Adopting Information System at Coffee Construction Australia - Case Study Example

Adopting Information System at Coffee Construction Australia Name: Lecturer: Course: Date: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 a) Business value proposition of using best practice information systems 4 (b) How Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) would support business functions 5 Description of a PMIS 5 Business functions it supports 6 i) Monitoring 7 ii) Project Evaluation 7 iii) Security 8 iv) Planning 8 (c) How Project Managers could use Information Systems 8 Customer Relationship Management 9 Transactional Processing Systems (TPS) 9 Material Resource Management 10 Conclusion 10 Reference List 11 Introduction Coffee Construction Australia has recently become uncertain of its future business opportunities, as it is challenged by the high volume of projects, yet a slow uptake of technology. This report advocates for the company to integrate the ‘best practice’ information systems (IS). By integrating business information systems, Coffee Construction Australia is presented with an opportunity to espouse the organisational aspiration in the digital age of leveraging information with technical capability to deliver information that supports the company’s range of business operations, which affect the bottom line (Hemmatfar, 2010). Already, the management has recognized such an opportunity and is on the pathway to delivering a steady stream of best practice information systems. However, the information systems may be associated with uncertainty when it comes to the business value expected to be captured. On the other hand, these information systems may as well serve as crucial optimization tools that ensure the improvement of operational and strategic processes (Williams & Williams 2010). This report acknowledges that it is of strategic importance for Coffee Construction Australia to examine how it can apply best practice information systems to improve results, as well as make sure that the information systems invested in to deliver the targeted business value. a) Business value proposition of using best practice information systems The fundamental questions at this level include: how does Coffee Construction Australia interpret business values? Again, how would Coffee Construction Australia capture business value using best practice information systems? As an economic terminology, as well as within the context of Coffee Construction Australia, the business value of investing in an asset consists of the net value of the cash flows (after-tax) linked to the asset invested into – in this case the best practice information systems. Investing in best practice information systems brings about technologies essential for creating incremental cash flow (Williams & Williams 2010). Towards this end, the best practice information systems targeted for investments are expected to lead to reduced costs of doing business and increasing revenues. This implies that while many ways exist through which the information systems will bring value to Coffee Construction Australia, there is no business value linked to the investment provided that the benefits attained will lead to increased cash flow (Dennis et al. 2015). For instance, investing in the Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) may lead to business values, such as better responsive, agility, collaboration, information sharing, flexibility, and customer relationship (Caniëls & Bakens 2011). However, investing in the best practices information systems to achieve such business value may in actual fact interfere with business value save for when those values are interpreted through business processes affecting cash flows or costs and revenues (Prenhall n.d.). Simply put, the pursuit to deliver business value to Coffee Construction Australia can be viewed in terms of how the company will use the information systems to increase cash flow. These include: Improving the process of management – including controlling, monitoring, planning, measuring, and changing. This will ensure that the Coffee Construction Australia’s management reduces costs and increase revenues. Improving the operational processes – including detecting fraud, executing sales campaign, process customer orders, as well as managing the supply chain. This will ensure that Coffee Construction Australia reduces costs of doing business and increases revenues (Williams & Williams 2010). Essentially, therefore, combining the significant cost and prevalent usage of enterprise information systems rationalised the need to improve the value proposition and cost-benefit of best practices information systems for the company. The information systems will ensure this by minimising costs of doing business or optimising the benefits (Zilber & Araujo 2012). Consistent with the cost-benefit analysis, the objective of investing in the best practices information systems is to bring about two unique business values: Minimise costs and increase the value of the business. (b) How Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) would support business functions Description of a PMIS The PMBoK® 5th edition describes PMIS as “an automated tool like a scheduling tool, a configuration management system, an information collection and distribution system or web interfaces to other online automated systems.” Simply, it