Information Management: Hopkins Business New technology Infrastructure Implementation - Coursework Example

 COURSEWORK Information Management Hopkins Business New technology Infrastructure Implementation Abstract This paper presents a detailed analysis of the implementation of the systems approach to information systems change. The basic intention is to assess and evaluate the systems based diagnosis of the Hopkins business, in case of new technology infrastructure implementation at business. The implementation of new technology based infrastructure is aimed at improving the overall business and operational management. In addition, the systems approach to information systems implementation on traditional way of working inside Hopkins business will offer a huge advantage regarding better system implementation analysis. In the start, this paper will discuss the basic business structure of Hopkins Consultants. Ltd. Then next section will be about the comprehensive overview of main tasks and areas those are considered to be problematic from the diagnosis point of view. Then report will suggest some of main systems constructs and most effective technology for the overall business of Hopkins. Furthermore, this paper will recommend the potential changes and enhancements that can bring through new technology infrastructure. Table of Contents 1 Introduction 4 2 Company Background 5 3 Situation Diagnosis 7 4 Process Analysis 9 5 Role of information 13 6 Proposal for Change 14 6.1 Change Outline 14 6.2 Resource Analysis 16 6.2.1 Time resources: 16 6.2.2 Cost Resources: 17 6.2.3 Hayward and Software 18 6.2.4 People 19 6.3 Cost-benefit Analysis 19 6.4 Interventions Required for the Change Implementation 21 7 System Approach to Information Systems work 22 8 Self reflection 23 9 Conclusion 24 Bibliography 24 1 Introduction In this new age of technolgy, the servival of a business depends on the new technology infrastructre. In addition, this implimentation could be done through reengenring and enhnacment of traditional ways of working and business management. The modern technology always offers effeicient facilities regarding bussiness managmnet and gaining potential marketplace edge. In this senrio Efstathiades, Tassou, Antoniou, & Oxinos (1998) stated that businesses whose survival relies on maintaining new, modern, well-informed business information require a flexible knowledge sharing. In case of new technology establishment at any corporation there is need to judge various issues regarding the corporate management and technology implementation (Efstathiades et al., 1998). This paper covers the analysis of the new business technology systems establishment at Hopkins & Associates, which is a consulting engineering firm. This paper is about the technology change and infrastructure implementation at Hopkins Oil and Gas business. Hopkins is an Oil and Gas Consultation company that suggests and specifies the oil and gas companies about the existence of underground oil and gas reservoirs. In this scenario the accuracy and correctness of business estimations is really essential for Hopkins. The traditional working and operational technology at Hopkins business is not offering effective business value and market edge. In this case there is vital need for the technology change. The new technology will offer more effective structure and operational support for the Hopkins Oil and Gas Consultants. This paper is about the system approach implementation in case of new technology establishment at Hopkins Business. This paper presents the step by step analysis and investigation of system based approach implementation at Hopkins Oil and Gas Consultants. 2 Company Background The Hopkins & Associates is a consulting engineering firm. It is composed of gas and oil reservoir engineers who offer autonomous evaluations of the reservoir intended for oil and gas properties (Davis, 2005). The Hopkins Company was established by the Mr. Hopkins in the 1930s. Mr. Hopkins was a petroleum engineer from University of Tulsa. Mr. Hopkins has contributed in establishing the idea of utilizing engineering as a tool intended for determining and finding the petroleum reservoirs those are ling under the earth crust. The name of business was established as Hopkins Associates and Consulting. The Hopkins Associates also incorporated the business of a number of producing oil fields as well a small, however extremely profitable gas pipeline. In addition, with the extensive progress in business Hopkins also established a drilling company that did wildcatting and exploration generally in Texas. The business of Hopkins Consulting is similar to accounting business that audits any corporate books of a client or Stock Exchange reports. In the same way Hopkins audits the gas and oil underground reserves for any business as well as presents estimations on the value of gas or oil reservists. Thus, these estimations could be used for drilling or selling the oil field to other companies. In addition, Hopkins is having a computer services company. As a result, the engineers at Hopkins utilize a lot of engineering as well as geology software application to model and analyze the characteristics of gas and oil reservoirs. They as well make use of the financial analysis software