Stage 1: Background and Organizational Analysis
Before you begin work on this assignment, be sure you have read the Case Study on Chesapeake IT Consultants (CIC).
Overview
As a business analyst in the Chief Information Officer's (CIO's) department of Chesapeake IT Consulting (CIC), you have been assigned to conduct an analysis, develop a set of system requirements and recommend an IT solution to improve the hiring process for CIC.
This work will be completed in four stages, and each of these four stages will focus on one section of an overall Business Analysis and System Recommendation (BA&SR) report to be delivered to the CIO.
Section I: Strategic Use of Technology (Stage 1) - The first step is to look at the organization and explain how an IT system could be used to support CIC's strategies and objectives, and support its decision-making processes.
Section II: Process Analysis (Stage 2) - Next you will evaluate current processes and workflow and explain how CIC can use IT to improve its processes and workflow.
Section III: Requirements (Stage 3) -Then you will identify key stakeholder expectations for the new technology solution to support CIC's hiring process and develop a set of requirements.
Section IV: System Recommendation (Stage 4) - Finally, you will review the provided Vendor brochure for a proposed solution and explain how it meets the requirements and what needs to be done to implement the system within CIC.
The sections of the BA&SR will be developed and submitted as four staged assignments. In stages 2, 3 and 4, you will also incorporate any feedback received when the previous stage was graded to improve the effectiveness of your overall report and then add the new section to your report.
At the end of the course, you will submit a complete BA&SR document that includes all the sections and changes that resulted from previous feedback.Part of the grading criteria for Stage 4 submission includes addressing previous feedback to improve the final report.
Assignment - BA&SR: Introduction and Section I - Strategic Use of Technology
Write an appropriate Introduction to the entire BA&SR Report (guidelines are provided below). Section I of the BA&SR document contains an organizational analysis and identifies ways in which information systems can help CIC, the organization in the case study, meet its strategic goals and meet the information needs of various levels of management.
Using the case study, assignment instructions, Course Content readings, and external resources, develop your Introduction and Section I: Background and Organizational Analysis.
To start, review the Business Perspectives Module (week 1 content), particularly the sections that describe the example of Booz Allen Hamilton, a services company with a business model similar to that of CIC in the case study. The case study tells you that the executives and employees at CIC have identified a need for an effective and efficient hiring system.
As you review the case study, use the assignment instructions to take notes to assist in your analysis; in particular, lookfor objectives to support the strategies in the table below, and decisions that the various individuals make in the hiring process as expressed in the "interviews."
Use the outline format, headings and tables provided and follow all formatting instructions below. For Stage 1, create a title page and reference page that will be used for all 4 stages.
Apply specific information from the case study to address each area.
Introduction
Begin your report with a clear, concise, well organized introduction to explain why you are writing and what is to come. This should briefly set the context for CIC - business purpose, environment, and current challenges related to hiring.
Then specifically provide what is to come in the full report (not just Stage 1). Keep your audience in mind - this is an internal report for the CIO of CIC. Provide an introduction in one paragraph that engages the reader's interest in continuing to read this report.
I. Strategic Use of Technology
A. Organizational Strategy-Briefly describe the organizational strategy using the Business Strategy statement and information from the Case Study, and explain how a new hiring system would support that strategy. (Use two to three strong sentences that explain how the system would support the strategy and justify your position with specifics from the Case Study.)
B. Competitive Advantage - Explain how and why CIC can use the new hiring system to increase its competitive advantage. Your explanation should demonstrate your understanding of what competitive advantage is as well as how improving the hiring process will help achieve CIC's competitive advantage. Include how CIC can use the type of data/information that will be in the hiring system for strategic advantage. (Paragraph of 2-3 sentences)
C. Strategic Objectives- Review the four Strategic Goals in the Strategic Plan section of the CIC Case Study. The CIO has asked you to come up with an example of an objective to meet each goal and explain how a new hiring system would help achieve that objective.
