The Information Systems Analysis And Methodologies

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction

A call centre that takes calls on behalf of a well-known electricity company has recently been taken over by a new company who urgently need to make improvements to the information system used at the call centre. The main business of the call centre takes place in the Customer Services department where EIGHTY (80) staff are employed to provide a range of services to customers that includes registering the details of new customers, updating customers accounts, answering payment queries and complaints from customers, contacting potential customers and liaising with staff in the Human Resources department, the Finance department and Technical Support department. The Human Resources department deals with management information and staff data (such as hours worked, absences, training, holiday arrangements and recruitment); TEN (10) staff are employed in this department. TWELVE (12) staff are employed in the Finance department who produce customer bills and process their payments and staff wages. The Technical Support department employs SIX (6) staff. The Management Team of SEVEN (7) includes the FOUR (4) Managers of each department, the TWO (2) Assistant Managers of the Customer Services department and the Managing Director. Departments need to liaise with each other effectively and regularly.

The current information system used at the call centre needs updating as the management thinks that it is inefficient, unreliable and complex. Every member of staff uses the system but not all staff are able to access all parts of the system and some find it difficult to use. Management also feel that there needs to be an improvement in communication between the FOUR (4) departments. The Customer Services department is constantly busy and staff deal with a minimum of TWO HUNDRED (200) calls each day. Errors are often made in the input and output of customer data, the software frequently crashes as it cannot cope with the volume of data that it needs to process and customer data is often inaccurate after being transferred between departments.

You have been asked to analyse the current system and prepare a formal report for management on a number of issues as follows:

Task 1 - 25 Marks

Information Systems Analysis and Methodologies

Describe what is meant by a Knowledge Management System and explain the benefits of implementing one at the call centre.

ANSWER:

KM System (Knowledge Management System) usually IT related, indicates to a system for administering knowledge in the organizations, capture, supporting creation, distribution of knowledge and storage. It could comprise a part (neither adequate nor essential) of a Knowledge-Management initiative. KM System is planned to allow employees} for having ready access to organizations documented base of solutions, facts and base of knowledge. For instance a common claim mitigating the creation of a Knowledge Management System might run rather like this: A Engineer could have knowledge about the metallurgical composition of alloy that minimizes the sound in the gear system. This knowledge if shared in the organization could head towards a more effective design of the engine and it could also step up to plans for improved or new equipment. A Knowledge Management System could be any as mentioned below:1.Document related: Any technology that allows sharing or management or creation of formatted documents like web, Lotus Notes, distributed databases, etc.2.Taxonomy or Ontology related: They are same as document technologies, such that, system of terminologies (that is ontology) are utilized in summarizing documents. For instance: Author, Subject, Organization, etc. same as in different XML and DAML related ontology’s.3.Based to AI-technologies that make use of a customized representation scheme for representing the domain problem. 4.Offer network-maps of organization, presenting run of messages between individuals and entities.5.Increasingly social manipulative tools are deployed for offering a more organic approach for building a Knowledge Management System. Distinguishing characteristics of a Knowledge Management System comprises:1.Reason: A Knowledge Management System will have a specific KM objective of some kind like collaboration, the like or distributing good exercises.2.Context: One perspective on Knowledge Management System will see knowledge as information that is meaningfully accumulated, rooted and planned in a context of claim and creation.3.Procedures: Knowledge Management Systems are developed to enhance and maintain knowledge intensive projects, tasks or processes for e.g., capturing, identification, acquisition, construction, creation, organization, selection, linking, valuation, structuring, visualization, formalization, distribution, transfer, maintenance, retention, revision, refinement, accessing, retrieval, evolution and lastly appeal of knowledge also recognized as the knowledge life-cycle.4.Participants: Users could play the role of concerned, dynamic members in the knowledge communities and networks promoted by KMS, although this is necessarily not the case. Knowledge Management System designs are held to reveal that knowledge is collectively developed and distribution of knowledge initiates its constant claim, renovations and alteration in different contexts by different members with different experiences and backgrounds. 5. Instruments: Knowledge Management System supports the Knowledge Management instruments. For instance, the capture, sharing and creation of adaptable feature of experiences, creation of business knowledge directories, ontology’s or taxonomies, skill-management systems, expertise locators, Collaborative handling and filtering of interests that are utilized in linking people, fostering and creation of knowledge or community networks. A Knowledge Management System offers integrated facilities in deploying Knowledge Management instruments for network of members that is active-knowledge workers, in knowledge intensive business procedures along the entire knowledge life-cycle. The term Knowledge Management System could be associated to Open-Standards, Open-Source Software, Open Protocols, Open-Knowledge licenses, policies and initiatives. [1] 

Advantage to implement one at the Call Centre is that this company is vast, some easier than others to measure! With the hard metrics like reducing call handling time, reduction in call escalations and reducing training times within this call centre, this can be achieved through a Return on Investment calculation. Other softer metrics can be more difficult to highlight like the reinvention of the wheel.

