Strategy and Dveloppement of E Procurement and IT Architecture

¶ … Strategy of E-Procurement and IT Architecture 1a) Planned Strategy in E-procurement A large number of organizations adopting electronic commerce (e-commerce) have identified e-procurement as an effective strategy that can be used to enhance the competitive market advantages. In a business environment, a traditional procurement faces challenges of a paperwork workload associated that includes a purchase order, delivery order, and statement of work, invoice, and payment. All these process increase an organizational cost of production.

Typically, e-procurement eliminates this workload by assisting management purchasing or supplying goods and services electronically at lowest possible costs using the paperless transactions. A report carried out by the CIPS (2013) reveals that the goal of e-procurement is to use the latest information technology to link suppliers and customers thereby improve the value chain process.

In essence, the e-procurement is a critical component of e-commerce, and the major goal of an e-procurement process is to enhance the speed of procurement process as well as assisting organizations to enjoy lowest possible costs for all transactions. Thus, an implementation of e-procurement will assist the ServCis LLC to procure the manufacturing materials at the lowest costs. In the contemporary business environment, the internet has become a powerful tool that organizations employ to achieve the competitive market advantages.

One of the benefits of e-procurement is to assist the company to source for suppliers that offer high-quality raw materials at lowest possible costs thereby lowering the costs used to manufacture goods. The major goal of e-procurement is also to reduce the transaction costs (CIPS, 2002). A 5% decline in purchasing costs automatically increases sales by 30%. The e-procurement will assist the Services LLC to eliminate the indirect costs associated to stationery, office equipment, printing, travel, and maintenance supplies.

How the goals can be accomplished The major strategy that the ServCis LLC can employ to achieve these goals is to use the e-procurement application. An e-procurement application is a software program that will assist the organization to purchase goods and services at a reduced cost. The ERP (enterprise resources planning) is one of the effective e-procurement application that can assist the ServCis LLC to enjoy the greatest transaction costs benefits.

The company can either buy the application to run its business or use the ASP (Application Service Provider) to implement the application. The software program will assist the company to source for materials globally using economic of scale. However, the security of the systems is still very important that requires using a robust authentication system to protect the company data.

1b) "Reasons the Senior Management Committee should approve the Plan" The management of the ServCis LLC should approve the plan because the company will enjoy the transactional costs benefits, which will assist the ServCis LLC to save 20% of the total costs of production. Moreover, the e-procurement will assist in purchasing manufacturing materials online using the ERP to enhance data accuracy as well as minimizing the ordering inaccuracies. The price benefits are the other reason that the ServCis LLC will enjoy from implementing the e-procurement.

An application of effective management information system is another benefit of e-procurement. For example, ServCis LLC will enjoy the benefits of service communication, and allow effective monitoring of the procurement of materials. Question 2: a) Challenges/problems Encountered when implementing ERP system / HRIS for IntreSec The IntreSec Inc. is a multinational company based in the United States intending to implement ERP system and HRIS. While IntreSec Inc.

will derive several benefits from the application of HRIS and ERP system, nevertheless, the company can still face challenges in the implementation of enterprise resources system. Implementation of the HRIS can be time consuming and challenging to implement. One of the HRIS implementation challenges is the escalation of the cost of the project. Typically, a sudden increase in the cost of the project can make the IntreSec face challenges in a successful implementation of the project.

An escalation of the project costs can lead to project abandonment if the organization does not have a sufficient fund for the project's implementation since the costs of implementing the HRIS project range from $1,000 to $12 million. Moreover, the incurred costs to complete the project may offset the benefits associated to the project's implementation. This type of challenges is particularly common if the IntreSec does not implement an effective cost-benefit analysis before implementing the project.

Lack of effective personnel with IT skills is another challenge that the organization can face when carrying out the project's implementation because an organization intends to implement the HRIS project needs an employee with IT skills to design the project tailored to the organizational objectives. 2b) Critical Success for the implementation of the HRIS at IntreSec Dessler, Cole, & Bulmash, (2008) define the HRIS as an integrated computer systems used to store, gather and analyze the information related to the organizational human resources.

In another word, an HRIS assists an organization to control, and monitor the activities of employees within an organization. The critical success factors of the HRIS for the IntreSec is that it will assist the organization to automate its human resources activities such as payroll information, recruitment information, and management of resources. Moreover, the HRIS can assist the IntreSec to reduce administration costs such as the costs of recording data, keeping data, data storage, and retrieval.

