Strategic Alignment Model for Ellucian - Report Example

Strategic Alignment Model Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Section Executive Summary 3 Section Executive Summary This document contains an analysis regarding areas that needed to be reviewed for alignment to Ellucian organizational strategic goals. The analysis will focus on five key areas: Business Overview, Administration Overview, Technology and Governance Overview, IT support and Conclusion and findings. The key areas will identify where Ellucian needs improvement to be followed by recommendations on how it can close the gaps identified; improve efficiency and outline the value of Information Technology. This strategic alignment review and analysis process is a result of an investigation process consisting of research and validation of information gathered from various sources, including interviewing with key stakeholders, reviews of Ellucian’s web site, and subsequent analysis utilizing all appropriate Ellucian personnel. The overall outcome of this report is to identify gaps in the five key areas with respect to the strategic alignment model of Ellucian, identify areas for improving Information Technology value, aligning with business drivers, objectives and the Ellucian vision. Lastly, provide recommendations to close the gaps and improve the value of Information Technology resources. Section Two: Business Overview Ellucian is a product of combination between Hellen & Freidman and SunGard Higher Education (SGHE). This happened in the year 2012. Formerly, the two were existing as distinct entities: Datatel and SunGard Higher Education. Success of Ellucian is traced back when it was started in 1968. Since then Ellucian has developed to be a global leader when it comes to servicing the education sector (Bentley, 2003). 2.1 Business Strategy The Ellucian provides service in the education sector. These services are provision of expertise in the education sector; developing technologies to serve the education sector and providing other services that are related to education. The company develops software that helps in the integration of computing system (academic) in the administrative level. This software serves approximately two thousand four hundred high education institutions. Ellucian has over thirty one distinct products. The role of these products in general is to manage information in relation to students, grades, financial aid, overall finance and advancement. These products help in the streamlining of processes such as enterprise resource planning, electronic recruitment, information technology and communication among the alumni. From this one can tell that Ellucian has a strong and broad product line that is getting stronger. Services offered by Ellucian include implementation services, cloud services, management services (technological) and consulting services in the management field (Bentley, 2003). Ellucian acts in both the domestic and global markets. Domestically, the Ellucian works in the United States of America as a whole and its environs. Internationally, the markets include Europe, Latin America, India, Middle East, Canada and in 40 additional countries that are spread all over the world. Ellucian is ranked as the largest higher education provider of cloud services in the local and international market. It is involved in the higher education market both nationally and internationally. Its retention rate when it comes to solution maintenance is approximated to be 98% (Bentley, 2003). Ellucian major competitors or potential competitors are Jenzabar Inc., Oracle and Campus Management. Jenzabar Inc. is an amalgamation of CMDS, Quodata, Campus America and CARS. This amalgamation took place in the year 2000 making Jenzabar Inc a great force in the market. Jenzabar is ranked among the leading provider of Student Information System (SIS) since 2004. Oracle is a corporate in computer technology with it’s headquartering located in California, U. S. A. Its specialty is the development and management of software products for enterprises and systems of computer hardware. In the years 2011, Oracle was ranked number two after Microsoft in relation to revenue. Campus management provides services and products that are similar to ours to the foundations, colleges, universities and companies and it has a vast number of customers (Bentley, 2003). 2.2 Distinctive Competences Innovation when it comes to product development is one of the factors that make Ellucian stand out. Its latest innovation has been expanding the capability of its products to work with mobile devices. This was accompanied by the recruitment and sending of the emergency messages to all compasses. In the year 2013, the company released the latest updated version of mobile application software. This mobile application has three programs that are administrative: PowerCampus, Colleague and Banner. Through this program, the mobile technology can manage academic records, admissions, financial aid, billing, student information and fundraising. This application can work in different languages: Portuguese, English, Spanish and French. This has made its marketing easier (Bentley, 2003). In the year 2013, Ellucian capabilities were promoted through the introduction of cloud computing. This enabled its higher education customer to take advantage of the