Executive Summary
The main aim of this report is to analyze the performance of the system that will be offered with the proposed system and will ensure that the report is able to highlight all the functional specifications. The proposed system for ABC healthcare organization is ERP system that helps in increasing the efficiency. The report will also identify the way system will be developed and tested so that it can be implemented within the organization. Beside this the report will focus on identifying the post implementation activities with ERP system implementation. Thus it can be stated that with the help of this assignment it will become easy to identify the risks that are likely to come along with the implementation of ERP within the organization.
Table of Contents
System analysis and functional specification for ERP system 3
ERP system development process 5
Post implementation activities 6
Project management, risk management and change management associated with the implementation 7
Introduction
The organization ABC healthcare is a sector that is fully focused on providing better healthcare facilities towards the customers. This organization is one of the most successful healthcare organization that offers a wide range of facilities towards the customer. This is an Australia based organization. Thus it becomes essential to integrate the organization with best information system so that the performance of the organization can be enhanced. The paper will highlight the benefits and functional requirements that are associated with the ERP system. The major issues that is being identified in the chosen organization is with managing the manual database. It has been observed that the performance of the ABC healthcare organization gets impacted with manual system and it becomes difficult to manage the performance. Thus it becomes essential to propose an information system that will be able to remove the issues from the organization. The project will be highlighting the functional specification for the identified system.
The project management process is considered as one of the vital process as it helps in developing a proper relation between the core process associated with the project and ensures that proper facilities is being offered towards the process of the project so that it can be completed successfully. Thus it can be concluded that with proper integration of project management methods it will become easy to manage the activities within the organization.
System analysis and functional specification for ERP system
System analysis is referred to the process of gathering and interpreting data associated with the system. This also includes determining the issues at an early stage so that the proposed system can be integrated successfully with the organization. The main purpose of using system analysis is that it helps in conducting a study of the intended system. This will ensure that all the basic objectives are identified successfully. With the help of system analysis it becomes easy to determine the performance that will be offered with a system. In this assessment the selected system ERP system as it has the potential to manage the data within the organization. The system will focus entirely on determining the managing and distribution part for the organization, will focus on determining the activities that are performed under sales department, service management will be considered and lastly the system will focus on performing the accounting and finance part. It can be stated that with the help of ERP system it will become easy to manage the activities within the organization and will ensure the system is able to provide better outputs after analyzing the business requirements successfully. Thus it can be stated that with the help of proper implementation of the system it will become easy to manage the activities. ERP is mainly implemented within a system as it has the potential to provide automated function towards the business and ensures that each information has been managed efficiently within the organization.
Functional specification is a part of system engineering and software development process as it is used for defining the components associated with a system. The specification contains all the necessary needs for the system and also determines the properties of input and output. With the help of functional specification it becomes easy to understand the developers’ perspective for building the system and ensures that tester is aware about the data. The functional specification for ERP system includes identifying the functional requirements and characteristics of the system. The functional requirements that are provided by an ERP system within a healthcare organization are listed below:
- ERP database: the system offers an ERP database that ensures a proper way of managing the data and information within the system. The user can rely on these central database for the purpose of performing the system and ensures that the system has the potential to meet the needs of the customers.
- Integration: the applications that are offered after implementing ERP system within an organization can be stated is fully integrated and works together for the purpose of providing a seamless solution towards every challenges faced within an organization. This means that the system can be accessed freely without facing any challenges and all the information can be shared with anyone in real time.
- Centralized module: the ERP system offers a centralized module that allows the user to manage a set of tasks without switching between the applications. The necessary information needs to be maintained within the same system.
The basic characteristics that are offered with the use of ERP system in the healthcare industry is that it enhances the way of managing the IT costs without and ensures that total visibility is offered towards the organization so that they can carry out their functionality successfully without facing any challenges. In addition to this the system also ensures that a proper improved reporting and planning system is offered towards the customers so that they can manage the overall functionality of the system. Beside this the data security offered with an ERP system is high and ensures that the stored data are able to meet the needs of the customers by maintaining a proper quality (Yildirim and Kuşakcı 2018). This are identified as the emerging characteristics that will be offered towards the organization with the use of this technology. Thus it can be stated that with the help of this technology it will become easy to enhance the services offered by the organization.