(6 Marks)

b) Describe TWO (2) types of information gathering methods that you will use to analyze the information system and explain your reasons for choosing each of these methods.

- In-person interview: increase ability to have a clear and detailed exchange of information

-Written survey: maybe sent or delivered to respondent as this does not need to schedule time for survey

(6 Marks)

c) Explain the purpose and benefits of the systems development lifecycle.

(13 Marks)

ANSWER:

PURPOSE:

The System Development Life cycle is an organized, structured, methodology for designing, developing, testing, implementing, and continuing support of a system. It is defined by interrelated phases characterized by preferred tasks, roles and responsibilities and work products. The purpose of an SDLC is to provide a structured framework against which system development activities occur. Employing a structured framework facilitates coordination, control and management of all system development efforts, including the development of new systems and enhancement of the existing system. [2] 

BENEFITS: [3] 

- Early identification and mitigation of security vulnerabilities and problems with the configuration of systems, results in lower costs to implement security controls and mitigation of vulnerabilities;

- Awareness of potential engineering challenges caused by mandatory security controls;

- Identification of shared security services and reuse of security strategies and tools that will reduce development costs and improve the system’s security posture through the application of proven methods and techniques;

- Facilitation of informed executive decision making through the application of a comprehensive risk management process in a timely manner;

- Documentation of important security decisions made during the development process to inform management about security consideration during all phases of development;

- Improved organization and customer confidence to facilitate adoption and use of system, and improved confidence in the continued investment in government systems; and

- Improved systems interoperability and integration that would be difficult to achieve if security is considered separately at various system tools

Task 2 – 25 Marks

Hard, Soft and Combined Approaches to Information Systems Analysis

Produce a data flow diagram that illustrates the information system in use in the call centre’s Customer Services department.

4

Shipping Management

Customer Record Maintenance

Customer

information

Shipping information

Call Center System

Accounting information

Order information

Order fulfillment

Accounts Receivable

(20 Marks)

b) Describe why you are considering using a hard approach to analyse the information system.

Timelines: Theoretically, a hard approach (SSADM) allows one to plan, manage and control a project well. These points are essential to deliver the product on time.

Usability: Within SSADM special emphasis is put on the analysis of user needs. Simultaneously, the systems model is developed and a comprehensive demand analysis is carried out. Both are tried to see if they are well suited to each other. [5] 

Respond to changes in the business environment: As in SSADM documentation of the project’s progress is taken very seriously, issues like business objectives and business needs are considered while the project is being developed. This offers the possibility to tailor the planning of the project to the actual requirements of the business.

3Effective use of skills: SSADM does not require very special skills and can easily be taught to the staff. Normally, common modeling and diagramming tools are used. Commercial CASE tools are also offered in order to be able to set up SSADM easily. [6] 

Better quality: SSADM reduces the error rate of IS by defining a certain quality level in the beginning and constantly checking the system.

Improvement of productivity: By encouraging on-time delivery, meeting business requirements, ensuring better quality, using human resources effectively as well as trying to avoid bureaucracy, SSADM improves the overall productivity of the specific project and the company.

Cuts costs: SSADM separates the logical and the physical systems design. So the system does not have to be implemented again with new hard -or software. [7] 

(5 Marks)

Task 3 – 25 Marks

Stakeholder Analysis and CATWOE

a) Describe what is meant by CATWOE analysis and explain why you have decided to undertake a CATWOE analysis of the call centre’s information system.

ANSWER:

CATWOE was defined by Peter Checkland as a part of his Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). It is a simple checklist for thinking. It is one of the generic techniques that Business Analyst use to identify the what the business is trying to achieve, what are the problem areas and how is the solution going to affect the business and people involved in it.

 

There are six elements of CATWOE: [8] 

1. Clients

Customers or clients are stakeholders who are the users of the system or process. These are the people who’ll benefit of suffer due to the change in the system/process. The first step in a CATWOE analysis is to identifying such customers and understanding how the process or system affects them.

 

2. Actors

These are the people involved in the implementation of the changes in the system/changes.

 

3. Transformation

These are the changes that the system or process brings about. A CATWOE analysis requires listing the inputs and the nature of change inputs undergo to become outputs.

 

4. Weltanschauung

Weltanschauung, also known as "Worldview" is the big picture and the wider impact of the transformed system/process. The system/process is analyzed to come up with the positive and negative impact on the overall business. This is the most crucial step in CATWOE analysis as different stake holders have different approaches to the same issue. The primary difference in the CATWOE analysis prepared by each stakeholder lies in Weltanschauung, and the purpose of a CATWOE analysis is to make explicit such different worldviews.

