Homework: System Recommendation and Final BA&SR Report
Before you begin work on this homework, be sure you have read the Case Study, and reviewed the feedback received.
Overview
As the business analyst in the CIO's department of Chesapeake IT Consulting (CIC), your next task in working towards an IT solution to improve the hiring process at CIC is to write a justification and implementation plan for a system that the CIO has decided will meet CIC's needs. In this Stage 4 homework, you will explain how the selected system meets CIC's requirements, and what needs to be done to implement the system within CIC. In addition, you will provide a complete final BA&SR Report incorporating feedback from all earlier stages.
- BA&SR- System Recommendation and Summary & Conclusion
The first step is to incorporate the feedback you received on your Stage 3 homework, making any needed corrections or adjustments. (If you have not incorporated the feedback from your Stage 1 and Stage 2 homeworks, you should do so prior to submitting Stage 4.) Part of the grading criteria for this final stage includes addressing previous feedback to improve the final report. For this homework, you will add
Section IV of the Business Analysis and System Recommendation Report will explain how the selected system helps CIC achieve its strategy, improve its hiring process, and meet CIC's requirements, and you will explain how each implementation area might be addressed to help ensure a successful implementation of the technology solution.
Using the case study and the outline and resources listed below, develop your Section IV - System Recommendation. Approximate lengths for each section are provided as a guideline; be sure to provide all pertinent information.
As you review the case study, use the homework instructions to take notes to assist in your analysis; in addition, review information provided in earlier stages of this report to identify where the proposed solution can address the needs and requirements.
Use the outline format and headings provided and follow all formatting instructions below. Review final report for incorporation of previous grading content feedback and any format changes needed.
System Recommendation
A. System Justification and How the Proposed Solution Meets the Requirements
Provided with the Stage 4 Homework Instructions is a description of an IT solution that HR management has selected, with the CIO's endorsement, to meet the needs of improving CIC's hiring process. In Stage 1, you analyzed the strategy and objectives for CIC and how a technology solution to improve the hiring process would contribute. In Stage 2, you analyzed how to improve the hiring process with a technology solution, and in Stage 3 you identified specific requirements. After reviewing the EZ-ATS Vendor Brochure, briefly describe the selected solution. Then, describe how that selected solution aligns with achieving the strategy, improves the process, and meets the requirements. Write one to two clear, concise, well-organized paragraphs to summarize this assessment. Don't just repeat information from previous stages but synthesize this information and provide strong information and justification to explain why this proposed solution is a good fit for CIC.
B. Implementation Areas
To successfully implement this technology solution, CIC will need to develop an Implementation Plan and below is a list of key implementation areas that should be included. First, provide a brief introduction to this section - what it contains and why an Implementation Plan is so important for CIC. Then, use the numbering and headings below to explain what CIC needs to do (with support by the vendor) in each of the 7 areas listed. Below the numbered heading, write one to two paragraphs to address the area. You don't need a paragraph each for a, b and c-these sub-areas are designed to help you know what should be covered in each area. The vendor brochure provides information for some of these areas, but you need to include what CIC must do as well. Remember you are writing this section to help CIC plan for a successful implementation. It is not sufficient to just indicate "Vendor provides" or "employees need to be trained." In addition to incorporating course content, external research on implementation areas will strengthen your understanding and explanation. The goal for this section is to help CIC know what needs to happen in each area to help support a successful implementation of EZ-ATS.
A. Vendor agreement
1. What does the vendor require from CIC to be able to start using the system?
2. How much will it cost to get access to and configure the system for CIC's use?
3. How much will it cost per month to support 60 system users?
B. Hardware and telecommunications
1. List the types of hardware CIC employees can use to access the system.
2. What kind of telecommunications will be used for the solution, including local connectivity inside CIC and Internet access from outside CIC?
C. Configuration (Even SaaS solutions require a degree of configuration for each client. What needs to be done to implement the CIC job requisitions, workflow, reports, terminology and/or logo/graphics?)
1. What options does the vendor offer for configuring the off-the-shelf system to CIC's needs?
2. How will the configuration be done and by whom?
D. Testing
1. What option is offered for CIC to just try out the system to see how it works?
2. Once it has signed up and configured the system, how will CIC test the system to see if it is working properly for its needs? Describe how CIC will conduct User Acceptance Testing. (This would be a good area for you to research.)
3. Choose one of the ten requirements in Requirements (listed in Section III of your BA&SR Report) and explain how that requirement will be tested to ensure it is working properly and the requirement is met.
E. Employee preparation and support - Identify what CIC should do in each of the areas below to prepare the employees (including the hiring managers in the various departments) to use the new system. Identify who (by their title or role) should do what in each area. (Incorporate information from Course Content - Leadership and Change Management Course Module - Week 8)
1. Leadership (2-3 sentences)
2. Change Management (2-3 sentences)
3. Training (2-3 sentences)
4. User Support (2-3 sentences)
F. Data migration - Consider what existing data (applicants in process with the manual process) would need to be entered into the system to get started and how might this be accomplished?
G. Maintenance - How will updates and enhancements to the EZ-ATS system be made?
Summary and Conclusion: Close your Business Analysis and System Recommendation Report with a brief summary of the key points including the benefits CIC can expect to gain from this solution and the alignment with strategic objectives. (One well-written paragraph). Just as your introduction informed your reader about why you're writing and what's to come, the conclusion should provide a clear and concise final paragraph to reinforce/emphasize key points and a compelling argument for the chosen solution - and it should urge the reader to take action.
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.
1. You are preparing the final part of a 4-stage report. Use the structure, headings, and outline format provided here for your report.
2. Begin with Sections I, II and III, revised according to any feedback received, and add to it Section.
3. Write a complete, well organized paper that includes the four sections of the Business Analysis and System Recommendations (BA&SR) report. Use the recommendations provided in each area for length of response. It's important to value quality over quantity. Length for Section IV should not exceed five pages in addition to Sections I, II and III.
4. Content areas should be double spaced; table entries should be single-spaced.
5. Ensure that each of the tables in the final report is preceded by an introductory sentence that explains what is contained in the table, so the reader understands why the table has been included.
6. Continue to use the title page created in Stage 1 that includes: The company name, title of report, your name, Course and Section Number, and date of this submission.
7. For Section IV, use at least three resources with APA formatted citation and reference. One reference must be from an external source, one must be the EZ-ATS Brochure, and one must be another reference from the IFSM 300 course content. Course content should be from the class reading content, not the homework instructions or case study itself.
8. Finalize the Reference Page for resources required for all sections of the report. The final document should contain all references from all stages appropriately formatted and alphabetized.
9. Running headers are not required for this report.
Format your homework according to the give formatting requirements:
1. The answer must be double spaced, typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the homework, the course title, the student's name, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.