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INF30001/INF80030 SYSTEMS ACQUISITION & IMPLEMENTATION MANAGEMENT
Semester 2, 2014
Faculty of Business & Enterprise
Swinburne University of Technology
Assignment 3,
INF30001/INF80030, Semester 2, 2014
CASE STUDY: IT Professional Services, ICS Services Pty Ltd.
ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES
Please read the following short case and then answer the three questions at the end.
This assignment is worth 30 marks which will contribute 20% towards your final mark.
This assignment is to be done individually.
Excluding references and appendices this assignment should not exceed 2,500 words.
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INF30001/INF80030 SYSTEMS ACQUISITION & IMPLEMENTATION MANAGEMENT
Semester 2, 2014
Faculty of Business & Enterprise
Swinburne University of Technology
CASE STUDY: IT Professional Services, ICS Services Pty Ltd.
As you are aware (please see INF30001/INF80030 Assignment 1 & 2) ICS Services is trying to integrate five
separate practice lines:
1) Infrastructure and Application Architecture,
2) IS Strategy,
3) Information Security,
4) Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Services, and
5) e-Forensics,
and has commenced an implementation of a CRM across these service lines as part of its strategy to offer
more services to its entire customer base, and thus grow the business. David Green, the Managing Partner
appointed Sarah Lee, the National Marketing Director as the executive sponsor of this implementation
project.
The project has been problematic from the start. Originally it was intended that Sarah would have access to
project management people from the consulting company that was now part of Professional Services
practice. However, all available project managers have been assigned to external clients. Sarah then
appointed one of her own marketing staff, Jordan Robinson, as the Project Manager. He was a young
marketing graduate who had been with Sarah for just six months. Sarah had been impressed by his energy,
innovation, ability to get on with people as well as his attention to detail. Sarah thought the challenge
would be very good for Jordan and Jordan’s appointment would ensure the CRM system was truly
marketing focused and not just an IT implementation project. She knew Jordan had no practical experience
of IT projects, but had studied project management and so had a theoretical understanding of projects, the
project life-cycle, resource management, risk management tools, communication strategy development,
etc. Sarah bought a book on IT Project Management for Jordan. “Read this” she said. The rest of the project
team came from available resources in the Professional Services practice. They were all presently working
on other projects as well. It was not long after this that the Head of Strategic Projects at ICS resigned,
leaving the company on the same day. Most of the above was unknown to you when you were approached
to join the newly formed ICS as the Head of Strategic Projects. The recruitment company ‘head hunter’ had
painted an attractive picture of ICS and the great opportunity the integration of the five Professional
Services lines presented to an ambitious and energetic person like yourself. With your recently gained
Masters of Information Systems Management degree you saw it as a wonderful chance to display your
talents and knowledge. It was true that ICS had a small number of strategic projects, but your title would be
‘Head’ and this surely was a step on the right ladder. You thought your six years working as a Systems
Analyst before you did your Masters would probably be a very helpful experience as well.
You’ve been looking forward to your first day settling into your office and meeting new colleagues and the
people in your team. In addition, you’re looking forward to getting an overview of the current strategic
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INF30001/INF80030 SYSTEMS ACQUISITION & IMPLEMENTATION MANAGEMENT
Semester 2, 2014
Faculty of Business & Enterprise
Swinburne University of Technology
projects and their status, learning about current business strategies and plans, and hopefully having a good
chat with David Green and also Sarah in regards to the CRM project. But it doesn’t turn out quite like that.