ERP system development process
The main aim behind suggesting the ERP system towards the ABC healthcare organization is to provide a streamline process so that they can provide a better support towards the organization. It has been observed that the proposed system has the potential to meet the needs of the organization and will ensure that proper service has been provided towards the customers (Yassine and Naoum-Sawaya 2017). The development process of the system includes the following phases:
Phase1: discovery and planning: this is considered as the most important phase as it focuses on identifying the present issues within the organization and based on that the system is being planned.
Phase2: designing: As soon as the issues are being identified and the plan has been confirmed it becomes crucial to implement proper system with an efficient design so that it can meet the needs of the customers (Olson et al. 2018). The intended ERP system will be able to meet the needs of the customers and hence it has been designed in such a way that it will be able to provide a better support towards the functions performed by the organization.
Phase 3: Development of the system: the main aim of the development phase is to develop an entire system that will be able to solve the problems faced by the organization.
Phase4: testing: this phase is being carried out after developing the system successfully and ensures that each parts of the system have been analyzed successfully so that it can meet the needs of the customers.
Phase5: deployment: this is considered as the crucial phase for developing an ERP system as it helps in checking the functionalities that will be offered with each system an ensures that they are executed effectively with all necessary information and data.
With the help of this system development phases it becomes easy to manage the performance of the system and ensures that each data has been carried out successfully (Harwood 2017). The implementation process helps in managing the ERP system successfully so that each activity can be performed effectively within the organization.
Post implementation activities
The major activities that are considered under post implementation activities of ERP system includes initiate, study, collect data, and analyze and deliverables. This is mainly performed as soon as the ERP implementation project has been completed successfully within the organization (Alturkistani, et al. 2015). With the help of post implementation activity it becomes easy to determine the actual benefits that will be obtained with the ERP system. The following stages that are associated with the post implementation activities includes the following stages:
- Several steps are taken for overcoming the challenges that are faced with meeting the productivity by providing new jobs and roles within the organization.
- The functionality skills associated with the ERP needs to be developed in such a way that it can provide a better way of integrating the processes.
- This includes business transformation and includes implementation of technologies that will be able to provide better support towards the performance of the organization.
The post implementation activity also includes post implementation reviews. The basic activities that are used for reviewing the post implementation process of the proposed ERP system are listed below:
- Conducting a proper gap analysis
- Analyzing whether all the objectives associated with the projects are achieved or not
- Determines whether the project is able to provide proper satisfaction towards the stakeholders
- This ensures that the project’s cost and benefit are being determined successfully.
- The identification of areas for developing the further aspects of the system needs to be performed successfully so that each process can be analyzed successfully.
Project management, risk management and change management associated with the implementation
Proper type of project management is very much important so that for this type of system implementation projects. Here, an ERP system will be implemented within the healthcare industry so that all the crucial functions related with it can be improved marginally. There are several of reasons that the project management is quite important in this project. Generally, this type of systems are very much complex in nature, thus the project management processes and tools need to be chosen carefully for successful implementation of this project (Nagpal, Khatri and Kumar 2015). In this aspect the project management plays an important role in this project by adding structure to the defining goal and objective from the very initial stage of the project. The proper project management also plays a vital role by defining initial stage of the project and by formally recognizing it as some new thing. The project management is also important for the ERP implementation project for having a clear definition of the deliverables and the end of this project (Jalil and Bakar 2017). Here, this part of the project management is crucial for ensuring transition from the project to maintenance for the ERP implementation in the healthcare sector. For this type of projects, the clients, resources and the stakeholders play an important role. For defining these assets of the project proper type of project management is very much important in this case (Ali and Miller 2017).
From several of studies it has been assessed that overall this type of ERP implementation processes is having quite low success rate in the industries, including the healthcare industry also. From the study it has been also assessed that most of them failed due inappropriate type of techniques and the processes that has been utilized (Cassidy 2016). In this aspect the project management methodologies can be utilized in a proper way so that this type of issues in the industries can be resolved. In the aspect of project management there are several of success factors for this type of projects which includes, proper planning, proper communication, clearly defined processes, creating proper vision and objectives, creating a clear statement of the work procedure and the needs for the project, clear scope definition and creating smaller project milestones (Sudhaman and Thangavel 2015). All of these factors can influence the progress of the project heavily. This success factors of the proper project management can be achieved easily in this ERP implementation project by the development and utilization of the proper project management tools for creating a clear and focused communications regarding every aspects of the project while having a diverse type of project execution team (Rahimi, Møller and Hvam 2016).
