Assessment of IT Projects for Incorporation in MDCM - Case Study Example

MDCM (b) Table of Contents Introduction 3 Discussion and Recommendations of the IT Projects 5 Scorecard of IT Projects of MDCM 9 Portfolio Application Model Matrix 11 Conclusion 15 Works Cited 16 Introduction The management at MDCM, Inc recognized the need of incorporating certain IT projects as well as initiatives on a priority basis in order to fulfill the strategic business goals of the organization in a convenient way. Therefore, they decided to conduct a comprehensive IT audit to acquire an idea regarding their needs as well as priorities from the IT initiatives. Within a part of the desired IT audit, MDCM decided to assemble an interdisciplinary IT Portfolio Management (ITPM) committee. The committee was tasked with the responsibility of assessing a number of initiatives and to provide recommendations for the management’s consideration. Fulfillment of strategic goals of MDCM required a significant incorporation and arrangement of the IT projects according to their priorities. From the perspective of IT initiatives, the company’s management was not much experienced. Moreover, incorporation of ITPM committee or team was performed with an aim to completely revamp the IT related scenario in MDCM within a period of 36 months. The process of IT incorporation involves implementation of projects, support applications along with planned initiatives. The ITPM team is required to make assessment of the past unofficial IT endeavors and assist the organization to evaluate its competencies and objectives so that proper investment can be made of the company’s revenues. The decision regarding incorporation of suitable IT projects for the company required proper assessment of the various available projects according to their ability to succeed as compared to their value to the business. These assessments can play a valuable role to introduce the most appropriate projects for the organization. Discussion and Recommendations of the IT Projects Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) With the concern of implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in MDCM, it can be observed that it was formerly organized to be implemented but the execution was delayed in the company. ERP was not being practiced due to the sudden changes that may take place during the process along with the lack of coordination that can arise between different IT groups within implemented area. The company has also been aware of the cost with regard to implementation of ERP, which also can effect on the revenue due to its time consuming nature of comprehensive incorporation. However, ERP is one of the crucial processes in terms of the growth along with ensuring cost effectiveness within the operational processes of the organization. The ERP model helps to assimilate the pertinent information from both external and internal divisions of the whole organization. It provides the information about manufacturing, sales and service, financial condition along with the customer relationship management across the entire business organization. The program of application of software system operates independently to provide the information to every division of the workplace. ERP model is one of the efficient tools for reducing time along with condensing the risk aspects by the usage of other application software (Jeffery, M. & Norton, J. F., “MDCM, Inc. (B): Strategic IT Portfolio Management”). Intranet Portal for the Company The intranet portal for an organization plays an important part in terms of providing benefits to the employees within the organization. Employee intranet portal can increase relatively the Selling, General and Administrative expenses (SG&A) of MDCM. However, as in present context, the HR administration related expenses are quite less for the company. Therefore, intranet portal can be invaluable to MDCM for administering its global operations. The intranet portal can be made available to the employees for self-service within a period of three months. The intranet portal of the company would help to reduce the effort to provide updated information regarding the expenses that are carried out on individual employees. If the project is initiated, it would be first introduced in the United States. The intranet portal for the organization assists its employees to enhance their knowledge in terms of making better along with informed decisions. The process is also cost effective and it would enhance the group efforts and productivity of the organization (Jeffery, M. & Norton, J. F., “MDCM, Inc. (B): Strategic IT Portfolio Management”). Consolidate Data Centers and Networks According to the estimation of the IT management of the company, MDCM could put aside more than US$1 million by merging the data centers along with shifting to virtual private network (VPN) as the company’s network. However, the company had thirty-seven of its data centers along with nineteen desperate networking systems with the assistance of other supplementary service providers. The concept with regard to the networking system could be more encouraging for the company in terms of increasing earnings and savings for MDCM. However, the new networking service could involve the whole networking staff additionally for a few months. Thus, the new networking service could require more human resources owing to the requirement for involvement of all of the networking staff for a period of around six months (Jeffery, M. & Norton, J. F., “MDCM, Inc. (B): Strategic IT Portfolio Management”). Standardize Server Hardware The strategy of standardization of the hardware server platforms can facilitate MDCM to reduce the company’s cost on providing services. However, in the networking system the company had various numbers of hardware platforms that were running in the mainframes of MDCM. The mainframes of the company were being run on different types of systems including AIX, MVS along with Solaris, HP/UX as well as Windows server systems. The multi server operating system can affect the total cost of the company due to individual maintenance and support cost. The involvement of the similarity among the hardware systems along with the server systems in the mainframes of the company could reduce the additional expenses of maintenance and support cost (Jeffery, M. & Norton, J. F., “MDCM, Inc. (B): Strategic IT Portfolio Management”). Create Customer Self Service Portal The self-service portal for the customers is an efficient way to reduce the administrative cost of the company through the service provided on the internet service. The customer self service portal