INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND ORGANISATIONS 10TH JUNE 2012 Examination Paper

Answer QUESTION ONE and any TWO further questions. Clearly cross out surplus answers.

Time: 3 hours
Any reference material brought into the examination room must be handed to the invigilator before the start of the examination.

SECTION A CANDIDATES MUST ANSWER THIS QUESTION

The questions are based around the following case organisation. You should base your answers upon the information in the case. Ennerco Corporation Ennerco is a global organisation that operates broadly in the 'green' energy market. They specialise in heat recovery systems for commercial and industrial organisations, manufacturing and supplying a range of products in this area. Manufactured products include heat transfer systems and heat pumps. Heat transfer uses some form of working fluid by means of which surplus heat created in warm areas is transferred to normally cooler areas, for example from a factory to heat office spaces. Heat pumps can be thought of as reverse refrigerators; heat is harvested from the environment to heat a space, for example energy can be extracted from the ground beneath a building to heat the building. The Corporation has THREE principle divisions that correspond to the main functions carried out. These are; Manufacturing Manufacturing is a highly structured function with a number of large units in different parts of the world. Each unit is responsible for manufacturing a number of types of product for sale in all the countries where the corporation operates. In turn, each unit is divided into a number of departments, each having a specialist function (purchasing, stores, processing and manufacture, packing, shipping...e.t.c.). The emphasis of management is upon formal reporting, quality control, controlling cost and achieving efficiency. The manufacturing units have different processes and systems that are supported by various types of manufacturing software and ERP systems. Management and supervision are quite conservative in relation to changes in the way things are done. In the past local management have tended to resist senior management of Ennerco's attempts to standardise processes and supporting software. Energy Consultancy Ennerco operate a highly respected consultancy that specialises in providing advice to organisations on reducing their energy consumption and costs. They also take responsibility for designing schemes that can be implemented and work with third party organisations, builders, civil engineering and contracting businesses, who take responsibility for implementing such schemes. Naturally, Ennerco manufactured products are often used in such schemes. Consultants are highly qualified and experienced specialists and are managed as such. They are used to a large degree of autonomy and to making their own decisions. These staff tend to have personal ways of working and are resistive to standardised procedures such as time recording, standardised approaches to consultancy assignments and formalised reporting. Since they are incentivised based upon the income they generate for the organisation, they tend to be outcomes focussed and competitive. Senior managers often feel that the competitive culture is damaging as it prevents the best sharing and use of valuable knowledge. On the other hand, the consultancy part of the organisation is outward looking and customer focussed and often generates new approaches and suggestions for product innovations. The communication of this valuable information is however rather haphazard and depends upon individuals, informal processes and networks. Sales and Service This part of the corporation is responsible for selling products and maintenance services. The products are sold to a wide variety of customers and include both 'end-user' organisations and integrators such as builders, civil engineers and contracting companies. Sales staff, largely recruited from former service engineers, are technically qualified and salaried and perform most of their work using telephone and e-mail. The company strategy is to sell the right product at a good price and to make money from service revenues as well. The Sales and Service organisation is target driven and managers spend a lot of time measuring sales and service performance and forecasting using a variety of approaches. However, integration of information from sales and service is not particularly easy. For instance, managers would like to be able to reconcile major products sold with service contracts taken out and this is not particularly easy at the present time.
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Information Systems and Organisations June 2012 Final NCC Education Ltd 2012

A new CIO has been appointed and set the task of implementing a corporation wide ERP. Senior management have long considered that there can be economies of scale and value to gained by standardising processes within and across all divisions of the corporation, and see the ERP as a platform by which this can be achieved. The new CIO is sceptical about this and has expressed the opinion that the senior management team may be guilty of "putting the cart before the horse". The CIO suspects that differences between the three divisions make it highly unlikely that such an implementation across Ennerco can possible go completely smoothly. QUESTION 1 a) Marks

The CIO is aware that implementing particular I.T. systems effectively is very dependent upon the nature of an organisation. Critically discuss and explain the nature of each of the divisions within Ennerco corporation, Manufacturing, Energy Consultancy and Sales and Service, aiming to consider challenges and opportunities that may be encountered when implementing the standardised ERP system. What benefits can be anticipated, and, for each division what difficulties can be expected? How can these difficulties be overcome? In you answer you should aim to; i) Employ suitable frameworks to characterise each of the THREE (3) functions making clear what types of I.T. application are most suited. ii) What are the typical benefits of a standardised and integrated ERP within an organisation? Illustrate these by describing a typical example from EACH of the THREE (3) functions. iii) For EACH of the THREE (3) functions consider TWO (2) organisational difficulties that could limit the achievement of benefits from the proposed initiative. iv) If the CIO had to prioritise TWO (2) of the proposed functions within which to implement the standardised ERP, which TWO (2) would you suggest and why? In answering the question you MUST relate you discussion to the case. For example, it is not enough to simply say 'culture' presents a difficulty limiting achievement of benefits; you must use evidence and argument from the case text.

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b)

For the ERP implementation at Ennerco, show how EACH of the following can be employed to increase 12 the likelihood of success using illustrations and examples from the case. Lewin's 3 Stage model The DeLone and McLean model Consider the stakeholder groups Consultants (Energy Consultant Division) and Manufacturing 10 Operators (Manufacturing Division). Explain the relative importance of Technology Acceptance and HCI for both groups when implementing ERP. Total 50 Marks

c)

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Information Systems and Organisations June 2012 Final NCC Education Ltd 2012

SECTION B ANSWER ANY TWO QUESTIONS IN THIS SECTION

Marks QUESTION 2

a)

The context for information system implementation is very important. In what ways do perspectives on organisations such as Structuralism, Mechanism, Organicism and Contextualism help to understand the context of I.T. initiatives in Ennerco? Illustrate your answer with examples drawn from the case for THREE (3) of these.

15

b) Explain how a Socio-Technical approach can help Ennerco to successfully introduce ERP in TWO (2)
of the divisions of the corporation. Illustrate the approach with good examples.

10

Total 25 Marks QUESTION 3 a) There are a variety of criteria for evaluating information systems of which tangible cost benefit analysis is most closely associated with implementation of ERP. Ignoring anticipated tangible benefits, discuss THREE (3) more intangible benefit areas that might be expected to be important. How would you expect the implementation of the ERP to affect the staff, their work and the business processes in the Sales and Service divisions? Explain and illustrate THREE (3) ways in which things will change. 10

b)

15

Total 25 Marks QUESTION 4 a) Sometimes technical difficulties, usability problems and HCI mean that the anticipated benefits from information technology are difficult to obtain. Using examples drawn from the case or elsewhere, illustrate how EACH of these THREE (3) difficulties are typically felt. Apart for ERP, discuss TWO (2) I.T. /I.S. applications that you would recommend for Ennerco (any Division) and explain and illustrate why. 15

b)

10

Total 25 Marks QUESTION 5 a) Apply the Balanced Scorecard to the Ennerco case. Show how the new ERP system can be expected to impact performance in THREE (3) of the FOUR (4) aspects of the scorecard. The capabilities and technical limitations of information technology rarely present serious barriers to successful implementation of organisational information systems. Discuss? 15

b)

10

Total 25 Marks

END OF PAPER

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Information Systems and Organisations June 2012 Final NCC Education Ltd 2012