CHAPTER 13 REVIEW: BUILDING INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Building the
new system entailed analyzing the organization’s problems
with existing information systems, assessing
people’s information requirements, selecting appropriate technology, and
redesigning business processes and jobs. Management had
to monitor the system-building effort and evaluate its benefits and costs. The new information system
represented a process of planned organizational change.
As the text has previously mentioned in early
chapters, information systems are more than just the technology and new
software that is installed for a company. Information systems encompass the
business plans, new hardware, and jobs associated with the information systems.
New information systems are a major undertaking for any company, large or
small. They bring about incredible organizational change. There are four types
of structural organization enabled changes: automation, rationalization,
business process redesign, and paradigm shifts.
The most common form is automation and this simply means to automate or refine processes to
be more efficient. An example could be replacing several data entry clerks with
an information system database that automatically inputs the data and
eliminates the need for the data entry clerks. Automation is low risk investment and can usually yield good
results for a company to speed up processes and eradicates expensive payroll
and employee costs.
The second type of IT-enabled organization
change is rationalization of procedures.
This type of change is similar to automation in that it simplifies business
processes but it also finds loopholes or problems with processes and procedures
and finds ways to improve workflow. Rationalization also takes into account
total quality management in an effort for a company to reach its full quality
potential. Total quality management (TQM) makes achieving quality
an end in itself and the responsibility of all people and functions within an organization.
The
third type of organization change is business
process redesign. This is a complete overhaul of the business processes in which business processes
are analyzed, simplified, and redesigned. Business
process redesign reorganizes workflows, combining steps
to cut waste and
eliminate repetitive, paper-intensive tasks.
It’s more complex than automation and eliminates any unnecessary work, paper,
old or outdated technology, jobs, etc. A redesign has higher risk
but usually results in a higher return on investment. Companies
practicing business process management go through the
following
steps which is identify processes
for change and analyze existing processes, design the new process, implement the new process,
and continuous measurement.
The final organizational change is called a paradigm shift. This type of change is
more or less changing the entire company and more so what the company does. An
example could be a company that manufactures siding for homes to a company that
engineers an entirely new type of siding or home exterior product. A paradigm
shift could be even more dramatic and the company could change to a roofing
company. The risks are obviously higher when implementing an information
technology system that will change the entire structure and purpose of your
company but the rewards can be equally high.
At the most basic
level, the information requirements of a new system involve identifying who needs what information, where, when, and
how. Requirements
analysis carefully defines the objectives of the new or modified system and develops a detailed description of the functions that
the
new
system must perform.
The new approaches for system building
in the
digital firm
era is companies are turning to rapid
application design, joint
application design (JAD), agile
development, and
reusable software
components to accelerate the systems development
process. Rapid application development (RAD) uses object-oriented software, visual programming, prototyping,
and fourth-generation tools for very rapid
creation of systems. Agile development
breaks a large project
into a series of
small subprojects
that are completed in short periods of time
using
iteration and continuous feedback. Component-based development expedites
application development by grouping objects
into suites
of software components that can be combined to create large-scale
business applications. Web services provide a set of standards that enable to link their systems regardless of their technology
platform through plug&play architecture.
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