tools to foresee the economics intended for every individual gas or oil effectively being assessed by means of discounted cash flow examination. For the reason that of significance of computers in the foundation works of the corporate, the Board of Directors has decided to develop a separate company, an entirely owned subsidiary of the engineering corporation known as Hopkins Computer Services, Inc. The main intention of Hopkins Computer Services, Inc. is to offer the computer services required by the corporate. In addition, the computer corporation functions as a huge distributed network by means of a contemporary computer center in Houston and various interconnected engineering workstations at the a variety of Hopkins offices (Davis, 2005). Figure 1- Company Structure [Source: (Davis, 2005)] 3 Situation Diagnosis Since the establishment of Hopkins Consultation the estimations regarding the oil and gas are given high credibility. However in case of new technology development and enhancements there huge developments in all business are expected. In case traditional business practices of Hopkins Consultants there are lots of areas that require some enhancements. This section will offer a detailed analysis of main areas of Hopkins Business those are requiring new technology infrastructure. For the analysis the INSPIRE methodology will be utilized. Through this methodology we will apply diagnosis based inquiry that comprises observation of the Hopkins business procedures. For the better analysis we need to assess the corporate business areas and operational structures. Below I have outlined the overall process work flow that demonstrates the working and operational structure of predication of oil and gas reserves mass and values in undergrounds pockets. Figure 2- Process Break down Structure The overall diagnosis of the Hopkins business is outlined below in the Rich Picture. This rich picture offers the links among a variety of aspects of the real-world circumstances that present some conflicts and concerns regarding business operations of Hopkins. Through this technique organization will be able to get better analysis of business operations and analysis concerns regarding oil and gas estimations. Figure 3- Rich Picture In case of present technology infrastructure there are lots of problems areas. In above image I have outlined some of them. The initial problem starts with the drilling of oil and gas fields. The utilization or defective drilling bits can bring mixed samples and this will offer less proper estimates. On the other hand the collection of drilling site data can incorporate some amount of dirty data that could lead toward wrong decision in overall analysis of site and areas. In this case the data gathering teams are utilizing traditional technology instruments those are not offering effective and most accurate figures. In addition, the laboratory based analysis is carried out on already gathered dirty data that presents wrong predictions. The lab analysis goes completely wrong if the gathered samples are wrong. The lab technology is also old that is not offering new technology regarding filling empty fields or resolving issues in case of dirty data. In overall analysis the petroleum engineers are applying the statistical and mathematical analysis tools to predicate the amount and mass of gas and oil reservoirs on the fields. These all tools are manual and take too much time in prediction of oil and gas reservoirs in the area. There are also various human and political factors that are involved in the overall process of estimations and analysis of oil and gas reservoirs. A staff member biased toward a company and desires to prove higher value so that he could sell it to market. In this case the overall human based predications could have the political as well as human based aspects. 4 Process Analysis To analyze the main problems in overall predication of the oil and gas underground reservoirs company needs to apply the corrective maintenance process that will help them to assess and outline the main problems in the overall predication process. In addition, this analysis will be carried out for faulty predication of oil and gas reserves in the underground pockets. Then there are some problems in analysis of reading taken by a petroleum engineer from the field. These entries could comprise some wrong information that could lead to wrong analysis. These reading could be extracted from any wrong tool or bad data collection techniques. Therefore this could lead to overall failure of oil and gas predications. There are also some problems regarding analysis techniques applied by less experienced petroleum engineer. In this scenario the overall analysis could lead to less effective results. The application of old technology and system could also lead to bad data analysis. These could include the some technology tools that are not offering similar results at different places. The main reason is that the geography of each area and place varies from site to site. In this scenario utilization of these techniques could be problematic in case of predication of oil and gas underground reserves. Below I have presented an image through which we can get effective results for the clients and associated businesses. Figure 