International Business Solutions' Decision for Ultimate Recruitment - Case Study Example

I. Introduction The individual reflection report, as the name suggests, is like a post project review. The project in this case is the ‘ICT business solution for Ultimate Recruitment (UR)’. This was a group project and the solution proposed was a result of the contribution of every member of the group. Hence, the reflection on this project consists of three major sections. Reflection on the proposed ICT solution is the first section followed by Reflection on the group and Reflection on Self as the second and third sections respectively. II. Reflection on the proposed ICT solution The information technology and communications solution proposed by our company ‘International Business Solutions (IBS)’ is well researched and designed to suit Ultimate Recruitment’s operational and organizational needs. We have conducted a thorough Need Analysis for UR and the processes of its client service. This resulted in the identification of their requirement for technology so as to simplify their working system and to make it more efficient. The solutions we proposed were based on a comprehensive cost-benefit and several other analyses which authenticate the viability of its implementation. A SWOT analysis done evidently identifies how and why this technology implementation would benefit the company and strengthen its competitive edge in the market and as an industry leader. It has been clearly established in out report that UR will gain multi-fold with our technology solution both in terms of better client management through CRM framework, effective communication and data transfer network through VPN framework and a centralized data storage, management and retrieval facility through SQL database management framework. The project has been devised to be completed in a phase-wise manner (three phased division). This approach has helped us set smaller landmarks which indicate the progress towards project implementation. This is a very practical approach towards handling a big project as it gives an opportunity for assessment of the output after every phase to monitor whether it is going as desired or not, whether it needs modifications and whether it is following the pre-determined timeline or not and make the necessary changes as and when required. A risk assessment profile for the project was also carried out which enhances the credibility of the solution proposed by us. An examination of the potential risks which might hamper or de-stabilize the project objectives is essential as it helps in keeping a contingency plan or a backup plan known as Plan B ready prior to the occurrence of any of such risk events. This aids better risk mitigation and risk handling at a later stage. Thus, an illustration of the various risk factors taken into account by our project developer along with our risk tackling strategies provides further strength and viability to our project. Our project plan analysis shows that this project would help UR eliminate its vast and error-prone paper work. Also, this technology solution proposed by us will reinforce their internal communication network and network with clients which would ultimately save time in unnecessary communication hurdles. Time is money and hence, this project majorly will assist UR to carry out its processes efficiently and with reduced costs involved. The implementation of the technology structure is a one time investment which over a period of time will reap revenues for UR many times more than this initial investment made. III. Reflection on the group This project was undertaken by me and my groupmates and it involved a lot of hardwork, analysis and team effort. The group process started with our interactive meets in the library. The intial meetings were scheduled to decide on the assessment of Ultimate Recruitment’s situation and how can we help UR with our company IBS’s core competence in technology solutions. The enthusiasm and eagerness shown by each and every member of our group was instrumental in giving a momentum to this project after the initial discussions. All of us met at the designated time slot and involved ourselves in a thorough discussion of the problems of UR identified by each of us and our probable recommendations. These discussion agendas were decided before hand in the preceeding meetings so as to give everybody a chance to explore and investigate the topic areas. The initial meetings were aimed at a systematic examination of the company’s processes, the overview of its business, the nature and enormity of its client base and the different bodies of authorities it deals which such as data travel volume in its two offices, the number of customers it handles, average number of job applicants it manages annually and so on. This stage of analysis became interesting and swift due to the engaging group discussions we had. Converging everybody’s viewpoints and taking a note of the major points which received everybody’s consent lead to the evolution of a fundamental base and reference point for project initiation. These notes were circulated amongst us in the form of ‘minutes of meeting’ taken note of by each of turn in turn. After some meetings of general discussions, we found it suitable to move ahead in a more structured manner. We decided to divide the entire project into work groups to be handled by each of us. The division of work was done into four work groups for each four of us and had the following structure: Introduction, Company Background and Conclusion – By Osama Project Background – By Amjad Business Case – By Abdullah (Me) ICT Solutions – By Shilun Li Henceforth, all the meetings were conducted to update each other on our own parts’ development. Sometimes, it was seen that a new and completely unique view emerged when we discussed a particular issue in a