Information Systems for Managers

Assignment for December-2022

1.
Introduction:-

Farokh is eager to modernise D'Costa Cosmetics' IT infrastructure and integrate it with the company's
overall goals. As a result, he must research the fact that the division between business and IT is so
culturally obvious that it reads like the punchline of a workplace joke. Businesspeople believe that
technology is simply turning on and off PCs as needed, and tech-savvy personnel do not read the
pulse of what the firm is doing.

Of course, there is a distinction between individuals who work in traditionally defined business
divisions and those who work in IT. This division was purposeful at first, but as technology gradually
became more important, a necessity for local and worldwide enterprises arose, and this division is
today viewed as a hindrance and naive. Companies today recognise the importance of aligning
business and IT. According to a recent Gartner estimate, by 2022, 50% of all firms will have
improved their IT-business collaboration. The challenge is that IT-business alignment is difficult to
achieve.

Concept:-
Most businesses believe that IT and business are not collaborating as closely as they should be in
order to maximise product delivery service. What is the most frequently cited reason? Technology
functions considerably differently than traditional business units. Other factors contribute to
stereotypes perpetuating assumptions about how IT sees business and vice versa. Personnel who are
not IT aware may believe IT is too difficult to comprehend, and they may fail to recognise that IT
participates in essential revenue-generating operations like as customer service, sales, marketing, and
so on. These beliefs are changing in the twenty-first century, and diverse disciplines have their own
motivations, languages, cultures, objectives, and skill sets. Because of this, some people like to work
with spreadsheets and numbers, whereas others prefer to write.

Despite the advancement of professions like as CIOs and CTOs, tech executives continue to
experience substantial difficulties when attempting to work with business units. As a result, there is
always some form or other troublesome business-IT interaction. This suggests that these peculiarities
are harming numerous businesses, as they frequently exhibit unusual issues such as:

- Expensive investments with surprising returns.

- Limited success and/or underperformance
- Bottlenecks that impede service delivery, possibly due to buggy or slow deployments
- Poor or muddled customer service
- Obstacles (even outright conflict) between solutions and procedures.
- Poor customer and end-user support and communication.

Obstacles
No matter what service or product you provide, every corporation today is in and out of the
technology business. This transformation is unavoidable, and it brings the concept of IT business
alignment with it. As a result, IT facilitates business while business drives IT initiatives. As a result,
both generate revenue, and neither is less important.
Definition of “alignment” for business and IT
The concept of business and IT alignment is based on the long-standing reality that the business and
IT sides have been unable to overcome communication, knowledge, and skill gaps in order to support
successful service delivery.

Benefits of aligning IT and business

• IT expense savings (even a 10% reduction in IT spending supports none of the business goals)
• Aligning business with IT always yields numerous advantages:
• Expands collaborations
• Enhances visibility into issue areas
• Reduces time-to-market
• Improves employee and industry knowledge
• Synchronizes all units to become agile
• Achieves your strategy
• All of these things contribute to your bottom line, and the benefits result in excellent customer
service.
• It assists in making more informed decisions in all areas, including application life cycles,
infrastructure design, marketing and sales, planning and budgeting, outsourcing, partnerships,
staffing, vendors, and so on.

Achieving IT-business alignment is always the best practices

Alignment discussion and achievement are two distinct things. Achieving true IT-business alignment
is a difficult task, owing to the fact that it is cultural in nature. Culture improvements may appear
simple—encourage department meet-and-greets—hang up value-based posters—but such attempts
are rarely successful. On the contrary, achieving alignment necessitates a strategy. And that plan
should be iterative: this entails defining one change, implementing that change, monitoring its
performance, and deciding whether to alter it or not. Consider the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle so that
improvements can be implemented.
Consider these best practices to align IT and business:
Change your behaviour and your thinking —- Consider your complete business unit, which must
incorporate technology, in a continuous and strategic loop. Changing your mindset reveals teams
begin to understand other teams so that all teams can work better, minimise risk, and boost efficiency.

