IT Management assignment help online: Ambridge software Analysis
Introduction
Ambridge Software Ltd. is a small IT firm that has been in the IT field for years and been successful in developing innovative software in the IT industry. The team at ASL consists of experts and professionals who are through with their work and are good at customer relations. Recently there was a problem witnessed in the customer support department of ASL and they tried out a new technique to solve the problem. A proper report was formed with recommendations for the team leader and each unit was informed about their job. It is important for the team of developers and technicians to get a solution to the problem and remove the misunderstanding prevailing. While making the report the top management should make sure that the recommendations included in the report is understandable to the whole team and the leader can easily convey the problems to the members of his team.
Report of the Project Leader
Recommendations for the improvement of present Customer Requirements Documentation(CRD) process following the repeated changes that were forced on number of project due to misunderstanding in customer requirement documentation
Recommendations
On-job training for Business Analysts
Since it has been identified that software products had to be altered because of the ambiguities in the CRD, it is recommended that practical assessment modules be included in the training programme of trainee Business Analysts.
- Description
The current talent development phase of ASL includes training and theoretical assessment. On successful completion of theoretical assessments, trainees face the live scenario and deal with customers. Instead, a group of 2-3 trainees could be sent along with a senior professional for live observation of requirement gathering and specification.
2–4 such visits could be sufficient to provide live experience. 1st visit of trainees could be entirely for observation. In the 2nd visit trainees could assist their seniors while in the 3rd trainees should gather and document requirements while being under their respective supervisors.
Trainees should be assigned independent requirement specification tasks only after the completion of on-job training and subsequent approval by their respective supervisors.Trainees could have to go through extended on-job training or paid-training in the otherwise scenario.
In a batch of on-job trainees, those who complete the training earliest could be rewarded a badge or a certificate as recognition oftheir rapid attainment of excellence.
Performance assessment parameters of trainers and on-job supervisors should include an added clause of percentage of successful release of respective trainees.In case of trainers and supervisors, recognition could be rewarded to the best overall performer.
ú Cost analysis
The inclusion of modular assessment programmes would raise the overall cost of training by 1% of the current cost or less.
Recognition rewards for trainees could further increase the cost by 1% or less.
It is assumed that the MIS of ASLis efficient enoughto incorporate the additional data. Therefore,no significant increment in cost would be incurred.
The overall delay in the exploitation of trainees for real-time projects could range between 7-10 days which is not significant.
ú Benefit analysis
Trainees would be compelled to excel CRD to avoid extension of training.
Trainers would strive to impart maximum training to trainees.
Senior analysts/Supervisors of on-job trainees would approve only competent candidates.
The HR department would have factual reason for the expulsion of an incompetent candidate(if required).
Developers would be able to work on 8%–10% more number of projects.
8%-10% increase in development would immensely catalyse the expansion of the ASL’s business.
Verification/validation of specifications by senior Analysts
As development of products starts on the basis of CRDs submitted by fresher Business Analysts, it is recommended that verification/validation of the requirements be executed by senior analysts before CRD is passed to the development team.
- Description
The specifications in the CRD prepared by a fresher analyst for a specific product should be verified/validated by a senior Business Analyst with the respective client, mot preferably on the phone.
A written documentation which states the correctness of CRD and its approval by the client could be signed by the client.
Senior Analysts should bring to fore of the client the clause(s) that could be ambiguous/multifarious in statement.
ú Cost analysis
It is assumed that there are sufficient numbers of senior business analysts in ASL. Therefore, increment in cost due to the requirement of 1 or more senior analysts dedicated only to verification/validation would be 0% as the task is only a re-definition of analysts’ responsibility.
It is assumed that the numbers of phone calls, emails, faxes and person-to-person communication of ASL Business Analysts are not compromised to ensure fluent communication with clients. Therefore, verification/validation by senior analysts would raise the cost of communication not even by 1% of the present cost.
