IEEE Software Requirements Specification Template

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Case 15: Albassami's Job Is Not Feasible Without IT

1) What systems are described here? What valuable information do they provide?

Robust computerized system and Information system.  Both systems have replication between the servers at headquarters and the client’s branches. Interaction between both parties allows the data aggregate to create the most update database version. The most recent version of the client list, new shipping contracts and truck’s availability will be shared during the transmission message. Thus, the customer is allowed to deal with any branches at any time. Furthermore, the recipient branch will create a receipt entry on the system upon arrival of the truck and then a Short Messaging Service communication (SMS)  is create and sent to the customer, who will then go to the destination branch to receive the car.

2)what value did the IT/IS investment added to Albassami?

Information Technology/Information System investment help Albassami to conduct all the business processes. The shipping information system will trigger the transmitting of the information from all the branches to the HQ and then the information will be shared and sent back to all branches. Management team will then extracted the knowledge from the central database and enabled them to make sound investment and operational decisions. Therefore, the business is able to be maintained its success and leadership in the Kingdom.

3.   How did implementing the Shipping Information System address the business needs and information  requirements of Albassami?

Shipping Information System which includes information about the output of the vehicle’s tracking information that allowed a better audit on all drivers’ behavior.  Moreover, the system also provides standard reports  to top management and head sectors about all the productivity branches, more accuracy to identify the need for different regions and thus proper budget allocation. On the other hand, linking the data of vehicle maintenance centers with the transportation services helps to improve company performance and customer service. Lastly, the Shipping Information System used at Albassami also maintains all the sender information such as the sent car, the truck number, the sender and receiving branches, and it also send an SMS to the client acknowledging the arrival of the car. In a short word, Shipping Information System is essence to all the company, the cooperation and interaction between employees is needed whenever conduct this system.

Case 16: Knowledge Management and Collaboration at TaTa Consulting Services

1) Analyze the knowledge management efforts at Tata Consulting Services (TCS) using the knowledge management value chain model. Which tools or activities were used for managing tacit knowledge and which ones are used for explicit knowledge?

Using the value chain model, the knowledge management efforts at TCS can be divided into the following activities:

·         Knowledge Acquisition: Over the years, TCS had acquired a vast body of knowledge and experience in several fields through on-shore and off-shore projects for its clients across the globe including GE Insurance, GE Health, Hewlett Packard, Prudential, Standard Chartered Bank etc. In addition, TCS regularly rotated people across various functions and within other Tata Group companies to gain cross-industry experience. Employees were also encouraged to be part of outside bodies like the IEEE, and go in for certifications.

·         Knowledge Storage: TCS had developed various repositories and databases for knowledge storage such as KBases, Process Asset Libraries, KnowMax, and Ultimatix.

·         Knowledge Dissemination: Knowledge was disseminated using a variety of techniques such as Ultimatix – a web based electronic knowledge management portal; propel sessions that brought together employees with similar interests; Live Meeting and Knowledge Transition sessions at the project level; and  “Tip of the Day” email comprising technical, conceptual or human skills tips were shared within the organization daily.

·         Knowledge Application: Students should visit the TCS website to explore the new capabilities developed by TCS and how it relates to the knowledge they have accumulated over the years about the customers, markets, systems development, and technologies.

·         To manage explicit knowledge, TCS had used KBases, Process Asset Libraries, KnowMax, and Ultimatix.

·         Tacit knowledge was managed through redesign of development centers, Propel sessions, Knowledge Transition Sessions, and communities of practice.

2) Describe the growth of knowledge management systems at TCS? How have these systems helped TCS in its business?

The concept of knowledge management (KM) was introduced in TCS in 1995 and a dedicated KM team called “Corporate Groupware” was formed in 1998. This group launched the KM-pilot in mid-1999. At that time, KM in TCS covered nearly every function, from quality assurance to HR management. The employees could access the knowledge repository that resided on the corporate and branch servers through the intranet, with a browser front-end or a Notes client. The knowledge repository, also called KBases, contained a wide range of information about processes, line of business, line of technology, and projects.

