E-pro System at an Electronics Manufacturing Company - Essay Example

?E-pro System at an Electronics Manufacturing Company Recommendation I In order to provide a recommendation for a project d “Electronic Procurement System at an Electronics Manufacturing Company”, for a project manager it would be relevant to identify and analyze the problem first. The main problem in the case of E-Pro system is the lack of confidence of the end-users in the development and deployment of the new electronic procurement system. As the end-users had fear of losing their jobs after the deployment of the system, they were more interested to automate their daily tasks. The procurement manager crossed the limits by giving warnings and transferring the employees to other departments. The abovementioned problem has been identified and categorized as the cultural dimension problem among the technical, cultural and managerial dimensions of the problems (Feghali & Zbib, 2007). Being a project manager, I would recommend to not only involve the end-users in the development of the E-Pro system but also to earn their confidence; to do this is a desperate need. As the end-users are always helpful in identifying the issues and problems of the existing processes, they can provide valuable input for solving the identified problems. The end-users can also help review the prototypes and provide feedback, which needs to be incorporated before the final deployment of the IT systems. Moreover, the end-users should also be involved in the testing phase of the project. This leads to a conclusion that the effective end-users involvement not only saves money but also makes the IT project successful (Kastner, 2010). Recommendation II The second problem that I have identified in the given case of E-Pro system development is the mismanagement of the key stakeholders. The IT and procurement manager has mismanaged not only the external stakeholders but also the internal stakeholders, who have a direct impact on the development of the system. It has been identified from the case study that the external stakeholders of the E-Pro system are the suppliers of the Electronics Manufacturing Company; these stakeholders have no direct impact on the development of the system. The internal stakeholders, on the other hand, are the employees of the company, as I have already discussed in the document earlier (PM Study Circle, 2009). In the case, the suppliers had not been informed about the development of the E-Pro system before the project was started. When the procurement manager informed the suppliers in the middle of the project, they had a number of concerns regarding the development of the E-Pro system; still, they have been ignored by the procurement manager. Due to this behaviour of the procurement manager, the suppliers became a hurdle in the success of the project. Keeping in view the abovementioned fact and being a project manager, I would recommend that all the stakeholders be informed about the situation in advance. It is always good to develop consensus in early stages of the project; it helps reduce the probability of disagreements or conflicts, which are harmful for the successful implementation of the project. Recommendation III I would recommend that superiors be always informed about the progress of the project as well as the issues that are being faced in the project. According to the case study, the IT and procurement manager did not inform the managing director of the company about the then current state of the E-Pro project. Initially, they did not inform the managing director regarding the lack of confidence and conflicts with the employees or end users of the developing system. And then nobody informed the managing director that even the suppliers were not happy and had a few concerns regarding the development of the E-Pro system. Eventually, when the managing director was informed, the situation had already been out of control and the company needed to abandon the project. It has been identified as “lack of information flows among all stakeholders involved” and has been categorized as a cultural problem (Feghali & Zbib, 2007). It is always the best practice for a project manager to keep his or her director informed about the actual state of the project, so that appropriate guidance may be sought to implement the project successfully. It is recommended to develop a Standard Operating Procedure, so that feedback can be provided to superiors through weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly reports on the progress of the project. Moreover, on the occurrence of even small problems, it is even more significant to always speak about the problems before they become issues; therefore, a project manager should never keep them to himself or herself. On the other hand, it is important for a project manage to meet his or her superiors regularly, hear them carefully, and act as per the directions they provide (Kesee, 2012). Recommendation – IV One of the main problems faced by the information technology analyst was to gather requirements from the end-users. The end-users were reluctant to provide information about the procurement processes and procedures. As gathering and analyzing the requirements of an IT system is the main and first phase of a project, this project needs to be abandoned. It is pertinent to mention here that though it was not the direct cause of the failure of the E-Pro project, even if the other issues (end-users and suppliers’ satisfaction, poor communication, mismanagement of the key stakeholders) had not happened, the project would have been unsuccessful because of this cause. However, it is worth mentioning that the problem of gathering requirements arose because of mis-communication and poor management by the managers and it was also indicated in the case by the managing director of the company. For this particular problem, being a project manager, I would recommend to gather and analyze the system requirements properly. It has been identified on the basis of numerous studies and surveys that one of the main reasons for IT system/project failure is poor identification and determination of the system requirements. It is recommended to gather the user requirements precisely and accurately, and the gathered requirements should be measurable, achievable and reliable (Phariss, 2006). References Feghali, T., & Zbib, I. J. (2007) Global information systems failure sphere: A forecasting model. Journal of Global Business Advancement, 1(1), 140-152. Kastneer, R. (2010). Why projects succeed: Customer involvement. Retrieved from: http://blog.slalom.com/2010/12/08/why-projects-succeed-customer-involvement/ PM Study Circle. (2012). Stakeholders in project management – definition and types. Retrieved from: http://pmstudycircle.com/2012/03/stakeholders-in-project-management-definition-and-types/#ixzz27W6FYaBM Kesee, C. (2012). Admin skills: How to manage your boss. Retrieved from: http://www.iaap-hq.org/publications/officepro/admin-skills-how-manage-your-boss Phariss, R. (2006). The importance of requirements definition in IT systems development. Retrieved from: http://www.umsl.edu/~sauterv/analysis/f06Papers/Phariss/ Read More