technology. Ellucian launched cloud computing services and programs in their comprehensive sets. This included the management services, application hosting and family of Software as a Service (SaaS) that is growing rapidly. In 2014, Ellucian released into market Ellucian Elevate. This Elevate is a product of the SaaS technology that sees to it that institutions are capable of adding courses, thus developing work force and the same time, track their viability and productivity. The Ellucian Elevate is customer friendly since its simple to use and implement as a product package (Bentley, 2003). The company also has appreciated partnership as a means to do well in the in the market. This can be demonstrated by developing a joint product with Evisions. The product added a feature to the company. This product enables the administrators to make necessary adjustments since they are capable to track their performance. It can be used a strategic goal setter in the institutions. Campus IT made Ellucian to be among the largest provider of educational services and products in the United Kingdom and Ireland. This is simply because it was launched in these areas. CampusIT works as a provider of student management systems for higher education institutions (Bentley, 2003). Ellucian practices are governed with intensive research and development activities. This has enabled it to gain a great customer base through its amazing reputation when it comes to service and product delivery to its customers. They have an outstanding market brand. The roadmaps of their products are always rolled out in a given scope and on time. The products produces are of high quality, thus meant for the global market. The company also makes use of new technologies that are in the market, thus promoting Enterprise Resource Planning systems (Bentley, 2003). Ellucian’s cost and pricing are reliable and understandable as per the market. Its prices and costs are based on a head count of student and full time equivalent (FTEs). The company is customer oriented, that is, its aim is to see that the customers are satisfied. To gauge this, the company uses Net Promoter Score, improved client engagements and all markets profitable growth (Bentley, 2003). 2.3 Business Governance The Ellucian is a private company that is governed by an executive team of 13 members. The Chief Executive Officer who doubles as the president is Mr. Jeff Ray. The board of directors is headed by the former C. E.O, John F. Speer who is the chairperson. Being amalgamation of companies, Ellucian Inc. operates as one entity with the companies in it dissolved. The executive team is the one that makes the decision concerning the day to day running of the business (Bentley, 2003). Ellucian also has a partnership program known as the Ellucian Partner Program. This is a group of companies that are brought together formally to network. These companies aim is to see that the solutions provided are tailored to the client needs and are of high quality. Ellucian works closely with her partners with the aim of developing tools and trainings that are specifically designed to the clients. This partnership ensures that all sets of solutions are covered. This partnership, Ellucian is made enaled to provide the high quality services in the market (Bentley, 2003). The greatest investors in the Ellucian Company are the Sophia, L.P; Sophia Holding Finance and Sophia Holding Finance Inc. The investment rules and regulations are under the ‘Amended Security Act of 1933’. Sophia L.P has 9.7% Senior Notes, Senior Holding Finance has 9.625% Senior PIK Toggle Notes and Sophia Holding Finance Inc. has 10.375% Senior PIK toggle Notes. Section Three: Administration Overview Ellucian is an international company that has invested largely in provision of services and products to its clients. The services and products that are to be produces should be of high quality and appropriate quantity. This is the only way that the company can be successful. To meet these standards, the company has a competent administration in place (Bentley, 2003). 3.1 Administration Structure The organization structure of Ellucian is centralized. It has head offices is located in Virginia, United States of America. Ellucian as a company function in a matrix format, which is a functional and divisional structure hybrid. This kind of structure is beneficial to the organization since it allows the existence of both functional and divisional structure in the same organization. Ellucian has several offices around the globe that sees to it that the administrative activities are done properly. All this minor offices are controlled by the head office in Virginia, United States of America (Bentley, 2003). 