The next step was to create Process Asset Libraries (PALs) which contained information related to technology, processes, case studies for project leaders which were made available to all development centers through the intranet. The same thing was done through the web-based electronic knowledge management portal called Ultimatix, of which PAL was the precursor. The PAL library and KBases, which were hosted on the intranet, were merged with Ultimatix, which had sub-portals for quality management system, software productivity improvement, training materials, and tools information. In 2007, TCS developed Knowmax, a knowledge management system, using Microsoft sharepoint portal server that gave TCS consultants access to nearly 40 years of experience and best practices arranged by type of engagement, the technology in use, and customer requirements. It supported more than 60 knowledge assets and was accessible via Ultimatix to all TCS associates. Any associate could contribute to the K-Bank and Knowledge officers were made responsible for maintaining the quality of content.

3) Describe the collaboration tools used at TCS? What benefits did TCS reap from these tools?

·         TCS used a variety of collaboration tools – Infinity that includes instant messaging, IP telephony, and video conferencing; blogs and wikis; IdeaStorm, TIP, and Mysite.

·         As a result of adopting Infinity, collaboration of  overseas and local offices improved as instant messaging (IM) got rid of cultural and pronunciation differences that could occur on the phone. Furthermore, corporate communications was able to run a 24-hour internal news broadcast to all TCS offices in the world. In addition, travel and telecommunications costs were reduced by 40 percent and 6 percent respectively.

·         The other tools improved collaboration, communication, and knowledge sharing among the employees.

4) How did Web 2.0 tools help TCS manage knowledge and collaboration among its employees?

Blogs, wikis, and other tools were used to boost communication and productivity among the employees.  Wikis were used for collaborating on materials related to project, supporting brainstorming sessions, and developing presentations. Employees used blogs as a means to gather inputs on problems that they faced on a project. JustAsk System allowed employees to pose a question and in turn get answers from other colleagues, sometimes leading to a detailed discussion. If someone often answered questions on a particular domain, the relevant specialist group invited that person into the domain group and thus gave the visibility to talent within the company. The IdeaStorm, used by the management, helped in generation of ideas on topics posted by the corporate team. TIP was used as a portal for product innovation and new ideas. It helped the management to garner ideas related to product/service innovation and helped in solving problems. TCS also used social networking like MySite to help employees communicate better with each other. 

5) How do you think KM tools have changed some key operational processes at TCS, such as bidding for new projects, project development and implementation, customer service, and so on?   

TCS aims to move up the value chain and to continue to bid for higher-level projects, beyond those of maintenance and development.  By accumulating knowledge, it has built capabilities to understand how to service clients through consulting and in other strategic areas. So KM has enabled TCS to continue to move higher-up and to bid for more strategic projects.  KM repositories that capture best practices in the projects it has undertaken make the company more efficient in servicing clients. This means it can execute better.  Thus, systems development and implementation activities are more likely to be done by TCS in a manner that is timely, effective, and cost efficient.  The same for customer service – by knowing customer requirements and also taking ideas from other industries that are stored in the KM databases, the company can provide new and innovative solutions to resolve customer queries.

Overall, KM tools have become a key strategic resource at the company and all hires are required to learn them as a part of their orientation.  These tools are also the first go-to before starting any project or approaching a client.  Knowledge in these databases allows TCS consultants to quickly gather intelligence about the client or similar projects and thus align themselves better with what the client might want. This has led to a higher success rate in bidding and in project execution. 

Case 17: What Does IT Take To Go Mobile

1)​ What management, organization and technology issues need to be addressed when building mobile application?

The introduction of a new information system involves much more than new hardware and software. A mobile strategy involves much than selecting mobile devices, operating system and applications. It also includes changes in business process, changing the way people work, skills, and the way a firm interacts with its customers. System builders must understand how a system will affect specific business processes and the organization as a whole.

1. Management

A.      Decision to select new mobile application – management should know what benefits to company and customers are before developing mobile application.

Decker Corporation

·         Streaming process

·         Make company more portable

>        Customer able to look at a product on his or her mobile and see the same information on that        device.

USAA

·         Increase efficient process.

·         Eliminates the labor and expense of processing paper check.

·         Keep customers engage.

>        Provide mobile technology to its business process and provide simpler and more powerful ways for customers to interact with the company.

Ryland Homes

·         Able to engage customers

·         Increase sales.

>       Help potential customer to finds its locations, looks at this products and register with the company.

B.      Examine business process

Before firms go to mobile – Management should identify what the process, tasks and improvement that they want go to mobile that most affected by tablets or smartphones.

Example:

a)      Focus on customer engagement field enablement and employee productivity.

b)      Identify where physical and historical context can drive faster task completion.

