IS Plan

IS Plan

Being invited by the University President would really be a great pleasure. Since expediting the implementation is the main task to do, I assume that it refers only to the actual implementation of the Information System plan; hence it is a fact that we already have a background and a plan for the University.

Since planning is being the issue, let me state how strategic planning works. Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) and PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological analysis) or STEER analysis involving Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors. According to what I have researched, strategic plan is a document used by an organization to align its organization and budget structure with organizational priorities, missions, and objectives. As it says, it is also a process of comprehensive, integrative program planning that considers, at a minimum, the future of current decisions, overall policy, organizational development, and links to operational plans. Strategic planning is a basic document for planning of different projects of the program and their sub-projects; this is according to the project management club. It is based on the content of the Financing Memorandum and the Monitoring and Evaluation Matrix attached to the Financing Proposal and translates the two documents into detailed operational terms. A satisfactory strategic plan must be realistic and attainable so as to allow managers and entrepreneurs to think strategically and act operationally. In our Management Information Systems 1subject last semester, we are successfully done doing a business plan with our adopted company. With the help of the head officer in the department, all he information and other facts of that business plan was been discussed accordingly. As we always hear from our instructor, we the human resources or the IT personnel may lift up the company to its highest peak or eventually put it down depending on what we have wanted to. As what I have stated above, strategic planning must have the SWOT analysis. In to our preparation and to our research about the company, we have then listed some of the weaknesses and strength of the company. In such way we can decide how to build up a company.

In conducting strategic planning, each person or part of the organization that does the planning is really up into a purpose and what are those purposes in it. According to Field Marshal Helmuth Graf von Moltke “Planning is everything. Plans are nothing”. On what I have understood, it simply means that we can really plan for anything, for our future and for all the things that we ought to aspire. We can say that it is really easy to plan directly as it is in our hands and have the planning for ourselves. But in the end, after we have decided the planning, we cannot really have the activities to do the plan. Since I am going to be invited to speak out to the University president, lets me take the University of Southeastern Philippines as the subject. We all know that all the things, activities and transactions that happen within the school is done by the University professional professors and teachers. They do have their conference and meeting about the strategic planning for the school, but once it was been designed or talked properly, at the end of the discussion and after the technical paper was made, there are still no implementation for it. The words and discussions are being taken for granted. Meaning, the planning was still useless since it was not been implemented properly.

So what are the purposes of strategic planning? For example, in our own self, we do have dreams and visions in life. Before we are able to conquer those dreams and visions, we must first start by step by step process on it. We must have first decided on what our goals to achieve the dream. We must always think of planning as the first step. In strategic planning, especially in businesses and industry, the main purpose of it is to set the overall goals for the business and to develop a plan to achieve them. It involves stepping back from the day-to-day operations and asking where the business is headed and what its priorities should be. In the world market side, there are lots of purposes why strategic planning must be done.

First on the list, is the purpose on reducing the risks. Planning increases the likelihood of project success by providing insights into the project’s risks. Some projects are so risky that the business may choose not to start once they have learned about the risks. Other projects may contain features whose risks can be contained by early attention. The discussions that occur while estimating raise questions that expose potential dark corners of a project. Another is to reduce uncertainty within a team. A team is generating new capabilities and potentials about what is inside the business or the company throughout the whole project. They are also generating new knowledge—about it, the technologies in use, and themselves as a team. It is critical that this new knowledge be acknowledged and factored into an iterative planning process that is designed to help a team refine their vision. Next, is supporting in the decision making. Plans help the business to make decisions. How does an organization decide whether a particular project is worth doing if it does not have estimates of the value and the cost of the project? Beyond decisions about whether or not to start a project, estimates help them make sure that they are working on the most valuable projects possible. Strategic planning also helps in conveying information. A plan conveys expectations and describes one possibility of what may come to pass over the course of a project. A plan does not guarantee an exact set of features on an exact date at a specified cost. A plan does, however, communicate and establish a set of baseline expectations. Far too often a plan is reduced to a single date, and all of the assumptions and expectations that led to that date are forgotten. In relation with planning supports in decision making, it also acquires establishing trusts. Frequent reliable delivery of promised features builds trust between the developers and the customers. Reliable estimates enable reliable delivery. A customer needs estimates to make important prioritization and tradeoff decisions. Estimates also help a customer decide how much of a feature to develop. Customers are reluctant to make these types of tradeoff decisions early in a project unless the developers’ estimates have proved trustworthy.

