Hardware Replacement

Project management should be the number one thing to start with when replacing hardware. This requires a large amount of useful knowledge of the hardware, skills and tools to install it, and to complete the goals within a budget or certain time frame. "Project management activities include planning the work, assessing risk, estimating resources required to accomplish the work, organizing the work, acquiring human and material resources, assigning tasks, directing activities, controlling project execution, reporting progress, and analyzing the results". (Laudon & Laudon, 2009, p. 386) In project management, there are five major variables which are scope, time, cost, quality, and risk. All five of these play an important role in information systems.

Certain steps will need to be done in order to have a successful outcome. In this case, the IT department wants to install a new CRM application because the current version is out of date. With this, project management comes in place. The first step is scope. According to Laudon and Laudon, "Scope defines what work is or is not included in a project". (2009) When working in an IT department, and considering changes in the system, one should determine what exactly will need to be done to complete the said process. Scope is an important step because without determining what needs to be done, the project cannot be completed. Also it is best to make sure not to include anything that is not exactly necessary.

The second step in this process is, time. Time is extremely valuable when starting a project. Without scheduling and breaking down how long it will take to complete each task, it could take several days or even weeks to finish. Time and Cost both relate to each other in this project because if too much time is put into the project, it could cost the company big money. The cost determines on how much time and effort is put into the project. Information systems projects costs also include the cost of hardware, software and work space. For each project, project management budgets a cost for the project expenses.

When working on a project, the outcome depends on the quality of the project. Such as the accuracy and timeliness of information that is produced by the new system and ease of use. Quality also shows the organizational skills of the department, when installing the new hardware for the company. Making sure everything is organized and in place will prevent any errors. Finally, there is risk. Risk plays an extremely huge role in project management because risk is used when there are potential troubles that may harm the information systems. An example of this is the larger the project is, the amount of money spent on a project, and the time can cause a huge risk.

The five variables for project management relate to this scenario because the IT department is looking to upgrade their current hardware, to a newer version. By this implementation process, the five variables come into play because the company will have to create an information systems plan, which is a specific plan that states the company's goals, and discusses how IT will help reach the goals. On the report, it will show how each goal will be reached by the various systems projects. The plan will also indentify the specific time frames for each project that will be completed, and determine how it will be completed in a timely matter. The plan will describe organizational changes, including any training requirements that may be needed, changes in business processes, and changes in authority, structure, or management practice. Finally, if there are any data or hardware errors, information technology should contact management immediately for solutions. This plan will determine how much time will go into each task, the cost of the whole project, the goals of completing this project, and determine what to do when there are risks of the new hardware system errors for other department within the company.

In order to determine the best information systems projects, they will need to discover the business value. By doing this, they will need to determine the costs and benefits they would need for the proper system. The two different kinds of benefit are: tangible and intangible.

Tangible benefits, which are usually, assigned a monetary value. Examples of tangible benefits include increased productivity, lower operational costs, reduced workforce, lower computer expenses, lower outside vendor costs, lower clerical and professional costs, reduced rate of growth in expenses, reduced facility costs, and increased sales

Intangible benefits, which is more efficient to customer service or enhanced decision making. Examples of intangible benefits include improved asset utilization, improved resource control, improved organizational planning, increased organizational flexibility, more timely information, more information, increased organizational learning, legal requirements attained, enhanced employee goodwill, increased job satisfaction, improved decision making, improved operations, higher client satisfaction, and better corporate image

When determining the costs of a project, there are some additional costs that need to be included: implementation and operational costs. Implementation costs include hardware, telecommunications, software, and personnel costs. Operational costs include computer processing time, maintenance, operating staff, user time, ongoing training costs, and facility costs.

The factors that influence risks are how large the project is, how much it costs, the team size, and how many parts of the organization will be affected by the new system. When implementing software, any risks can come in play. So it is important for the project to be discussed thoroughly and organized to make sure the proper steps are taken to avoid any risk factors. "Management support and control of the implementation process are essential, as are mechanisms for dealing with the level of risk in each new systems project". (Laudon & Laudon, 2009, p.402)

Finally, the management and or corporate will need to create an information systems plan, by using the project management variables. The IT department will need to follow the step by step process, in order to have a very successful implementation

References

Laudon, Kenneth C. & Laudon, Jane P. (2009). Essentials of Management Information Systems, Eighth Edition