Case Format
#1Executive Summary
This is a one/two pager which gives the following:
-short overview of the situation
-what is the major problem
-what is the major cause of this problem
-what are the major impacts of this problem
-what is the recommendation you propose
-advantages & disadvantages
#2Analysis
Using the WCA framework, conduct the analysis for all of the 8 components within the WCA framework. Note that each should include the 7 items in the analysis process.
a)Customers
- 7 items in the analysis process
b)Products
- 7 items in the analysis process
c)Business Process
- 7 items in the analysis process
- Participants
- 7 items in the analysis process
- Information
- 7 items in the analysis process
- Technology
- 7 items in the analysis process
d)Context
- 7 items in the analysis process
e)Infrastructure
- 7 items in the analysis process
#3) Implementation
In this section you describe the implementation of your project. This is really the Action Plan of your project. Items that you may want to include would be:
- manpower required to implement this
- costs related to implementation
- resources / technology required
- training required
- affect on the corporate culture
- time frames for implementation
- ease of transition from old to new system
- reaction of competition – if any
- warranty issues – if any
- systems support after implementation
WCA (Work Centered Analysis) Framework
BITE 430 MIS
WCA Framework Breakdown- Description
Customers:
The customers are the people who use and receive direct benefits from the products or services produced by the work system. They may be external customers who use the product or services or they may be internal customers inside the organisation.
External Customers:
-people shopping in your store or on your Web site
-people who receive services such as you would from the government
Internal Customers:
-these are people within your organisation who will use the system
-people involved in the Value Chain
- manufacturing to packaging to warehousing to shipping
- goes both ways - forwards and backwards
Products:
The products and services are the combination of physical things, information and services that the work system produces for customers. The work system exists to produce these good and services.
Business Process:
The business process is the set of work steps or steps that are performed within the work system. These steps may be defined precisely in some situations or may relatively unstructured in other.
Participants:
The participants are the people who perform the work steps in the business process. Some participants may use computers or others may use very little technology.
Information:
The information is the information used by the participants to perform their work. Some of the information may be computerized or it may just be simple paper information
Technology:
The technology is the hardware, software and other tools and equipment used by the participants while doing their work. This is the just the technology that is part of the work system – dedicated to that work system.
Context:
Context is the organizational, competitive, technical and regulatory environment within which the system operates. These environmental factors affect the work system and how it will operate.
Infrastructure:
Infrastructure is the shared human and technical resources that the work system relies on to keep operating. They are the support groups for the work system. These can be groups such as training, technical support, special support groups.
WCA Framework – Analysis Process
Issues that should be considered when analyzing the Work Process
Customer:
-Is the customer satisfied
-What makes them satisfied
-Are they satisfied with us or with other suppliers as well
-What are the requirements of the customer
-How do they buy , when, where
-How do the use the product or service
-Does the customer require us to maintain their product or service
-When do they get rid of our product or service
-Is the customer unhappy with us
-What are other competitors doing against us
-What are people saying about us
-What is the media saying about our product/service
Product/Service:
-Is the cost well managed in producing the product
-Are we offering the best quality possible
-Is the product reliable – working the way it should
-Is it according to industry or government standards and regulations
-What are the component of the product – parts of the product or service
-What are all the features of the product or service
-What information comes with the product
-Does the product have warranty support
-Is there a 24 hour support line
-Are there repair people available to fix it
-Is the product defective
-Is it doing what it should doing
-Are other people copying our product
-Are there problems that could cause people harm
Business Process:
-How quickly are we producing the product
-Are we consistent (doing it the same way) all the time when producing the product
-Are we efficient (productive ) when producing the product
-How long does it take us from the time we receive the order to the time it gets out
-Are we flexible in finding the best way to produce the product
-Are we considering all the security factors in the process to protect the employees and making sure the system is
How things are done
-How are the input parts brought to the main manufacturing process
- parts for the product
-What are the steps and the schedule in manufacturing this product
-How are the finished products handled in the warehouse
-Features of the process
-Is this whole process well organized
-Are people very involved in the process
-Do people do different jobs within the process or is it a very boring repetitive job
-How good is the machinery being used
-Is attention given to errors and defective products
-Are there good quality control
-Are the people building the product making any errors
-Are the procedures used to build the product good
-Do we have backup procedures and processes if the manufacturing fails
-Are the people building this product properly trained
-Is all the technical equipment protected from vandalism
Participants
-What skill levels do they have and are they using
-Are they involved in their work – at what level
-How committed are they to their work
-Do they get job satisfaction – is the company helping
-Formal
- How is the group organized
- What is the organization structure / chart
- What are the job responsibilities
-Informal
- What are the attitudes of the group
- Are employees happy
- Are they willing to give more than the regular hours
- Do they feel the company cares about them
-Is there any risk of fraud by inside or outside people
-Are they being lazy and not paying attention to the details
-Maybe they are not following procedures
-Are they being trained properly
Information
-What is the quality of the information provided
-How easy is it to get this information
-How is it presented – is it easy to read
-Can everyone get access to the information
- How protected is confidential information
-Are the databases in the work system
-What are the important files
-How is the filing system organized
-Is all the data being entered correctly
