Ifsm 300 stage 4

Maryland Technology Consulting Organization

NAME

SCHOOL

IFSM 300

February 23, 2019

Section I

Strategic use of technology

Introduction

Maryland Technology Consulting Organization is growing and thus there is the need to have more employees being recruited. The problem is that the recruiting personnel are overworked because he has to ensure that the applicants who are employed are qualified. To determine if an applicant is qualified, it takes a lot of time hence it will not be possible to employ the total number of employees needed on time. To meet the expectations by employing the number of employees recommended within a short time, then an IT system should be used because it takes short time for the system to identify those who are qualified hence enabling the company to employ many employees within a short time.

Maryland technology Consulting is an organization which offers a wide range of services to the clients which range from disaster recovery services, software installation services, planning and tracking, virus detection among others. The company wants to have an improved system in tracking and hiring the applicants. The organization, therefore, will have to put in place a way which it will ease this process by using the technology. The technology will be used in a way that the applicants can be tracked and hired easily by using the technology. Since the company wants additional employees within a short time, the technology will help during the process of hiring because it will fasten the process of tracking and hiring the applicants. The recruiting personnel have been busy since the company needs more employees and thus keeping up with the demand is not easy. The only way in which the company will keep up with the need to have more employees within a short time and identifying qualified employees since a consulting company needs qualified employees is by embracing technology.

A. Organizational strategy

Currently, the company is using the hiring personnel to hire employees. The hiring personnel is doing a lot of work by trying to identify those qualified and experienced applicants because the company is a consultant company thus the need to have qualified employees who will deliver effectively. The rate in which the employees are employed is slow and to solve this problem, the technology has to be used to carry out the employment process. When the technology is used, it means that more employees will be employed within a short time hence ensuring that the case of shortage of the employees will b curbed. When using the technology, the qualifications needed are indicated and when the applicants send their applications, the technology system used will take a short time to identify those who are qualified.

B. Competitive advantage

Using technology has a competitive advantage because more employees will be employed within a short time. When the company has enough employees who are qualified, the delivery of the services will be effective and thus leading to the customers being satisfied with the services of the company. This will help the company to retain the customers and also more customers are attracted to seek services from the company. It is important to satisfy the clients because when they are not satisfied, then they will seek services from other companies offering the same services. The technology, therefore, helps the company to identify qualified employees within a short time thus preventing instances whereby the cents are not getting quality services as a result of a shortage of employees in the company.

C. Strategic objectives

When implementing a technology there are objectives which are put in place and has to be achieved. For this company, the objectives which were put in place are:

· To increase the MTC business development by winning new contracts in the areas of IT consulting.

· To build a cadre of consultants internationally by providing remote research and analysis support.

· Increasing the ability of MTC by providing high-quality consultants t serve the needs of the clients.

· Increase MTC competitive advantage by having highly skilled consultants.

When all these have been achieved, then it indicates that the company has succeeded in implementing the use of technology when recruiting more employees. But when some of them has not been achieved, then it means that the company needs to identify areas which failed the project and then implement is done again(Howard & Hargiss, 2017).

The strategic objectives of the organization are to win more tenders and this can be done by employing qualified employees. When clients are served by qualified employees who are experienced, then they will be satisfied with the services and thus they will come back for the services from the company in the future. The other objective is that the organization should offer quality services. This can be achieved when the workers are qualified and experienced. The third strategic objective is that the organization wants to do better than its competitors which can be only achieved when the employees can deliver satisfying services to the clients. To get qualified employees, then technology should be used during the recruiting process because it makes the process easy since qualified applicants can easily be identified.

The table below shows the strategic goal of implementation of the technology in the company when recruiting more employees.

Strategic Goal

(from case study)

Objective

(clear, measurable and time-bound)

Explanation

(2-3 sentences)

Increase MTC Business Development by winning new contracts in the areas of IT Consulting

The objective of increase MTC business development by winning new contracts is to expand the company. This can be done having qualified and experienced employees. It can be achieved within a period of two years.

When the company has qualified employees, then they will deliver quality services. By delivering quality services, the company will attract more clients hence leading to its expansion.