Consequently, all of those things are being considered in order to have a very effective and successful Information System Plan (IS Plan). As a choice, I wanted to focus on the newly implemented University Registration Management Information System (USRMIS). Today, it is likely called as the Student Registration Management Information System (SRMIS). We all know that the University had just decided to in source the system and laid all their trust to our very own programmers. I would say to the University President, that in order to improve the services to its students, faculty, staff and stakeholders, it is very good to embark on the automation of its operation towards the institution’s system. Before deciding to pursue with this in source system, according to what I have interviewed with some personnel involve in this system, at present the University is leasing its enrolment system provided by ECPAC System (an outsource program) amounting to a very large amount that would be very costly to pay per month only. Considering that the University has a several colleges and at least two computers are utilizing the said ECPAC System per college in addition with the computer units being used in the office of the Registrar and the Accounting/Finance office. While ECPAC is providing these services, some problems arises for the reason that the system is not made and contextualized to cater the appropriate needs of the different offices and colleges of the University. In maintaining the program, the University had also encountered some difficulty since the customization is outsourced and there are some limitations that are not immediately address whenever there are changes in the procedures and policies in the University. Outsourced system also limiting the University on the source code, design and architecture of the ECPAC system because the University can never own these information. The University has also the restriction of opportunity to customize and repackage the system and eventually sell it for an income generating project later on.

I can proudly say that among all the Universities in the city, the University of Southeastern Philippines has the good programmers and IT people. When the Institute of Computing (IC) proposed about this Student Registration Management Information System (SRMIS), we could say that this project will soon address the issues in minimizing the operating procedures of the University in the proceeding years the system will be use. The in house development also gives enough liberty to customize these systems. It will also give the University an opportunity to have a stable and sustainable income generating project through these developed information systems. At present, the Institute of Computing (IC) has already developed the Students Registration Management Information System (SRMIS) for student and enrolment and registration system including the cashiering and collection system. The whole recently expanded Students Registration Management Information System (SRMIS), have aimed to develop an automated system for the registration and record keeping of the student’s records to be handled by the assigned office which is the Office of Admission and Student Records (OASR). It will also manage the student assessment in terms of how much number of units in total a student has enrolled and the corresponding fees associated with it. The additional fees such as laboratory, library, internet, insurance and other fees is being automated and will automatically reflect it on the Cashiering system. As of now, two faculty members of the Institute of Computing (IC) are the one in charge in developing the Students Registration Management Information System (SRMIS). Since, the programmers and the developers came from the University; it will not be costly later on with the maintenance of the said system considering that the rental of the ECPAC System cost too much. So, this time with this project the cost will be minimized and the University can save and eliminated expenditures related to the ECPAC System rental. Again, this project will be a great help for the faculty who were developing the system because they are given the chance for professional development. This project showcased the institute’s capability of developing information systems. Also it will advertise the University’s expertise in the field of Information Systems development. The project is under the Office of the President while the project development is under the direct supervision of the Institute of Computing.

A lot of things are being presented. We have seen the good side of it and also consider the disadvantage that it will bring to the University. But in order to expedite the implementation of the Students Registration Management Information System (SRMIS), here are the steps that I think will be a great aid for the success of the Information System.

Project Management is the first step they would do in order for the involving people be aware and understand what is all the Information System Plan (IS Plan) all about. Then it better for the people involve in the plan on what kind of involvement they will have in order for them to participate enthusiastically.
They would also coordinate with the parties involved in the IS implementation, since they will be the ones performing the roles in the IS plan.

In this step, it refers to considerations such as where would the project/system suitable to be implemented or placed in, budget on executing and maintaining it, who are going to manage it and are they suitable to handle implementation of the project? This also requires orienting the people involved about the different roles that need to be played in the IS plan. This is also in line with the employees that will be affected with the implementation of the Information System Plan (IS Plan). Their experiences must be noted for us to know how effective they can be in handling the implementation of the new Information System Plan (IS Plan). We must determine the strength in terms of time that is necessary for the implementation of the Information System Plan (IS Plan) and even the location variable. Through this information we could come up to reasonable activities and deadlines.

We must also consider the cost that is needed in the implementation of the system. It must be in relation to the overall budget the Information System Plan (IS Plan) have and the amount that is allotted in the implementation stage. And as said earlier the implementation plan must be within the allotted time. Also they should assign responsibilities and set timelines. This entails the development of efficient working plans that are constituted by the specific steps or action plans to implement the Information System Plan (IS Plan). Setting timelines for taking action in the Information System Plan (IS Plan) is very important to ensure that the plan is being carried out efficiently and productively and also to see results within a specified timeframe. We should determine the time to be allotted in order to complete the plan. With this we can utilize time management and other factors concerning schedules. Other than managing time we should also consider who will manage the plan and create planning teams that is capable in planning an IS. Project management must be properly supervised and development practices are also one most significant factor to be considered. We need to better understand the plan so that implementation won’t become more complicated. That is why such issues must be put into consideration.

