Stage 3:   Strategic and Operational Outcomes

Before you begin work on this assignment, be sure you have read the Case Study and reviewed the feedback received on your Stage 2 assignment.Refer to the Business Analysis and System Recommendations (BA&SR) Table of Contents below to see where you are in the process of developing this report.

Overview

As the business analyst in the CIO’s department of Chesapeake IT Consulting (CIC), your next step in working towards an IT solution to improve the hiring process at CIC is to analyze the strategic outcomes and processes at CIC and develop a set of requirements for the hiring system.

Business Analysis and System Recommendation (BA&SR) Table of Contents

I.                    Background and Organizational Analysis (Stage 1)

A.                  Introduction        

B.                   Organizational Strategy

C.                   Components of an Information System

1.                   People and Technology

2.                   Processes

3.                   Data/Information

II.                  Strategic Use of Technology (Stage 2)

A.                  Decision Making

B.                   Communication

C.                   Collaboration

D.                  Relationships

E.                   Structure

F.                   Competitive Advantage

III.                Strategic and Operational Outcomes (Stage 3)   

A.                  Strategic Outcomes

B.                   Process Analysis

C.                   Requirements

IV.                System Recommendation (Stage 4)

A.                  Benefits of an Enterprise Solution

B.                   Proposed IT solution

C.                   How the Proposed IT Solution Meets the Requirements

D.                  Implementation Steps

E.                   Conclusion

Assignment

The first stepis to incorporate the feedback you received on your Stage 2 assignment, making any needed corrections or adjustments.  (If you have not incorporated the feedback from your Stage 1 assignment, you should do so prior to submitting Stage 3.) For this assignment, you will add Section III to Sections I and II, as outlined below.  Note:  In addition to the criteria for Stage 3, as indicated in the grading rubric, the incorporation of improvements based on substantive feedback (more significant problems with content) from the previous stage will also be evaluated. 

Section III of the Business Analysis and System Recommendation Report analyzes the organization’s strategy and processes to determine how technology solutions can be used to support organizational processes and enable strategic and operational outcomes.For this assignment, you will list requirements for a new hiring system. This analysis leads into Section IV – System Recommendation section of the BA&SR (the Stage 4 assignment) that will propose an IT solution to meet CIC’s organizational strategy and fulfillits operational needs.

Using the case study, assignment instructions, Course Content readings, and external resources,develop your Section III on Strategic and Operational Outcomes.   Approximate lengths for each section are provided as a guideline; be sure to provide all pertinent information.A key to successful business writing is quality and conciseness rather than quantity.

The case study tells you that the executives and employees at Chesapeake IT Consultants (CIC) have identified a need for an effective and efficient hiring system.  As you review the case study, list three goals (or strategies) from the description of the company, as well as from the “interviews” that are documented.  Then, to focus on operational outcomes, you will analyze the hiring process in use at CIC by identifying specific steps.

Note:  Refer to the Week 6 Content “Good Practices for Developing User Requirements” in particular for this assignment.  Business Requirements – why the project is being undertaken – aligns with the Strategic Outcomes section III- A.   User Requirements and Software Requirements are addressed in III-C – Requirements below.

III.                Strategic and Operational Outcomes

A.      Strategic Outcomes – Identify three strategic goals or objectives mentioned in the company description andinterviews in the CIC Case Study, and explain how the new hiring system would help achieve those goals/objectives.  (2-3 sentences for each goal/objective) 

1.   Strategic Goal/Objective 1 and explanation: 

2.   Strategy Goal/Objective 2and explanation:

3.   Strategy Goal/Objective 3and explanation:

B.      Process Analysis –To understand what the new hiring system needs to do for CIC, you will first analyze the current hiring process.  The Interviews in the CIC Case Study provide the information you need about how the process is currently conducted.  You will need to combine the steps that each interviewee discusses and organize them into a logical sequence showing the high level start to finish process.First, insert an introductory opening sentence for this section.  Then, for each of the elements listed below, complete the table with the requested information. The beginning and ending step have been provided for you.  Each process step should be concise and start with an action verb. (Provide an introductory sentence and copy the table and insert information within.)

Hiring Process Step

Responsible CIC Position

1.    Receive application from job hunter

Recruiter

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12. Extend Hiring Offer to Selected Candidate

Recruiter/Hiring Manager

C.      Requirements – The next step is to identify the essentialrequirements for the information system.  Refer to the Week 6 Content -Good Practices for Developing User Requirements.Here you are focusing on the Business Requirements and the Software Requirements. Each requirement is one sentence in length and addresses one thing the system must do.  The requirements are documented in a table, as shown below.  For a full requirement specification, there will be many requirements statements; you only need to provide the number of requirements identified for each category.  The requirements should be derived from the Case Study; an analyst should not “invent” requirements.

For this assignment, you will identify:

·         4user requirements (what users will be able to do with the product (functional) requirements(numbered in the table as U-#).  requirement in this section

·         1 reporting requirement(UR-#)

·         5 software requirements related to security(SS-#)

·         3 software requirements related to system performance requirements (SP=-#)

Here’s an example of a business requirement:

Requirement Number

Requirement

Source (individual) from Case Study

U-1

Prepare job offer for chosen candidate

Recruiter – Paul O’Brien

First, insert an introductory opening sentence for this section.  Then, for each of the rows listed below, complete the table with the requested information.  (Provide an introductory sentence and copy the table and insert information within.

Requirement Number

Requirement

Source (individual) from Case Study– name and title

U-1

U-2

U-3

U-4

UR-1

SS-1

SS-2

SP-1

SP-2

SP-3

Formatting Your Assignment

For academic writing, the writer is expected to write in the third person. In third person, the writer avoids the pronouns I, we, my, and ours. The third person is used to make the writing more objective by taking the individual, the “self,” out of the writing. This method is very helpful for academic writing, a form in which facts, not opinion, drive the tone of the text. Writing in the third person allows the writer to come across as unbiased and thus more informed.

·         Include Sections I and II, revised according to any feedback received and add Section III.

·         Write a short concise paper:  Use the recommendations provided in each area for length of response.  Content areas should be double spaced; table entries should be single-spaced. It’s important to value quality over quantity.  Section III should not exceed 4 pages.

·         Ensure that each of the tables is preceded by an introductory sentence that explains what is contained in the table, so the reader understands why the table has been included.

·         Use at least two resources with APA formatted citation and reference.  Use at least one external reference and one from the course content.

·         Compare your work to the Grading Rubric below to be sure you have met content and quality criteria.