For this project, the project management also plays an important role by providing two of the very important aspects for the project which includes the project processes and scope statement of the project. The project process is crucial for creating a proper bonding between the core process of the project and the facilitating process of the project for successful outcome of the project (Olson et al. 2018). The project scope statement is also important for this project in the aspect of project management as this provides clear justification of the imitation of the project, main products which need to be delivered for this project, objective of the project, resources for the project, exclusions, assumptions, constrains and the risks that are related with the project (Timm et al. 2016). By having proper information regarding these aspect executions of this type of projects become very much easy.
Core processes of the project management are supported by facilitating processes, this provides important functionality for providing input and analysis required for preparing the final decision of the project, including resources, scope and the schedule of the project. While this type of ERP implementation project executed there are often some vague expectation regarding the outcome of the project (Panayiotou et al. 2015). By the proper project management final results can be easily divided into what cannot be done and what actually can be done in this project. In this way clients can be notified about feasible outcome of this ERP implementation project which is very much important for this project. In this way the project management processes and the tools plays a vital role for this type of project (Vasconcellos, Bezerra and Bianchini 2018).
Conclusion
From the above report thus it can be concluded that the developed system requirements will be able to meet the needs of the customers. The report has outlined all the necessary data successfully so that it becomes easy to identify the basic components related to the implementation of ERP system. ERP system is considered as one of the essential components for carrying out all the functions within the organization successfully as it helps in managing the performance by offering effective measures. It can be stated that with the use of ERP system it will become easy to manage the overall performance of the system. That is the main reason behind selecting this information system for enhancing the performance of the organization. The main aim behind using an effective information system is that it ensures that all objectives are being achieved with the use of this technology. The report has described the system analysis components along with the necessary functional specification as it helps in identifying the performance of the system effectively. In addition to this the report has also provided post implementation steps so that it becomes easy to manage the functions that will be performed by the ERP system. From the project management aspects it can be stated that there is a huge need to implement proper steps so that it can ensure a better way of managing the success within the implemented system.
References
Ali, M. and Miller, L., 2017. ERP system implementation in large enterprises–a systematic literature review. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 30(4), pp.666-692.
Alturkistani, A., Shehab, E., Cranfield, C. and Al-Ashaab, A., 2015. Awareness of applying lean principles in ERP implementation. In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Manufacturing Research (ICMR2015).
Cassidy, A., 2016. A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. Auerbach Publications.
Harwood, S., 2017. ERP: The implementation cycle. Routledge.
Heiss, G., 2017. SME Internationalisation: Investigating Factors and the Effect of Organizational Capabilities on Strategy in the German Medtech Industry (Doctoral dissertation, University of Gloucestershire).
Jalil, D. and Bakar, M.S.A., 2017. Adapting Software Factory Approach into Cloud ERP Production Model. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security, 15(1), p.221.
Nagpal, S., Khatri, S.K. and Kumar, A., 2015, May. Comparative study of ERP implementation strategies. In 2015 Long Island Systems, Applications and Technology (pp. 1-9). IEEE.
Olson, D.L., Johansson, B. and De Carvalho, R.A., 2018. Open source ERP business model framework. Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, 50, pp.30-36.
Osnes, K.B., Olsen, J.R., Vassilakopoulou, P. and Hustad, E., 2018. ERP Systems in Multinational Enterprises: A literature Review of Post-implementation Challenges. Procedia computer science, 138, pp.541-548.
Panayiotou, N.A., Gayialis, S.P., Evangelopoulos, N.P. and Katimertzoglou, P.K., 2015. A business process modeling-enabled requirements engineering framework for ERP implementation. Business Process Management Journal, 21(3), pp.628-664.
Rahimi, F., Møller, C. and Hvam, L., 2016. Business process management and IT management: The missing integration. International Journal of Information Management, 36(1), pp.142-154.
Ranjan, S., Jha, V.K. and Pal, P., 2016. Literature review on ERP implementation challenges. International Journal of Business Information Systems, 21(3), pp.388-402.
Sudhaman, P. and Thangavel, C., 2015. Efficiency analysis of ERP projects—software quality perspective. International Journal of Project Management, 33(4), pp.961-970.