4- New Corrective Maintenance based Approch To predict the oil and gas reservoirs there is an authority a board of experienced petroleum engineers. This team inspects the data and samples and predicts the oil and gas underground reserves. The basic goal of Hopkins business is to predict and assess the accurate and more effective estimates as compared to whole market. In the scenario the fundamental intention of Hopkins business management is to make this estimation more accurate and effective so the estimation could be more reliable and acceptable for the client as well as market. However, in the present structure there are several problem areas and operational constraints. To attain better understanding of implementation of “corrective maintenance process” on Hopkins process flow, there is need to assess the below given roles and responsibility structure of Hopkins business: Figure 5- Corrective Maintenance Work Flow Through the analysis of the “corrective maintenance process” regarding present system operations, processes and working, Hopkins business is facing a lot of problems regarding estimations and decision making. Some of main points are outlined below: (Davis, 2005) Less accurate data; data extracted is less accurate Less flexible operations Higher complexity of operations Time consuming tasks; Estimation, analyses and predication Less appropriate formats and forms of data Complex operational structure Delayed results due to long processing Client complains due to less effective decisions 5 Role of information At Hopkins business the information is playing major role in all the areas. In case of processes the information is required regarding effective establishment of predications about existence of oil and gas in underground reservoirs. In this case the information extraction and application in overall processes of Hopkins business both are important. In addition, inside the business of Hopkins there are following processes, which need information: Area assessment Oil and gas field survey Estimation for reservoirs Gathering samples Determining samples quality Applying statistical and mathematical calculations In addition, the information is required for process controlling, for handling the business HR, financial records, customer management and oil and gas consultation. 6 Proposal for Change 6.1 Change Outline Hopkins Computer Services, Inc. is headed by Ken Summers who is a brilliant young petroleum engineer. Ken Summers has offered a new idea for implementation of the new business technology system at corporation. The new technology system is aimed at improving the corporate market position by offering new and better technologically supported facilities regarding underground gas and oil reserves (Davis, 2005). The new proposed technology based system will be multi model system for the better corporate operational handling and tasks management. The main intention is to develop this system by connecting all the sub-models together into a huge centralized integrated decision support system for petroleum engineers (Davis, 2005). This new technology based system will offer a lot of new and better facilities. There are a lot of economic considerations attached to this new technology infrastructure. Below I have outlined some of fundamental strategic considerations for new PREsys software implementation at Hopkins. There will be three basic modules; the detailed explanation of each is given below: FIRST MODEL: This is the first part of new technology based system this is going to be implemented. This module will offer the facility to analyze and assess the individual oil and gas reservoir under an oil field. Furthermore, this module will assess the oil and gas wells information with respect to its dimensions, place, capacity, underground wideness, and pressure and rock structure. This information technology based system will develop a three-dimensional map of the underground oil and gas reservoir without huge drilling. This will help in better analysis of the overall structure of individual oil and gas well. SECOND MODEL: This model will be about the forecasting economics intended for every individual oil or gas well. Through employing discounted cash flow analysis techniques this computer based information system will estimate and predict, how much money or value an oil and gas well will produce for its owners. This will also offer effective information about the lifetime of that well. THIRD MODEL: The 3rd model of the overall information system will be about the analyzing the whole data and figure previously extracted for an entire oil and gas field. This will be a more accounting-style system that will apply the technique of ‘roll-up’ for estimating the overall cost and value of the overall oil and gas fields. This will offer a better insight about the recognizing economic value of a whole oil and gas field. Figure 6- New IS based Inforsteructre at Hopkisn business 6.2 Resource Analysis 6.2.1 Time resources: For the establishment of new project there is need to assign some time line for the overall development of new 3 modules IS project. In case of time planning, there is need to consider the ground realities. In this scenario there is a vital need for incorporating all types of business