1. Name: Dr. Cathal Doyle Email: cathal.doyle@umail.ucc.iecathal.doyle@umail.ucc.ie Twitter: @Cathal_Doyle@Cathal_Doyle Website: cathaldoyle.comcathaldoyle.com

2.  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

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

4.  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

5.  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

6.  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

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

8.  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

9.  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

10.  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

11.  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

12.  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

13.  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

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

15.  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

16.  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

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

18.  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

19.  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…

20.  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)

22.  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

23.  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

24.  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