3.2 Processes There is a wide variety of office and facility services offered to the Ellucian employees. The accounting and financing process ensures that employees working time is handled, expenses reported and training conducted. The IT processes enable a 24 hour working system through its ticket system and service desk. The compliance and legal process ensure that procurements are done using the legal framework. It also sees to it that issues that arise in relation to Ellucian software are handled. The legal process also ensures that in making agreements and deals for long term business success. The legal process ensures that transactional matters are as per the legal framework. These include intellectual property protection, overseeing procurement processes; employment issues advisory and remaining compliant to relevant laws (Bentley, 2003). The market intelligence processes see to it that the company gets facts in relation to research, trends and news in the industry. It also helps in developing the appropriate strategies that enables customer satisfaction. Procurement processes are conducted in a centralised department of Ellucian Company. The processes include vendor sourcing (gods and services), negotiations (items and pricing), and coordination (consulting contracts). Sales processes involve a sales team that manages all the aspect of sale in the company (Bentley, 2003). Decisions relating to Elllucian issues are normally made by the executive. This information is passed to the field offices through the head office in Virginia. The staffs at the field offices then ensure that the idea is implemented. In case of any issue, the information is passed upwards from the field offices to the head office where decisions are made I relation to the issues (Bentley, 2003). 3.3 Skills Ellucian hires the staff out of consideration of the qualities as an individual. Qualification and competence play a role in Ellucian hiring. The recruitment process normally ensures that the successful individual is specialized in the field and must have at least a degree for technical posts. There is preference of post graduate education. The company also considers the experience of the potential recruits. The company fires after a thorough kind of consultation. The firing is minimal in the company since it only happens in exceptional situations like an individual being unproductive (Bentley, 2003). The company believes that a successful team is achieved through capacity building. It therefore has several trainings to its staff. The staffs are also trained due to the dynamic changes in the technology in the sector. Good performing staff members are also motivated through promotions and other kind of means. The fact that Ellucian relies on the quality of its products and services makes it value the exceptional staff so much. There is a culture of celebration when the set strategic goals are met (Bentley, 2003). Section Four: Technology and Governance Overview 4.1 Technology Scope Ellucian uses a wide variety of technology with preference based on the latest version. This can be seen through its introduction of the cloud technology in high schools. The mobile technology that was introduced has also captured much attention in all the regions of the world. Ellucian has proved to be changing with changes with much emphasis laid on invention and innovation. 4.2 Systematic Competences The information technology used by the Ellucian Company has a broad network that allows it to run so many clients services at a go. The clients are distributed all over the world, but still manage to get the services. The Information technology sector also has proved to have a competent team that spearhead the innovation and invention in the market (Bentley, 2003). 4.3 IT Governance The Information Technology (IT) governance office is what keeps Ellucian’s IT department accountable (Bentley, 2003). The purpose of the governance is to decide who makes what decisions in the IT sector. This framework ensures that the information technology projects: Have objectives that promote accountability; Employ project management principles, by using PMI methodology; Are approved as per the requirements; Comprehensively define the project scope; Compete the major competitors; Has risk mitigation measure in place; and Adheres to the accountability principle of the company. The frameworks objective is to see to it that: IT investments and organized and monitored; IT investments are evaluated using a standardized tool; Decisions are made correctly; The reporting system is comprehensive and consistent; and A road map is developed for information technology management and investment. The aim of IT projects is to ensure that: Economic and achievement goals are achieved; Applications have both enterprise and functional where needed; The products and services are of good quality and are reliable; and Business problems are handle cost effectively. Ellucian Company has a competent team in place that ensures that these goals are achieved. The business needs must be supported in a way that ensures alignment of the projects can be measured. In general, Ellucian’s IT department is tightly held accountable to its projects (Bentley, 2003). Section Five: Information Technology Support Information is integral to all Ellucian products and services. It is one of the most critical assets of the company and each employee is exposed to it every day while performing their jobs. With the increased use of portable computing devices, information is copied, modified, transmitted, filed and retransmitted continuously. Careless handling of information and the technology Ellucian’s use to manage that information can seriously jeopardize Ellucian and its customers. Ellucian is committed to maintaining the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of the company’s information (Bentley, 2003). 