The HRIS system will also be able to reduce the costs of managing human resources thereby increasing the company revenue. Moreover, the HRIS will assist the employees of IntreSec across different countries to communicate effectively. The WAN (Wide Area Network) can be integrated with the HRIS to assist the IntreSece employee in the United States to communicate effectively with other IntreSece's employees in other countries. 2c) Changes needed at IntreSec when Implementing the HRIS to ensure the ERP function effectively.

An effective strategy that the IntreSec can employ to ensure that the ERP functioning effectively is to integrate the ERP in the HRIS. The company should merge the HRIS with the ERP. The ERP has several modules, and part of the modules is the HRIS, thus, integration of ERP with the HRIS will make the ERP systems functioning effectively.

Moreover, the integration of the ERP will assist the organization to enjoy the benefits associated to both the ERP and HRIS, which assists the IntreSec to enjoy benefits of e-procurement and human resources management systems across different geographical locations where the company is operating. Question 3a) Critical Success of IT Steering Committee The task of the IT steering committee for DoingIt, Inc. is to ensure that an IT project supports the business goals and objectives.

Moreover, the IT steering committee is responsible for ensuring that the project aligns to project's aims. The task of the IT Steering Committee is also to monitor, prioritize and review the organizational IT projects based on the cross-functional perspectives. Moreover, the IT Steering Committee aligns the IT objectives with the organizational strategic goals. The IT steering committees can also assist the organization achieving the IT prioritization, and IT strategic planning. The strongest mandate of the IT steering committee is to leverage the technology to achieve business solutions.

Other tasks of the IT steering committee is to ascertain that the budget allotted to the IT project streamlines to the priorities of business recommendations. The task of the IT steering committee is also to prioritize the IT investment as well as delivering the final recommendations and approvals for the proposed IT project. The committee also enhances an effective communication and collaborative planning between IT department and functional units.

The critical success of the IT committee is the benefits to be derived from the IT outsourcing, which is the strategy that the organization can employ to reduce the IT costs. By allowing the third party company to manage the IT investment, the DoingIt will be able to reduce the high costs of IT implementation and maintenance. 3b) Difference between IT in-house Development and Outsourcing development. IT outsourcing is a business technique where a company entrusts part of or all its IT functions to an external vendor.

For example, an organization can outsource part of its HRIS or ERP functions such as payroll, transaction processing, inventory and order management. It is also possible for an organization to outsource the accounting functions to an external service provider. On the other hand, in-house IT strategy is a business process where a company operates its IT operations within the company. In this sense, the organization is required to hire a pool of IT professionals who will be in charge of the IT operations.

Unlike the IT outsourcing where in-house staff does not participate in the IT operations, however, in the in-house IT strategy, a company employees are responsible for managing the company IT operations The paper suggests devoting on the IT outsourcing than an in-housing strategy based on the benefits that DoingIt stands to derive from the IT outsourcing. Different benefits the organization stands to gain from adopting the IT outsourcing. First, the company will be able to reduce the IT costs using an external vendor to manage the IT operations.

Moreover, the company will be able to reduce the labor costs since IT employees are very expensive. More importantly, the company will be able devote more time on its core business operations by transferring its IT operations to an external vendor. Additionally, the IT outsourcing will assist DoingIt to share the investment risks by outshouting IT operations. Question 4a) Effects of Outsourcing jobs to other Companies within the U.S. SysDev, Inc. can enjoy different benefits from outsourcing jobs to other companies in the Unitec States.

First, the company will be able to reduce the cost associated to the human resources management by outsourcing jobs to other company. For example, the company will eliminate different employee's costs such as insurance benefits, health benefits, work holiday benefits and other benefits for full-time employees thereby reducing the costs of operations. "The primary driver for organizations outsourcing their IT costs. Companies with $500 million turnovers averaged only a 6.7% cost reductions from off-shoring, with nearly half of those companies reporting either an increase in cost or no cost reduction at all.

On the other hand, companies with more than$1 billion annual turnovers enjoyed a 24.8% cost reduction, on average." (Shrinivas, Winai, & Wo. 2015 p 62). Moreover, outsourcing jobs to other company will assist SysDev, Inc. to focus more on its core business operations thereby developing more expertise in its business operations. Additionally, the company will be able to offer better quality services at lower costs. The outsourcing increases efficiency of the job offered. For example, the outsourcing partners with years of experience will be able to deliver a high-quality service to the company.

The outsourcing will also offer better efficiency and productivity to the company. The outsourcing also offers better and faster services with quality deliverables and effective value-added proposition. 4b) Risks and Hidden costs associated with Outsourcing for SysDev, Inc. Despite the benefits that SysDev can derive from outsourcing, nevertheless, the company can face challenges when outsourcing the jobs to other companies. First, the company faces the risk of exposing their confidential data to other company.