Taniguchi, A. and Onosato, M., 2017. Use of Project Management Information System to Initiate the Quality Gate Process for ERP Implementation. International Journal of Information Technology and Computer Science, 9(12), pp.1-10.
Timm, I.J., Woelk, P.O., Knirsch, P., Tönshoff, H.K. and Herzog, O., 2016. Flexible mass customisation: managing its information logistics using adaptive cooperative multi-agent systems. In Developments in Logistics and Supply Chain Management (pp. 203-211). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Vasconcellos, P., Bezerra, V. and Bianchini, C., 2018, October. Applying Event sourcing in a ERP system: a case study. In 2018 XLIV Latin American Computer Conference (CLEI) (pp. 80-89). IEEE.
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Yassine, A.A. and Naoum-Sawaya, J., 2017. Architecture, performance, and investment in product development networks. Journal of Mechanical Design, 139(1), p.011101.
Yildirim, V. and Kuşakcı, A.O., 2018. The Critical Success Factors of Erp Selection and Implementation: A Case Study in Logistics Sector. Journal of International Trade, Logistics, and Law, 4(1), pp.138-146.
Cover Letter
To
The sponsor,
I would like to bring your kind attention on some specific aspects that are required by our ABC healthcare organization to improve the current organizational status. After analyzing the recent scenario of our organization we have identified that, IS/IT improvement strategy evaluation is the best suited approach that would be helpful for commercial revenue and competitive market share.
I felt, that implementation of an ERP system will help our organization to become more efficient, reliable, flexible and accountable as well. The patients and all working employees will get benefited after implementation of an ERP system. Due to lack of budget till last year we were unable to implement an ERP solution. However, currently after getting support capital sponsorship we want your developers to develop an ERP solution for our long term business success. We will provide supporting business environment and infrastructure as well to your developers. We shall be highly grateful if you consider our situation and help us with your technical excellence as we will be waiting for your valuable response.
-Thanks and regards
Project Manager
ABC healthcare organization
Table of Contents
System development life cycle for implementing ERP system 3
Existing Manual information system 5
Introduction
The aim of the proposal is to evaluate the importance of IS/IT improvement strategy that can help in enhancing the performance of an organization. The main aim behind developing the proposal is to identify the benefits that will be offered with the implementation of ERP system. Healthcare industry is considered as one of the essential sectors that aims at providing highest facilities towards the customers (Harwood 2017). Thus it becomes essential to implement an ERP system that can will provide huge benefits towards the ABC healthcare organization and even towards the patients. The paper will provide a proposal behind suggesting this information system towards the customers.
About the organization
The selected organization for carrying out this proposal is ABC Healthcare that focuses entirely on providing a better health facility towards the patients. The main reason behind providing the proposal towards the organization is to make them understood that with the help of proper information system it will become easy to provide proper support towards the organizational strategic objectives. The organization is a healthcare based industry that aims at providing high quality health facility towards the patients. At present the organization uses manual system for regulating the activities that are performed. Thus it becomes essential to integrate the organization with a proper information system that will be able to perform proper functionality within the organization. For removing this challenges it has identified that ERP system will be able to enhance the performance of the organization. ERP system improves the efficiency and ensures that the services offered towards the customers are enhanced. The ERP system will help in managing the activities that are performed within the organization and will offer a centralized integrated system. Thus the benefits will be enhanced with the use of an ERP system.
System development life cycle for implementing ERP system
System development life cycle is referred to the process that helps in developing a software or system effectively so that high quality software can be produced towards the organization (Lemke 2018). SDLC contains detailed plan that is used mainly for the purpose of explaining the phases. The main reason behind selecting this method for implementing an ERP system within the organization is that it offers a great procedure for planning, estimating and scheduling the tasks. In addition to this the client’s relation gets enhanced with the use of SDLC methodology. The development speed gets increased with the use of system development life cycle (Isais and Issa 2015). The phases associated with SDLC includes requirement collection and analysis, feasibility study, design, coding, testing, deployment and maintenance.
The ERP implementation will be performed following this steps. The functions performed in each step is being described below:
Stage 1: Requirement analysis and collection
The first stage focuses entirely on collecting the requirements that are essential for the system that is going to be implemented within the organization (Aljawarneh, Alawneh and Jaradat 2017). This stage is mainly carried out with the guidance of senior team members and ensures that all data are being successfully analyzed by the team members so that they can produce a better system that will be able to meet the needs of the customers. This phases focuses on providing a clear scope for the project so that issues and opportunities related to the system can be identified at early stages.