5.1 Architecture Ellucian believes that securing information is of paramount importance and an essential cornerstone of its operations. Each employee is expected to recognize their individual responsibility to maintain the security of Ellucian’s information. Awareness, sound security practices, and timely responses to potential security incidents are the most effective means to provide this protection. Ellucian has established a set of policies that govern the need to protect their technology and sensitive data as well as confidential Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of their customers and employees. Ellucian employees who violate these policies are bound to face disciplinary action. The disciplinary actions are relative to rate of violation and involve termination of employment in extreme circumstance (Bentley, 2003). Ellucian has extensive policies regarding information security and for guidance on the appropriate and inappropriate use of company technology. Their information Security policies cover five different areas: 1. Iron Mountain Exemption Policy – This policy covers the NOBACKUP folder placed on workstations for Iron Mountain. The Iron Mountain Connected Backup/PC Agent resides on all Ellucian managed workstations and is an essential part of the company’s data backup strategy. 2. Network Access Agreement – The agreement for non-employees to sign to use the Ellucian computer network. 3. Ellucian Information Security Policy - The Ellucian Information Security Policy and supporting standards is based upon the industry standard ISO 27002:05 and provide the foundation on which Ellucian develops and maintains a consistent and secure environment for the operation of its business processes. 4. Ellucian Acceptable Use Policy - The objective of the Company’s Acceptable Use of Technology Policy is to provide all personnel with guidance on how to use Ellucian technology appropriately. This will help enable all users to exercise sound judgment at all times and avoid common pitfalls or unintentional abuse of Ellucian technology. 5. Ellucian Information Security Handbook - The Ellucian Information Security Handbook provides a practical guide for compliance with the Ellucian Information Security policies.  For full policy documentation, please refer to the documents above.  5.2 Processes Regular maintenance is critical to Ellucian’s systems operating efficiently. In an effort to strike a balance between the need for maintenance and the need for system availability, Ellucian’s Information Technology (IT) department introduced scheduled technology maintenance for the entire year with month, date and time (Bentley, 2003). This provides a pre-scheduled window for system owners to perform the regular maintenance activity. By providing a schedule for regular maintenance, IT hopes to consolidate all regularly scheduled system downtime into one window per month. At the same time, IT hopes to encourage system administrators to use this downtime to take a proactive approach to system maintenance to ensure that Ellucians systems are operating at peak efficiency. This information can be easily found within the Ellucian intranet under the Information Technology area. A link is provided to download the maintenance schedule into an Outlook Calendar. It’s assumed that all systems will be unavailable during this scheduled downtime. It’s also noted that major system upgrades or replacements and emergency repair will continue to require separate planned downtime. This downtime will be communicated independently of the system owner (Bentley, 2003). 5.3 Skills The Ellucian Information Technology sector just as the general administrative sector lays its hiring on qualification and competence. The individuals to be hired must be qualified academically. The technical positions normally have a minimum of an undergraduate degree in information technology with post graduate preferred. Experience also matters more so when it comes to the IT technical positions. Ellucian don’t take chances, so they prefer individuals with experience in the IT sector. Firing is minimal at Ellucian and for it to happen, it’s an exception scenario. The IT sector has a culture of hard work that has enabled this sector to make the company profitable through innovations (Bentley, 2003). Section Six: Conclusion and Findings Ellucian is faring well in the market despite the fact that the market has great competition. The firm is not doing badly as per its performance and that is why it is among the leading. The firm should be in a leading position even though (Bentley, 2003). To see that Ellucian is at the top it should: 1. Increase its market base in ‘Virgin’ markets like Africa. 2. Invest more in the human resource by taking the best minds in the IT sector. This will enable more innovation and invention in the company. 3. Participate more on the Corporate Social Responsibility activities that will see that its popularity is increased. 4. Introduce more products and services in the market so as to see that the variety of clients is increased. 5. Promote decentralisation. This will ensure that the products and services are closer geographically to the clients. 6. Introduce more languages when it comes to launching of products. Additional languages like Chinese and German will see to it that the market is enlarged. Reference Bentley, T. J. (2003). Report writing in business: The effective communication of information. London: Elsevier. Read More