard, and updated in real time could make his recruiting job easier; and he could devote time to effectively working collaboratively and proactively with HR on his staffing needs.
Communications: Explain how a hiring system could improve internal and external communications	When it comes down to application and resumes, they could get lost in the mail, email, or somewhere in an organization. There is not very much emphasize on communication when it comes down to hiring as it does takes time.	With the hiring system will help improve faster communication from the recruiters to the hiring managers. There will be external communication from the applicants which will allow quicker feedback to the clients. Delays from communication will be eliminated.
Workflow: Explain how a hiring system could improve the MTC hiring process by providing a consistent structure for each participant to perform his/her part in the hiring process.	With the paperwork, it can feel as if the Administrate Assistant is kind of buried under all of it. It can also hard to keep track on who’s paperwork, and the status.	By having an electronic system, it can be easier to store, keep track of the information form each applicant. This will allow Recruiters, Hiring Managers, and the AA to be able to gain access to it. Which can help increase the workflow, easier to find, and be able to update and check on status.
Relationships: Explain how implementing an enterprise hiring system could foster stronger relationships with applicants/potential employees.	The hiring managers do not really have any proper communication from the hiring team. The hiring process also does take some time to complete. When there is a lot of applicants the process is crazy, and communication is a problem.	The system will allow a more productive working relation with the applicants as they are able to receive feedback much faster. The employees will have an easier time and the hiring manager are able to provide feedback to the clients. There is better collaboration with the staff members.

STAGE 3

III. REQUIREMENTS

A. Stakeholders Interest

The chart below is going to discuss the interest or objectives when it comes down to the new hiring process for each stakeholder that is listed depending on their role with the organization and the case study information. When it comes down to the hiring process there some positions with MTC that all have specific task they have to do when it comes down to the hiring process. These specific tasks can sometimes play part as being time consuming, email traffic can be bad, and can cost company money (Maryland Technology Consultants Case Study, n.d.).

Role	Specific problem related to the current hiring process	How a technology solution to support the hiring process could address the problem
1. CEO	The system does not operate at a fast pace and might be considered laboring process rather than system. Might need some form of authorization from Chairman of the MTC and Board of Directors.	By placing the right candidate for the right job/position can make hiring people much faster.
2. CFO	Having many systems can be a challenge to have an efficient process.	Having cost effective technology can improve the process and the functions. Be able to not spend a lot of money on a new system.
3. CIO	The current process can be considered a liability since the information is kept on a hard copy and can be transferred through emails that might not be secure.	Technology can help gather certain information that the CIO needs. They can use the technology to get specific requirements.
4. Director of Human Resources	The current process has an upper limit on the number of intakes that is require depending on what is available and budget wise.	The system can have some form of programming that can help search for the best fits with the number of intakes with affecting the profit.
5. Manager of Recruiting	Current process has it where it needs some form of final sign-off after Human Resources and recruitment process is completed. It can be quite an issue when there is a large number of recruits.	By having system that can automatically sign off on the applicants form it can help make the hiring process go by much faster and the manager of recruiting will not feel over encumbered with having to sign off on anything.
6. Recruiters	They need to sort out the resumes that the applicants send and go through the information that is on the resume. This can take time.	The system will be able to filter the specific information about the applicant. Information such as knowledge, experience and such. This can help increase the rate of being able to search for the correct candidate.
7. Administrative Assistant	The current process can pertain to keeping track of candidate’s background. This can be quite time consuming and may leave the employees feeling restless.	The system can have section where all of the candidate’s information is saved in the system and it secured.
8. Hiring Manager (Functional supervisor the new employee would be working for.)	In some cases, the Hiring Manager is not able to decide and figure out the capability of the candidate until they go through a screen test.	The system can have an online screen test in order to determine if they are worth it.

B. Defining Requirements

If MTC has poor security, it can set the company up for disastrous results. It can lead to some form of vandalism and assaults to the company. Precious information can be stolen. The company can loss access to the precious information and the company can be considered a liability (IFSM 300: Information Systems in Organizations, 2020).

