Health Information System

The scope of the management & health information system will incorporate planning, monitoring, adjusting, as well as organizing the project duration. Statistics shows that inadequate planning leads to immense wastage of resources, which in effect proves fatal to the organization that happens to be sponsoring the project. As such, the stakeholders will have to institute statistical controls in the project to facilitate comparison of the findings of other related studies undertaken by different outsourcing companies (Marchewka 2007, 34). Upon completion, the project will facilitate the mitigation of the challenges that are experienced by the organization during its normal practices. The management & health information system will incorporate strategies that enable the information technology to solve a variety of data management challenges. The development process will culminate in the delivery of an implementable project that will ease processing and managing of information (Marchewka 2007, 34; Goldstein 2007, 20-40).

Project Outline Business Case - Purpose, Rationale and Benefits

The management & health information system helps solve the persistent problems of recording and processing transactions. Moreover, the system is hoped to help maintain proper track records of transactions that involve various stakeholders. The management will, therefore, find it less challenging to plan for future activities in the medical facility. Of late, managing the facility has been intriguing, a situation that is attributed to the fact that the organization has diversified its operations. This has increased the number and variety of clients, as individual preferences vary (Schmidt 1997, 770-795). As such, data regarding their visits to the facility, as well as the services that are offered, need to be properly maintained so as to enhance service delivery. Since this level of recording has not been achieved, there exists an urgent need to put in place an effective information system so that the health facility can establish a strong basis for its operations. Without a record of past transactions, the management may find it challenging to make suitable decisions regarding the running of the facility. The proposed solution incorporates some aspects of customer relationship management, the management accounting information, as well as business transaction management. Other benefits include increased high value work, improved accuracy and efficiency, as well as improved decision-making (Sauer & Horner 2007, 80-95; Jim 2007, 1).

Options for Project Delivery

While considering delivery options, it is prudent to evaluate the entire benefit expectation. The appropriateness of management & health information system is emphasized by the fact that it will provide a proper basis for decision-making due to being accurate, and data analysis carried out through such automated systems can be retrieved at a later date for comparison purposes (Riehle 2007, 6). Automated systems help maintain records of what has been taking place in an organization. As such, it provides reliable data that improves credibility in decision-making with regard to finance, marketing, customer preferences, and product management. Furthermore, with the institution of proper security strategies, an information system can improve the safety of a facility’s data to a great degree (Sauer & Horner 2007, 80-95).

The stakeholders chose the management & health information system, as its return on investment is immediate and substantial. Additionally, the system will reduce the challenges of storage and retrieval of data concerning sales and purchases. Technical expertise will be outsourced, as there are several vendors who are proficient in the construction of business systems (Ross & Boehm 1989, 900-920). Moreover, the charges of outsourcing will be relatively lower than those that would have been incurred through in-house development. Outsourcing expertise will also facilitate the acquisition of a standardized system that would be easy to enhance whenever business requirements change. On completion, management & health information system will reduce the company’s burden during processing transactions and managing the catalogue (Ross & Boehm 1989, 900-920).

Project Risks

In the course of the project planning, potential risks have been identified that the proposed project is likely to face, as well as the appropriate remedies to these risks. During the implementation of any project, there are potential risks that a project is likely to face. According to Schmidt, 1997, a risk is an events beyond the control of a business that may interfere with the achievement of a certain set of goals by the business. The implementation of a certain project cannot go on blindly and assume that all the factors will remain constant (Murugappan & Keeni 2003, 40-60; Rhoades & O’Connor 1996, 203-208). There are certain events that the management will not expect to happen, but they should be anticipated and well-prepared for them in advance. Failure to adequately prepare for risk occurrence, may derail the implementation of the whole project. It is, therefore, essential that the management try and identify possible risks and plan solutions for them in advance so that the implementation of the project stays on course. Prevention

In the event the staff is learning slowly or not performing as expected, additional staff with knowledge of operating the business intelligence system should be recruited. However, they should not be a replacement to the current staff. Rather, it is intended to help the current staff perform their duties more effectively. This will be done in the form of the on-the-job kind of training, whereby the current staff will be having their training in the workplace. They will be trained on what they are actually supposed to be doing with the business intelligence system. The training will just be similar to the kind of job that they will be doing so that there are no issues of incompatibility when it comes to applying what has been leaned to the performed job. What the staff will be trained on is what they will actually be doing on the job. If not dealt with, reduced performance in the workplace will adversely affect the running of the organization. This is an issue that requires special attention by the management (McFarlan 1981, 140-150; Duncan 1996, 76).

A slump in the performance will mean reduced output, while the operating costs may still be high. To help avert this kind of scenario, the additional staff will be helpful in assisting the current staff adapt to the new system quickly. The newly recruited staff will have to ensure that things are running smoothly and that there are reduced incidences of any shortfalls (Michael 2005, 18). They should be able to cover areas where the current staff will be experiencing some difficulties with much ease. The newly recruited staff will have to stand-in where the current staff is not able to perform as expected. In general, those are the risks that the management should anticipate and make sure that it is well prepared to deal with them should they arise (McFarlan 1981, 140-150; Duncan 1996, 76).

