Name: Dr. Cathal Doyle Twitter: Website: cathaldoyle.comcathaldoyle.com

 The assigned groups are now available on the website  If there is an issue, i.e. a person assigned to your group is no longer in the class, please let me know

 It will be one continuous assignment  This accounts for 60% of your total mark  It will consist of both tutorial work and class work

 You are part of a team of consultants who work for S&D Consulting Group  A background of the company will be given to you  Lava plc are a large organisation who is interested in hiring your group to consult with them on different information systems which may have an impact on their business

 The company profile, and background have been given to you  Each time that they are interested in an IS for their business, some more insights will be provided to your group  You will then be required, as a consultancy group, to explore these IS for Lava plc

 You will be required to answer some relevant questions  This will consist of doing research on the specific information system (and others if necessary)  Your group will then make a suggestion, based on your research, as to whether an investment would be recommended or not for a specific IS, and written up as a “mini” report

 First Tutorial: 10 th February  Second Tutorial: 24 th March  Third Tutorial: 9 th March

 From each of these tutorials you will have your topic and questions  You are expected to go beyond these questions  You will generate a report on each topic for Lava plc based on your findings

 You will be required to combine your three “mini” reports into a single report  You should ensure this fits together well, as it is for the Board of Directors at Lava plc  This will be due on 16 th March

 As your consultancy group, you will be expected to present your findings to the board of directors of Lava plc  Like any board, they are going to ask questions in relation to what your present  These presentations will occur from 4 th – 15 th April

 In todays business environment, the only thing that appears to remain constant is change  Social, economic, competitive and technical pressures are forcing organisations to rethink and reengineer the way they provide their service  These pressures can originate from internal and external sources:  Pressure from management to improve their efficiency, reduce cost, and improve quality  Pressure from competitors and customers to provide more for less

 Changes in the business environment, advances in technology, changing expectations of staff are only a few of the pressures which force continuing change in an organisation  Change can be internally driven or externally driven.  Paulk (1999) refers to these as “push” and “pull” change factors respectively

 Internally driven change is initiated when the organisation develops a new process or technology and “pushes” it into use to gain competitive advantage  Externally driven change generally originates from customer demands, arising from requirements for a better service  Legislative changes can also cause externally driven change

 Organisational change is generally related to Information Technology  Change can take many forms  For example…

 The development of new types of services to customers including those based on new technologies and communications facilities  This might be an organisations response to changing customer needs and market trends  Or, the business need to compete on the same level as its competitors

 Reengineering a business process to use new technology for financial gain  This might be classified as a “push” change factor if the organisation is reacting to its competitors and wants to gain competitive advantage

 Changes in roles, responsibilities and working relationships  Requirements for retraining based on new technologies

 The implementation of new IT infrastructures to support internal and external communications and information sharing for competitive advantage  Technological change can be driven both internally and externally  Heiss and Jankowsky (2001) point out however that establishing or reengineering processes to link technology resources and company objectives is a major challenge

 The management of change is a complex undertaking  As soon as the organisation moves beyond very simple changes, it needs to take account of a variety of inter-related factors which can make the management of change a complex requirement (ITIL, 1999)  The MIT90s framework illustrates this complexity…

 This framework represents the complexity as a set of five forces in dynamic equilibrium perpetually striving for stability (Morton, 1991)  It also identifies that an organisation is also subjected to influences from its external environment to which it must respond  Both the internal forces in the organisation and the external environment change through time and the changes in any one area will have implications for the other areas (Morton, 1991)

 Strategy - the high-level goals and business objectives of the organization  Structure – the functions of the organisation, the way in which they are grouped and structured in order to meet the business objectives  Management processes – the management policies, procedures, information flows and facilities for business planning and the exercise of control in the organisation

 Individuals and roles – the roles and activities of individual members of the organisation, their skills and motivation and the tools they use to accomplish their assigned tasks  Technology – the technologies used by the organisation, in particular the information Technologies supporting the business processes

 The MIT90’s framework demonstrates the complexity of implementing change on any area.  The complexity and interrelatedness of these areas highlight the need for dedicated management of the change process  The MIT90’s framework posits that the drivers and pressures are always ongoing