Build a cadre of consultants internationally to provide remote research and analysis support to MTC’s onsite teams in the U. S.

Increase international recruiting efforts and employ 5 research analysts in the next 12 months.

The new hiring system would allow applicants from around the world to apply online, increasing the number of international applicants. It would enable the recruiters to carefully monitor the applications for these positions, identify the necessary research and analysis skills needed, and screen resumes for these key skills. Recruiters could quickly view the number of applicants and identify when additional recruiting efforts are needed to meet the objective.

Continue to increase MTC’s ability to quickly provide high quality consultants to awarded contracts to best serve the clients’ needs

When the technology is used in identifying qualified employees, the company will be quick to provide high quality consultants.

The technology makes easy the process of identifying qualified employees hence the company will take a short time to produce high quality consultants.

Increase MTC’s competitive advantage in the IT consulting marketplace by increasing its reputation for having IT consultants who are highly skilled in leading edge technologies and innovative solutions for its clients.

When the company has qualified and skilled consultants, the reputation of the company will improve hence enabling it to be a choice of most clients.

The clients will opt to seek for services from the company because of its reputation. This means that the company will have more clients as compared to its competitors.

D. Decision making

When making decisions in the organization, there are factors which are put into consideration hence helping one to make decisions which will make the company achieve its objectives. Enough information should be gathered on the matters which need decisions to be made. This is because, when one has sufficient information, then he or she is likely to make decisions which will help the company to achieve its goals. For MTC therefore, before implementing the technology which will be used during the recruiting process, importance should be known so that when it is being implemented, the importance is well known.

The decision made to hire an individual is made after reviewing the qualification of the applicant. If the applicant meets all the requirements, then he or she is employed. With the use of the technology, then it will be easy to determine the qualification of the applicant since the technology device containing all the requirements will take a short time to identify if the person is qualified.

The reason why qualified employees are considered is because they will help the company to achieve its goals of expanding through winning more contracts. To win more contracts, then the company needs to have qualified and skilled employees who will be attending to the employees. When all the employees are qualified, the company will be delivering quality services to the various companies seeking for the services.

Apart from the qualifications of an applicant, the experience is also important because if a person has experience on how the clients are handled, then the person will be suitable to work in the company since he or she will be utilizing the experience they have to deliver quality services. The quality services are what will make the clients continue seeking services from the organization and also to win more clients. The recruiting, therefore, should consider qualifications and in addition, the experience of an individual should also be considered (Salles, 2015).

The type of decisions made which are supported by the system is deciding on who to employ and who to be left out because the system only identifies the qualified ones. Those who are not qualified are left out. The other decision made regarding recruitment is considering having a sufficient number of employees because when they are few, hey will be overworked hence they will offer poor services. The decision made, therefore, is to have many employees so as to prevent a shortage of workforce in the organization. Those who are qualified are only recruited is another decision made. This means that those who are not qualified will not be considered. All these decisions made during recruitment will enable the company to achieve its goals.

The table below shows the role of the applicants and their qualifications as supported by the Hiring System.

Role

Level as defined in IS Course Reading

Example of Possible Decision Supported by Hiring System

Example of Information the Hiring System Could Provide to Support Your Example Decision

Senior/Executive Managers

(Decisions made by the CEO and the CFO at MTC supported by the hiring system.)

Executive managers should meet all the qualifications needed and should have experience of more than a year.

The applicant qualifies for the position because all the qualifications needed are met and also the applicant has experience for having served in this position before.

The applicant is qualified because he has met all the qualifications needed.

Middle Managers

(Decisions made by the Director of HR and the Manager of Recruiting supported by the hiring system.)

Middle managers should be qualified and works without supervision.

Meets all the qualification needs and ready to work even when no supervised.

A middle manger is under the executive manager and thus should be ready to listen to the instructions given by the executive manager. Also should be skilled.

Operational Managers

(Decisions made by the line managers in the organization who are hiring for their projects supported by the hiring system.)

The operational manager should be skilled because they will be handling the clients.

Apart from the qualifications, the applicant should have other skills like communication skills because they will be handling the clients.

