Kisah Puteriku
Saturday, 12 March 2016
Honam Petrochemical’s Quest for
better Management Reports
List and describe the information requirements of
HPC’s new management system. What problems was the new system designed to
solve?
Honam needed
reliable reports that could accurately measure management performance and
provide useful, accurate information for increasing sales
and reducing costs. Executive decision-makers wanted up-to-the minute reports
that they could view quickly on their desktops. They wanted access via the Web
or their mobile devices. They also wanted access to enterprise-wide data that
could be shared easily across various business units and functions to support
the company’s expansion geographically and by product line.
The problem’s
Honam wanted to solve included outdated reports. Then individual managers were
processing and manipulating data to make their departments look better to
senior management. The report data were also outdated and only presented
periodically. Executives also did not want to be overloaded with unnecessary
data.
To what extent were
‘people” problems affecting management decision making at HPC? What were some
of the management, organization and technology that had to be addressed by the
new system? How did the system’s designers make the system more
“people-friendly”?
To what extent were
‘people” problems affecting management decision making at HPC?
Individual managers were processing and manipulating the data to make
their departments look better to senior management. The report data were stale
and presented only on periodic basic. Executives at the chemical firm wanted
access to the data before they went through manipulation or processing. They
didn’t want each department’s own interpretation report thus delay the report
to management. The executives wanted anytime access to the most time data but
they did not want to be overload with unnecessary data, so they could focus on
the “watch-up indicators”.
What were some of
the management, organization and technology that had to be addressed by the new
system?
Issue that need to be addressed by the new system such as, up to date
information can be shown during the meeting to ensure all discussions and
decision making are based on the consistency and timely review of the data. An
executives can access the data at any time to get a more accurate and timelier
picture of how their organization is performing without any outside
interpretation. Other than that, there is no longer do top level decision
makers for example to send their staff members on data-hunting excursions. The
staff should know data is available and how to get it to expedites their
decision making process.
How did the
system’s designers make the system more “people-friendly”?
The system’s designers need to make the system more “people-friendly” by
develop several things such as, develop web access from multiple location,
required training on how to use the system, develop well designed and user
friendly screen and data entry forms, simple and easy to updates, easy to
troubleshoot and efficient.
What role did
end-users play in developing HPC’s new system? How did the project team make
sure users were involved? What would have happened to the project if they had
not done this?
End-users appear to have had quite a lot of input into designing the new
reporting system. The information systems team asked executives to list
existing reports they were already receiving and to assess the usefulness of
each. Executives were asked if there any additional reports or data from which
their organizational groups could benefit. The findings were very useful in
determining the right set of reports and dashboards for Honam executives.
To encourage users to start working with the system, the information
people visited various manufacturing plants where the system was being rolled
out and had in-depth discussions with executives about the systems’ benefits as
well as how to use it. It’s because the information systems team involved users
at the beginning and asked for their input, executives were much more likely to
adapt to and use the new information reporting system.
What other steps
did HPC take to make sure the system was successful?
HPC used a phased approach in implementing the new system. HPC waited
until the company was experience with ERP software and confident in its data
quality and its data collection and processing methods. HPC CIO, Jong Pyo Kim
also emphasized the important of benchmarking with other companies in the
industry before designing and implementing an executive facing system. Most
manufacturing want to access to similar data and performance indicators.
What types of
system-building methods and tools did HPC use for building its system?
SAP Business objects Dashboard is a drag-and-drop visualization tool
designed to create interactive analytics for powerful, personalized dashboards
based on SAP’s business object business intelligence platform. Business object
tools can be used for performance management, planning, reporting, query and
analysis, enterprise information management and provide self-service access to
data from database and excel spread-sheets.
SAP Business Objects Web Intelligence is an ad hoc query, reporting and
analysis tools that is used to create queries or use existing reports, format
retrieved information and perform analysis to understand trends and root
causes.
What were the
benefits of the new system> How did its change the way Honam ran its business?
How successful was the system solution?
Timelier decisions – Reduces time needed to collect, process and track
data for decision making. Other than that, delivers timely information and
various analysis to end user.
Personalized delivery of information – provides options for Early Warning
System of data alerts that allows differentiation and personalized delivery of
information for executives, managers, and front-line employees.
Measurable watch-up indicators across all business areas – Ensure consistency
of information and establishes structure for global sharing of information.
Increase business competitiveness through increased use of global information
system.
Improved accessibility – Display data management cockpits, or widgets and
provides unstructured details and analysis also leverages visual graphics to
improve readability.
