Technology Project Plan for GE Sensing Boston Center - Research Paper Example

Running head: Technology Project Plan: GE Sensing Boston Center Technology Project Plan: GE Sensing Boston Center Abstract This paper will propose a technology project plan involving an E Commerce solution for GE Sensing Boston Center. This solution will address the requirements highlighted by the business requirements analysis carried out on the same company. The E Commerce solution will involve all the major business processes of the company and will have a centralized web interface with differing access levels for various types of stakeholders identified in the paper. The requirements for implementing this solution in terms of networks, databases and programming will be analyzed. Finally the security considerations and the payoffs accruing to the various stake holders will be outlined. Technology Project Plan: GE Sensing Boston Center Introduction GE Sensing is a subsidiary of the General Electric Infrastructure and has a global footprint. Its core competence is in Instrumentation and the product portfolio is based both on individual devices and systems which enable its consumers to shield, supervise, manage, and validate their vital procedures and applications. The company is technology based and focuses on high growth engineering companies. GE Sensing's products find diverse applications in sectors like ecological preservation, oceanography, meteorology, aviation, biotechnology, pharma, automobile, and transportation. GE Sensing obtains 40 % of its revenue from USA, 40% from Europe and 20 % from Asia. This along with a dynamic product portfolio makes it a fit case to adopt E business strategies to optimise its business practices. GE Sensing has to concentrate on three areas. Firstly its supply chain which has a global foot print, this is essential to leverage IT to provide the manufacturing facilities with the required amount of spares and raw materials without maintaining an extensive inventory. Secondly, its business infrastructure and its information management systems, which guarantee that diverse platforms are integrated between the various arms of the company; and thirdly its technical group, which forms the foundation for its growth. The research and development for new products is handled by its own R&D division. Many projects in the R&D division involve regular interaction with the General Electric Global Research Centers. The technology project plan should leverage facilities in USA, Asia and Europe. The proposed solution A primary approach to formalizing an e-business strategy involves the identification of all the business processes in GE Sensing which can be optimized by fully utilizing the capabilities of Information technology in a specific corporate scenario. Such a plan has to concentrate on the strengths of GE Sensing and capitalize on the opportunities in the marketplace while simultaneously identify costly and wasteful practices within their business processes which can be optimized (Haylock C, 1999). In this paper, an e commerce solution is developed. The suggested method will encompass all the three business processes identified, namely the supply chain, business infrastructure including the legacy information systems and finally the technical group. The solution also takes into account the distinctive potential of the organization's IT architecture, thus enhancing the value of the legacy IT investments. Supply Chain Software Specification This involves an E Commerce solution which plans to merge all departments and their functions together into an integrated database. This will entail easier data sharing and communication with each other. The E Commerce package will automate the various tasks involved in multiple business processes like order execution, expenses and inventory purchases, and makes the identical information available to all the other departments immediately. It is important to integrate the E Commerce implementation with the financial module, the manufacturing process, the R&D process and finally with the HR module (Haylock C, 1999). With this integration, standardized information is available at all levels that will enable quicker decision-making by managers at the middle and senior levels. For optimum performance, the E Commerce solution will be modular to facilitate deployment at the various business processes in a gradual manner. For the business processes implementing the E Commerce implementation, some of the hidden costs could arise in the form of employee training, integration and testing of the new software, and data analysis and conversion from the legacy systems. Some aspects of the supply chain which the E Commerce implementation will address are a methodical evaluation the purchasing system, design of a procurement model that integrates the manufacturing process, vendors and the finance department on a unified platform (Kalakota R 1999). An integrated tracking system which standardizes the various aspects of the supply chain like uniform codes to identify individual buyers, vendors, individual parts of the standardized inventory etc will be integral to the proposed solution. The automation of the procurement model is an important part of the E Commerce implementation. This model will support the following features, web based interface for automated ordering, Shipment tracking and the purchase order process. The main aim of the E Commerce implementation is eliminate manual entry errors and integrate the procurement data which is generated by the software with the financial and transaction systems of the organization. The E Commerce package will detect the variation from company-instituted purchasing policies and examine spending patterns faster and more accurately. The envisaged payoffs for the employers include a centralized web interface which removes paperwork and replaces it with an easy to use online procurement tool which offers an uninterrupted access to the E COMMERCE package. The employee centric features are the ability to preset regularly ordered items and the ability to link multinational employees to a single point of contact for ordering. Finally the shared supply chain management solution aims to develop data interchange between the various business processes, distribution centers and vendors. This solution helps GE Sensing to transport the right merchandise, to the correct location, on the scheduled time, and at the right price. Implementation details This software will be deployed across the entire footprint of GE Sensing and their vendors. The E Commerce implementation will also have an interface to the World Wide Web to facilitate the online purchase of their products. The solution will involve