Requirement ID# only	Requirement Statement	Stakeholder (Position and Name from Case Study that identified this requirement)
	User Requirements – (What the user needs the system to do)
EXAMPLE	The system must store all information from the candidate’s application/resume in a central applicant database.	Recruiter – Peter O’Neil
1.	The system should automatically approve the applicants form after being confirmed for to start the hiring process for the applicant.	Manager of Recruiting
2.	The system also needs to have an automated program where it updates financial transaction to salary packages that is giving to candidates whom are just recently hired on.	CFO
3.	The system needs to be able to sort out the candidates resumes depending on the years of experience and technologies.	Recruiters
4.	The system should be able store the information about the newly hired people, and their bio metric details and test scores.	CIO
5.	(Reporting-Output of organized information retrieved from the system—replace this statement with a specific reporting requirement)	Director of Human Resources
	System Performance Requirements – (How the system will perform)
EXAMPLE	The system must be implemented as a Software as a Service solution.	CIO – Raj Patel
6.	The system needs to be able to have the exact same type of performance not matter the different applications.	CIO – Raj Patel
7.	The system needs to able to generate huge amounts of data that will be stored in the central DB	Director of Human Resources
8.	The systems need to able to sort out the resumes of the candidates. The sorting is based off inputs that is provides in a certain amount of time.	Recruiters
9.	Security-Before giving access to the system the system should affirm the credentials of the user.	CIO – Raj Patel
10.	Security-The system needs to conduct transactions relating to proper validation and checks. This can help find something is now right.	CFO

References

IFSM 300: Information Systems in Organizations. (2020, April). Information Systems Security. Retrieved from https://learn.umgc.edu/d2l/le/content/445319/viewContent/17081848/View

IFSM 300: Information Systems in Organizations. (2020, April). Enterprise Systems. Retrieved from https://learn.umgc.edu/d2l/le/content/445319/viewContent/17081859/View

Maryland Technology Consultants Case Study. (n.d.). In IFSM 300: Information Systems in Organizations. Retrieved from https://learn.umgc.edu/d2l/le/content/445319/viewContent/17081822/View

STAGE 4

IV. SYSTEM RECOMMENDATION

A. System Justification

EZ-ATS is a tracking software that can help any company track down and hire the most highly qualified candidate. EZ-ATS acts as a Software as a Service (SaaS) which is a software that can be access easily on any electronic devices (Short, 2020). When it comes down to the selected solution. The brochure mentions that EZ-ATS mission for MTC to succeed. They also aim for the hiring goals to go along with the corporate goals which can help make it more efficient when it comes down to hiring the right candidate to help contribute the success of the organization. (UMGC Hiring Solutions, Inc., 2019). By using the EZ-ATS it helps MTC by searching for and employing the highly skilled consultants (UMGC Case Study, 2020).

EZ-ATS can also play a role in help improving the hiring process. EZ-ATS has some of top employees for Human Resource (HR) which are capable of searching and hiring individuals. They are capable of the most highly qualified candidate before other companies can get them. The decrease the amount of time in need of filling the positions. HR does not need to do a lot of work when it comes down to report and managing on the hiring process (UMGC Hiring Solutions, Inc., 2019). This can help MTC hire highly qualified employees in much faster rate and since it is EZ-ATS is mobile they will be able to hire people from all over the world which can help with the expansion of the MTC (UMGC Case Study, 2020). Since MTC is looking for near-term solution, EZ-ATS does have 30-day free trial and MTC does not need to have long term contract. EZ-ATS has made it to where it can search for the requirements that MTC is looking for. The program goes out to search for candidates for whatever the company requires and make sure they are align so the company can acquire the right talent in their company (UMGC Hiring Solutions, Inc., 2019).

B. Implementation Areas

Implementing a plan for MTC can be extremely beneficial. It can help solve the problems within the company. It allows the organization to develop for the goodness. It can also help set what is the priorities of MTC. It will also help the company move forward (Gustafson, 2019). When it comes down to projects, implementing a SaaS solution like can EZ-ATS can be huge for MTC. In order for the SaaS to be implemented that are certain requirements that MTC would need to do in order for it to work (UMGC, 2020).

1. Vendor Agreement

A contract agreement must be made with the vendor and MTC. This could identify responsibility as well as costs. It will cost 100$ per month to be able to run 25-100 system users. EZ-ATS does come with a free 30-day trial which can be used to see if how does the system work (UMGC Hiring Solutions, Inc., 2019).