and technological experts for the better prediction of system. In addition, for the time planning they should assess the related time aspects for the overall development. Since, there are three modules those are tightly linked with each other. Thus, pervious module is working as an input platform for the next module. The new technology system (PREsys) will involve the following time plan (Gantt chart): Figure 7- Gantt chart 6.2.2 Cost Resources: For the overall development of new technology based system Hopkins needs to analyze the cost resources for each activity and area of new project that needs to be implemented. The cost resource chart is given below: Sr. No Project Task and Resources Cost ($) 1 System Developer 60000 2 System Testers 25000 3 Quality assurance teams 25000 4 System Development software applications 50000 5 System Development Hardware 200000 6 Additional Cost (food, travel, electricity, place) 20000 7 Filed Surveys 20000 8 New Offices establishment 100000 Total $500000 As mentioned and allowed by the management the budget of this project is $500000. 6.2.3 Hayward and Software Following hardware resources are required for this project: 15 P4 System 5 for each module Three Main severs 1 for each module Network infrastructure Following hardware resources are required for this project: Development tools CASE tools for designing Documentation tools 6.2.4 People For the establishment of new project we will require following people to complete the development: Project Manager Site analyzer Site Surveyor Petroleum Engineers System Designers System Developers System Tester Quality Analyzers Deployment Team Network Engineers 6.3 Cost-benefit Analysis To enhance the business and overall oil and gas consolation efficiency the business needs to spend a huge business investment. In scenario of huge business investment there is a vital need for the effective management of the overall project. In this case there is need to assess the project efficiency through a cost benefit analysis. This cost benefit analysis will offer a better insight into the effective analysis of what we will attain through the new technology implementation at business of Hopkins. The potential revenue generated by the Hopkins last year was $382 million. In case of new technology establishment the potential enhancement in the new technology based consultation business is expected 10% (Davis, 2005). Some of the main advantages that will be attained through the new technology based investment are given below: The implementation of new technology in every sector of life makes the overall functioning much easier. Thus, Hopkins business desired to implement new technology infrastructure for the potential enhancement in overall functions and operational handling of business. This will enhance the Hopkins business market value because Hopkins is implementing new technology that offers more accurate predictions and effective estimations (Davis, 2005). The business of Hopkins is making money by changing oil wells estimations those are established by client few years ago. In this scenario client again requests for some kind of estimation, thus, Hopkins team only re-evaluate the same wells with little effort using the available information extracted a few years ago. In case of new technology infrastructure establishment the process of overall information management will enhance (Davis, 2005). The business of the Hopkins is mainly based on the better estimates. In case of new technology accomplishment the business will have more accurate and effective estimates that will enhance the business credibility in the market areas (Davis, 2005). The next main intention of new technology establishment is to attract an assortment of new clients from all over the world. In addition, the new technology will offer faster and better business estimates in this way business will have more effective scope and market penetration (Davis, 2005). The new technology is aimed to enhance the working speed and accuracy besides this, the new technology is also incorporating more realistic and accurate economic estimations, so that client could better judge the present as well as future value of the particular oil well or whole oil filed (Davis, 2005). This implementation will enhance the customer circle of business and also offer better market share of business (Davis, 2005). The basic goal of Hopkins oil and gas consultation is to throw a completely new idea in the market for the technological estimations and visualization of oil and their potential behaviors after excavation (Davis, 2005). This implementation will be helpful in gaining a better competitive edge in market is also a main intention of the Hopkins business through this technology system implementation (Davis, 2005). 