Systems and operations management principles

Management System

To manage and control the development activities for Visa's new system, Visa Commerce, the management system that would perhaps be best applicable is to focus the management and control on the development team that must consist of "just enough" number of members. This includes the team that chiefly handles all the requirements for the new system and the system's IT development team. Since Visa Commerce is a system for global use, it is essential that all development activities for the system must be firmly monitored and controlled. Communication to a team that is not large in number of members, yet enough to complete the system, facilitates this process.

To manage and control the activities for Visa Commerce, an open communication should be available between each member of the development team. If possible, the development team must work as a group in one location. This is important specifically to the I.T. development team of the system since they are the core players in the success of Visa Commerce system. The team that provides the requirements, on the other hand, can be from different locations. However, it is still essential to have a main team, that handles all the project requirements, to work with the system developers. Such team should serve as the communication bridge between global users of the system and the system developers.

Generally, the management approach that is essential in the development process of Visa Commerce should include an open communication between the development team, an organized distribution of tasks, a periodical evaluation of the system's development process, and a periodical evaluation of each member's accomplishments.

Addressing Problems as Technology Changes

To address any difficulties that might arise as technology changes during Visa Commerce's 10-year implementation, it is essential that members of the technical team, such as the systems analysts and programmers, must be keen and updated with technology. This is important during the development and implementation phases of the system. Since technology continually evolves, having an up-to-date knowledge allows anticipation of problems that might exist, which in turn, provides the development team with idea of different solutions schemes that are problem-preventive and self-healing in technology. An example of which is using a dynamic infrastructure in the Visa Commerce system, where system components update themselves by design. As indicated by the GMD Institute for Open Communication Systems, in Marcin Solarski's Dynamic Updating of Software Components in TINA-based Systems, a dynamic infrastructure can provide the following advantages to systems.

an update of a component is transparent to the rest of the system the loss of system functionality during the update is minimized a process of the system upgrade needs minimal human intervention

the update capabilities of software do not significantly impact the effort required to build such software the system update is reliable

Changes in Technology: Development Risks?

The level of risk that changes in technology may cause to a system depends on the system's structure, how it was designed, and how flexible are the technologies used in its development.

Ideally, during a development phase, a development team must consider features of flexibility and transparency to the different components of a system. This is to guarantee the system's compatibility to changes, and to ensure that the system has the ability to adapt to new technologies that may emerge. Basically, changes in technology are not problems to existing systems. It is a common trend in technology that any new changes always recognize previous technologies. For instance, a system that was developed in Windows '98 operating system is almost always compatible in a higher version of Windows.

Should there be changes in technology during the 10-year implementation period of Visa Commerce, they will perhaps mostly occur as improvements to current technologies. Since almost all industries use the Internet technology, as Visa Commerce will basically does, it is anticipated that the new changes will still accommodate previous technologies. Nevertheless, somehow, meeting the demands of the changing technology is a development risk to a system, especially to a system that is already functional. To mitigate this risk, an "up-to-date with technology" development team, combined with an organized process of development or enhancement procedures can meet the changing needs and trends of technology.