Exposing a confidential and critical data to an outsider can jeopardize the competitive market advantages of SysDev. For example, one of the employees of the third party company can sell the data to the competitors, which can reduce the company market revenue. For example, when the company outsources its HR functions, it exposes the employees' confidential data to the outsiders. Jerome, (2001) argues that SysDev, Inc. can be exposed to the hidden costs by outsourcing, which include the costs of searching for the right vendors.

The contract cost is another hidden cost that the company needs to shoulder when implementing the outsourcing contract. An effective contract negotiation requires the assistance of a professional negotiator or a competent legal professional to ensure that the contract agreement runs smoothly. (Shrinivas, Winai, & Wo. 2015). 5a) High-level architecture Plan for IntSys, Inc. This section provides a high-level architectural plan for IntSys, Inc. revealing its software and IT architectures. Fig 1 reveals the company IT architecture that relies on the 100baseT backbone. The company IT infrastructure should consist of 36 VOIP.

The human resources and IT department should be connected with the 1000 baseF network backbone. Each employee should also have their personal computer. The 1000 baseF network should be connected with the corporate LAN through the UNIX server that will host the company SAP ERP. More importantly, all the company servers should consist of the IBM servers such as the main UNIX server and IBM HS20 blade servers. The UPS should serve as the power backup, and the satellite will be operated through the VOIP router connecting the company facilities with voices.

The satellite should also be operated in Ka band to handle an OCI data rate integrated with encryption technology. The T3 router will deliver T3 connection protected with a firewall to prevent unauthorized network system. Fig 1: High-level architecture Plan for IntSys, Inc. 5b) Testing needed for the application before allowing the application tat IntSys, Inc. Different tests should be carried out to ascertain that the application is working perfectly. First, the IntSys, Inc.

should test whether the application can automate the payroll functions since the application will be used for the payroll operations. Moreover, the application should be tested to ascertain whether it can carry out the e-procurement functions. Moreover, the company should test the application to ascertain that it can perform the HRIS functions.

Another testing that will be carried out include: System Testing Network Testing A point-to-point connectivity test An end-to-end connectivity test, and A data flow test 5c) Applications in-house Development Approaches The SDLC (Systems Development Life Cycle) is the strategy of developing the application in-house revealing as follows: System identification, selection, & planning System analysis System design System implementation, and System maintenance The first approach is to carry out the system analysis that reveals the business problem that the company intends to solve.

The IntSys business goal is to become a technology company. The next stage is to carry out a system design describing the strategy to accomplish this goal. The type of system required to make IntSys becoming a technology company include: Hardware, Database software, telecommunications, and Personnel. The logical design of the system will be carried out to reveal inputs, outputs, processing, control and security of the new system. The hardware will consist of a computer, and router. The software will consist of the network operating system.

There will also be the media such as satellite, and fiber optics and bandwidth of 100 Mbps. The next stage is the system implementation where the company asks the developer to construct the application in-house. The chief benefit of developing the application in-house is that it will be tailored to the organizational business objectives. At this stage, the company will test all the software to ascertain they work as planned. After the implementation, the next stage is a system documentation, support, and training.

The installation of the software and hardware should also be carried out at this stage. Another implementation process is as follows: Preliminary Activities Engage in AT&T Solutions Assessment of Security risk Creating Information Security Policy Business Continuity Plan Procurement of hardware and software Network Documentation Update network diagrams System Testing • Test Network • Point-to-point connectivity • end-to-end connectivity • Test data flow. After the implementation, the company is required to carry out a maintenance process.

Meanwhile, it is also very essential to calculate both the Recurring Costs and Non-Recurring Costs before developing the application in-house. The Recurring Costs and Non-Recurring Costs is revealed in Appendix 1. Question 6a) Identification five Business processes at SysDo, Inc. The SysDo, Inc.'s business process are: The product design, The product development, The product manufacturing. The product marketing The e-procurement. Components of the product design are the modular design and "mix and match modules." (Schaefer, 1999 p 312). Components of the product development are product strategy and discovery & validation.

Components of the product manufacturing are logistics management, and transportation. Components of the product marketing are the pricing model and marketing budget. Components of the e-procurement are billing management and data transmission. 6b) Risks associated to a Wireless Network. SysDo should employ different strategies to enhance the security of the wireless network. First the company should integrate the encryption system to protect the wireless network from an authorized access.

The encryption should be used to protect the data stored in the network system because the encryption technology will change the data into unreadable texts where an individual with decrypt key can only decrypt the.