 

5. Owner

These are the Decision makers who have the authority to make the changes, stop the project, or decide on whether to go ahead with the change.

 

6. Environmental constraints

These are the external constraints and limitation affecting the success of the solution. These can be ethical limits, regulations, financial constraints, resource limitations, limitations of project scope, limits set by terms of reference and others.

 

Explain why you have decided to undertake a CATWOE analysis of the call centre’s information system.

ANSWER:

Using CATWOE in Call Center Management analysis discussions and drawing a rich picture encourages a process approach. Participants can test assertions, assumptions, positions and the integrity of data or information. With a root definition and a CATWOE rich picture the analyst can turn to an imagined ‘ideal’ system. This is used to prompt thinking about what the business is trying to achieve. Business perspectives help the business analyst to consider the impact of any proposed solution on the people involved.

CATWOE Analysis yields a more elaborate all encompassing Root Definition of the form: A System owned by O to do W by A by means of T given the constraints of E in order to achieve X for C.

(13 Marks)

b) Describe the purpose of producing a stakeholder matrix and explain how it will help you in your analysis of the call centre’s information system.

ANSWER:

Stakeholder matrix represents the varied interests in and expectations of an organization, including the consumers, suppliers, staff, and senior leadership. Creating a stakeholder matrix is the essential first step in creating a performance management system that reflects the many perspectives of performance for the organization. [9] 

The benefits of using a stakeholder-based approach are that:

You can use the opinions of the most powerful stakeholders to shape your projects at an early stage. Not only does this make it more likely that they will support you, their input can also improve the quality of your project

Gaining support from powerful stakeholders can help you to win more resources – this makes it more likely that your projects will be successful

By communicating with stakeholders early and frequently, you can ensure that they fully understand what you are doing and understand the benefits of your project – this means they can support you actively when necessary

You can anticipate what people's reaction to your project may be, and build into your plan the actions that will win people's support.

Explain how it will help you in your analysis of the call centre’s information system.

When we use this Stakeholder Analysis in our Call Centre’s information system, this provides valuable information regarding needs, resources, realistic objectives, and practical considerations for a project. We can recognize the hidden items that might not be obvious in the planning stage. It also identifies the points of the opposition and prevents problems during implementation of the various project at the same time.

It also encourages sense of the ownership of the project and involvement during the implementation stage of the project. It also ensures of the project remains on the people it is meant to support for the project launch.

Stakeholder analysis is one of the tools that are clearly not blind for power issues.

(12 Marks)

Task 4 – 25 Marks

People-Oriented and Process-Oriented Analysis

a) Explain the purpose of a people-oriented approach to information systems analysis and why you have decided to use this method for your analysis.

ANSWER:

SSM (People-oriented approach) provides a philosophy and a set of techniques for investigating an unstructured problem situation. SSM is an approach to the investigation of the problems that may or may not require computer-based system support as part of its solution. In this sense, SSM could be described as an approach to system requirements analysis, rather than a systems design approach. 

Unlike most systems requirements analysis techniques (e.g. UML, entity-relationship modelling or data-flow diagrams), which focus on how the computer system should operate, SSM focuses on the system of work - the "human activity system" that requires computer system support. SSM asks the fundamental question that should (but usually does not) precede system requirements analysis. [10] 

Why you have decided to use this method for your analysis.

The advantage of SSM in such cases is that it models explicitly the different value-systems of various people in the organization, representing different people's differing beliefs about the effectiveness and purpose of the organization (or their part of the organization) and their perceptions of current information systems within it. When organizational problems are difficult to define, many problems can be due to work "systems" prioritizing one set of organizational objectives at the expense of another set of objectives. For example, a computer-based system for the authorization of travelling expenses, used by staff in the accounts department may have been designed to reject claims which do not conform to low-cost criteria. Therefore, use of this system will encourage staff to use the form of travel which has the lowest cost even when the company may lose business by someone not being able to reach a business client before a competitor. The use of SSM for the analysis of requirements for a travelling expenses system would make this conflict explicit, leading to the specification of an alternative system which was able to flexibly approve the expense on the joint criteria of cost and urgency.

(5 Marks)

Produce a rich picture diagram that illustrates the call centre information system.

LAN, Web and Mobile Clients

Authentication and Authorization

Infrastructure

MIS

Data Archiving

Call Recording

Import/Export

Configuration

[鍵入文件的引文或重點的摘要

Call Center Dashboard

Analysis and Reporting

User Experience and Customization

Audit and Statistics [鍵入文件的引文或重點的

Value-added Services

Products and Services

Call Billing System

Complaints and Feedbacks

Appointment System

Tele Marketing

(20 Marks)