Consider IT as a business-changing tool—- If you're looking for information on how IT may help
other business units such as sales, marketing, and product development, you're still looking in the
wrong place. As expected, you investigate revenue streams so that IT can have a direct influence.
Make the ambiance of a customer experience the most important component — By aligning everyone
around similar goals and language that is directly supportive of the customer, conventional
disciplinary silos will be easier to break down. Ensure that your technical teams can also focus on the
consumer directly.

Use just one language – Every organisation and sector has their own jargon. Assist in demystifying
what each team does – in this case, you begin by standardising your enterprise's terminology across
all divisions.

Maintain transparency across all departments – Continuing the theme of unneeded riddles,
management and executive decisions should be made public. For example, if it appeared that your
CTO merely trusted his instincts and/or that your boss played favourites, these are strong indicators
that your firm is not as transparent as it should be.

Infrastructure Law Farokh has to follow

For the BASE STATIONS, The deployment of infrastructure must adhere to the "Law for the
Strengthening of Telecommunications Infrastructure Expansion" (Law No. 29022) and its related
regulations, as well as any necessary amendments, whose purpose is to establish a temporary, yet
special regime to implement the type of infrastructure required for the provision of public
telecommunications services throughout the national territory, particularly in rural areas. FHWA
estimate, i.e. Highway Authorizations Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act Nonetheless,
Infrastructure Law does not address concerns of land tenants who occupy a property or plot without
the necessary land title claiming ownership. Overall, the goal of the Infrastructure Law is to not only
streamline but also standardise environmental licencing and land acquisition processes in
transportation infrastructure projects.

Conclusion:-
Farokh's eagerness to modernise D'Costa Cosmetics' IT infrastructure while also aligning it with the
corporate plan must account for the aforementioned critical points. He is also expected to oversee
alternating business and IT staff in order to foster understanding, produce an open and lively culture,
understand human changes, and lastly, develop an exclusive alignment plan.
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2.
Introduction:-
Arthur D Little, Inc. (ADL) was instrumental in initiating a transformation initiative in BPCL that
began near the end of 1996. ADL's technique involved a cross-section of the organisation in co-
creating a vision for the company, who all determined the company's existing reality, theorised the
gaps between current reality and vision, and lastly evolved a change plan to bridge these gaps. As the
overarching dimension of this effort, the emergence of customer focus occurred. As a result, the
company's change strategy was changed into a programme named Customer Service and Customer
Satisfaction (CUSECS).
Concept:-
SBUs (Strategic Business Units)
In concrete words, the transformation plan resulted in the organization's radical and restructure
delayering. It eliminated previous departmental silos while establishing six strategic business units
(SBUs), namely, Refinery, Industrial and Commercial, Aviation, Retail, LPG, and Lubricants; in
addition to sharing services and support entities such as finance, information systems, human
resources, and so forth. In comparison to the traditional seven or six layers, the new construction has
four layers. According to (Senge, 1990), it entailed intangible transformation processes that would
transform BPCL into a learning company.

Because the entire transition plan required effective integration and was predicated on a substantial
rise in the organization's information intensity. It was anticipated that IT would contribute
significantly to this, therefore the initiative to evolve as an information system for the business began.

BPCL’s IS Plan
BPCL's IS strategy called for the development of a complete system to support the company's
commercial objectives. A small team of nine persons from the CUSECS and IS programmes set out
to map the existing business systems (legacy systems) as well as the future needs that included
resource optimization, customer focus, integration, and flexibility. The team came to the conclusion
that the prevailing "batch-process-oriented legacy systems" needed to be replaced with a "state-of-
the-art ERP system." As part of the selection process, the IS plan team mapped all of the important
processes in BPCL using conceptual insights and personnel identified as having expertise in
respective business areas through a series of process workshops, and came up with over 600 process
maps. These workshops were held in all four regional headquarters: Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, and
Chennai. Based on these methods, the team created a comprehensive questionnaire, a detailed
requirement list, and lastly scripts to capture believable business scenarios.

