The organizational redesign with information systems - Essay Example

?ORGANIZATIONAL REDESIGN WITH INFORMATION SYSTEMS Introduction Forbes Solicitors, whose headquarter are situated in Blackburn, United Kingdom is a law firm, which provides comprehensive legal services for business, family and personal issues. Forbes is a large law firm with more than 96 specialist and professional solicitors who offer both legal consultation and representation services to their clients. The practice areas of the firm include issues of personal injury, family and divorce, medical negligence, will and probate, business law, insurance, housing and employment law. Because of the wide areas of practice and thus the increasing number of clients to the firm, there is a dire need for redesigning of the firm’s information system so that it can effectively manage the information explosion which results from the numerous legal processes legal processes. This paper gives an analysis of Forbes Solicitors’ information systems, system design, programming testing and conversion. Legal information systems Kadiyala and Kleiner (2005) assert that within legal systems, an information system is a combination of hardware, software, procedures, policies, people, information and data which is involved in the management of a firm’s business legal functions with an aim of meeting organizational objectives and goals with efficiency and effectiveness. The hardware within information systems includes the physical aspects of the system such as computer components and the related equipment. The software is a set of applications that are used alongside the hardware to effectively perform organizational or business functions. The software applications in a legal setting include information processing systems, database packages, finance and accounting packages, anti malware applications, and word processing packages (Plaza, 2008). The policies of a legal information system comprise of the set standards for proper management of the system according to the internal and universal norms of legal firms’ functioning. Davison and Deeks (2007) assert that procedures in a legal information system are the steps through which various legal activities and processes within the systems should follow to ensure that efficiency is enhanced and thus achievement of high quality of legal services. In an information system, the people are the human resource and expertise who are involved in various organizational activities and processes. Therefore the employees in a legal firm including the lawyers and firm management are the people who are involved in the processing of information within the information system. Data or information is a significant aspect of an information system because it helps organization to function and survive in the business environment through its application to enhance all business processes and to compete favorably within the market. The data in a law firm include records of law processes, client information, evidence material, legal proceedings and financial data. Kadiyala and Kleiner (2005) say that examples of information systems applicable in a law firm include transaction processing systems which include as set of applications for the processing of the daily legal activities and processes of the firm. Decision supports systems are other examples of information systems that are important in the decision making process of law firms and thus serve as an essential tool for the management team. Management information systems are commonly used technologies which facilitate the management process of all functional areas of any firm as demonstrated by Broadbent and Weill (1999). Other information systems such as expert systems can be used in law firms to perform specialized functions analysis of legal scenarios that would help defense of prosecuting teams to come up with a solid argument during legal processing. Forbes Solicitors Forbes Solicitors offer legal services to both commercial and individual clients. The firm operates nine offices which are committed entirely to the care of their clients and quality in legal service. The firm also values its staff as the most important group in the determination of its success within the law industry. The success of the firm is attributed to the fact that the staff and management in all of its offices give the needs of their clients the first priority (Forbes Solicitors, 2011). The firm has an information system that is used to manage its basic information processing. However, the explosion of information from its many service areas and its expansion requires redesigning of its information system. The family and divorce services of Forbes firm produces large amount of information that is related to matters of child issues, separation, domestic violence, divorce, family finance and broken relationships which requires good management owing to the sensitivity of these issues (Forbes Solicitors, 2011). Additionally, the firm offers legal services related to issues of personal injury such as claims that result from accidents. This service provides the clients with legal assistance in cases of personal injury which would result from clinical negligence. The information system of the firm also manages information which emanates from high profile cases such as murder trials within its criminal law services. Furthermore, commercial law services are provided by the Forbes Solicitors to various business organizations in Europe. This service makes the firm be involved in the management of information on these organizations such as their business goals and objectives with an aim of providing adequate law consultancy and defense in cases of trials. The information needs of the Forbes solicitors also include legal information of its services on matters of insurance, housing, sports, employment and debt collection. Conflict resolution is among Forbes main legal services where court proceedings are used to solve conflicts in addition to the use of other methods of conflict resolution such as arbitration and mediation. Legal Directories (2012) says that Forbes Solicitors is affiliated to the Law Society, Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers. These bodies regulate the operations of the firm to ensure that legal ethics are practiced without violations of the standards of professional conduct of solicitors. This means that in the management of legal information through the firm’s information system, professional ethics are necessary in order to ensure that the provisions of the officiated legal societies are adhered to. Forbes Solicitors Information System Analysis According to (Forbes Solicitors, 2011), the information system of the Forbes Solicitors is composed of various hardware and equipment, software, procedures, policies, people, legal data and