The second step would be the Data Conversion. This includes analyzing the data that would be necessary for the system, the volume of the data to be converted and the issues involved in converting the data. Issues involving data conversion and allocation of resources must also be considered. Proper usage of resources must also be recognized because it might cause several failures, either when it comes to implementation or allocation of data. This will be applying for the change in information system development the University has decided. All the data from the past system must be properly transferred to the new one. This requires skilled personnel that know the previous system and persons that are also trained for the new system. Depending on the data that must be converted the personnel assigned must be reasonable in choosing the type of process in converting the data. The factors that must be considered includes the time and the percentage of error that my occur in the conversion process

To allocate resources is another step in order to expedite the implementation of the Information System Plan (IS Plan). This is a very critical part in the implementation of the Information System Plan (IS Plan) in the university where the budget for carrying out the ISP will be laid out in detail. A well-made IS plan will go to waste if the necessary resources are not allocated to it. Without resources, it is nearly impossible to expedite the implementation of the Information System Plan (IS Plan). Money is always involved and so even our university cannot escape from this fact. There are other necessary resources to expedite the Information System Plan (IS Plan). Some of these are people, time and physical resources. Resources not only of money but also of knowledge, of strength are needed to successfully implement the IS plan. It is of practical act to properly make use of all the resources available for the system. Analysis of the resources should be made. A university should look out for any source accessible. Overlooked resource could be a big lost for one’s organization. All these and more need to be properly and adequately allocated to ensure that the plan will not fail.


Next step is training of the people involve in the Information System Plan (IS Plan). Training is also the most important factor to be considered. IT staffs that are properly trained will make the project easily done. They need to have knowledge in terms of managing data and IS plan implementation. One of the things that are essential to successful continuous improvement in order to expedite implementation of IS plan are strongly matters on the people involve around the plan. User of the project are not IT professionals that is why time and training has to done to guide them in how to use and manipulate the project. If the person is knowledgeable or has received appropriate training then implementation if IS plan will be done faster. The people are the most fundamental resource of an Information System Plan (IS Plan). Since that they are the one who is using the systems the plan. They are the user or the client of the plan; it must be necessary that they have the knowledge about and how to deal with the change. There must be a necessary training for the IT staff and the general staff to run the information system in a smooth way. Since it is new system, a new way of operating the system and the function of the system must be utilize very well.

To monitor the progress of the new system should also be considered. The targeted task should be identified and the parties involved should see to it that the milestones are achieved. Milestones are very efficient measures of progress because it divides the whole project into smaller and more achievable tasks. Every milestone achieved can also motivate the people involved, as they are assured that they are making progress with the implementation of the ISP. Rather than setting a large and distant measure of progress, milestones can be used to keep track of progress in the smaller picture. To keep track with the project schedules they must observed the progress of the project development. Any progress should be made recognize. Updates and improvements must also be identified and evaluated if it has been going well with what has been planned for the system. They should evaluate if the desired outcomes had achieved, to see if still on the trail or if still following the timetable also to find out if there is a progress or not. By checking the details of each of the tasks or summary task we are better informed on the overall progress of the implementation. The programmers should submit a progress report on a monthly basis, in the progress report, programmers will be required to enumerate all deliverables expected from them and state the status of each deliverables required.

The compare and contrast of the actual implementation of the Information System Plan (IS Plan) to the original plan would be the final step. The original plan should be examined every now and then for detection of errors. Once errors are detected and revisions are made, the actual results of the revised action plans and the original plan should be compared or evaluated to look for the differences again for the errors, and to mull over what are the changes to be done, and what are the things to be added or subtracted. This would serve as a basis for revising the original action plan. Since it cannot be helped that the actual implementation of the Information System Plan (IS Plan) in the university would not follow the written plan exactly, it is necessary to compare how the plan is doing when it is carried out to how the plan is doing based on projections in the original plan.

With all those steps I have presented, I hope it could address the problems and solve it through expediting its implementation while utilizing the full potential of the university in delivering its services. Since we a state university, many opportunities may rise and make use of this and using it up to the maximum benefit would greatly improve the university. The foremost concern for this process of changing the information system is the willingness of the University for Implementation. We can never avoid a huge resistance for the implementation of an Information System Plan (IS Plan) would prove a huge risk and may cause the Information System Plan (IS Plan) to fail or never implemented. It would greatly help if the IS plan is backed and supported by the top university officials so that other parts of the university or colleges would have minimal amount of resistance. The IS plan with the acknowledgment from the university would be implemented faster if the university itself knows of the Information System Plan (IS Plan) so training and seminars are thereby held. The whole process of implementation would require much time and resources that focusing all efforts will be required for the implementation to go smoothly and immediately.

In our own self as well, we do have a strategic planning that was been planned accordingly. Now, it is our choice on how to implement it, how to maintain it and how to make it flexible in change without putting us into much cost.

References:

http://managementhelp.org/plan_dec/str_plan/basics.htm

http://www.tdan.com/view-articles/5262

http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/businessplan/a/implementation.htm

http://www.thepbgrp.com/merger-acquisition-services/post.html