Stage 2: feasibility study
The feasibility study is mainly performed once all the data are being analyzed successfully and this data are being used for implementing the system (Saeed et al. 2019). The proposed system for the organization is ERP system as it will be able to increases the performance and the efficiency will be enhanced. The feasibility study is being divided into different types that are economic, legal, operational feasibility, technical and schedule.
Stage 3: Designing
The systems are designed based on the requirements that are gathered from the organization and stakeholders. Designing phase is mainly divided into two parts high level design and low level design (Kramer 2018). The proposed information system is considered as the high level design as it ensures that all the architecture diagrams are developed properly along with all technology details.
Stage 4: Coding
As soon as the system is designed it becomes essential to prepare code for the system so that it can ensure that the developed system is able to meet the needs of the organization. It is the responsibility of developers to choose a suitable code for the system so that they can develop each module successfully (Kumar and Yadav 2017). While coding for a particular system it becomes essential to follow predefined codes guideline that will help in implementing a system.
Stage 5: Testing
After the system is developed with all the necessary codes it becomes essential to deploy and test the system under a suitable environment. This will help in determining the functionality of a system.
Stage 6: deployment
This stage requires feedback from project manager so that the finally developed software can be deployed successfully within the organization (Hameed 2016). This step also includes releasing the final system after checking all the requirements.
Stage 7: Maintenance
After the system is being deployed successfully within the system it becomes essential to maintain the system by fixing the bugs, upgrading the system and enhancing the services provided towards the customer.
Existing Manual information system
With the growing technologies and needs of an organization it becomes very much essential to implement a proper information system that will be able to provide an effective way of managing the activities. Currently each activities is being performed by maintaining manual database. This impacts the overall performance of the organization and thus there is a need to implement proper information system that will be able to enhance the performance. The main importance of information system is that it helps in providing a great way of managing the data. The major benefits that are offered with the use of information system it becomes easy to provide appropriate data towards the customers and ensures that the performance of the organization has been enhanced widely. At present ABC healthcare focuses on storing data manually that leads to discrepancy in data and sometimes lead to improper performance within the organization. Thus it is important to ensure that the organization has implemented proper system that will be able to meet the needs of the customers and will ensure that the end product generated by organization is effective. After analyzing the present system it becomes essential to implement a new information system that will be able to offer a better way of improving the functionality of the organization.
Propose information system
The proposed system for the organization is ERP system. With the help of an ERP system it will become easy to overcome the challenges that are faced with the manual system of the organization. The main motivation behind proposing the ERP system towards ABC healthcare is that it offers an effective way of providing administration that helps in managing cost, operational efficiency and increases the patient safety. Moreover it has been expected that innovation within the organization can be implemented with the proposed information system. The major benefits that will be offered with the proposed ERP system are listed below:
Increases patient safety: the proposed ERP system has the potential to enable healthcare facility by introducing safety measures. This ensures that proper communication has been implemented within the patients and clinics. Thus the proposed ERP system will be able to meet the needs of the healthcare industry.
Operational cost gets reduced: ERP includes IT automation software that helps in processing the efficiency and ensures that the operational cost within the organization has been reduced. This helps in optimizing the backend operation effectively that includes accounts management, inventory management and payroll management.
Streamlines with healthcare processes: the ERP system ensures that the core services are being obtained by integrating with the system. This ensures better way of managing the system.
Thus after analyzing the benefits it can be stated that the use of ERP system within the organization will help in improving the performance. The main aim is to enhance the healthcare services that are offered towards the patients by thee customers.
Conclusion
The paper has highlighted all the necessary data associated with the organization. In addition to this the paper has also proposed an information system that will be able to meet the needs of the organization. The main role that is being performed by an information system is to provide support towards the organization by improving communication process and keeping proper records of each activity can be stored within the system efficiently. The proposed system that is being offered towards the organization is ERD system as it will be able to provide huge organizational benefits towards the customers. The report has identified the current system that is used by the organization and along with that the challenges are also identified. Thus in order to overcome the challenge it is important to suggest an information system that will be able to provide huge support towards the organization. With the report it will become easy to manage the performance of the organization.
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