A Case Study of Information System Development

Question

Task: In this Case Study students are required to read and discuss an article describing an Information System development project.

Answer

1. Introduction
1.1 Information system development case study brief
Implementation of an Information System is essential in recent times. A successful development of an information system is not at all expensive. It is cost-effective yet beneficial for organizations—low rates of information system development because insufficient and inefficient project management. The current information system development case study caters to the various fieldwork conducted to understand and deal with the challenges during the development process of the information system. It conducts personal interviews as well as different observational methods. The case study of information system development finally comes up with a conclusion that suggests efficient management, fund, quality workforce, infrastructure, and commitment combine for a successful information system. The present information system development case study mentions that P.H.E. Corporation in Malaysia needs to adopt effective information technology.

1.2 Brief description of the problem
Information technology is a very significant element of organizations nowadays. Successful implementation of an information system can lead the organizations to greater success. Along with all these benefits, there are some challenges to deal with while implementing the new technology (Astete, et al., 2018). The new technologies could be disrupted, and it may happen that the It staff and the management are not on the same boat. It is very much needed for organizations to hire efficient I.T. professionals who have practical knowledge of the subject. The cyber-security is one big challenge highlighted in the present information system development case study the technologies may come across. Effective digital transformation is essential, and for that, the appropriate technology should be chosen by the organizations.

• Organizations often face problems while transferring files to various networks.
• Personal data of the employees and financial reports and documents could be hampered without proper information technology.

1.3 The aim of the I.T. project explored in the Case Study of information system development
The I.T. projects aim to establish the companies within the market. The current market contains lots of competition as there are too many companies. An effective information system could help a company go ahead amidst all the challenges and difficulties of the market (Bakshi & Fiksel, 2003). It also saves organizations from erroneous reports or false documentation. Successful implementation of an information system can also curtail cybercrime from the organization. It helps to keep all the professional and personal data of the organizations safe. The information system also helps to create the gains and advantages in the global market and the customers.

• To overcome the problems and issues outlined in the context of information system development case study, P.H.E. Corporation must implement an I.T. project.

2. The proposed I.T. infrastructure
A successful Information Technology infrastructure can benefit in a lot of ways for an organization. It helps in reducing the costs and maximizes revenues instead. In recent times the organizations are rapidly growing within the industries. An information system infrastructure can rise even more quickly with multiple data centres. It is the credit of virtualization that it helps to be connected to multiple servers at a time. Since this the era of technology, P.H.E. Corporation needs to adapt the newest information technology to survive within the market as well as conquer the globe. For better results, the I.T. infrastructure needs to be secure, reliable, and flexible (Banerjee, 2016). It will help the company to enhance its overall efficiency. It further ensures the cost-saving and security of the company's essential business and personal data.

The companies need to know the details about what an I.T. infrastructure consists of before implementing it. It consists of; Hardware, containing servers, data centers, switches, computers, routers, hubs and etcetera, the software containing Operating System, C.R.M., E.R.P., and some applications (Borlase, 2016). And the network, providing internet connection, security, network enablement, and a firewall. These are the components of an I.T. infrastructure. Apart from these four components, there are six significant features of the I.T. infrastructure.

• “Latency proof”: When data over the network delay the communication between them, that is called the latency. There are two types of latency mentioned herein information system development case study: the low latency networks and the high latency network. The low latency causes small delays in the network connections. The top latency networks cause longer delays to the connections. Such latencies often create bottlenecks. It obstructs in taking the full advantage of the network and lowers the communication capacity.
• “Optimized Wan Network”: An optimized WAN network can enable the chances of better network management. It helps to reduce the traveling costs as well as increases the productivity of the system (Browne, Dreitlein, Ha, Manzoni, & Mere, 2016). It includes traffic shaping, data compression, data deduplication, and data caching. The current organization environments need effective WAN Optimization to move successfully to the cloud, along with the many more growing companies.
• “Zero Downtime”: The readings of the information system development case study signifies that the organizations find it challenging to reduce the disruption and ensure that all the operations and missions are running smoothly and could be accessed whenever needed. But, a new I.T. infrastructure enables the possibilities to cut off the downtime to prevent revenue losses of the organizations.
• "High-Performance Storage": the high performance of the computing, manufacturing, finance, and academic environment is essential for the organizations (Corvello, Javernick-Will, & Ratta, 2017). It also leads to performance storage challenges, and that could be prevented through Big Data and Web 2.0. If P.H.E. corporation adapts HPC technologies, it will enable high-performance storage and reduce the cost of computing.
• “Virtualization”: Virtualization helps to connect to the multiple servers with a single network. It is energy-saving, provides with the faster server, increases uptime, recovers damages, and helps in cloud computing.
• “Security”: Helps to control the information access of the organizations. The chances f erroneous reports and documents as reduced (Donaldson, 2018). It helps availing data quickly and takes care of the critical information and materials conceived by the company.