C.      Select the right device, software and application.

Management should decide what is the right device, software and application that can support their mobile technology business process. For example what software or application that capable to handle the customization work requires integrating with the process such as capabilities for creating, viewing and managing customer information online.

D.     Monitor and control

Develop own apps and apps store – monitor and control. Manage mobile enterprise access through own in-house IT. Involve security system.

2. Organization

The key element, of an organization is its people, structure and business process.

Redesign business process

• Procedure/ SOP that can drive faster task completion.
• Redesign processes to skip or accelerate those tasks.

Redesign job

• Changing the way people work – focus on task orientation
• Change the way in which workers interact with core business system.

Train employees

• Provide training to staff – helps staff take the next step in whatever process scenario they are operating in at the time.
• Need to adopt to new method of process.

Technology

Technology is one of many tools that firms can use to cope with change. To support firms new business process, firms should select the right technology and application that consists of CRM & SCM.

Decker Outdoor Corporation

Technology such as touch interfaces, location and mapping features, alerts texting, cameras and video functionality.

USAA

• Dedicated 100 mobile developers writing apps for devices using iPhone, iPad, Android OS, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7.
• Apps able to send geographic information system (GIS) data to a towing service and display nearby car rental locations.
• Apps support photo deposits: customer can capture an image of a cheque with a smartphone & automatically submit to the bank. The money is instantly deposited in the customer’s account.
• Apps display loan and credit card balances, shopping service & auto insurance policy information.

Ryland Homes

• jQuery mobile software : to create variation of the site that were appropriate for different smartphone or tablet models.
• Focused on features communities, clickable phone numbers and brief online registration

2) How does user requirement definition for mobile application differ from that in traditional system analysis?

• Customer wants to be able to look at product on his or mobile device and see the same information on that device as that person would obtain in the store, plus some additional information such as consumers review.
• Mobile technology can streamline processes, make the device more portable and enhance them with capabilities such as touch interface, location and mapping features, alerts, texting, cameras and video functionality.
• The technology can also create less efficient process or fail to deliver benefits if the mobile application is not properly designed.

3) Describe the business process changed by USAA’s mobile application were deployed.

• USAA launched its Web in 1997 and went mobile 10 years later, with about 90% of its interactions with customers taking place on these two self service channels.
• In 2001, USAA handle 183 million customer contacts through mobile channel alone, and expect the mobile channel will its primary point of contact with customers in next two years.
• USAA has 100 dedicated mobile developer writing apps for device using iPhone, iPad and Android systems, along with apps Blackberry and Windows Phone 7.

1. Accident report and claims application

-enable customer to snap a photo and submit claim differently from the site of an accident.

-send geographic information system (GIS) data to a towing service and display nearby car rental location.

2. Photo deposit and application.

-capture an image of a check with a smartphone and automatically submit to the bank.

-the money is instantly deposited in the customer’s account.

3. Other application.

-loan and credit cards balances.

-shopping services.

-homeowners.

-auto insurance policy information.

-home circle and auto circle buying service.

Case 18: Honam Petrochemical's Quest For Better Management Reports

List and describe the information requirements of HPC's new management system and what problems was the new system designed to solve?

Information requirements of new system involve identifying who needs what information, where, when and how. HRP needs reliable reports that are able to accurately measure management performance and provide useful, accurately measure management performance and provide useful, accurate information for increasing sales and reducing costs.
Executive wanted to see current data to get a real view of what was actually happening on the plant floor or in the sales office. Executive too need anytime access to the most timely data but they did not want to be overloaded with unnecessary data so they could focus on the "watch-up indicators" considered crucial to the business. U to the minute reports that they could see quickly on their desktops and the data can be access via the Web or their mobile devices. Enterprise wide data that could be accessed and shared easily across various business units and functions to support the company's expansion geographically and by product line.
HPC's existing systems provided managers with reports to guide their business decisions but in many cases the data in the reports were out of date and sanitized. Individual managers were processing and manipulating the data to make their departments "look better" to senior management. The report data were also somewhat stale and presented only on periodic basis.

To what extent were "people" problems affecting management decision making at HPC? How did the system's designers make the system more "people-friendly"?