6.4 Interventions Required for the Change Implementation In case of new technology based change implementation we will require a vital intervention. Below I will outline some of main interventions we will require regarding overall establishment of change in this project. In case of new technology based infrastructure we will initially need to train the overall staff for working and management of new technology systems. Thus, the training will be carried out from root level to higher management level. The drilling staff will be trained to utilize the new technology tools while the management and petroleum engineers will be trained to use the information system based interface for analyzing and interpreting the gathered data. The next main intervention will be required by the management for the taking a deep interest in development of new technology based infrastructure of the business. The more vital intervention will be required by the quality assurance team that will be entitled to confirm the accuracy and efficiency of results produced through the new technology based infrastructure. In this case project quality reviewer will be responsible for project error detection and handling, reviewing the overall project plan, analyzing the project requirements, checking the fulfillment of the each project requirement, making system more useable and easy to use for the any type of user at oil field, incorporating less complex system error detection and handling mechanism, better estimations about oil and gas and incorporating ground realities for prediction of oil and gas wells capacity as well as engineering and technology knowledge. 7 System Approach to Information Systems work System approach is a technique that involves examination of problems as well as synthesis explanations. In this system approach the analysis stage, a known circumstance is observed to recognize the factors influencing it. In addition, this state of affairs is observed like a system composed of interrelated parts as well as linked to other systems. Since, the analyses are created to decide the kinds of knowledge as well as skills the majority helpful to business and the order in which these should be discovered. Furthermore, in the synthesis stage for information system adjustments in the system are intended to prevail over forces that obstruct by means of the accomplishment of the system’s objectives (Kristinsdottir, 2008; Whitten et al., 2000). Iyengar & Alia (2003) stated that in case of system approach for the information system design shapes the most basic element in manipulating an organization. Since, an information system intended for oil and gas consulting agency is having a blend of computer hardware, people and software, a dynamic database and a set of generalized interactive algorithms. Thus, the main advantage of the system approach for the information working is regarding the system engineering considerations as well as there is no effort to offer detailed programming answers. In addition, the fundamental concerns comprise, planning requirements, operational requirements, level of computer expertise and political environment (Iyengar & Alia, 1982; Stair & Reynolds, 2003). 8 Self reflection To analyze and assess the project for the implementation of new technology based information system at Hopkins business I have realized that this project is involving a lot of complexities that need higher project management and handling expertise. In addition, in specification of new technology for this technology based infrastructure implementation we need to have deep knowledge and vision of new available market technology and development areas. Furthermore, the system based approach has offered a detailed insight of new technology based system analysis for the potential enhancement of Hopkins business. This research has offered me an opportunity to learn the different aspects regarding application of the system based approach for the changing the traditional business practice and working. The experience and expertise I have achieved from this project will help me in future projects. 9 Conclusion The implementation of new and up-to-date techniques of information technology has become a fashion for the organizations. They try to implement latest technologies to survive and remain competitive in the market. This paper has presented a detailed overview of information technology and change implementation at Hopkins business, which has offered an effective opportunity to Hopkins to enhance the overall operational and handling structure. In addition, this paper has offered a detailed analysis of the system approach for information system implementation at Hopkins business. I hope this report will be helpful in analyzing the new technology implementation at Hopkins business as well as system approach. Bibliography Davis, C.K., 2005. An Experiential Case Study in IT Project Management Planning. Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 7(1), pp.1-21. Efstathiades, A., Tassou, S.A., Antoniou, A. & Oxinos, G., 1998. Strategic considerations in the introduction of advanced manufacturing technologies in the Cypriot industry. Technovation, 19(2), pp.105-15. Iyengar, S.S. & Alia, V., 1982. A system approach to information system : Design for a city planning agency. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 6(1), pp.25-37. Kawalek, J., 2009. The Manual. [e-book] UK: The Consultancy Academy. [Online] Available at: http://www.consultancy-academy.co.uk/INSPIREManual/INSPIREManualLibraryEdition.html [Accessed 02 March 2010]. Kristinsdóttir, S.B., 2008. Systems engineering.. [Online] Available at: http://starfsfolk.khi.is/solrunb/system.htm [Accessed 02 March 2010]. 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