The benefit was immediate such as Executives no longer are limited to
sanitized, stale data in outdated presentation format. Management also can made
a discussion and decisions based on timely consistent and accurate company wide
data.
Friday, 26 February 2016
Austin’s Energy’s Billing System
Can’t Light Up
Is the Austin
Energy project a failure? Explain your answer.
Yes, the Austin Business Project is failure
because:
Modernization billing project delays -
Austin and IBM project late completion, delay schedule, software bugs.
Complexity new billing system with 73 different interface
Software bugs - Error of thousands of bills,
65000 never received bills35000 in accurate bills, overcharging
Instability issues - Seriously impact
business and customer, Persistent system error from billing department and
Revenue loses
Customer services employee - Employee
response one to one assistant for account accessing and correcting error.
Customer - Unable to access system online
portal and System causes a lot of problem, not friendly and hard time for
customer.
IBM failure - Billing software system
failure
Describe the
business impact of the faltering Austin Energy project.
Operation are mostly affected is billing
department.Difficulties of issuing bills because of billing software failure, Common
error of customer not received bills, customer receive in accurate bills, account
automatically cancelled, Incurred more cots in utilities and operation. Since
business function is interconnected, one function failure give impact of another
function such as production, Business service is inaccurate, it give impact in
revenue and profit even though they don’t have pressure of competitor.
Customer servicedepartment mostly
affected.Employee work in high level of stress, Extra effort need to solve
customer problem. They still need to serve customer better even though customer
angry to show their disappointment towards the company, Employee also treated
in the same way as usual, do not receive any appreciation from the company and Give
impact of public relationship disaster.
Sales and marketing such as company also faced difficulties in
determining the actual sales since the system leads more error, Sales and
profit decreasing, Company might face law suit for this issues. If it is happening,
more cost to handle legal costs. It is bad for company since give negative
impact in their legacy and Company also incurred more cost in advertising to
give explanation to the public about what happen.
Finance and accounting such as Inaccurate financial
report since the actual value of revenue and profit inaccurate recorded, give
impact of financial planning and investment and the project is delayed, suppose
fully operational in early 2011 but it still not fully operational and incurred
more cost.
Management will do a wrong decision making
of having IBM to develop the software as the bad experience IBM performance in
inventory management, the service given by IBM is bad and disappointment and need
to train all employees with new technology.
Customer will mostly affected. Whereby System
also not user friendly, Austin portal also always have problem, customer can’t
access account information and company also doesn't think of their preference
such as ability to choose time of the month that customer prefers to pay bills.
To what degree was
IBM responsible for the problems countered by the Austin Energy billing
project? Was Austin Energy at fault for the problems? Explain your answer.
IBM not really responsive to the problems
and it made Austin Energy appealed so many times to IBM officials ranging from
the managers of billing system project up to IBM CEO. IBM responsible in find
the roof of problem, make system correction, test the latest system version and
implement the system.
Yes, Austin Energy is at fault for the
problem. It is because Austin Energy as a user had to be committed to the
system. Probably, Austin Energy did not plan very properly in the project to
develop the billing system. They must have clear and proper project management
objective which should deal with five major variables: scope, time, cost,
quality and risk. The agreement should clearly define the roles and
responsibilities of both party.
What were the
specific organizational or technical factors as well as management factors
involved in this projects failure?
Organizational:Employee could not be
committed enough and described as if they are alpha tester when they
encountered bugs and issues that never have made it to a live version, unable
to meet customer satisfaction, no realignment internally and externally, caused
vastly on costs that exceed budgets, fail to meet customer expectation and lost
trust draws customer away.
Technical:No specific infrastructure, unreliable
system caused money loss, did not work closely with third party vendors like
oracle, customers unable to access the system’s online portal.
Management:No strategy which cause time
slippage, no business solutions, interrelated with manpower, repeating mistakes
and delays and improper project management objective.
Describe the steps
Austin Energy and IBM should have taken be better manage this project.
Austin Energy and IBM need to develop an
information system plan which indicates:
Austin Energy and IBM need to develop an
information system plan which indicates
such as the direction of system development, the rational, the current
system/situation, new development to consider, the management strategy, the
implementation plan and Budget requirement
What does IT take to go Mobile
What management, organization and technology issues
need to be addressed when building mobile application.
The introduction of a new information system
involves much more than new hardware and software. A mobile strategy involves
much than selecting mobile devices, operating system and applications. It also
includes changes in business process, changing the way people work, skills, and
the way a firm interacts with its customers. System builders must understand
how a system will affect specific business processes and the organization as a
whole.