When the operational mangers are qualified and having other skills like communication skills, then it will be possible for them to deliver their consultation services effectively.

In conclusion, the MTC will have to embrace the technology during recruitment process whereby the technology device will enable the recruiting personnel to identify qualified applicants within a short time. By embracing the technology, it will ensure that all the applicants who are employed are qualified and also it will help in reducing cases of employee shortage since more employees will be employed within a short time. The technology will help the company to achieve its goals of having more clients since when a company has qualified employees, and then the services rendered are of high quality thus attracting more clients. When more clients are attracted to the organization, then it means that the company has expanded which is one of the objectives of MTC. It is not possible for this company to achieve its goal without applying technology during the recruitment process because the process is slow and hence the company will always have a shortage of employees. Shortage of employees affects the performance of the organization since the available are overworked leading to the poor quality services rendered. The only way in which the company will, therefore, ensure that the company has qualified and skilled employees are to utilize technology during the recruitment process.

Section II

Process Analysis

Hiring process

The current hiring process at Maryland Technology Consultants is a manual one that is not effective and that is the reason why the company proposes to improve the system. The current manual system does not allow MTC to compete favorably in the market that is quite competitive. As a company that strives to offer quality consulting services to its clients, there is a need to have qualified employees who will provide top-notch services. The process of hiring these employees is the problem because the current process does not create convenience. The current hiring process of new recuts is not effective for the rate that MTC need to hire. The better their processes, the more effective the business (Bourgeoisi, 2014). A company like MTC would become efficient through acquiring an effective hiring system.

Table 1

The table below shows the as-is process of the current hiring system and indicates the proposed to-be process explaining how the system will benefit from the new process.

MTC Hiring Process

As-Is Process

(Part 1)

Responsible MTC Position

(Part 1)

To-Be Process – How the System Will Support and Improve the hiring process

(Part 2)

Business Benefits of Improved Process (Align with MTC’s overall business strategy and needs.)

(Part 2)

1. Recruiter receives application from job hunter via Postal Service Mail.

Recruiter

System will receive application via on-line submission through MTC Employment Website and store in the applicant database within the hiring system.

A more efficient submission process decreases time needed to receive and begin processing applications. This will present a positive image to potential employees and help MTC compete for top IT talent.

2. Applications are being reviewed manually and forwarded to the appropriate hiring manager.

Recruiter

The new system examines and tracks applications by screening the specific aspects that the job requires through word recognition soft wear.

The process works in a more efficient way, because only the outstanding candidates are forwarded to the hiring managers and considered for hiring.

3. Applications easily get lost in interoffice mail or are lost in the large amount of email traffic.

Administrative Assistant

The to-be process stores the applications of the potential candidates online in a database that only the recruiters and hiring managers can access to determine future steps.

The online system empowers process by keeping applications information safe and protected in the database.

4. Before interviews are scheduled, the hiring managers meet to review and assess the qualifications of the candidates.

Hiring Manager

The potential candidates are auto assigned to complete a pre-employment test that is taken online. The test has different areas, such as appropriateness for the job, cognition test, math, reading, emotional intelligence, etc..

The system indicates the results automatically and screens the candidates based on the test results and their qualifications.

5. Hiring managers give feedback to recruiters and administrative assistants about the candidates that should be interviewed.

Hiring Manger

The selection of the candidates is an online process.

This process saves time in reaching out to the administrative assistant to give feedback. The assistant is able to view the names of the potential applicants online.

6. Interviews are being scheduled manually, where the assistant calls the potential candidate to schedule an appointment.

Administrative Assistant

The to-be process eliminates the phone calls or emails to schedule interviews and introduces a system where the scheduling is an automated process.

The automated process is more convenient, user-friendly and saves time in scheduling interview appointments.

7. Candidates are invited for an interview with the hiring managers at the MTC felicity.

Hiring Mangers

The new process moves the interview process to automated telephone interviews that are recorded and assessed for personality and other attributes.

The process saves time for the hiring managers and the applicants.

8. Collecting feedback about the interview team and informing recruiters of the status of each candidate who was interviewed.