Project Resource Costs

Cost management will be undertaken to ensure that processes are completed within the allocated budget. In this case, these processes will include cost budgeting, as well as resource planning. Since every resource has its associated set of output, the task will require tools and techniques that can facilitate the transformation in a cost-effective manner. In deciding which project to select, the following cash flow model that measures the value to be gained was utilised:

% ROI = (Total Expected Benefits – Total Expected Costs)*100

                                         Total Expected Costs

The expected benefits in pecuniary terms are estimated to be $45,000 over the next 3 years. The benefit was calculated by estimating savings on accountants and book keepers’ wages, as well as the costs of storing huge amounts of information. A substantial amount of the benefits is hoped to come from return customers. These are customers who will prefer to visit the organization at a later date after being rendered satisfactory services. Total costs are estimated at $15,000 based on the requirement to develop a management and health information system with transaction processing capabilities from scratch and train staff to maintain it. ROI = 200%.

Project Investment Appraisal

Project management is a costly endeavor, as it requires installation of expensive hardware and software. To facilitate effectiveness, the stakeholders of an enterprise require intense training, especially when information systems never existed. Failure of information systems results in catastrophic losses to the business enterprise. This is because of the costs incurred during installation, as well as the time wasted. To reduce such failures, the stakeholders have suggested statistical methodologies that facilitate the management of software projects. The organization has recognized the need to incorporate business intelligence to help deal with day-to-day challenges that they endure (Larson & Gray 2002, 14; Larson & Gray 2002, 14; Duncan 1996, 76).

Project Interfaces

Business intelligence and management systems involve the feeding of different categories of data into a computer, which will eventually feed it into a data warehouse. Every transaction that takes place will have to be entered into the computer to ensure that no transaction has been omitted. This will play a major role in helping monitor the activities that take place in the facility. All the data received in the data warehouse will then be combined and measured up against data from specific sources, such as finance, statistics, marketing, and customer satisfaction, to establish the progress of the business. For instance, data concerning the expenses and income can be measured so as to establish the impact of such transactions. This reduces unnecessary expenses and enables available resources to be used more effectively.

Project Quality Expectations

Project decisions were arrived at after the consideration of how they affect the Measurable Organizational Value, MOV. The goal of such consideration is to help in deciding if its incorporation increases value to the organization or not. However, since only measurable values are considered in this manner, the process is, at times, not intuitive and straightforward. This, therefore, places limits on the scope of the project because of the view that the value of a project must be stable through the procedures of MOV (Na 2007, 596-600). This concept is analogous to that of Return on Investment, ROI, as ROI is the measure of the difference between how much an organization spends on the project and the value it is expected to bring to the organization. Nevertheless, the difference between the two is that while the MOV fails to account for the cost of provisioning, ROI accounts for the cost of offering the MOV in conjunction with the consideration of all non-measurable values. This means that ROI goes further than MOI, which only considers the measurable value of an enterprise’s project after it has been completed (Larson & Gray 2002, 14; Coleman 2003, 43-52).

According to Marchewka, the stakeholders of a project must agree on MOV before its commencement. The agreed upon MOV becomes the basis for measurement of a project’s success in the later stages. Arriving at an agreement is at times difficult because some of the stakeholders would wish to set Measurable Organizational Value at a high level. This would be loathed by technology stakeholders who may be more familiar with the challenges that come with the project implementation (Lisa 2010, 65-73). Verifiability of Measurable Organizational Value is very important to the stakeholders. Following the completion of a project, Measurable Organizational Value needs to be verified to determine whether the desired level of success was attained or not. In line with these requirements, this organization’s Information Technology project is hoped to deliver a relatively low value which increases overtime (Larson & Gray 2002, 14; Biberoglu 2002, 23).

Associated Documents

The development process will culminate by delivering an implementable project together with all relevant documentation. Project documentation will help define the scope of the project in a manner that facilitates agreement by stakeholders. As such, documentation helps in resolving disputes among the stakeholders. Moreover, documentation provides historical references that provide future basis for other projects. Therefore, effective documentation of the initial automation project will facilitate success in the future projects (Brewer 2006, 167-173).

Documentation of this project will lead to detailed Work Breakdown Structure that will facilitate drafting of realistic and achievable schedules. This helps in reducing risks and surprises. It, therefore, becomes easy to predict the progress of a project during its execution, a provision which enables the stakeholders to take pro-active steps aimed at tackling prevailing challenges. As such, documentation facilitates the stakeholders’ understanding of the requirements of a project (Lee 2004, 71-80). In addition to facilitating the implementation of a project, documentation helps in portraying the development team as being thorough and detail-oriented in their work. This increases the organizational value, as future developers can base their work on the resources held by the organization (Brewer 2006, 167-173).

Customers & Users of Project Deliverables

Before any new project is introduced in a business, stakeholders’ acknowledgement will be a prerequisite. In this case, the stakeholders include the founders, the staff, and the clients who seek the services that are offered in the facility. The relevance of a management and health information system will have to be explained to them. For instance, how it facilitates keeping track of the events and transactions that take place on a daily basis, as well as how it will help in data analysis that will lead to informed decision-making (Lisa 2010, 65-73). It will also help in knowing the impacts of the daily transactions in the facility. Since the facility exists to fulfill their objectives, seeking their consent is essential, since the founders are the ones who provide the necessary funding for the project. Therefore, before they can commit their funds to the project, they will have to know the goal of the project and the benefits that the project brings along with it. The benefits will also have to be weighed against the shortcomings. It is, therefore, imperative that the stakeholders stay informed about the project and , understand its benefits to them (Keil et al 1998, 76-83; Torres 2011, 39; Institute of Systems Science 2001, 23).