I.
Management Issues: Before firms go to mobile, Company should identify
several issues toward management such as: System Solution Selection, Project
Monitoring and Rationalization of the applications. Management also need
defined clearly the benefit to company and customer against the developing any
mobile application.
II.
Organizational Issue: Before firms go to mobile, Company should identify
several issues toward organizational such as: Global Processes Redesigning,
Jobs redesigning, Employee Training and Change of corporate culture.
III.
Technology Issues: Before firms go to mobile, Company should identify
several issues toward Technology such as: Deploy E-Business Software, Rich and
rewards of far reaching changes of mobile features and applications, Automation
from Technology – enable change and System Development Process.
How does user
requirement definition for mobile applications differ from that in traditional
systems analysis?
Requirement analysis also called requirements engineering which is the
process of determining user expectations for a new or modified product. These features, called requirements must be
quantifiable, relevant and detailed. In software engineering such requirements
are often called functional specifications. Requirements analysis is an
important aspect of project management. Requirement analysis involves frequent
communications with system users to determine specific features expectations,
resolution of conflict or ambiguity in requirements as demanded by the various
users or groups of users, avoidance of feature creep and documentation of all
aspects of the project from start to finish.
Traditional requirements are usually thought of as capabilities and
constraints of the system. Many traditional requirements do provide context for
business and users but usually not the main focus of the requirement rather
than focus of system. Requirements be the sources of record for the system’s
operation.
Describe the
business processes changed by USAA’s mobile applications before and after the
application were deployed.
USAA launched its Web in 1997 and went
mobile 10 years later, with about 90% of its interactions with customers taking
place on these two self-service channels. In 2001, USAA handle 183 million
customer contacts through mobile channel alone, and expect the mobile channel
will its primary point of contact with customers in next two years. In 2011
also, USAA Federal Savings bank processed $6.4 billion in deposits through this
mobile applications. The mobile applications also displays loan 7 credit card
balance, shopping services, homeowners & auto insurance policy information,
Home Information, ATM & Taxi locators and a communities features that lets
users see what others are posting about USAA on Twitter, Facebook and You Tube.
USAA has 100 dedicated mobile developer writing apps for device using iPhone,
iPad and Android systems, along with apps Blackberry and Windows Phone 7. USAA
develop a smartphone accident report & claims applications that enables
customers to snap a photo & submit a claim directly from the site of an
accident.
Knowledge Management and Collaboration at
Tata Consulting Services
Analyze the knowledge management efforts at TCS using the knowledge value chain model.
Which tools or activities were used for managing tacit knowledge and which ones
are used for explicit knowledge?
The knowledge
management efforts at TCS can be divided as below:
a)
Acknowledge Acquisition
-
Over the years, TCS had acquired a vast body of
knowledge and experience in several fields through on-shore and off-shore
projects for its client across the globe including GE Insurance, GE Health,
Hewlett Packard, Prudential, Standard Chartered Bank and so on.
-
TCS regularly rotated people across various
functions and within other Tata Group companies to gain cross-industry
experience.
-
Employees were also encouraged to be part of
outside bodies like IEEE and go in for certificates.
b)
Knowledge Storage
-
TCS had developed various repositories and
databases for knowledge storage such as Kbases, Process Asset Libraries,
KnowMax and Ultimatix.
c)
Knowledge Dissemination
-
Knowledge was disseminated using a variety of
techniques such as:
·
Ultimatix : A web based electronic knowledge
management portal
·
Propel session : Brought together employees with
similar interests
·
Live Meeting and Knowledge Transition sessions
at the project level
·
“Tip of the Day” email comprising technical,
conceptual or human skills tips were share within the organization daily
d)
Knowledge Application
-
Employees could access the knowledge repository
that raised on the corporate and branch servers through the intranet.
-
Students or anybody should visit the TCS website
to explore the new capabilities developed by TCS and how it relates to the
knowledge they have accumulated over the years about the customers, markets,
systems development and technologies.
Tools or
activities were used for managing tacit knowledge:
-
Kbases
-
Process Asset Libraries
-
KnowMax
-
Ultimax
Tools or
activities were used for managing explicit knowledge:
-
Redesign of development centers
-
Propel sessions
-
Knowledge Transition Sessions
-
Communities of practice
Describe the growth of knowledge management
systems at TCS. How have these systems helped TCS in its business?