Recruiter

The new system is extremely reliable in selecting the right candidate for the ob.

The system provides accuracy and effectiveness.

9. After the decision is made the recruiter run the background check.

Recruiter

The background check is now automated and is available vie the database 24/7

The automated background check significantly improves efficiency and timeliness of the onboarding.

10. When the background check is completed, the next step is to process the reference check.

Recruiter

Checking reference is an online process where a survey is being set up about the potential candidate that requires it to be completed by the referees within a few days.

The automated process speeds up the hiring process in a timely manner.

11. The salary range is being determined by the recruiters.

Recruiter

To determine the exact and appropriate amount of salary, vendors are brought in to provide the market wage of the job being preformed by the candidate.

The salary is determined exactly and accurately according to the market wage.

12. Ted prepares offer letter based on information from recruiter and puts in the mail to the chosen candidate.

Administrative Assistant

System enables AA to prepare job offer letter by storing the offer letter template and information on each candidate; allows AA to select information to go into letter and put it into the template, which can then be reviewed and emailed to the candidate.

More efficient offer process presents positive image to applicants and decreases time needed to prepare offer letter, and enables MTC to hire in advance of the competition.

Table 2

The table below shows the current issues in the MTC organization’s hiring process and explains how the modern technology solution can be used to improve the following areas:

Area

Current Issues

(from the Case Study)

Improvements

(due to use of technology)

Collaboration:

The Hiring Manager states that recruiting is only one area he is responsible for and he isn’t as responsive to HR as he could be. Therefore, he counts on the Recruiters to help manage the process and keep him informed.

Current manual system causes considerable communication breakdowns and takes additional effort and time to stay on top of the hiring process.

An efficient system with all information in one place, easily accessible via a dashboard, and updated in real time could make his recruiting job easier; and he could devote time to effectively working collaboratively and proactively with HR on his staffing needs.

Communications: Explain how a hiring system could improve internal and external communications

Communication at MTC is essential for both the recruiter, applicant and the hiring manager

An efficient system will facilitate communication in that the applicant will be in a position to know the status of his application. It will also facilitate the requisition role of the hiring manager for them to get the best candidate for the job.

Workflow: Explain how a hiring system could improve the MTC hiring process by providing a consistent structure for each participant to perform his/her part in the hiring process.

The hiring manager indicates that the process will facilitate highly qualified candidates for the job. Turnover is also a problem in MTC and hiring new staff is essential and time sensitive.

The dashboard will facilitate a quicker hiring process. Qualified employees for the jobs also can increase customer satisfaction.

Relationships: Explain how implementing an enterprise hiring system could foster stronger relationships with applicants/potential employees.

The hiring systems will facilitate proper communication between the recruiters and the hiring managers. Potential employees are able to obtain immediate feedback which boosts their trust with the company.

The applicants are worried on the feedback of their application implementing the hiring system will boost communication which boosts relationships with the potential candidates.

Section III

A. Stakeholders Interest

All of the stakeholders involved with the hiring process at Maryland Technology Consulting (MTC) play a critical role in in qualifying the best candidates to fill open positions. The table below gives a clear picture of the current role that each stakeholder fills and what issues they have with the current hiring process. The table also demonstrates how the new technology solution will address each of the stakeholder’s specific issue.

Role

Specific problem related to the current hiring process

How a technology solution to support the hiring process could address the problem

1. CEO (Samuel Johnson)

Samuel Johnson wants in ensure the candidates are the correct fit for the open positions.

The new system will allow more candidates to apply creating a larger pool to select the right individual.

2. CFO (Evelyn Liu)

Evelyn Liu wants the new hiring system to work with the other current systems in use by MTC.

Trough continuing updates the new hiring system will integrate and communicate with existing systems.

3. CIO (Raj Patel)

Raj Patel is wants the new hiring system to help MTC to expand by accepting candidates internationally

The new system will be available in different languages and user friendly allowing international candidates to apply for positions.

4. Director of Human Resources

(Joseph Cummings)

Joseph Cummings and the HR department are no longer able to keep up with the staffing demands of MTC through the manual hiring process.