-Maybe the data being entered is fraudulent – cheating the company
-Maybe someone is stealing the data
Technology
-Is the technology easy to use
-Is it compatible with all the other technology in the company
-How is it being maintained
-What features does it have
-What improvements could be made to the technology
-Is this the right technology
Context:
-What is business climate in the community/city or global
-Is the customer’s environment making them want our product
-Are there substitute products that will and can replace ours
-Are the customers finding ways not to use our product or service
-What is the culture in our company – positive or negative
-Do the shareholders have the same needs and objectives as we do
-What are the organizational policies
-Are there government regulations that can affect us
-What are the industry and government standards for this product
-Are there incentives for the employees to work hard
-Are there other job pressures that hurt the employees
-What are the practices for analyzing the information
-What are the technology practices for the purchase of the technology
Infrastructure:
-What support systems does the customer need to use the product
- do they need ISDN line to use internet
- do they need 220 volts to run the stereo system
- do they need human support to learn how to use it
- technical support
-How are the support groups organized
- well structured or very disorganized
- what type of organization chart are they using
- do they have good morale
- do they support and believe in the work we are doing
- so they like the company
-What is all the technology that supports our work system
- telephone systems
- cabling systems
- data transfer mediums
- computer support systems
- configuration
- compatibility
Business Process – Information (sub-categories for the Business Process)
Here are some issues, concepts and questions that you should look at when performing your analysis on the Business Process – Information section
Information Quality
-Accuracy
- is the information accurate
-Precision
- does the information really cover all the issues
- is it exactly what people want
-Completeness
- is all the information there
- it can accurate but also incomplete – must check this out
-Age
- is the information current
- how old is this information
- when are they updating it
-Timeliness
- how good are they at delivering the information
- is it on time
-Source
- is the source of the information reliable
- who is providing this information – check it or them out
Information Accessibility
-Availability
- How easily can we get to this information
- Does it require a lot of effort to get this information
-Admissibility
- Is this information legal
- Where did they get it
- Is it culturally appropriate
Information Presentation
-Level of Summarization
- Is all the information organized in an easy format
- Do they summarize the information
-Format
- How is it displayed
- Is there a better way to display it
Information Security
-Access restrictions
- How do we protect the information
- Who is setting the security codes
- How many people have access to the security systems
- How many levels of security do we have
-Encryption
- What systems do we use to keep the passwords protected
- Is it an easy system to break
- Is the data protected
Business Process – Architecture (sub-categories for the Business Process)
-Special characteristics that can be applied when doing your analysis
- Degree of Structure
- Are people being controlled or can they make their own decisions
- Do they feel they are empowered
- Can they spot problems in the system
- Is the process very structured on semi-structured
- Things to think about:
- Replace people with technology
- More controls on the process
- Provide training to learn the process
- Use models to show them how it should work
- Make sure they have the right tools
- Range of Involvement
- Are too many people involved in the process
- Are decisions being made that are not good for the company
- Things to think about:
- Make sure we have the right people in the job
- Look at the skills of everyone
- Make sure they all want to be involved
- Level of Integration
- Are other groups being involved in the decision process
- Have all the groups been asked their opinions in how to make things work properly
- Things to think about:
- Make sure that you have a strong corporate culture
- People have the same beliefs
- Use the same terminology in the corporation
- Share the information with everyone
- Let people talk to each other and communicate
- Complexity
- Is the process to difficult for all to understand
- Is the process able to handle all the different needs that people have
- Things to think about:
- Review the process to make sure it can be understood by all
- Keep it simple
- Can everyone understand the language
- Degree of Reliance on Machines
- Is the whole process to dependent on machines
- The process does not use people’s skills
- Depend too much on computers and leaving machines to make the decisions
- Productivity is left to machines – people get lazy
- Things to think about:
- Make sure people feel they are in charge not computers
- Does the process allow them chances to react and make decisions
- Attention to Planning
- Are they planning too much and not getting down to actually doing work
- Should they be doing more planning
- Things to think about:
- Are there good training programs
- Are people confident on how to do the work
- How good are the controls to help people in the jobs
- Don’t make the controls too strict
- Treatment of errors
- Are they paying careful attention to errors
- Are they trying to find out where the errors come from
- Are they trying to resolve the sources of the errors
- Things to think about:
- Are all the safety systems in place
- Do people know how to recognize errors
- Can they react to errors or are machines making the decisions
Business Process – Performance (sub-categories for the Business Process)
-Special characteristics that can be applied when doing your analysis
- Rate of Output
- Is the productivity level good
- What is causing us to lower our productivity levels
- What can we do to improve productivity
- Productivity
- Are we worrying too much about cost of production and not enough on how we do things well
- Is it costing us too much to produce the goods
- Can we reduce the cost per unit of production by using better technology
- Consistency
- Are we too strict on how we produce things and cannot be creative
- Are we trying to do to much and not being good at what we do
- Can we introduce new techniques to make it better
- Cycle Time
- Are we answering the customers as quickly as possible
- Are we rushing to produce and holding on to the goods too long
- How quickly are we producing once we receive the order form the customer
- Flexibility
- Can we adjust to specific customer needs
- Do we want to meet their needs
- Have we asked the customers what they want
- Security
- Are we protecting all our production processes
- Do the employees believe in our security system
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