In many cases, the existing HPC's systems provided out of date and "sanitized" data in the reports. Moreover the reports data are presented only a periodic basis. It really affecting the management decision making because the systems allow the individual managers to process and manipulate the data to make their departments "look better" to senior management. As a result the decision making are made based on the inaccurate, manipulated, inconsistent and untimely data (based on last quarter's number).
The issues from management, organization and technology that had to be addressed by the new system are

• Management - Develop new business process, monitoring the implementation of the new system, allocation of human and financial resources
• Organization - Conduct employees training, change of corporate culture
• Technology - Accessible of the data (via Web-based and mobile devices), determine the right set of reports and dashboards, extracting data from SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse

In order to determined the right set of reports and dashboards for HPC's executives, the information system team started by asking the executives to list existing reports and assess the usefulness of each report. Then highly intuitive Web-based user interface was created to make the system very accessible and required little training for users to use the system. The information system team visited various manufacturing plants to encourage users to start working with the system as well as had in depth discussions with executives about the system's benefits and how to use it.

What role did end users play in developing HPC's new system?

• User information requirements drive the entire system-building efforts
• End user must have sufficient control over the design process to ensure that the system reflects their business priorities and information needs, not the biases of technical staff
• End user of HPS's played role to help the project information systems department by providing them the existing report that they already used 

How did the project team make sure users were involved?

• Once HPC's project team determined the business intelligence tools for the solution, its focus turned to determined which data and reports were required by the company's 200 high-level users of the new system
• The team started by asking executives to list existing reports they were already receiving and to assess the usefulness of each
• The list was cut to more manageable size and the executives were asked if there were any additional reports or data from which their organization groups could benefit
• the project team make sure the users attended the training on how to use the new system or to access data and reports
• To encourage users to start working with the system, members of the information department conduct a discussion with the user about the benefits as well as how to use the new system
• Information system department also run campaigns to ensure that user are using the system with most effective way

What would have happened to the project if they had not done this?

• The users involved are very important in developing new system to make sure the information requirements or user's needs that was determined were fulfilled
• If it does not happen, the new system developed might fail and not achieved the management objective
• The project might be a "white elephant" and the result will be wasting time and money

What other steps did HPC take to make sure the system was successful?

• Phased approach - HPC used a phased approach in implementing the new system. HPC waited until the company was experiences with ERP software and confident in its data quality and its data collection and processing methods.
• Benchmarking - HPC CIO, Jong Pyo Kim also emphasized the important of benchmarking with other companies in the industry before designing and implementing an executive-facing system. Most manufacturing wi8II want to access to similar data and performance indicators

What types of systems-building methods and tools did HPC use for building its system?

• SAP Business Objects Dashboards - Is a drag-and drop visualization tool designed to create interactive analytics for powerful, personalized dashboards based on SAP's Business Objects intelligence platform. This software can be used for performance management, planning, reporting, query and analysis, and enterprise information management and provide self-service access to data from database and Excel spreadsheets
• SAP Business Objects Web Intelligence - Is an ad hoc query, reporting and analysis tool that is used to create queries or use existing reports, format retrieved information and perform analysis to understand trends and root causes

What were the benefits of the new system? 

• Timelier decisions - Reduces time needed to collect, process and track data for decision making, supports faster decisions with quicker and more thorough analyses, delivers timely information and various analysis to end users
• Personalized delivery of information - Provides option for Early Warning System of data alerts that allows differentiation and personalized delivery of information for executives, managers and front-line employees
• Measurable watch-up indicators across all business areas - Ensures consistency of information and establishes structure for global sharing of information. Increase business competitiveness through increased use of global information system
• Improved accessibility - Displays data via management cockpits, dashboards or widgets and provides unstructured details and analysis also leverages visual graphics to improve readability

How did it change the way Honam ran its business? How successful was this system solution?

• Executives no longer limited to sanitized, stale data in an outdated presentation format.
• Management discussions and each decisions are based on time, consistent and accurate company wide data
• The system is very successful and help to solve problems occur at HPC 
• The system reduces the time required to collect, process and track the data so executive decision making takes place more rapidly
• HPC's information system are now ready for global information-sharing as the company expands

Case 19: Austin's Energy's Billing System Can't Light Up

1) Is Austin Business Project is a failure?

Yes, the Austin Business Project is failure because :

Modernization billing project delays

•                     Austin and IBM project late completion, delay schedule, software bugs

•                     Complexity new billing system with 73 different interface

Software bugs

•                     Error of thousand of bills

•                     65000 never received bills

•                     35000 in accurate bills, overcharging

Instability issues

•                     Seriously impact business and customer

•                     Persistent system error from billing department

•                     Revenue loses

Customer services employee

•                     Employee response one to one assistant for account accessing and correcting error.