is an information system that is made up of the tools and techniques essential for gathering, integrating, and disseminating the outputs of project management processes (Raymond & Bergeron 2008). Business functions it supports The key purpose of a PMIS is to offer the project management team with important information regarding a project’s cost-time performance parameters in addition to the how the parameters interrelate (Jung et al. n.d.). The role of PMIS in the company’s project management system is fundamentally significant for the achievement of project objectives in addition to undertaking of the project strategies (Caniëls & Bakens 2011). Indeed, there are several factors justifying the need to have project manager use PMIS at Coffee Construction Australia. First, the decision to use the PMIS is contingent on the need to generate high-quality information, as the company needs to manage the large volume of projects currently at its disposal. Next, the company’s project management team is keen to apply the information system, as it has a potential to provide company with the right level of detail in respect to fulfilling their information needs (Bester 2011). The Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) will support the project management’s team decision-making efforts, including organizing, controlling and planning projects. The PMIS are comprehensive systems with the potential to provide support to the whole project’s lifecycle, as well as project portfolios and programs (Caniëls & Bakens 2011). Other support functions they provide to the project management team include reporting and evaluating projects. Next, it will enable the team members to share information with other team members. Lastly, PMIS would promote continuous monitoring of progress. The key business functions targeted include: i) Monitoring Project monitoring consists of the process of continuously assessing how a project is implemented in respect to the pre-arranged plans. The PMIS can help achieve this process, both cost-effectively and with added values to the Coffee Construction Australia. The PMIS will help in the regular collection, storage, analysis, and reporting of project information, which is in turn applied in making decisions during the project management process (Raymond & Bergeron 2008). It will assist in overseeing the supply project management, specifically by providing information needed for evaluating how a project progresses and keeping projects on schedule. The monitoring information the PMIS provides concerning the application of project resources is also expected to improve the effectiveness (Bester 2011). Indeed, by making sure that the right information is made available to the right members of the project team at the right time, it will ensure the costs of managing a project is reduced while the project output is increased (Caniëls & Bakens 2011). The PMIS can track cost overruns, as well as identifying slippage of schedule. It also identifies problems facing a project early hence allowing attention to be given to these problems before they worsen. ii) Project Evaluation The evaluation consists of the processes concerned with the regular assessment of the performance and efficiency of a project, as well as its impact in respect to the targeted objectives of a project (Bester 2011). The PMIS will help achieve this process, both cost-effectively and with added values to the Coffee Construction Australia. The PMIS will provide faster and consistent information for assessing the extent to which Coffee Construction Australia’s projects are achieving or have attained their targeted goals (Raymond & Bergeron 2008). iii) Security The PMIS will protect sensitive information from being accessed by unauthorized persons. This is crucial for the company since the project information are supposed to remain confidential and accessible only the authorised members of the project team (Bester 2011). The PMIS ensures that information is accessible to only identified or authorised individuals, as required by the project stakeholders (Raymond & Bergeron 2008). iv) Planning The PMIS will allow the project management team at Coffee Construction to identify the activity to be undertaken. The system provides a list of activities that need to be performed, where each activity has a designated team, schedule and approximated durations. It also specifies any relationships with associated tasks and the individuals responsible. Additionally, the PMIS will enable project teams to make work breakdown structure (WBS), to cut down on the cost and time wastage associated with project management (Bester 2011). At the same time, the project teams will be able to plan recurring tasks, set up priorities for the scheduled tasks, and undertake reverse scheduling. (c) How Project Managers could use Information Systems Essentially, the construction business function that Coffee Construction Australia is involved in can be defined in many forms: cost control, human resource, procurement management, planning or scheduling, customer management, general administration, and quality management. Customer Relationship Management Customer relationship management (CRM) is an information system for managing how an organisation interacts with its existing and future customers. The project managers can use the CRM to automate, organise, as well