Problem Solving in Businesses System Analysis - Essay Example

Name: Professor: Course: Date: Businesses System Analysis Introduction Businesses System Analysis (BSA) can be defined as an analytical framework that points out in detail the components of an organizations process in a bid to understand functions and interrelationships of various activities, departments, personnel and other elements. This may be used as part of an organizational project which may intend to change business processes, improving information flow within levels of management, setting up of a data classification system among others. Willingness and capability of management is critical to success of a business process analysis projects. The following paper tries to find out management issues that may hinder achievement of desired results in business process analysis which further lead to poor results in a larger organizational project. Statement of the Problem Management is the key to success of various business system analysis projects. Causes of failure of this kind of a process may lead to catastrophic management decisions say in changes of organizational structures. Management has direct control which determines success or failure of such business projects. There are various management issues that are critical to business system analysis work and as a result affect riskiness of these projects. It is however impossible to eliminate all risks in a project but determination of factors that influence risks before and during projects is important in mitigating them to maximize chances of success. Common management issues are determination of extent of analysis. Due to limitation of resources and authority, analysis of business processes may not be as intense as required which lead to inconclusive results. Senior management support is often ignored by lack of knowledge of its importance in achieving objectives of a business process analysis. Communication, change management, and selection of project personnel are other key management issues normally overlooked in projects but have great effects in certainty of business system analysis project. The above problems will be analyzed and their solutions suggested for effective projects in analysis of business systems. Extent of Analysis and Top Management Support BSA projects should be focus on the whole organization and its environment. Choosing a shallow level of analysis can cause poor results. Take into consideration a hypothetical example of a record’s clerks. She/he faces limitations in defining scope of such an analysis when BSA projects surpass organizational or functional boundaries. She/he may only manage operations where he or she has direct responsibility and authority over. It can be concluded that the more the authority that one has, the greater the scope of a project becomes. A record’s keeper should evaluate the necessary action to be taken depending on the advantages and disadvantages of the situation, likely gains in increasing the scope of a project and certainty of success or failure (Harrington 121). Top management comes in handy in business process analysis projects. This can help personnel with little authority to be able to widen scope of defining BSA projects. In addition, this management has the ability to make available the technical, financial and human resource necessary in carrying out the project. Top management is very essential in aiding the acceptance of wide changes in an entire business since in most cases change need to be implemented gradually hence the transition period is usually long. If there is no cooperation from senior management, such projects should not be undertaken since they are deemed to fail (Senge 177). Communication Many BSA projects fail because the sponsors and managers of these projects fail to convey information about its purpose and progress to those indirectly involved. This lack of proper communication to outside parties in a project leads to separation of the participants of the business system analysis project from the other non-participants. It makes it difficult to get support from the external environment necessary for project’s progress. Changes arising from the project can are also hard to implement with such inadequate information. Education and seminars about project activities and progress should be organized to ensure that they understand what is happening. Communication can also be made memos, letters, emails, office visits and board room meetings. It is the duty of the project manager to facilitate this meetings and communication. Customers should be informed on the existence of this projects since they in most times cause short-term inconveniences to them this should be done in a way that the benefits likely to accrue to them are made known. This will make them more patient and they will be ready to offer any support necessary thereof ((Morris & Joel 66-79). Project Human Resource Selection Selection of personnel should be done carefully and transparently since this is important in determining actual progress and success of a BSA project. Managers should ensure that all affected parties are included in the project even if they do not have direct roles in it. There is usually a common mistake of assigning non-performing workers of a different business activity to projects and replacing their old position with new personnel. Management should prevent this since non-productivity stands a huge chance of negatively affecting results of the project. This is done by emphasizing and ensuring complete knowledge of the importance of the BSA project to those responsible with selection of project personnel. Project managers should ensure that the selected have the best academic and professional qualification. However, this is not the only requirement necessary. Lack skill in project activities can lead to the project not achieving the intended results. Project managers