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 Recommendation (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 CIOs 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.

Assignment

The first step is 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 (fixing significant problems with content) from the previous stage will also be evaluated.

Section III of the Business Analysis and System Recommendation Report analyzes the organizations 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 also 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 CICs organizational strategy and fulfill its 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.

• Strategic and Operational Outcomes

1. Strategic Outcomes Review the four Strategic Goals in the Strategic Plan section of the CIC Case Study. The CIO has asked you to come up with an example of an Objective to meet each Goal, and explain how a new hiring system would help achieve that Objective. As you can see from the example provided in the table below, an objective is a statement that is clear (not vague) and is something that can be measured or evaluated to determine whether it has been met or not.

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. Create an Objective for each of the 3 remaining Goals and explain using 2-3 sentences for each.)

1. Process Analysis

The overall hiring process has several steps which you listed in the Stage 1 assignment (Section I.C.2.). Copy and insert your steps from Stage 1 into the table below in the As/Is Process column. For each of the steps listed, complete the table describing how this part of the process is supported by the technology solution to improve the hiring system. Then complete the Business Benefits of the Improved Process column by explaining how this part of the process can contribute. The first row and last rows have been completed for you as an example.

1. Requirements The next step is to identify the essential requirements for the information system. Review the Case Study, especially the interviews, highlighting any statements that tell what the person expects the system to do. You should be able to locate at least 4 user requirements and at least 1 reporting requirement. As a member of the CIOs organization, you will then use your professional knowledge to add 2 security-related requirements and 3 system performance requirements. Security requirements are covered in Chapter 6 of the textbook. System performance requirements include the following:

• Usability Ability for new users to quickly adapt to the software without help (is it intuitive?)
• Scalability Ability of the system to accommodate additional users and/or additional records/transactions
• Availability Amount of time the system is operational and useable
• Reliability Ability of the system to create and maintain the data correctly
• Maintainability Ability of the system to be easily maintained, corrected and updated
• Portability Ability of the system to run/operate on a variety of end-user devices or with multiple operating systems

For the system performance requirements that you list, do not just repeat what is shown above.

Once you have written down the 10 requirements, evaluate each one using the criteria below and create 10 well-written requirements for the new hiring system.

The requirement statement:

• Is a complete sentence, with a subject (user or system) and predicate (intended result, action or condition)
• Identifies only one requirement; does not include the words and, also, with, and or.
• States what the system will do for user or functional requirement, and states how the system will do it for system performance requirements
• Includes a measure or metric that can be used to determine whether the requirement is met (time or quantity) where appropriate
• Is stated in positive terms and uses shall (vs. may or should); the system shall xxxx vs. the system shall not xxx
• Avoids the use of terms that cannot be defined and measured, such as approximately, robust, user friendly, etc.
• Is achievable; avoids terms such as 100% uptime, or no failures

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.

For this assignment, you will identify:

• 4 user requirements (what users will be able to do with the system (functional) requirements (numbered in the table as U-#).
• 1 reporting requirement (UR-#)
• 2 software requirements related to security (SS-#)
• 3 software requirements related to system performance requirements (SP-#)

Heres an example of a user requirement:

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

Formatting Your Assignment

For academic or business 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 effective business 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. Its 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.
• The use of external resources is not required, but any resources that are used must have APA formatted citations and references. The references from all stages should be appropriately formatted and alphabetized.
• Use the structure, headings, and outline format provided for your report.
• Compare your work to the Grading Rubric below to be sure you have met content and quality criteria.
• Submit your paper as a Word document, or a document that can be read in Word.
• Your submission should include your last name first in the filename: Lastname_firstname_Stage_3

GRADING RUBRIC: