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IT Architectural Considerations for Proposed Technology

IFSM 301: Information Systems Management IT Architectural Considerations for Proposed Technology Case Study – Stage 2 Janelle Chapman 4/13/2013

Case Study – Stage 2

IT Architectural Considerations for Proposed Technology

According to the proposed idea in the first stage to use dedicated servers and systems for the sales representatives, it is believed that the solution will provide a meaningful platform to the imperative sales team of ER UMUC Inc. It is to be mentioned here that the servers will not only be used for storing the information coming from the various offices but will also be helpful in tracking the performance of the overall processes. In addition, the move will help in improving the customer satisfaction and will only take the customer relationship activities to the next level.

The dedicated servers and systems will also help in bringing uniformity in the way information is being stored into the ER UMUC Inc. systems. Although, the initial investment in this process will be relatively large as compared to the investments by ER UMUC Inc., in technology so far but this system can also be used in integrating the operations of MyRentals and CarbonTech. Once the integration is complete, the initial huge investments in setting up this system will end up being very small as compared to the overall benefits that it will offer to the company.

Considering the fact that proper functioning of the sales representatives is very important for the long-term success of ER UMUC Inc., the investment in aligning the processes for the team will prove to be a very effective strategy for the company. Regarding the architectural considerations, it should be noted here that the system will be accessible to the entire sales force of ER UMUC Inc., as they will be the ones who will be filling in the information into the system. Since all the information will be stored in the cloud, the accessibility factor is taken care of by deploying dedicated servers for the task. Keeping in mind that all the work is being done on an in-house basis, one can be assured that maintainability will not be a cause of concern. In fact, the system will be designed in such a way that it can be easily modified with the changing needs of the business. In addition, since the system will be used by a huge sales force that may or may not be friendly with technology, it will be kept in mind that it is user-friendly and can accommodate as many users at a given point of time.

The nature of work of ER UMUC Inc., is such that when the demand comes in contingency, it has been fulfilled in a short duration of time, the security of this process is of utmost importance to the company. Keeping these conditions in mind, the authentication so this software will be taken care by allotting a personal key to every employee thus giving him access to fill in his information into the software. In addition, there will also be a master key which will be given only to a selected few which will give access to the entire information database. Apart from the personal key, the software will also ask for employee code before giving him access to the next phase. And for the master access, there will be only IP allowed at a time and along with the personal key and employee code, it will match the retina of the employee with the help of a webcam.

Out of supply chain management, customer relationship management and ERP systems, the second option i.e. customer relationship management is most applicable to this task. Keeping in mind that the core purpose of this task is to effectively manage the information that was so far not kept in uniform format and hence was not much of use, the effective use of information will help in improving the satisfaction levels of the consumer. It may also be noted here that all the information that will be stored by the sales representatives, it will help the company in tracking the overall performance in a much better fashion.

Proposed Solution Resources

Information System Activities

References

Haag, Stephen; Maeve Cummings, Donald J. McCubbrey, Alain Pinsonneault, Richard Donovan (2006). Management Information Systems for the Information Age (Third Edition).

O’Brien, James A; Marakas, George M. (2011). Management Information Systems (Tenth Edition).

Input

Customer information received by sales representative

Processing

Information received is organized for future retrival

Output

Reporting sales performance

Storage

Shared database containing all customer information

Control

Quality control on information entered by sales representative

People Resources

End Users (ER UMUC sales support representatives)

Specialists (systems analysts, software developers, & technical personnel)

Hardware Resources

Machines (desktop computers & printers)

Software Resources

Programs (data entry program applicable to ER UMUC data.)

Procedures (data entry procedures)

Data Resources

Existing Customer records

Inventory databases

Network Resources

communications control software

inter-network processors

modems

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