•                     Called them selves as alpha tester

Customer

•                     Unable to access system online portal

•                     System causes a lot of problem, not friendly and hard time for customer.

IBM failure

•                     Billing software system failure

2) Describe the business impact of the faltering Austin Energy project.

Operation

• Mostly affected is billing department.
• Difficulties of issuing bills because of billing software failure.
• Common error of customer not received bills, customer receive in accurate bills, account automatically cancelled.
• Incurred more cots in utilities and operation. Since business function is interconnected, one function failure give impact of another function such as production.
• Business service is inaccurate, it give impact in revenue and profit even though they don’t have pressure of competitor.

Customer service

•  The department mostly affected.
• Employee work in high level of stress.
• Extra effort need to solve customer problem. They still need to serve customer better even though customer angry to show their disappointment towards the company.
• Employee also treated in the same way as usual, do not receive any appreciation from the company.
• Give impact of public relationship disaster.

Sales and marketing

• Company also faced difficulties in determining the actual sales since the system leads more error.
• Sales and profit decreasing.
• Company might face law suit for this issues. If it is happening, more cost to handle legal costs. It is bad for company since give negative impact in their legacy.
• Company also incurred more cost in advertising to give explanation to the public about what happen.

Finance and accounting

• Inaccurate financial report since the actual value of revenue and profit inaccurate recorded.
• Give impact of financial planning and investment.
• The project is delayed, suppose fully operational in early 2011 but it still not fully operational and incurred more cost.

Management

• Wrong decision making of having IBM to develop the software as the bad experience IBM performance in inventory management.
• The service give by IBM is bad and disappointment.
• Need to train all employees with new technology.

Customer

• Mostly affected. 
•  System also not user friendly, Austin portal also always have problem, customer cant access account information.
• Company also doesn’t think of their preference such as ability to choose time of the month that customer prefers to pay bills.

3) To what degree was IBM responsible for the problem countered by the Austin Energy billing project?

•  IBM not really responsive to the problems.
• It made Austin Energy appealed so many times to IBM officials ranging from the managers of billing system project up to IBM CEO.
• IBM responsible in find the roof of problem, make system correction, test the latest system version and implement the system.

Was Austin Energy at fault for the problem?

Yes, Austin Energy is at fault for the problem. It is because:

• Austin Energy as a user had to be committed to the system.
• Probably, Austin Energy did not plan very properly in the project to develop the billing system.
• They must have clear and proper project management objective which should deal with five major variables: scope, time, cost, quality and risk.
• The agreement should clearly define the roles and responsibilities of both party.

4) What were the specific organizational or technical factors as well as management factors involve in this project failure?

Organizational

• Employee could not be committed enough and described as if they are alpha tester when they encountered bugs and issues that never have made it to a live version.
• Unable to meet customer satisfaction.
• No realignment internally and externally.
• Caused vastly on costs that exceed budgets.
• Fail to meet customer expectation.
• Lost trust draws customer away.

Technical

•                     No specific infrastructure.

•                     Unreliable system caused money loss.

•                     Did not work closely with third party vendors like oracle.

•                     Customers unable to access the system’s online portal.

Management

•                     No strategy which cause time slippage.

•                     No business solutions.

•                     Interrelated with manpower.

•                     Repeating mistakes and delays.

•                     Improper project management objective.

5) Describe the steps Austin Energy and IBM should have taken to better manage this project.

Austin Energy and IBM need to develop an information system plan which indicates :

1.         The direction of system development

•                     Overview of plant contents

•                     Current and future business organization

•                     Key biz process

•                     Management strategy

2.         The rationale

•                     Current situation and current business organization

•                     Changing environment

•                     Major goals of the biz plan

•                     Firm’s strategic plan

3.         The current systems / situation

•                     Major system supporting biz function and process

•                     Current infrastructure capabilities

•                     Difficulties meeting business requirement

•                     Anticipated future demand

4.         New developments to consider

•                     New system project

•                     New infrastructure capabilities required

5.         The management strategy

•                     Acquisition plan

•                     Milestone and timing

•                     Organizational realignment

•                     Management control

6.         The implementation plan

•                     Anticipated difficulties in implementation

•                     Progress report

7.         Budget requirement

•                     Requirement

•                     Potential saving

•                     Financing

•                     Acquisition cycle