the integration of various software modules which individually address specific business processes. There will be the requirement of a database which will serve as the back end for storing the massive amounts of details about customers, vendors, product portfolio, inventory of spare parts and their prices. This database can be based on Oracle, SQL or Sybase. Oracle is the preferred database due to the extensive suite of applications available which can be deployed across various business processes. The programming of the software package will involve customization of a selected commercially available E Commerce package. The customization would reflect the unique requirements of the various business processes of GE Sensing. The web interface would cater to both the customers, vendors and the employees of GE Sensing. The interface should be easily usable and should follow a logical rule based deterministic approach to direct the user towards his requirement which might be any data field in the central database. The interface should permit three levels of access with one level catering for the customers, one level for vendors and one level for the employees. Each level will have corresponding access rights with the vendor level and the employee level requiring password authentication. This solution will be deployed across multiple locations separated by vast geographical locations. It is recommended that all locations be connected to the central database by VSAT communication links. The VSAT links will be cost effective compared to leased lines. However the reliability of the leased line based communication network in terms of speech quality and system downtime. The intranet of GE Sensing has to migrate to the VSAT based communication grid before implementing the E Commerce solution. Benefits to Internal and External Stakeholders It is essential to identify the stakeholders before analyzing the benefits which will accrue to them. The internal stakeholders would be the equity holders of GE Sensing and the employees (Hackbarth G, 2000). The external stake holders would be the vendors and the customers of GE Sensing. The equity holders would benefit from the implementation in two ways. Firstly the return on investment would entail increased dividends and the enhanced public image of the company would contribute towards the appreciation of their investment. The employees would demonstrate enhanced productivity and simultaneously would work in an environment where their job would be greatly simplified. The vendors would be able to track the requirements of GE Sensing in real time and respond to it. As all the business processes would be sharing a common database, information of the financial dues to a vendor can be tracked by him in real time. The customer would have the advantage of having the flexibility to examine the specifications of the entire product portfolio, choosing a specific product, paying for it online and having the product delivered to the location of their choice. However the level of integration of the logistics component of the supply chain to the E Commerce solution will determine the quality of service provided to the customer. Security Considerations Security is required to be engineered at two levels for this kind of E Commerce applications (Kleindl. B. A, 2001). The first line of defense is the firewall placed at the router or gateway linking the World Wide Web and the intranet of GE Sensing. A firewall is basically a filter which allows selective external connections to access the internal E Commerce application and through it the centralized database. The second level of security is at the individual machine level. This is implemented with technologies like SSL, encryption etc. Digital Signatures and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) are technologies which provide enhanced protection (Kleindl. B. A, 2001). Another promising technology which provides secure links which can be utilized in the present scenario is the Virtual Private Network (VPN). Brief Financial Outlay and Sensitivity Analysis This is the most crucial step after formalizing the software specifications and hardware requirements. The financial outlay, both recurring as well as the one time is calculated. This figure and the various factors which contribute to it are used to carry out a sensitivity analysis. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to understand the range of ambiguity present in any financial model. A sensitivity analysis varies each factor contributing to the financial model individually to analyze the effect on the final cost. This is particularly important in investments where a minor swing of approximately 7-8% in an input can render the entire project unprofitable. A sensitivity analysis is typically depicted figuratively by a Tornado diagram, which shows the most susceptible factor along with its effect on the overall financial outlay. In the stated E commerce solution, the decision problem basically pertains to the ROI (Return Of Investment) which depends to a large extent on the financial outlay, the analysis will aim to highlight the basic cost drivers which escalate the financial outlay as well as other factors for which the sensitivity analysis is needed to obtain more accurate knowledge so as to make an accurate decision. On the other hand, some cost drivers have no significant influence on the financial outlay; these cost drivers can then be retained without jeopardizing the ROI. Conclusion This paper proposes an E Commerce solution which addresses the requirements of GE Sensing which were identified in a business requirement analysis. This implementation of this solution will ensure that the emerging markets will have a greater potential for value creation. This solution eliminates the various limitations of time, location, and geographic distances are totally eradicated. The firm now has the capability to provide data to its customers and vendors on demand, while retaining the capability to conduct business at all times with customers in diverse geographic locations. Bibliography Haylock, Christina and Len Muscarella (1999), "Net Success," Adams Media Corporation, Holbrook, MA. Kalakota, Ravi and Marcia Robinson (1999), "e-Business - Roadmap for Success," Addison-Wesley Longman Inc., Reading, MA. Hackbarth, G. and Kettinger, W.J. (2000), Building an e-business strategy'', Information Systems Management, Summer. King, P. and Clift, J. (2000), Time to distinguish between e-business and e-commerce''. Kleindl, Brad Alan (2001), "Strategic Electronic Marketing: Managing E-Business," South-Western College Publishing, Cincinnati, OH. Newell, Frederick (2000), "Loyalty.Com," McGraw-Hill, New York NY. Read More