group. Regular meets and group evaluations helped the group monitor its progress on a continual basis and keep a check on timely completion of tasks so as to meet the final deadline. IV. Reflection on Self As a part of a very vigorous group, I can proudly reflect back to my contribution to it as an equally keen and passionate member. I ensured a wholehearted participation in every round of discussions with my groupmates, honestly put forth my suggestions and humbly accepted the criticisms of the other members which eventually had a constructive impact on my group’s performance. I had reliazed the importance of mutual co-ordination and understanding owing to my participation in many previous group activities. With this insight, I consciously attempted to keep my interactions with other group members very cordial and harmonized. With respect to my contribution to the solution proposed by my group, I made valid contributions to group discussions on the basis of my investigation of the concepts of communication and technology for a recruitment company. I carried out an extensive investigation of the need for various technological implementations at UR which was a need analysis. This consisted of a market scrutiny to identify the aptness of CRM framework for UR and to what extent has it been adopted by other players in the market. This research was expanded to the situational analysis which suggested vast modifications on the technological front in the current market scenario as compared to the past. With the results of these analyses, I was able to persuade my group to go ahead with CRM in our project proposal. Further, I was responsible for carrying out an output analysis along with the entire assessment of business and operational impacts of all our suggested solutions. It indicated numerous positive effects of implementation of our proposed technology solutions and therefore, gave us the impetus to indeed include those ICT solutions in our fianl list of enumerated recommendations and solutions. My analysis formed one of the fundamental pillars on which our report was to be structured and consequently, I made sincere efforts to do my best. However, apart from my own task, I also attempted to assist my other groupmates wherever they required help. I was genuinely concerned about the group’s output which was to be seen in the form of the final report, documented and presented by us. I thus paid attention to preparing well for my group presentation also. V. conclusion The collective strength of four individuals coming together as a group; lead to the successful completion of the project undertaken. At no point in group discussions did any of us show a negative atitude or take the criticism of a particular suggestion personally. This I believe was quite unexpected as every group does have some or the other collisions at some point of time. Nevertheless, we believe this was the strategic advantage of our group that facilitated an exhaustive study of our project’s problems and probable solutions. In the end, I was contended to have given the best of my inputs to the project as well as to my group activity. This project has enhanced my experience of group interaction and the ability to apply theoretically learned technology concepts to practical situations. I welcome many more such opportunities. VI. APPENDIX I: MY DIARY 29/04/09 Group 4 in ISIT-900 met for the first time. We met in the library and the discussion mainly revolved around the background of the company. We studied its strengths and weaknesses and did a quick SWOT of this company too. We kept a note of all the major points we discussed in this meeting for reference in future meetings. I did my homework on the company we discussed about and was therefore able to participate in these discussions. I was happy about that. 30/04/09 We met again today and our main agenda was to shape up the report so that we can have a clear roadmap for moving ahead. We discussed a lot of analysis tools and environment analysis along with the company background and solution we would propose. Also, we distributed the task amongst ourselves so that eack one of us would be able to concentrate on our part’s completion. I took up the reponsibility of posting the discussions of this meeting and the agenda of next meeting on e-learning. I felt good to have taken the responsibility. 07/05/09 We now met to take an overview of how each one of us went about their portion of task. We discussed the progress of each part of the report one by one. Also, we had some miscommunication problems between our members regarding this meeting but we tried to resolve it quickly. I was also ready with my part of need analysis on market and situation. However, I had the operational impacts and technology analysis yet to be completed. I received good feedback on my work by the other group members. It was very encouraging. 08/05/09 This meeting was called to take a final overview of all the work done. We also decided to start preparing the report for which the various topics were divided amongst us. It was as below Introduction, Company Background and Conclusion – By Osama, Project Background – By Amjad, Business Case – By Abdullah (Me) and ICT Solutions – By Shilun Li. I am quite confident that I will do this part of the report well because I had carried out an extensive research on the business case of this project. VII. APPENDIX II: My posting to group discussion on e-learning Subject: second meeting Topic: Private Group Discussion - T06 - 4 Author: Abdullah Alharbi Date: 1 May 2009 11:01 PM We had meeting on yesterday . All group's members attended the meeting. In the meeting we discussed as : - discuss structure of the report . - divide work amoung us . - arrangement for the next meeting . everything done except arrangement for the next meeting . It will be decided later. Thank you all Comments Read More