The new hiring system will use key words to filter candidates applications ranking them form best to worst qualified. This will reduce the current workload on the HR department.

5. Manager of Recruiting

(Sofia Perez)

Sofia Perez is worried about losing qualified candidates to the competition because the hiring process currently takes to long.

The new hiring system will allow everyone involved in the hiring process to view what actions have been taken and what ones that still need to happen. This will result in quicker processing times of candidates.

6. Recruiters (Peter O’Neil, Mike Thomas & Jennifer Blackwell)

The recruiters are not able to provide information about the status of an application quickly when asked.

The new hiring system will provided access to everyone involved in the hiring process to view updated information on the status of an application in real time.

7. Administrative Assistant (Tom Arbuckle)

Tom Arbuckle not able to track application statuses he also confuses applicants information. He is also unable to provided information to others involved in the hiring process when they need it. He also is not able to receive feedback.

The new hiring system will allow MTC users to provide feedback about applicants in a communication forum updated in real time. The system will also sort applicants by position and level of qualification.

8. Hiring Manager (Functional supervisor the new employee would be working for.)

The hiring manager is not responsive because of eh amount of workload placed to him. As a result applicants sometimes are overlooked or lost in his email.

The new hiring system will allow MTC user to locate and determine the status of an applicant in real time. With the new hiring system being able to rank candidates it will allow user to concentrate efforts on the most qualified candidates.

B. Defining Requirements

The table below shows the requirements that each stakeholder had and the requirement statement for the developer to address each user requirement. The table also shows the system performance requirements, the required statement for the developer and what stakeholder who requested the requirement to be addressed.

Requirement ID

Requirement Statement

Stakeholder

(Position and Name from Case Study that identified this requirement)

User Requirements

The system must store all information from the candidate’s application/resume in a central applicant database.

Recruiter – Peter O’Neil

1.Tracking

The system shall track the status of each application that has been submitted in real time.

Administrative Assistant (Tom Arbuckle) Hiring Manager

2. Reporting

The system shall notify individuals involved in the hiring process when a problem happens.

Administrative Assistant (Tom Arbuckle)

3. Organization

The system shall use key words to filter through each application completed.

CEO (Samuel Johnson)

Recruiters (Peter O’Neil, Mike Thomas & Jennifer Blackwell)

4. Communication

The system shall provide a area for communication for all involved in the hiring process.

Administrative Assistant (Tom Arbuckle)

5. (Reporting-Output of organized information retrieved from the system)

The system shall notify individuals involved in the hiring process when an application needs further action

Administrative Assistant (Tom Arbuckle) Hiring Manager Recruiters (Peter O’Neil, Mike Thomas & Jennifer Blackwell) Manager of Recruiting

(Sofia Perez) Director of

Human Resources

(Joseph Cummings)

System Performance Requirements

The system must be implemented as a Software as a Service solution.

CIO – Raj Patel

1. Scalability

The system shall allow for expansion updates when required.

CFO (Evelyn Liu)

2. Usability

The system shall integrate will all MTC existing information systems currently in use.

CFO (Evelyn Liu)

3. Usability

The system shall be available in the top 10 most used languages globally.

CIO (Raj Patel)

4. (Security)

The system shall use common access card (CAC) with password authentication to access the system.

CIO (Raj Patel)

5. (Security)

The system shall have permissions for individual users to view/edit information.

CIO (Raj Patel)

References

Bourgeois, D. (2014). Information Systems for Business and Beyond. Retrieved form https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/le/content/347386/viewContent/14091309/View

Howard, C., & Hargiss, K. (2017). Strategic Information Systems and Technologies in Modern Organizations. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

MTC Case Study. (2018). Maryland Technology Consultants Case Study. Retrieved from https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/le/content/347386/viewContent/14091339/View

Rao, C. B. (2016). Technology and Competitive Strategy: Perspectives for Innovators, Differentiators and Followers. Notion Press.

Salles, M. (2015). Decision-Making and the Information System. John Wiley & Sons.

World Trade Organization Wto. (2014). Wto Trade Policy Review: Peru 2013. World Trade Organization.