information. The information system of the various offices of the firm is delinked from others as each office has an independent information system. Within this information system, the people comprise of the more than 96 solicitors in the firm’s offices who use the information system, the clients and other stakeholders of the firm such as affiliate societies, government agencies and the general public who comprise of the firm’s potential clients. The firm has hardware such as computer, printers, scammers and equipment which include cameras and office furniture. The software that is applicable in the firm includes various computer application packages and system software. These include operating systems within its computers, accounting application packages, human resource management application and database management software. The equipment within the offices of Forbes solicitors is being overwhelmed by the increased information demands and law business processes. Additionally, the number of employees is increasing within the offices due to the growth of the business which makes the available equipment insufficient. The computer hardware used within the company’s offices has not been upgraded for a long time which makes the organization less compliant to the developments in technology which have resulted to more powerful computer hardware. The policies and procedures of the firm’s information system are not designed to meet the current challenges in the use of information technology such as security and privacy issues and the explosion of information in the legal systems. The legal data which is processed everyday within the firm’s offices is increasing and more information management is required. Moreover, the information system has not taken keen consideration of the user friendliness of its information system and thus it is not efficiently used by the human resource and clients. According to Law and Perez (2005), the analysis of an organization’s information system utilizes the critical success factors of an organization with a view of determining if the information system effectively helps the firm to succeed in meeting its goals and objectives. The success factors at that facilitates the success Forbes Solicitors include its staff, relationship with the clients, the use of legal information and maintenance of the firm’s image as explained by Legal Directories (2012). The staff of the firm includes the solicitors, management team and the support employees. The training of the staff in the use of information systems to facilitate the firm’s law activities is not adequate especially within the support staff. The firm’s management also needs further training in the application of management information system such as decision support systems to allow them make accurate, informed and thus appropriate legal decisions which concern the firm or its clients. The solution to the training needs is the restructuring of the firm’s policies in regard to training so that training programs can be supported by the management so that the skills of the staff on the use of information system can be enhanced. In return, the firm’s information system will be used exhaustively in the efficient processing of law information. Kadiyala and Kleiner (2005) explain that in the redesigning of information systems, the policies related to the training of the users of the system must be reviewed to ensure that they are supportive of the training needs of the system users. Plaza (2008) asserts that it is through an organization’s information system that its relationship with clients is made possible, improved and maintained. Forbes information system requires interactive features which would enable the access of the users and their interaction with the firm through its information system is enhanced. This can only be achieved through the redesigning the firm’s website with a view of improving its usability and interactivity. Through these features, the clients of the firm can be able to interact with the firm with much ease. As a result, online consultations can be possible in addition to inquiry about specific case via internet technology. Law and Perez (2005) emphasize that information systems of firms have utilized the internet technology to enable them connect to their clients through direct communication via the firm’s websites. Because of information explosion from the various legal services that are offered by the Forbes Solicitors, there is need to redesign its website so that the clients can be linked effectively to each of the services separately through access of the firm’s cites. The management of online information by the firm can be facilitated through the redesigning of its sites to ensure that the interaction of the firm with its stakeholders if as efficient as possible. The maintenance of Forbes Solicitors’ image as one of the success factors is determined by the success of the organization in ensuring that the system is secured and thus compliant to the preservation of the privacy of client information. Davison and Deeks (2007) explain that within information systems, individuals desire to have data or information about them be kept safe from unwarranted, unauthorized access and use for malicious intentions. Additionally, organizational data must be safeguarded from business rivals or malicious system attackers who would take advantage of vulnerabilities within the information system to gain access with intentions of causing damage to the system or accessing sensitive information. Moreover, failure of an information system usually leads to the loss of customer and investor confidence in the organization. The information security policy of the Forbes Solicitors needs to be redesigned so that the sensitive legal information such as evidence to crimes can be safeguard from security threats to the system and consequent unauthorized access, use, modification or deletion of information. Through a security policy for the law firm’s information system and its implementation, the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the legal information within the system can be guaranteed. Forbes Solicitors Information System Design The information system requirement for Forbes Solicitors is parallel to its current needs and future projections. According to Plaza (2008), system design aims at specifying the system requirements which will cater for the information needs of the organization at the present time and the expected growth in the bulky of information. Therefore in redesigning the Forbes information system, it is important that the strategic goals are included in the given specifications. However at the moment, the firm needs to purchase more equipment and hardware to meet the increased demand for information management in addition to the increasing number of