¶ … Monroenico Hospitality Company
Project Purpose and Description
The purpose of this project is as follows:
The complex interplay of collaborative effort which every major information technology (IT) project requires a precise system of measurement through which to quantify and qualify the occurrence of success or failure, and this process is best performed with a practical system of project metrics. Traditional project metrics such as customer satisfaction rating and return on investment have been supplemented with the powerful analytics of modern software applications, allowing today's project managers to evaluate every conceivable aspect of an IT project through the objective lens of calculation and computation. It has been consistently observed that enterprises which excel at adhering to predetermined project delivery schedules typically employ a well-defined set of performance metrics to regularly measure ongoing progress (Schwalbe, 2011), because project managers armed with this targeted knowledge are far better equipped to deploy their resources efficiently and effectively. Practical project metrics also guide the project selection process, enabling project managers to assess the relative merits and disadvantages of a proposal with weighted scoring models or balanced scorecards before the implementation phase is approved. Overall, the role of practical project metrics is to provide project managers with a systematic methodology through which the multitude of variances inherent to complex IT projects can be prevented or mitigated.
The current computer system utilized by Motel 6 to book reservations and conduct front desk operations was implemented in 2012 by Crossbeam Systems, Inc., with the adoption of the Crossbeam X-Series secured reservations platform designed to streamline Motel 6's international operations and online reservation capabilities. According to industry reports this recent...
Although this objective was clearly stated and pursued by Crossbeam Systems, Inc., we here at Monroenico are confident that the information contained within this RFP will demonstrate that significant improvements remain to be made.
The reason for Motel 6's initial implementation of a new reservation system stems from a situation which occurred in 2007, when unplanned system outages severely impacted the network's ability to facilitate user traffic effectively. An internal investigation revealed that the company's existing firewall infrastructure was unable to sustain modern levels of user traffic, creating a slower experience for customers attempting to make reservations online. With the user experience for Motel 6's website and online reservation experience frustrating at best, and nonexistent at worst, many prospective customers ultimately abandoned their effort to reserve a room online, taking their business to a competitor instead. The impact on Motel 6's revenue stream was disastrous to say the least, but the consequences for the company's national brand were even more damning, and because the network security team discovered their only recourse to be manually restarting three firewalls clusters per day to prevent outages, the decision to implement the Crossbeam X-Series was made without hesitation. We here at Monroenico believe that the external market pressures applied to Motel 6's management during the time when firewall outages plagued the company led to the quick decision to use Crossbeam Systems, Inc., and while that company is competent and capable in its own right, the proprietary systems and…