as coordinate sales and conduct customer service. This would particularly be beneficial to the organisation if it will have to rebuild its dwindling reputation with its clients and suppliers. The project managers can also use the system to track client’s personal information to tailor the projects to their needs. This information system is indeed critical, as Coffee Constructions Australia has trouble managing the high volume of customers. The company’s portfolio has expanded during the last 4 decades to include education buildings, industrial facilities, data centres, healthcare, hospitals, and telecommunications (Bester 2011). Transactional Processing Systems (TPS) The Transactional Processing Systems (TPS) consist of an information system for managing information contained in one business process or project. When it comes to the case of Coffee Construction Australia, the project managers can use the TPS to collect and store information regarding the wide range of business transactions that the company undertakes. Examples include the data on cash transactions made to sub-contractors by Coffee Construction Australia. This information system is indeed critical as Coffee Constructions Australia has trouble managing the high volume of transactions, such as boutique hotels, residential estates, primary schools, local council projects, and wastewater treatment plant, making the future business opportunities to be uncertain (Bester 2011). Material Resource Management Material Resource Management refers to an information system used for managing resources in an organisation. The project managers could use this information system to effectively allocate and deploy resources to each project efficiently. These resources vary from the human skills, inventory, information technology, and financial resources. The project managers could as well use the information system to plan and schedule resources to each project tasks. It will ensure that managers can access information required for managing resources, as well as the resources demanded by each project and the resources forecasted based on the periods for each project. This information system is indeed critical, as Coffee Constructions Australia has trouble managing the high volume of projects, making the future business opportunities to be uncertain. The company handles many construction projects, varying from small renovations to multi-million dollar projects (Hashim et al. 2012). Conclusion By integrating business information systems, Coffee Construction Australia is presented with an opportunity to deliver information that supports the company’s range of business operations affecting the bottom line. Coffee Construction Australia should invest in PMIS, as it will improve the process of management – including controlling, monitoring, planning, measuring, and changing. This will ensure that the Coffee Construction Australia’s management reduces costs and increase revenues. It will also improve the operational processes – including detecting fraud, executing sales campaign, process customer orders, as well as managing the supply chain. By improving the two core areas, Coffee Construction Australia will reduce costs of doing business and increases revenues. The decision to use the PMIS is also contingent on the need to generate high-quality information, as the company needs to manage the large volume of projects currently at its disposal. Next, the company’s project management team is keen to apply the information system, as it has a potential to provide the company with the right level of detail in respect to fulfilling their information needs. Reference List Bester, A 2011, The Functional Design of a Project Management Information System: Case Study with South African Breweries Ltd, viewed 4 Aug 2015, Caniëls, M & Bakens, R 2011, "The effects of Project Management Information Systems on decision making in a multi project environment," International Journal of Project Management, vol 1 no 1, pp.1-14 Dennis, A, Haley, B. Tegarden, D 2015, Systems Analysis and Design: An Object-Oriented Approach with UML, John Wiley & Sons, New York Hashim, M, Asfandyar, Y, Jehangir, M, Samiullah, K & Noor-ul, H 2012," The impact of Management Information System on the Overall Performance and Efficiency of the Workforce of the Accountant General (Peshawar): A Research Base Study," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences vol 2 no 2, pp.167-181 Hemmatfar, M 2010, “Competitive Advantages and Strategic Information Systems,” International Journal of Business and Management vol 5 no 7, pp.158-169 Jung, Y, Kim, H & Joo, M n.d., "Project Management Information Systems For Construction Managers (Cm): Current Constituents And Future Extensions, viewed 4 Aug 2015, Prenhall n.d., Project Management: Establishing the Business Value of Systems and Managing Change, viewed 4 Aug 2015, Raymond, L & Bergeron, F 2008, "Project management information systems: An empirical study of their impact on project managers and project success," International Journal of Project Management, vol 26, pp.213–220 Williams, S & Williams, N 2010, The Business Value of Business Intelligence, DecisionPath Consulting, Gaithersburg Zilber, S & Araujo, J 2012, "Small Companies Innovations in Emerging Countries: E-Business Adoption and its Business Model." 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