also ensures that they are aware of the status of their orders. They can also make enquiries along with having the required MDCM company related information through the respective MDCM website. According to the estimation of the IT management of MDCM, the company might be able to run the portal in a short period of time but the reliability of the service was uncertain due the antiquate data centers and networking services (Jeffery, M. & Norton, J. F., “MDCM, Inc. (B): Strategic IT Portfolio Management”). Implement New Supply Chain Management Software The supply chain management of the company involves a key point to generate the overall performance of the company. By the implementation of the IT transformation strategy of MDCM i.e. Horizon 2000, the company condensed its number of suppliers from thousands to a few hundred. The elimination of the key suppliers had interrupted the proper ERP implementation in MDCM. However, in the modern business concept the supply chain management of an organization facilitates to forecast the growth of the enterprise in terms of availability of the service from different service providers (Jeffery, M. & Norton, J. F., “MDCM, Inc. (B): Strategic IT Portfolio Management”). Develop Collaboration Systems Developing Collaboration Systems is one of the feasible parts that can help the enterprise to stay with the products or the services in the modern competitive business world. The collaboration with the local partners also is helpful to sustain with the provided services in the market. In this context, MDCM was not able to utilize the collaborative system to sustain in the market (Jeffery, M. & Norton, J. F., “MDCM, Inc. (B): Strategic IT Portfolio Management”). Scorecard of IT Projects of MDCM Likelihood Of Success Criteria And Weights: (in %) Implementation of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Implement New Supply Chain Management Software Standardize Server Hardware Create Customer Self Service Portal Develop Collaboration Systems Intranet Portal for the Company Consolidate Data Centers and Networks Technical Standards 20 25 30 25 20 15 10 Skills, Capability and Training 20 10 15 10 10 10 10 Scope and Complexity 15 10 10 15 5 5 5 Business Alignment 10 15 10 10 10 10 10 Risk 10 10 5 10 5 5 5 Management Capability 15 15 10 10 15 10 10 Total (In %) 90 85 80 70 65 55 50 Value to the Business (in %) Financial Return 25 20 15 15 10 10 10 Customer and Consumer focus 15 10 10 15 10 5 5 Supply Chain Business Benefits 15 15 15 10 15 10 5 Technology Efficiency 15 10 10 10 5 15 10 Knowledge Advantage 10 15 10 5 10 10 10 Work/Life Balance 10 15 20 15 15 5 10 Total (In %) 90 85 80 70 65 55 50 Portfolio Application Model Matrix The portfolio application matrix is an important part of the management concept which conveys the various aspects of the organization according to their contribution to the entire enterprise. In this context, the different aspects of MDCM regarding the success criteria along with their value for the organization have been characterized according to their priorities for MDCM (Gottling & Torgnysdotter, “Application Portfolio Management”). The portfolio application model matrix of the recommended projects of MDCM is included in this framework according to their priorities for growth in the organizational process as well as their capabilities to achieve the organization goals. According to the study of the business contribution of those projects, implementation of ERP, Supply Chain Management software and standardized hardware applications and equipments are significantly higher aspects in terms of growth of the organization. These aspects can be recognized as a part of the higher value along with superior ability quadrant than other projects of MDCM in the portfolio application model matrix (Gottling & Torgnysdotter, “Application Portfolio Management”). High Value & Low Ability Create Customer Self Service Portal Develop Collaboration Systems High Value & High Ability Implementation of ERP Implement New Supply Chain Management Software Standardize Server Hardware Low Value & Low Ability Consolidate Data Centers and Networks Low Value & High Ability Intranet Portal for the Company Source: (Gottling & Torgnysdotter, “Application Portfolio Management”). The customer self-service portal and development of the collaboration systems of MDCM can be put in to the high value and low ability quadrant in the portfolio application model matrix. These projects in the organization potentially high value due to their abilities of enabling the customers an easy access towards the services of MDCM along with their collaborative features in the IT market (Gottling & Torgnysdotter, “Application Portfolio Management”). In the low value and high ability quadrant of the matrix, the intranet portal for the company project can be included. As this project has the capability to increase productivity of the company by providing management information to the different levels of employees within the organization. Moreover, consolidation on the data centers and networking systems of MDCM can be included in the low value and low ability quadrant in the portfolio application model matrix. However, this project in MDCM could result in requirement and involvement of a large number of networking staff which can create certain difficulties (Gottling & Torgnysdotter, “Application Portfolio Management”). Sequence of Project Execution Sequence of Projects Estimated Time for Execution Implementation of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) 1 Year Implement New Supply Chain Management Software 1 Year Standardize Server Hardware 9 Months Develop Collaboration System 9 Months Create Customer Self Service Portal 6 Months Intranet Portal for the Company 6 Months Consolidate Data Centers and Networks 3 Months Conclusion The overall study has made an assessment of the different IT projects for incorporation in MDCM. These projects are expected to play an important part in general success of the organization in the long run. In order to analyze a proper sequence of the projects that are required to be implemented, portfolio application model matrix is used. It has facilitated to recognize the projects that have higher prospect of attaining success in the organization. Works Cited Gottling, Cecilia. & Torgnysdotter, Louise. “Application Portfolio Management”. May 08, 2012. Department of Informatics School of Economics and Commercial Law Gˆteborg University, 2002. Jeffery, Mark. & Norton, Joseph F. MDCM, Inc. (B): Strategic IT Portfolio Management. Kellogg School of Management. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2006. Read More