should select those with experience in similar tasks. If there is lack of such, training should be done to equip personnel with basic skills necessary in the project and specific to various respective jobs. These skills may include methods in BSA, technics and tools of BSA and the organizations objectives and mission. Some BSA projects take a long period to be complete. This period may be 4 to 5 years or even more. Such projects are the Business Process RE-engineering projects. This therefore increases the possibility of some personnel leaving their duties for various reasons. This necessitates bring in of new members in the project. Project managers should give priority to members who have been involved in the project for some time over new ones. However, there at times lack any employee in the project with the ability to handle an activity leading to necessity of new personnel. The project manager is responsible for ensuring publicity for the available position in order to get a wide pool of applicants for selection of the most qualified and skilled new member. Resources of the Human Resource Department of a business organization may be employed if necessary. The member should be ready to engage with the existing members and briefed of where his or her predecessor left at. The existing team should also be ready to work with the new member and his presence should be made known to all ((Morris & Joel 82-96)). In this long-term BSA projects, there tends to be depreciation of enthusiasm of the participants. This can lead to increased time before the project’s goals are realized. It can even lead to stoppage to the entire project. project managers and sponsors are responsible at ensuring this does not happen be keeping the parties involved energetic. This can be by done by continuously reminding them the goals, objectives and gains of the project. There should also be wage and salary increases in relation to market trends. Outstanding personnel should be recognized by rewards. The managers and sponsors should also show their commitment and dedication in the project. There are also huge human resource demands in BSA projects especially in their implementation. This is because some staff are involved in both the project activities and their normal functional duties. This can be strenuous but can be avoided by creating additional time for these multi-tasking personnel. This may be done by making available time normally consumed by less important meetings and activities. The employees who are not involved in the project can be instructed to aid in works normally done by these multi-tasking employees (Senge 156). Managing Change Many Business System Analysis Projects are conducted in order for some change to be made in an organization structure or process. Project managers, sponsors and affected parties should expect resistances to this change. This resistances are however minimal if benefits of the change are tangible. There are various ways of convincing those affected that the changes will be a benefit to them. The first way is by involving them in the project itself. They can be asked to air their grievances with the current system. This therefore helps them see the direct benefit changes are likely to bring. They can also be asked to give ideas on how the project can be conducted. It is not possible in most cases to involve every affected party in the project. This necessitates communication of the project to these non-participating parties of the project. Communication is of the gains of the project. The project manager should do this with optimism and practical means when describing the benefits. Changes in one component of a business organization usually affect another. This is because business has inter-related components which serve each other. There should be anticipation of these possible changes in other components of a business process and its effects should be managed to cause overall loss in business objectives. Failure to take care of these ripple effects can cause new problems in the organization that could be avoided. Change should be done gradually. This is important to ensure that effects of specific changes are determined. If negative, a specific change can be altered or changed. This would not be possible if project managers do not look into cause and effect of each change. (Morris & Joel 102-116) Conclusion Benefits of a Business System Analysis project may not materialize if project management is not efficient in its responsibilities. The project managements should ensure skills and capabilities in their personnel that are relevant to the project. Communication with the stakeholders of the project is vital in synchronizing the project and change. Every party should be informed of the goals and benefits of the project. There should be good support from management especially in ensuring the correct level of scope of a project to avoid too narrow scope which is likely to have inconclusive results. Change should be managed especially in the implementation period by doing it in manageable bits and specific effects from specific changes. These are the main issues in management of business system analysis. References Curtis, Graham & Cobham, David. Business Information Systems: Analysis, Design and Practice. Washington: Pearson Education. 2008. Debra, Paul & Donald, Yeates. Business Analysis. London: British Computer Society. 2006. Harrington, James. Business Process Improvement. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2002. Michael, Rosemann. Business Systems Analysis with Ontologies. London: Idea Group Inc (IGI). 2005. Morris, Daniel & Joel, Brandon. Reengineering Your Business.2nd Ed. New York, NY: McGraw- Hill. 2006. Peter, Fettke & Peter, Loos. Reference Modeling for Business Systems Analysis. London: Idea Group Inc (IGI): 2007. Senge, Peter, et al. The 5th Discipline Field-book. New York, NY: Doubleday. 1994.   Read More