Technology Implementation - Essay Example

?Technology Implementation Paper With the modern technological advancement the management and running of business has attained a completely new dimension. There have been numerous improvements in communication, information processing and business management. Technology implementation is the application of components of an information system that include software, data, people, procedures, and hardware. Designing an information system is an important procedure in a company however implementing the system is of equal importance (Grover, 2009). Implementation of the newly developed information system follows successful design and development of the system. This paper will therefore give details and recommendations on how the new technology system should be implemented. Being the manager in charge of implementing the new information system my main objective will be to ensure that the new system is efficient. In an organization, change is very important since it determines success. Implementing the new technology system is equivalent to introducing changes into the organization. Resisting change is human nature. This implies that people will struggle to retain their known methods and procedures of operation in the organization. To implement the new system successfully will therefore require overcoming people’s attitude towards change (Grover, 2009). This will be the first step towards successful implementation and it would require involving the people. The organization need to have specific implementation procedures for the specific systems required in the organization. An EMR system is one of the technological systems required in the organization that would require successful implementation to benefit the organization. For the organization to be up to date with the modern technological development, it requires to eliminate paper work using this system. Although the organization might not achieve the required benefits from the system in the short-term, the organization stands to achieve long-term benefits following successful implementation (Cohn & Hough, 2008). The benefits achieved by the organization from a successful implementation of the system will be part of organization’s return on investment. People form important components of an information system, people are not only important in the design of an information system but they also contribute in the implementation process. For the organization to implement the new information system successfully, it needs to consider the people required to run the new system. The organization will therefore consider the available staff before considering hiring new members of staff. If the existing staff can successfully implement the new system then the organization needs not hire new staff. However, if the available staff is not capable of implementing the system then the organization should bring in additional staff members. The organization should therefore ensure that it has the required staff before it begins the implementation process. Although the organization will require staff members with variety of qualifications, the organization would consider a project manager to be an important member of staff. The organization should therefore begin by recruiting a project manager to advice the organization accordingly on matters concerning hiring of new staff. Secondly, the organization will require modifying its workflow and facilities. This part of the implementation process would require fine turning the existing duties and facilities with the new information system. The main reason that the organization needs to undertake this process is to ensure that the existing facilities and procedures fully accommodate the new system efficiently. To modify the workflow, the organization requires testing the capabilities of the new system on the procedures and duties performed by the organization. The implementation team will then decide how suitable the new system is in the performance of stated duties. From this process, the implementation team is capable of determining how the new system needs to be modified to fit the procedures and duties in the organization (Cohn, & Hough, 2008). The next part of the modification process is ensuring that the new system is compatible with the existing facilities. This will be achieved by ensuring that the newly acquired software is compatible with the available computers. The process will also ensure that the new system is friendly to available people and procedures. This process will therefore involve testing, recommending and making adjustments on the new system. The second process of the implementation process will involve the development of templates for the commonly used procedures. This process is important since it familiarize the staff member with the common procedure required in the newly developed system. The process will therefore require ensuring that the staff members can carry out their duties using the new system. In this process, the implementation team will test for the success of the newly created system. This process will require ensuring that the newly created information system substitutes the traditional methods and procedures successfully. By developing templates for the common procedures, the implementation team will ensure that people working in the organization are able to perform common procedures using the new system. Before the new system becomes operational, the implementation team should ensure that the system is secure. This will involve security of access by unauthorized persons and protection of the stored data form destruction. Unlike paper recording system, electronically stored data can be destroyed easily and fast and therefore a backup system is important. The implementation team should ensure that the system has a secure backup system that has adequate storage capacity. By installing the data, backup system the organization is assured of safety in all the required data handling procedures. The organization will therefore be safe from data loss that may arise from malicious damage of equipment or destruction resulting from a catastrophe. The fourth important step into the implementation process concerns the required data. This involves the old and the newly acquired data that is important in the running of the new information system. Data forms an important part of an information system and it include the important information that need to be fed into the system. Although the newly developed system requires both old and the newly acquired data, old data is more important since it is already proven. The fourth implementation process would therefore involve entering the existing data into the system. The implementation team needs to ensure that the new system has the important data before it is ready to run. The process will however be incomplete without conducting a run-test; this involves testing how the system performs using the installed data. The above procedures are mainly concerned with the equipment, however the people required to run the system are important. The implementation team should therefore ensure that there is availability of adequate personnel to run the system. This will be achieved through training and education of the existing member of staff. The implementation team should therefore ensure that the available staff members have the basic skill required when working with the system. In the human resource development process, the implementation team should ensure the availability of super-user in the team. The team of workers working in the organization should have super-users (experts) who can assist in the integration of other staff members (Grover, 2009). In order for the company to achieve success in the implementation process, the following recommendations are important. Firstly, when designing and implementing the new system, the organization should be concerned with the long-term benefits. This would require the organization to conduct intensive and extensive research to determine the appropriate system. This will be determined by the amount of paper work produced in the organization and the medical procedure handled. The organization also needs to ensure that its choice for an information system addresses, the technological needs of the organization. The implementation team should also ensure that the newly acquired system works using a variety of procedures. This will ensure that the organization does not need to make costly replacement of the system. Thirdly, the organization’s implementation team should ensure that the developed technological system has no negative effects on medical staff. The team should therefore ensure that the organization attains a smooth transition from the paper to the automated system Throughout the implementation process both the technical and nontechnical staff members will be involved, for the organization to achieve appropriate results it needs to consider the information that should be shared or not shared among nontechnical and technical staff. Information on project plans includes details about the proposed information system. Such information should be shared between the technical and nontechnical staff. Sharing the information will be useful in the development of the new information system. Information on implementation plans is only useful to the technical team due to its technicalities and therefore the technical staff should only know information concerning the plans. For the new system to perform the required procedures, effectively training of staff members is an important requirement. Training affects both the technical and nontechnical staff members and therefore information concerning training should be shared. Finally, support strategies involve alternatives that should be applied following a failure in the new system, such information is of technical importance, and there is no need of sharing. References Cohn, K & Hough, D. (2008). The Business of Healthcare: Improving systems of care. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group. Grover, S. (2009). How to Implement an EMR System. eHow. < http://www.ehow.com/how_7405871_implement-emr-system.html> [viewed January 18, 2011] Read More