3. Importance of the Project Manager role in the project success
The role of a project manager defined in this piece of information system development case study is crucial to achieving project success. The project manager helps to set a vision among the employees. He/she further help to articulate the idea in its mission (Fleming, 2019). The responsibility of a project manager is to explain the goals and the objectives of the project to the employees and set a methodology for them. She/he helps to estimate the project time, capital, and human resources and the further essential steps of the project. Project planning is a very important job for the project manager. A successful project can only be achieved if there is adequate planning, approach, and method behind It (Grossmann & Westerberg, 2000). Project planning includes budgeting, scheduling, and evaluating resources. They usually use professional software packages to monitor the stages if the on-going project. Motivating the team and directing them towards the goal is the primary responsibility of a project manager. The project manager needs to set an excellent communication platform and comfortable work environment so that the employees can work flexibly. Dealing with the challenges and motivating the employees towards risk management is very important as well. An efficient project manager has the skills of analyzing the project aspects, coordinating with the team members, and set effective communication. The technical abilities and organizing the team to have successful teamwork is also very crucial for a successful project.

4. The Triple Constraint
4.1 Scope identified in the case study of information system development
The effective project management and Information Technology will help the P.H.E Corporation survive the market and conquer the global market further.

4.2 Time
The adaptation of the new technology will take duration of 6 months to start functioning properly.

4.3 Cost
The approximate cost is $90000 for the implementation, procurement and planning.

5. Difficulties and issues the Project Manager faced
5.1 Project Integration Management
The way which enables multiple processes to work together at the same time is called the project integration management. The method provided in the information system development case study uses trade-off to function such management. The compromise indicates that it is not possible to cater to everything if the authority wants the project to be done within the time and budget. This is as normal as any other process of project management (Haughey, 2018). This process creates several deliverables to keep up with all the aspects of the project. It involves a project charter where the higher authority initiates the project containing all the roles and responsibilities of the project. Then comes the scope statement of information system development case study, which helps to differentiate between the necessary and unnecessary objects of the project. Project management planning is also a crucial element of integration management. The project managers need to direct and manage the project, along with regular monitoring it. After all the steps are met, the manager closes the project.

5.2 Project Scope Management
The delivered project has to contain all the specified features and functions in it. If the deliverable consists of all the needed features and services, it is considered to be a successful one. The project managers must have a scope. The total amount of work required to deliver the project to the client is the scope of the project management plan. Otherwise, the project will become unnecessary and waste time (Huemann, Eskerod, & Ringhofer, 2016). The planning phase illustrated herein information system development case study contains all the inputs of the project together from the stakeholders. After gathering all the inputs, the manager decides upon the management and validation of the project. The team and the managers should collect all the requirements of the stakeholders to proceed with the project. The information system development case study signifies that once all these two steps are completed, the manager needs to create a project scope statement. The scope statement consists of every detail of the project.