Validating or pre-selecting the ERP products

The questionnaire and requirement list were used to validate or pre-select ERP products for detailed
evaluation, whilst the scripts were utilised in the product's final evaluation. While the team was
prepared for the objective evaluation of the ERP solutions, the supporting functional entities and
SBUs had to take responsibility. According to one member of the IS team, "the sheer size and
inherent complexity of ERP packages provided an intimidating challenge in and of itself, but the
bigger challenge lay in enlisting all stakeholders in the decision process." A series of educational
workshops on topics ranging from basic ideas to architectural specifics of ERP packages were held
for Entity/SBU heads and their teams.
These talks were eventually extended to a broader cross-section of personnel in the business.
Following the selection of viable ERP vendors, each vendor was requested to present to a group of
approximately 100 people from various businesses. The goal of putting these presentations up was to
clear key people's worries, comprehend how ERP systems function, generate a sense of need in them,
and eventually get them to commit to ERP in their particular business implementations. Following
this approach, each firm produced its predicted qualitative and quantitative benefits, which provided
the basis for project approval.
A rigorous technical selection procedure was carried out in order to locate the 'best fit ERP package
for BPCL's current and future demands. SAP R/3 software was chosen for the implementation of this
best-fit ERP package.

Project ENTRANS

The senior management chose ENTRANS as a short form for Enterprise Transformation for the
project that implemented their SAP R/3 project. The name expressed the top management's goal to
change BPCL and create a new BPCL. The distinctiveness of BPCL's ERP installation is that it has
been a strong business initiative from the start. "We only played the required catalytic function," the
Head of IT at BPCL says with pride or egoism.

Although, due to the criticality of technological difficulties, BPCL's IS had to take on the position of
a process anchor during the software selection phase, and the implementation phase was afterwards
headed by a non-IS individual. Mr. Shrikant Gathoo, the project's eventual leader, was a human
resources professional. The IS plan team was unusual for having only ten people from IS, with the
remaining 60 coming from diverse business disciplines. A PSC (Project Steering Committee) was
formed, with the heads of all HR, IS, SBUs, and Finance as members. The PSC's mandate was to
validate project team decisions, then take decisions on interfacing the Entity / inter SBU issues,
before identifying and soliciting decisions from the Apex Council (formed by working members of
the board of directors) on issues with wider organisational / strategic implications, providing
resources, and reviewing project progress. The PSC used to convene at least once a month and
whenever situations required resolution.
Conclusion:-
BPCL planned a two-phase installation to implement nearly all SAP R/3 modules. The
implementation would take place in two stages. The first phase included Conceptual Design and
Planning (CDP), while the second phase included Detailed Design and Implementation (DDE) (DDI).
The need to hire an outside firm — a SAP Implementation Partner with sufficient competence and
experience — was widely acknowledged. PWC (Price Waterhouse Coopers) was chosen as the
implementing partner for the CDP phase following a bidding process.

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3.
Introduction:-
Jennifer Roberts' eagerness to move forward with the Infra Revamp initiative Hawthorne Investments
and has begun her journey by targeting BYOD as her first endeavour. As part of the project, I must
mention a few key tips for implementing a successful BYOD policy in the workplace.

If you, like Jennifer, are in the process of building a corporate BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)
policy, haven't gotten around to making one yet, or have an outdated one, the following few
recommendations will help in addressing IT security, IT service, application use, and many other
components.
Concept:-
Specify only the permitted devices
The ancient days were easy and plain. You have a blackberry that you just used for work. Employees,
on the other hand, have a plethora of options, ranging from Android phones to iOS-based mobiles.
Above all, it is critical to define what is meant by "BYOD." Should you mention bring your iOS
device instead of your Android device? Or should you say bring nothing but your iPad? You must
specify which devices can be used and which devices are acceptable to the organisation.