The concept of
knowledge management (KM) was introduced in TCS in 1995 and a dedicated KM team
called ‘Corporate Groupware’ was formed in 1998. This group launched the
KM-pilot in mid-1999. At that time, KM in TCS covered nearly every function,
from quality assurance to HR management. The employees could access the
knowledge repository that resided on the corporate and branch servers through
the intranet, with a browser front-end or a Notes client. The knowledge
repository also called Kbases, contained a wide range of information about
processes line of business of technology and projects.
The next step
was to create Process Asset Libraries (PALs) which contained information
related to technology, processes, and case studies for project leaders which
were made available to all development centers through the intranet.
The same was
done through the web-based electronic knowledge management portal called
Ultimax, which PAL was the precursor. The PAL library and Kbases, which were
hosted on the intranet, merged with Ultimax, which had sub-portals for quality
management system, software productivity improvement, training materials and
tools information.
TCS developed Knowmax,
a knowledge management system using Microsoft share point portal server that
gave TCS consultants access to nearly 40 years of experience and best practices
arranged by type of engagement, the technology in use and customer
requirements. It supported more than 60 knowledge assets and was accessible via
Ultimax to all TCS associates. Any associate could contribute to the K-Bank and
Knowledge officers were made responsible for maintaining the quality of
content.
Describe the collaboration tools used at
TCS? What benefits did TCS reap from these tools?
Collaboration
tools used by TCS:
-
Infinity that includes instant messaging, IP
telephony and video conferencing
-
Blogs and wikis
-
IdeaStorm, TIP
-
Mysite
Benefits that
TCS reap from these tools:
i)
Collaboration overseas and local offices
improved as instant messaging got rid of cultural and pronunciation differences
that could occur on the phone.
ii)
Corporate communications are able to run a
24-hour internal news broadcast to all TCS offices in the world.
iii)
Travel and telecommunications costs were reduced
by 40% and 6% respectively.
iv)
The other tools improved collaboration,
communication and knowledge sharing among the employees.
How did Web 2.0 tools help TCS to manage
knowledge and collaboration among its employees?
Web 2.0 tools
help TCS to manage knowledge and collaboration among its employees as below:
a)
Wikis
-
Collaborating on materials related to project.
-
Supporting brainstorming sessions
-
Developing presentations
b)
Blogs
-
Used as to gather inputs on problems that they
faced on a project.
c)
Just Ask System
-
Allowed employees to post a question and get
answers from colleagues, sometimes leading to a detailed discussion.
-
If someone often answered questions on a
particular domain, the relevant specialist group invites that person into the
domain group and gave the visibility to talent within the company.
d)
The Ideastorm
-
Used by management, helped in generation of
ideas on topics posted by corporate team.
e)
TIP
-
Used as a portal for product innovation and new
ideas.
-
Helped the management to garner ideas related to
product or service innovation and helped in solving problems.
f)
Social Net Working Mysite
-
To help employees communicate better with each
other.
How do you think KM tools have changed some
key operational processes at TCS, such as bidding for new projects, project
development and implementation, customer service and so on?
System
development and implementation activities are more likely to be done by TCS in
manner that is timely, effective and cost efficient. The same for customer
service, by knowing customer requirements and also taking ideas from other
industries that are stored in the KM databases, the company can provide new and
innovative solutions to resolve customer queries. TCS aims to move up the value
chain and to continue to bid for higher level projects, beyond those of
maintenance and development. By accumulating knowledge, it has built
capabilities to understand how to service clients through consulting and in
other strategic areas. So KM has enabled TCS to continue to move higher-up and
to bid for more strategic projects. KM repositories that capture best practices
in the projects it has undertaken make the company more efficient in servicing clients.
This means it can execute better. Overall, KM tools have become a key strategic
resource at the company and all hires are required to learn them as a part of
their orientation. These tools are also the first go-to before starting and
project or approaching a client. Knowledge in these databases allows TCS
consultants to quickly gather intelligent about the client or similar projects
and thus align themselves better with what the client might want. This has led
to higher success rate in bidding and in project execution.
Designing Drug Virtually
Why are computers so important in drug
discovery?
i)
Previously traditional methods of drug discovery
rely on trial and error testing of chemical substances on cultured cells or
animals and matching the apparent effects to treatments.
ii)
The traditional drug discovery process are
painstaking and complicated. It’s take a lot of time and a lot of process and
too much trial and error.
iii)
Drug development companies tried to speed up the
process by creating huge libraries of potential compounds and sing robots to
quickly review hundreds of thousands of sample to see if any worked.
iv)
The researchers had no idea and not understand
the ‘key’ of the ‘lock’.
v)
Scientists were used the powerful computers to
analyze thousands of interference patterns.
vi)
Researchers must find a custom molecule to fit
that particular ‘lock’.
vii)
The molecule must be able to bind to target, be
synthesized and manufactured in large quantities and be metabolized by body at
just the right rate.
Subsequently,
researchers must find a custom molecule to fit that particular ‘lock’. This is
because the molecule must be able to:
-
Bind the target
-
Be synthesized and manufacture in large
quantities
-
Be metabolized by the body at just the right
rate
These are the
reasons computers are so important in the drug discovery process. Eventually,
the high-powered computers help evaluate the structures and properties of
molecules that are most likely to bind to that target and rapidly search
database libraries of chemical structures in order to identify the most
promising candidates.
What roles are played by computers in the
drug discovery process?
Roles played by
computers in the drug discovery process as below:
a)
In the field of medicine, drug discovery is the
process by which new candidate medications are discovered.
b)
The objective of drug design is to find chemical
compound that can fit to a specific cavity on a protein target both
geometrically and chemically.
c)
It is generally recognized that drug discovery
and development are very time and resources consuming processes.
d)
There is ever growing effort to apply computational
power to combined chemical and biological space in order to streamline drug
discovery, design. Development and optimization.
e)
In biomedical arena, computer-aided is being
utilized to expedite and facilitate hit identification, hit-to-lead selection,
optimize the absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity
profile and avoid safety issues.
f)
The result is determination of specific
receptors (targets).
g)
In the modern era, computer-aided drug design
(CADD) has considerably extended its range of applications, spanning almost all
stages in the drug discovery pipeline from target identification to lead
discovery, from lead optimization to preclinical or clinical trials.
h)
Drug researchers using structure-based design
benefit from a new process of visualizing and modeling promising compounds at
the molecular level.
What
systems are described here? What valuable information do they provide?
The systems are described
in this case study are:
·
Database Management System
The system is based on clustered Dell servers running
Windows 2003 and connected to over 270 Windows XP clients. This system used as
the backbone of Sybase Adaptive server, whereas clients use SQL anywhere. Every
branch has the most recent version of the client list, trucks’ availability,
and new shipping contracts so that any customer is able to deal with any branch
at any time.
·
Shipping Information System
The
system is to maintain all the sender information such as the sent car, the
truck number, the sender and receiving branches, and it also sends an SMS
message to the client acknowledging the arrival of the car. The system also
records the client’s data, and holds maintenance information. Linking the data
of vehicle maintenance centres with the transportation service helps to enhance
company performance and achieve better customer service. The system also enable
standard reports to be provided to top management and head sectors about the
productivity of each branch, resulting in accurate identification of needs for
different regions and thus proper budget allocation. In addition, the system
allowed a better audit on all drivers’ behaviour by using the output of the
vehicles’ tracking information.
What
value did the IT/IS investments add to Albassami?
By investing in IT/IS, the
values added are:
·
Enhance
company performance.
·
Achieve
better customer services.
·
Helps
top management make faster decision and reduce error in decision making by
using accurate data provided by the system.
·
Proper
performance and monitoring resulted in adequate employees’ appraisals and
consequently loyal staff.
·
Knowledge
extracted from central database has enabled the management team to make sound
investment and operational decision and therefore help the business maintain
its success leadership in Kingdom.
How
did implementing the Shipping Information System address the business needs and
information requirements of Albassami?
Implementing the shipping
information system address the business needs and information requirements of
Albassami is the recipient branch will create a receipt entry on the system
upon arrival of the truck and then and Short Messaging Service communication
(SMS) is created and sent to the customer, who will then go to the destination
branch to receive the car.
In addition, Albassami
maintains all the sender information such as the sent car, the truck number,
the sender and receiving branches, and it also sends an SMS to the client
acknowledging the arrival of the car. The system also records the client’s
data, and holds maintenance information. Linking the data of vehicle
maintenance centres with the transportation service helps to enhance company
performance and achieve better customer service.
The system also enables
standard reports to be provided to top management and head sectors about the
productivity of each branch, resulting in accurate identification of needs for
different regions and thus proper budget allocation. In addition, the system
allowed a better audit on all drivers’ behaviour by using the output of the vehicles
tracking information. Proper performance monitoring resulted in adequate
employee’s appraisals and consequently loyal staff.
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