5.3 What is the role of Project Time Management in the context of case study of information system development?
Every project team needs to be organized before it starts working. Detailed planning of the in-hand project is utterly necessary. Along with that, the right scheduling for the deliverables is essential as well. Managing the time and duration of the project is one of the most critical responsibilities of project managers. They need to keep checking the work progress so that the aims are met on time. The schedule contains the definitions of the activities involved in the project (Lewis, 2019). It identifies the individual tasks that must be done during the project. This makes the process easier and less time-consuming. Estimating the activity resources is also a part of scheduling the project. The activities need to be listed serially, and then the resources are evaluated. The resources include workforce, supplies, and equipment. Consulting with a specialist during the scheduling process is very much helpful for the project to run smoothly.

5.4 Project Cost Management
In the present case study of information system development, project cost management is another vital task of the project manager. The cost management includes estimating, financing, budgeting, planning, managing, controlling, and funding the required costs to run the in-hand project smoothly. It also helps to evaluate if the project could be completed within the given budget. Primarily, the managers need to make a cost management plan which aims to establish the documentation, procedures, expending, and policies of the project cost. Then the manager needs to estimate the costs (Liu & Chiu, 2016). They have to develop an approximate monetary resource to compete with the activities within the project. Then the managers need to determine the budget. During the process of budget determination, the managers need to aggregate the individual costs of all the activities involved in the project. This helps to determine the work packages and the purchases that need to be made. Making a concrete budget plan reduces extra and unnecessary expenses.

5.5 Project Quality Management
As per the research conducted on this case study of information system development, the process of achieving the quality of the deliverables of a project is called the project quality management. Project managers need to monitor all the activities taking place within the plan regularly. The quality of project management indicates the fulfilled demands of customers or stakeholders. Delivering the product and services with utmost customer satisfaction is the success of the project. Without satisfying the customers or the stakeholders, there's no point conducting a project. Implementation of quality control helps cater to both process and the people (Maboudian, Ashurst, & Carraro, 2002). The project managers are needed to update the stakeholders regarding the progress of the project regularly. So that they can opine their thoughts and the chances of mistakes reduce. The continuous improvement of the efforts as depicted in the case study of information system development is also very essential to deliver a quality product and service to the stakeholders. Planning the quality and assuring it from the stakeholders' results in good quality management.

5.6 Project Human Resource Management
Managing and organizing the project team is called the project of human resource management. It is one of the foremost responsibilities of project managers. The project teams are usually made up of skilled and efficient employees. The project managers need to involve the team during the planning and decision-making procedures (Meerow & Newell, 2017). The feeling of invested in the outcome makes the employees more loyal and committed to the goals and objectives of the in-hand project. The managing body is responsible for taking regular updates, monitor the progress, and set directions to achieve the project's success. To manage the human resource, the project managers need to make human resource planning. Human resource planning includes the development and management of the team. A comfortable and flexible work environment needs to be implemented to see better results from the employees. Also, the project managers should train the project team to tackle the probable risks efficiently.

5.7 Project Communications Management
The project communication management involves the processes which enable the chances of adequate planning, distribution, collection, storage, monitoring, and retrieval of the project. Making an effective communication platform with both the team and the stakeholders makes the task of the project managers easier. Stakeholders having different cultural and organizational backgrounds could get together for work purposes through an effective communication platform (Pheng, 2018). The processes involved in the communication platform are an effective communication plan, controlling communication, and managing interaction. The communication plan in regards to the scenario of information system development case study helps to develop a proper approach and strategy based on the requirements of the stakeholders. The communication management helps to create, collect, and distribute the necessary disposition of the project. And the control communication involves controlling and monitoring the communication procedure throughout the project duration. The continuous communication among the team, manager, and the stakeholders can impact positively on the project. The regular feedback from the stakeholders helps to improve the process and leads to project success.

5.8 Project Risk Management
According to the research on the case study of information system development, the process of recognizing, analysing, and then preventing the probable risk factors that may arise during the project cycle is called the risk management process. It is not right to react when the risks occur. The prevention factors should be listed primarily in the project planning process (Sanghera, 2019). The project team is needed to know the tactics of managing probable risk factors. A factor that potentially hampers the project objectives is called the risk. The term risk is a likely factor when it comes true; the term risk becomes "issue." So, it is essential to have a prior idea of handling these issues. Chances can be of different types. It varies based on the types of projects. Every risk has a specific template of prevention. The project team needs to be given with those templates at the beginning of the project. Most importantly, the project managers need to train the employees to efficiently handle his risk factors of the projects.