A strict security policy should be established for all devices that enter the premises.
The ancient days were easy and plain. You have a blackberry that you just used for work. Employees,
on the other hand, have a plethora of options, ranging from Android phones to iOS-based mobiles.
Above all, it is critical to define what is meant by "BYOD." Should you mention bring your iOS
device instead of your Android device? Or should you say bring nothing but your iPad? You must
specify which devices can be used and which devices are acceptable to the organisation.

Defining a clear service policy for devices under the BYOD system is a must
When it comes to queries regarding employees' gadgets and resolving difficulties with them,
management must set the tone. To execute this, policymakers will need to answer the following
questions:

What are the policies for supporting personally owned applications? What assistance should be
provided for potentially damaged devices? Will your management restrict the Helpdesk to ticketing
issues with calendaring, email, and other personal information management-type applications?

Clear needs of all forms of communication to be applied on who owns what apps and data.
While it may appear rational for the organisation to have sole ownership of the personal information
kept on the servers, issues will inevitably arise when erasing the device in the event of theft or other
complications.
Conclusion:-
When a device is wiped, all digital materials on the device are removed, including personal things
purchased by the individual. Sometimes these objects are irreplaceable.

As a result, a real question arises: will the BYOD policy that is formed allow for the wiping of the
complete device that is brought into the network?
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3.(B)
Introduction:-
BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device, is the latest IT craze. It is a technique in which employees are
encouraged to use their personal devices to access company systems and data. BYOD is a tiny aspect
of the wider trend of 'IT consumerization,' where customers' software and hardware are allowed into
organisational premises. It is a movement that can touch everyone in the firm, from the CEO to the
hourly worker.

Even now, the IT department is struggling to keep up with the constant technological advances. The
method has grown in popularity among employees who use their personal devices to access business
data. BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) has also come to refer to a number of other projects,
including BYOT (Bring Your Technology), BYOPC (Bring Your PC), and BYOP (Bring Your
Phone). These initiatives have emerged as a means of empowering employees while also connecting
them with the concept of "IT consumerization."

Concept:-
The BYOD policy & its Pros and Cons

Pros:-
As mentioned above, BYOD has many a merit:
- Guarantees employee satisfaction
- Enhances user engagement
- Reduces field service organisations' technology costs
- Utilizes modern technologies and their cutting-edge features.
- Cost-cutting measures —- Purchasing or renting gadgets for each employee.
- Recruiting hardware and IT support personnel.
- Providing instruction on how to use new devices.
- These savings amount to $3,150 per employee per year, according to Cisco Internet Business
Solutions Group.
- Additionally, when employees bring their own devices, they take extra care of their hardware,
saving you the added cost of providing alternative gadgets.
- Technology that is up to date —- they are more likely to be vigilant about keeping all of their
gadgets, especially laptops, up to date and applying the most recent available update.

Concerns:-

- Problems will always exist regardless of the circumstances. There is no consistent end-user
support offered there. Because most employees would be working on different brands and models
of devices, there may not be a unified support mechanism in place for any issues that may arise
with BYOD. It is critical to comprehend and keep aware of this.

- Security is an ongoing problem across all platforms today, and a BYOD policy is no exception;
yet, overcoming this challenge is not impossible. All that is required is for IT departments to be
prepared to be watchful. Antivirus software and password protection must be implemented to
keep apps and work decks separate from personal information.
- Data retrieval: What happens to the data of a business when an employee leaves? Do they have
their contact information? Who is going to lose access to your company's data? What would
happen if customers dialed that number directly?

Conclusion:-
For a sales employee, this BYOD system becomes exceedingly dangerous, and BYOD policies must
be well understood in order to manage this issue. Otherwise, an ex-employee with easy access to
client information may suddenly become a rival.

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