As you can see from the example provided in the table below, an objective is a statement that is clear (not vague) and is something that can be measured or evaluated to determine whether it has been met or not.
First, insert an introductory opening sentence for this table. Then, for each of the rows listed below, complete the table with the requested information. (Provide an introductory sentence and copy the table. Create an Objective for each of the 3 remaining Goals and explain using 2-3 sentences for each.)
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Strategic Goal
(from case study)
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Objective
(clear, measurable and time-bound)
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Explanation
(2-3 sentences)
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Increase CIC Business Development by winning new contracts in the areas of IT Consulting
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Build a cadre of consultants internationally to provide remote research and analysis support to CIC's onsite teams in the U. S.
EXAMPLE PROVIDED
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Increase international recruiting efforts and employ 5 research analysts in the next 12 months.
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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.
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Continue to increase CIC's ability to quickly provide high quality consultants to awarded contracts to best serve the clients' needs
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Increase CIC'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
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D. Decision Making - In the Information Systems (IS) course module (included in the Week 2 Learning Resources), you were introduced to the information requirements of various levels of the organization. First, insert an introductory opening sentence for this section.
Then, for each of the management roles listed below, complete the table with the appropriate level (as defined in the course module), an example of a specific decision supported by the Hiring System to be made at that level, and what type of information from the hiring system would be needed to support that decision. Think about what information the hiring system could provide about applicants, etc. and then identify an example of a decision that might be made by each level of management.
A decision is a choice or conclusion that the management might make about business operations or future planning. This is not about the decisions about implementing a new technology solution or about general responsibilities of each role. (Provide an introductory sentence then copy the table and insert information within.)
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Role
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Level as defined in IS Course Module
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Example of Possible Decision Supported by Hiring System
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Example of Information the Hiring System Could Provide to Support Your Example Decision
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Senior/Executive Managers
(Decisions made by the CEO and the CFO at CIC supported by the hiring system.)
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Middle Managers
(Decisions made by the Director of HR and the Manager of Recruiting supported by the hiring system.)
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Operational Managers
(Decisions made by the line managers in the organization who are hiring for their projects supported by the hiring system.)
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Formatting Your Assignment
Consider your audience - you are writing in the role of a CIC business analyst and your audience is CIC and your boss, the CIO. Don't discuss CIC as if the reader has no knowledge of the organization. Use third person consistently throughout the report.
In third person, the writer avoids the pronouns I, we, my, and ours. The third person is used to make the writing more objective by taking the individual, the "self," out of the writing.
This method is very helpful for effective business writing, a form in which facts, not opinion, drive the tone of the text. Writing in the third person allows the writer to come across as unbiased and thus more informed.
• In Stage 1, you are preparing the first part of a 4-stage report. Use the structure, headings, and outline format provided here for your report.
• Write a short concise paper: Use the recommendations provided in each area for length of response. It's important to value quality over quantity. Assignment should not exceed 4 pages excluding title and reference pages.
• Content areas should be double spaced; table entries should be single-spaced.
• To copy a table: Move your cursor to the table, then click on the small box that appears at the upper left corner of the table to highlight the table; right click and COPY the table; put the cursor in your paper where you want the table and right click and PASTE the table.
• Ensure that each of the tables is preceded by an introductory sentence that explains what is contained in the table, so the reader understands why the table has been included.
• Create a title page that includes: The company name, title of report, your name, Course and Section # and date.
• Use at least two resources with APA formatted citation and reference. Use at least one external reference and one from the course content. Course content should be from the class reading content, not the assignment instructions or case study itself. The final document should contain all references from all stages appropriately formatted and alphabetized.
• Begin a Reference Page for resources required for this assignment. Additional research in next stages will be added to this as you build the report.
• Running headers are not required for this report.
• Compare your work to the Grading Rubric below to be sure you have met content and quality criteria.
• Submit your paper as a Word document, or a document that can be read in Word. Keep tables in Word format - do not paste in graphics.