ú Benefit Analysis
Verification/validation would increase the accuracy of CRDs by 32% to 50%. Thus, developers would have comparatively less repetitive or pre-emptive work. This vacancy of work could be occupied by comparatively more numbers of projects.
Verification/validation would also build positive impression on clients about ASL’s communication and assiduousness. This could potentially gain referrals from clients and catalyse ASL’s business.
Prototyping
Following repeated forcible incorporation of alterations as demanded by clients to the finished products, it is recommended that a prototype of the product be submitted to the client for review and revision before the product is finally finished.
- Description
An unfinished product with all the fundamental features specified in the CRD should be submitted to the client before the final finished product.
7-10 days could be the deadlinefor the client to review the prototype and submit the revision (if any) accordingly.
If the prototype meets the expectation, a written documentation which states the approval of the prototype by the client could be signed by the client.
Else, recommendation no. 2 should be applicable to the revision submitted by the client.
One-time prototyping should be enough to ensure that expectations are met as well as to establish assiduousness of ASL.
Revision of the final product, if required and requested by the client, could be chargedby ASL (It is assumed that ASL does not charge customers for the alterations that had to be forced due to inefficient CRD as a gesture of compensation).
ú Cost analysis
Prototyping could initially raise the cost of production by 10% (The figures are based on the assumption of the worst scenario in which the client requests significant alterations to the prototype and consequently the entire recommendation no. 2 has to be executed). This much raise in cost is highly unexpected though.
ú Benefit analysis
Prototyping would eliminate the cost of repeated modifications, which could range between 5%-20%, bore by ASL as compensation for the faulty CRD (It is assumed that ASL does not charge clients for alterations that had to be forced due to faulty CRD).
10% raise in the cost of production (in the worst case) due to Prototyping is cost-effective in comparison to the 20% bore by ASL as compensation.
Client support
Since a few projects are under modification according to revisions of respective clients, it is recommended that free customer support be rendered to those clients for equal number of months as number of weeks required for the alteration.
- Description
The projects that are already under modification should be put to top priority in order to complete them as soon as possible.
Clients could be compensated with the equal number of months of free support as the number of weeks for which the product was under modification and hence, did not serve clients’ purpose.
Free support to said clients should only be specifically for the product which had to be modified due to faulty CRD.
(Free technical support to clients of projects that are under modification is for the period beyond which ASL charges its clients for technical support)
ú Cost analysis
Free technical support to clients of projects that are under modification could raise the cost of customer support by 10%-12% (The figures are based on assumption of the worst scenario where client frequently requests for technical support of considerable magnitude).
ú Benefit analysis
Clients would be valued and the image of ASL would be sustained or improved.
Recommendation no. 4 is temporary cost as it nullifies after the completion of the all the projects that are under modification. However, the benefits of it would last long as clients’ referrals could provide considerable business to ASL.
Conclusion:
The problems persisting in ASL were not very complex but required some changes. The company made some good recommendations to their team for each of their project and got a proper solution for the customer relations management. Customer relations are a common problem in the IT industry and every company need to face it. The IT firm should make sure that they have been following proper rules and regulations from the start. This will help the employees adjust easily and their will not be any confusion. It is also important to make sure that the person in the front lines knows his job properly and is able to answer the problems of the clients in the easiest manner possible. The leaders should try to train their employees to make their job easy and help them improve. If the employees are empowered and given proper responsibilities then they can learn how to solve challenging tasks. The company should not refrain from providing challenging tasks to the employees as it will help the company to get proper solution and meet the goals of their company.
The onsite and offsite training of employees are two important aspects in the IT industry. It helps the employees to improve their communication levels and learn different aspects of customer relations. Along with the employee problems the IT industry might also face technical problems like server problems or black out. These problems can only be solved by IT experts and it should be turned on as fast as possible. This problem can create huge customer relation problems. If the company is not able to communicate with the clients then it might lose their customers. If there is proper communication between all the department of the company and the employee are trained properly then there are minimal chances of the prevalence of any problem. It is always recommended for the company to have a proper alternative for any problem. This will prove to be helpful for the company as well as their employees.
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