the staff as the firm grows. In addition, more hardware should be purchased in order to be able to hold the large volume of information from its various legal services. The hardware should also be able to efficiently process the information in order to ensure effectiveness in information management and thus speeding up the legal activities of the firm. The recommended specification for the hardware for the firm should be at bar with the level of modern technology and thus computer hardware with high processing speed and large disk storage capacity should be acquired by the company. The policy specification of Forbes information system is the inclusion of information security and privacy provisions within the policy especially the measures to be taken in order to ensure that the system is secure from unauthorized access which would lead to malicious damage to the system and possible sabotage. Kadiyala and Kleiner (2005) point out that the sensitivity of information within organizations such as law firms call for the involvement of the management in matters of information security so that these organizations are allowed develop and implement a security policy to safeguard all their records from possible security threats. The recommended security policy provisions include provision of anti malware software to prevent the organization from malicious software. Moreover, the policy should include encryption methods for the firm that will ensure that firewalls and passwords are used within its information system to protect the information from possible intrusion and infringement of privacy. The software applications specific for a law firm vary with the department that applies it to serve the business activities as described by Broadbent and Weill (1999). System programming The hardware that is specified for Forbes information system requires application programs which must be compatible with the hardware. The programs must also be robust, user friendly, efficient and reliable in the execution of tasks within the firm’s information system. The software to be used will support various functions of the information system such as human resource, accounting, record keeping, management and human relations. The software for the protection of the system from security threats include anti malware and encryption software. The firm’s computer systems should be loaded with system software such as operating system that is up to date and robust in the management of the functions of the information system. Moreover, networking system is recommended for the management of the communication among various terminals within the information system. The online software for the communication of the firm with its clients and other stakeholders is to be provided by the service provider, but the firm’s system should be designed in a way that it is compatible with the specifications of the service provider’s servers. System testing Law and Perez (2005) assert that the aim of testing a recommended information system is to ensure that it is feasible and compatible with the business functions of an organization. The strategy that will be used to test Forbes information system is the determination of its functionality, feasibility and compatibility with the firm’s law services and business functions. The test plan for the system is to compare the software with the hardware to determine if hardware and software compatibility in the system is achieved during the installation of the system. The strategy that will test the information and data in the system is to evaluate the capacity of the system in terms of storage in order to find out if it can be able to hold the large amount of information that the firm processes and stores everyday in addition to the accumulative data. Moreover, the system will be tested in terms of the organizational resources, both human and financial. This is important for the firm because it will enable the management to determine if the financial resources allocated for the project are sufficient for its full implementation. Additionally, the firm should ensure that there is human expertise to oversee the implementation of the system including the ability of the staff to use the system in the firm’s legal functions. Conversion The transformation of an organization from an old information system to a new one is described by Kadiyala and Kleiner (2005) as the most important step in the implementation of information systems within organizations. A phased approach will be applied in the implementation of the recommended system within Forbes Solicitors. This means that the recommended system for the firm is to be implemented in modules or stages. The various sub systems within the larger system such as management information system and transaction processing systems of the firm will be implemented in stages over a period of time in order to determine if they are feasible or not. According to Davison and Deeks (2007), the phased approach of information system approach is advantageous because it saves an organization from the risks associated with possible failure of the system. System maintenance The maintenance of the recommended information system of Forbes Solicitors includes updating of the software so that its reliability to function effectively is guaranteed always to the users. Broadbent and Weill (1999) explain that system maintenance is a measure that ensures that possible errors in the system are corrected as timely as possible so that the functionality of the organization as a whole is enhanced and protected from any failure of the whole or part of the system. The maintenance of the Forbes information system will also include repair of hardware and updating the policies which provide guidelines for the use of the system such as the security policy. Through the maintenance of the system, the confidentiality of the clients and other users of information system on the firm will be enhanced because the information that they require would be made available through the maintained system. Conclusion Forbes Solicitors being one of the most reputed firms in the UK should redesign its information system according to the guidelines provided in this paper so that it would be enabled to handle the explosion of information from its various functional areas while ensuring that the information is kept secure and private. References Broadbent, M and Weill, P 1999, "The implications of information technology infrastructure for business process redesign", MIS Quarterly, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 159-182. Davison, J and Deeks, D 2007, "Measuring the potential success of information system implementation", Measuring Business Excellence, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 75-81. 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