Question

Analyze & Decide: Apply IT Concepts to Business Decisions

Read the information given, and respond in detail, to the questions below.

Spring Street Company (SSC) wanted to reduce the “hidden costs” associated with its paper-intensive processes. Employees jokingly predicted that if the windows were open on a very windy day, total chaos would ensue as thousands of papers started to fly. If a flood, fire, or windy day occurred, the business would literally grind to a halt. The company’s accountant, Sam Spring, decided to calculate the costs of its paper-driven processes to identify their impact on the bottom line. He recognized that several employees spent most of their day filing or retrieving documents. In addition, there were the monthly costs to warehouse old paper records. Sam measured the activities related to the handling of printed reports and paper files. His average estimates were as follows:

- Dealing with a file: It takes an employee 12 minutes to walk to the records room, locate a file, act on it, refile it, and return to his or her desk. Employees do this 4 times per day (five days per week).

- Number of employees: 10 full-time employees perform the functions.

- Lost document replacement: Once per day, a document gets “lost” (destroyed, misplaced, or covered with massive coffee stains) and must be recreated. The total cost of replacing each lost document is $200.

- Warehousing costs: Currently, document storage costs are $75 per month.

Sam would prefer a system that lets employees find and work with business documents without leaving their desks. He’s most concerned about the human resources and accounting departments. These personnel are traditional heavy users of paper files and would greatly benefit from a modern document management system. At the same time, however, Sam is also risk averse. He would rather invest in solutions that would reduce the risk of higher costs in the future. He recognizes that the U.S. PATRIOT Act’s requirements that organizations provide immediate government access to records apply to SSC. He has read that manufacturing and government organizations rely on efficient document management to meet these broader regulatory imperatives. Finally, Sam wants to implement a disaster recovery system.

Prepare a report that provides Sam with the data he needs to evaluate the company’s costly paper-intensive approach to managing documents. You will need to conduct research to provide data to prepare this report. Your report should include the following information:

1. What is the problem and some critical issues?

2. Prepare a SWOT Analysis

3. What is a solution to the problem?

4. What is an implementation plan for the solution in both the short AND long term?

5. How will you monitor and evaluate this plan and solution?

Answer 1

Answer-1) Problem is the handling costs of the printed document and paper files and managing them.

Answer-2) SWOT Analysis of the organization

Strength- Old /traditional practice of using paper for saving most of the data and managing them separately. No problem of getting deleted from anywhere and cannot be hacked.

Weakness- The major weakness is the practices of using paper and handling the cost and if the document in case lost or misplaced then, for the replacement of each lost document is $200. And for the warehousing cost is $75 per month.

Opportunity- Opportunity of implementing the new data management system as the organization has not implemented any system so, it is free to set new systems.

Threats- The organizations having IT concepts implemented in their organization will become powerful in managing data and ultimately reducing the costs of handling data saving the time of employees.

Answer-3) Implementation of the innovative approach in the organization which will help managing the data in the system without going through the intensive paper work, the paper filling process. The introduction of the data disaster recovery system into the organization system will reduce the cost of paper usage and warehousing cost.

Answer-4) Implementation plan for the short-term is yearly plan. The well managed data records of the employee within the organization. Plan will be the well introduced system with the help of IT within the organization. Whereas, the long-term plan is for the overall goal of the company. The objective will be the reduction of the cost by using the help of IT. Plan will be introducing the new system to manage and record data of the business and employees.

Answer-5) Evaluation and Monitoring is done by examining the efficiency of the system implemented and ensuring that solution is being achieved by the organization as per the expectations.