2. Hardware and telecommunications

Even though this a SaaS solution, MTC is required to make certain that the IT infrastructure will be able to support the system and if the employees will be able to access the system correctly. There is no new hardware that is required the system can accessed at the data center. There will be communication done through integrated email and quick text inbox. Most of the information will be on the cloud service so there is not going to be any external storage devices that needs to be used. MTC will need make sure that Wi-Fi is readily available for devices such as phones, computers, and tablets so that their communication in the office (UMGC Hiring Solutions, Inc., 2019).

3. Configuration

SaaS will require a degree of configuration for each of the clients. In order for MTC to be able to implement job requisitions, workflow, reports, terminology, and/or graphics and logo they will have to sign the user agreement with the vendor and be able to have a credit card or purchase order information. Once payment and User Agreement received, the account manager will contact you to help with the configuration step and preparation to go “go live” (UMGC Hiring Solutions, Inc., 2019).

EZ-ATS will help train the employees by using free videos from the websites and training resources to help develop an on-site training to meet the needs of MTC (UMGC Hiring Solutions, Inc., 2019).

4. Testing

The Account Manager will contact you and show to test the specific functions and ensure it is working correctly (UMGC Hiring Solutions, Inc., 2019). MTC can conduct a User Acceptance Testing (UAT) which is a test that can help make sure that the requirements are met, and it is operating in the right way. In order to conduct a UAT, MTC would need to analyze the requirements of the product and define key deliverables. Next they would need to choose the time to test and when would the end-user testing (Altexsoft, 2019).

They are also required to put together UAT team to conduct that will be doing the testing. They will implement end-user testing tools and onboard testers. Then they would to create a user acceptance environment to start the training. After the training then they would be conducting testing and collect the results to be analyzed. Testing and practice will help reduce the number of defects that could happen (Altexsoft, 2019).

One of the user requirements can be the system needs to be able to sort out the candidates resumes depending on the years of experience and technologies. By doing this the team can get together and collect random resumes from different applicants. The team will decide in a specific order who they think is the most qualified to the least. Then they will have EZ-ATS system take those resumes and see if it can follow the same order that the team put together. If it does, then they know the system is accurate.

5. Employee preparation and support

A. Leadership- From a systems perspective leadership does have an impact on helping a company achieving results. It can also determine the level of success within the organization (UMGC, 2020). Leadership has to be able to show vision, commitment, and management in order to help guide MTC and have to show a form of sustained sponsorship for ability to change (UMGC, 2020).

B. Change Management- In order to avoid failure MTC should have the employees communicate, prepare and have some form of training. The Change Management strategies the to address the resistance of changing and can encourage the capacity to recover quickly in a corporate culture which can help MTC employees adapt to change much more quickly (UMGC, 2020).

C. Training- It is unfortunate the training can be short-changed however; it is extremely important and can play a huge role for the success of MTC. MTC can have the project manager monitor the training among the employees to keep track of progress (UMGC, 2020).

D. User Support- MTC can develop a plan for UAT to run a test in order to know if the user support is working. The project manager can play role in help keeping track on what needs to be fixed for user support (UMGC, 2020).

6. Data migration

There would need to be some determination when it comes down to existing data whether it is paper or electronic form would need to be put into the system. The customer needs to bear the cost of determining of which data should be put into the system; the cost of data can be deiced by customer or the vendor can help for a fee (UMGC, 2020). The data of the employees can be given to the Information Technology (IT) team. During the process of acquiring the system, HR can scan and secure the data place it into the database. Once the system has been implemented the vendor should have access to the data so they can start the hiring process.

7. Maintenance

When it comes down to updates, EZ-ATS will updates their software automatically and there is not requirement for MTC. One of the benefits for EZ-ATS is that upgrades and enhancements are for free (UMGC Hiring Solutions, Inc., 2019). The vendor shall be responsible for daily operations, maintenance of the system, protecting data, upgrading and enhancing the system, and being able to provide training and support. All that will be required is an internet connection and end-user devices to be able to connect to the system (UMGC, 2020).

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

A