NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship

Assignment for Course: ISM 5014 – Enterprise Information Systems
Submitted to: Dr. Steve Kramer
Submitted by:

Date of Submission: September 2, 2012
Title of Assignment: Final - Individual Case
CERTIFICATION OF AUTHORSHIP: We certify that we are the author of this paper and that any assistance I received in its preparation is fully acknowledged and disclosed in the paper. We have also cited any sources from which we used data, ideas of words, whether quoted directly or paraphrased. We also certify that this paper was prepared by us specifically for this course.

Student Signatures: Barbara Alfaro
____________________________________
******************************************
Instructor’s Grade on Assignment:
Instructor’s Comments:
The purpose of this case study is to evaluate and identify objectives, assess the current situation, identify root causes, define options, and select an optimal solution for the Department of Corrections.
Identify Objectives The state Department of Corrections (DOC) is currently upgrading their information system to interact with new federal government’s system. The DOC has hired Robin a senior consultant for a large consulting firm to perform such upgrades that cost $100 million and is partially being funded by the federal government (case). While many are opposed to the idea for various reasons the project is underway. The single most important objective in this case is the concern for the system errors that may arise from such technology. Employees fear that possible system errors can lead to the release of inmates. Additionally, many employees, such as Donna for example, prefer to do work the old fashioned way and do not seem to accept the changes brought upon by technology. Moreover, the governor does not agree with the decision to continue spending more money on information systems for the DOC even though the decision was made prior to his election (case). Additionally, the senior consultant that was hired, Robin, has never worked for the state government and is not familiar with the legal system which is highly important given that vital information must be included in the new upgrades in order to have both systems linked.
Assess Current Situation Currently the expectations and needs for the project are not being clearly understood by the hired consultant, Robin. While Robin has worked with such projects in the past, she has never worked for the government and knows very little about the state legal system. Developing software that will be linked to the federal government’s system can be challenging since certain legal ramifications need to be taken into consideration. Additionally, many employees are not keen with having to switch over to the new technology and prefer their traditional old fashioned ways which they are accustomed to. This may poses a problem to the DOC given that their software will now be updated and more technologically advanced and some workers may be against these changes.
Short Term Goals
• Have the information systems upgraded immediately.
• Interact with Robin and advise of all the needs and expectations of the DOC.
• Make sure that the DOC and the new federal system properly interact with one another.
• Make sure that there are no system errors that can cause to potential inmate releases due to system errors.
Long Term Goals
• Adequately train all personnel on the new software and the benefits of implementing technology to their work.
• Continue updates on software in order not to spend a lump sum of money for such outdated equipment.
• Compose an internal IT department that will provide the necessary updates to all software and answer all employee questions and problems regarding technology.
Identify Root Causes
The root cause for the Department of Corrections is the lack of information systems provided to employees. This has led to employees such as Donna to continue doing work the old fashioned way and not properly adapt to the emergence of technology. This has led to employees not trusting the new information systems project because of their lack of knowledge for technology which has also led them to fear this change. According to Richard Grimes, “very often it is hard for the more experienced members of a department to make a transition from the comfortable habits and success to which they have become accustomed to the new (and self-image threatening) tools and practices of change.”
Define Options
Clearly the DOC could have turned to other options that could have improved the situation they were currently facing. For starters, DOC could have adequately trained their personnel on technology usage and implemented such technology in order to minimize the fear of system errors. The positive impact is that personnel would be willing to accept and adapt to changes brought about by technology. The negative impact would be the amount of money, time and resources that DOC would have to invest in such a project. Additionally, many of the older employees will not want to engage in these training tools since they are not familiar with technology.
A second option would be to have Jim, Donna’s technology savvy assistant help with the new project. Jim is very familiar with technology and is familiar with the way DOC functions, aiding in the project would be essential given that he is a DOC employee. Having a DOC employee be involved in the project would give DOC an advantage if anything happens with the software, Jim can always be of support. The negative impact that this may have is that Jim may not be too familiar with the procedures and regulations for the DOC and the implementation of the software given such regulations may not function as it is supposed to.
Furthermore, DOC would be at an advantage if they hire adequate IT personnel to implement new software as opposed to hiring elsewhere. Creating a skilled knowledgeable IT department within would save the headaches of looking for a company that will understand the needs and wants of the DOC. An internal department already is familiar with the rules and regulations of the DOC and the expectations that the department requires. Moreover, having an internal IT department administer the project would be great since they will always be at hand if a problem arises with the new system. The negative impact that this option may have would be that the IT personnel may not be familiar with implementing and creating new software that will be linked, such as this instance, with the federal government’s system or may not be as safe given the lack of experience.
The last option is for DOC to do nothing at all. The positive impact that this would have on the DOC is that the project will go as planned and large sums of money will continue being used for all updates to software. However, the negative impact on the DOC is the continuous hiring of outside firms for all of their software upgrades which will continue to be extremely costly and such changes may not necessarily be approved while also trying to have employees adapt to last minute technological changes that they are not familiar with or are not willing to accept.
Select Optimal
Option one, adequately train their personnel on technology usage and implemented such technology in order to minimize the fear of system error (short term = employees may not understand, long term = ease of workload). Option two consists of having Jim, Donna’s technology savvy assistant help with the new project (short term = provide knowledge of DOC regulations and system). Option three hiring adequate IT personnel to implement new software as opposed to hiring elsewhere (short term = may be costly to hire knowledgeable staff and train on the regulations of the DOC, long term = less money to spend in a lump sum for large software upgrades).
The best option for DOC is option one to adequately train their personnel on the changes of technology and how it will affect software. Advising personnel that these software will make their jobs easier. Moreover, properly training personnel on the use of technology will minimize the fear of system error. While the system can cause an error, implementing a manual check afterwards is essential. For example, if the system states that an inmate is free to be released it is the staff’s responsibility to go over the inmates file and guarantee that the information provided for his/her release corresponds to that of their file. If the staff notices an error then there should be a chain of command to which the employee can turn to for further assistance and/or instructions.

References
Department of Corrections case provided by ISM 5014
Grimes, R. Employees fearing change? Let's party!. Ezinarticles. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Employees-Fearing-Change?-Lets-Party!&id=6947096