5.9 Project Stakeholder Management
Stakeholders are the individuals who are influenced and affected by the success or failure of the project. Identifying the stakeholders of the project explored in the segments of information system development case study is the foremost responsibility of the project managers. When they are identified, the managers need to analyze their influences and expectations to work with them in the long run. The stakeholders are of two types; the internal stakeholders and the external stakeholders (Tonchia, Project Cost Management and Finance, 2018). The employees are the internal stakeholders who are responsible to deliver the project. The external stakeholders are the clients, customers and the investors. To conduct a proper stakeholder management, the project managers need to engage in regular communication with the stakeholders. The stakeholders could be easily identified through the project charter. To determine the interests of the stakeholders and meet their requirements as mentioned in the case study of information system development, it is essential to have a qualitative and quantitative analysis of them.

5.10 Project Procurement Management
Every project has some requirements. The collaboration with the suppliers to buy necessary goods or services for the projects is called the project procurement management. The process of procurement ensures if the goods and services from the suppliers are ordered and received. The relationship between the organizations and the suppliers are based on different contracts. As per the information provided in the information system development case study, the adequate procurement needs a proper planning, selection and monitoring. The project managers should list all the requirements of the project in the beginning and place the order. Then they should keep monitoring whether the orders have been placed correctly or the things are received (Tonchia, Project time management, 2018). Any mistake during the planning of procurement can lead to failure of the entire project. It is also needed to select the requirements wisely. Unnecessary goods or services may exceed the budget and there will be no point other than wasting time. Then making the contract with the suppliers is also very necessary for the organizations.

6. Recommendations, proposed solutions and required potential actions
6.1 Recommendations
The P.H.E. Corporation, Malaysia should have an appropriate project plan and method to conquer the global market. Adapting the new information technology is very essential for the company to enhance profitability and efficiency. Selecting an adequate technology with all the necessary requirements of the organization may help the company to survive in the global market. To have a successful Information System development, it is necessary to have an effective management team to run the projects smoothly (Waheed, Azam, Anwar, & Kiran, 2019). The problems mentioned earlier in the assignment like security or file transfer could be reduced through the adaptation of a proper information technology in the organization. A proper I.T. information structure is needed to be implemented in the company. The challenges of the I.T. system are to be identified and prevented. The company also needs a skilled and efficient project manager who has is able to articulate the visions into mission. The manager should also motivate the employees to obtain the quality work out of them.

6.2 Proposed solutions
It is depicted in the information system development case study that a successful information technology infrastructure will help P.H.E. Corporation to achieve all its goals and objectives. An information system infrastructure can grow even more rapidly with multiple data centres. It is the credit of virtualization that it helps to be connected to multiple servers at a time. Since, this is the era of technology, P.H.E. Corporation needs to adapt the newest information technology to survive within the market as well as conquer the globe (Zou, Kiviniemi, & Jones, 2017). The responsibility of a project manager is to explain the goals and the objectives of the project to the employees and set a methodology for them. She/he helps estimating the project time, capital and human resources and the further essential steps of the project. Project planning is a very crucial job for the project manager. A successful project can only be achieved if there is an effective planning, approach and method behind it.

6.3 Required potential actions
The immediate requirement of the company mentioned in the information system development case study is to select an adequate information technology and implement it within the organization. An efficient project manager with all the necessary skills is also required to reach out all the targeted goals and objectives of P.H.E. Corporation, Malaysia.

7. Bibliography
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Haughey, D. (2018). The role of the project manager. Project Smart, faculty. northseattle. edu .

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Tonchia, S. (2018). Project time management. In S. Tonchia, Industrial project management (pp. 117-129). Springer.

Waheed, F., Azam, F., Anwar, M., & Kiran, A. (2019). A Meta-model for Planning and Execution Activities in Software Project Integration Management. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Information Communication and Management, (pp. 32-36).

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