When you arrive, you are immediately called into an emergency CRM Project Meeting being chaired by
Sarah. After hasty introductions, she states that the project is a disaster and that it is entirely your
predecessor’s fault. She informs you that this project is “The boss’s (David Green’s) No 1 priority” and that
the project teams have tried hard but seems to be failing in delivering the CRM system. The young project
manager doesn’t say anything. When you ask for a project report and minutes of previous meetings, Sarah
seems flustered and replies that she doesn’t think that the documentation is the problem. You decide that
pushing this issue is not sensible, but make a note that you must see Sarah after the meeting. However the
meeting comes to an abrupt end when Sarah states “I guess that this is now your problem-I won’t say
anything more!” You arrange for a one on one meeting with Sarah later in the day after you have spoken to
the young project manager and the IT staff assigned to the project. You quickly assemble a meeting with all
your new team and have them introduce themselves. You introduce yourself and talk briefly about your
immediate plans to learn about the business and the key strategic projects, but firstly you clearly need to
address the CRM project problems. You then reduce the meeting to just those staff who are directly
involved in the CRM project. You ask each of them to briefly talk about their role and key issues they are
facing. When you ask each of them about the CRM project, they just shake their heads and say something
like, ‘That’s a difficult one’, then silence. You know that given its apparent importance that you really need
to get to the bottom of what is going on with this project.
Given the reaction to your questions about the CRM project in a group setting, you decide to see each of
your direct reports separately. But first you talk to the CRM project manager Jordan Robinson. He is glad to
see you and eager to tell you of the issues he faces. “I really want this to work, but I will need a lot of help
and guidance” he says. He at least appears to understand how CRM systems work from his university
studies and can see that there will be real benefits if it is implemented properly. However he tells you that
James McKay, the IT Infrastructure leader at ICS, had not been told about the project and his staff was too
busy on other projects and he himself was unable to get any support from the other IT leaders
(applications, storage, security, network, collaboration, etc). You thank him and tell him that you will be
talking to Sarah about how you might start the project from a fresh perspective. You then decide to talk to
James McKay, the IT Infrastructure Leader. James says that his team have been trying to install the CRM
chosen by David and Sarah so that it is accessible in each of the practices. He tells you that the software
was chosen because it was supplied by a “friend of David” and confirms Jordan’s story that his staff had
been unable to gain assistance or interest from the IT staff at ICS. You say that you are checking all the facts
and that you will come back to him when you have an opinion on how best to proceed. You then talk to
the help desk leader, John Thwaites who says that he is very concerned about the CRM implementation
because “there is no SLA, contract, or user documentation that I have seen” and he does not know what
arrangements there are for maintenance of the system. Also he says that his responsibility has only been to
support the previous practice and he is not sure how he will support the new entity.
Your final discussion is with Felix Chan, one of the Analysts in the Professional Services practice. His main
problem with the CRM project he says is with customer records and data formats. He spends half an hour
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INF30001/INF80030 SYSTEMS ACQUISITION & IMPLEMENTATION MANAGEMENT
Semester 2, 2014
Faculty of Business & Enterprise
Swinburne University of Technology
detailing the issues he is facing. After taking some time to reflect you go to Sarah’s office to have a
discussion about how you might move forward together. You have thought through the main points that
you wish to make around the following topics:
• You confirm that you understand the benefits that may be realised from the CRM project and how you
might manage their realisation,
• You outline an acquisition strategy that you think should be adopted,
• You suggest a simple governance strategy,
• You also let her know that you believe that you will need her assistance to organise the support
Professional Services practice other managing partners.
When you are finished, she calmly looks you in the eye and states, “You are the first person around here
that makes sense! I will ensure that you get my full support. I am meeting David later today and will get
back to you with his view of how things should go from here”. You thank her for hearing you out and head
back to your new office, sit down and breathe deeply. Already it’s 5pm. You start to write a list of things
you must do tomorrow, starting with most of the things you had planned to do today.
A few hours later your Blackberry flashes. It’s an email from Sarah, “David likes your ideas and wants them
presented to him within the week. He says maybe choose a new CRM application and do it properly this
time.
You smile and laugh nervously, but think to yourself “I know the theory I just need to apply it”. Better get
on. It’s going to be a long evening.
ASSIGNMENT 3 IS AN INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT:
DUE IN WEEK 11
QUESTIONS
1. The implementation of the CRM is now in disarray. Identify the problems in the acquisition and
implementation process that may have contributed to this state of affairs. Why did these problems arise?
2. The Analyst Felix Chan spent half an hour quite specifically describing customer record and data issues.
Outline the problems you think he might be facing with customer records and data and why these might
exist. How might these problems be addressed? What difficulties might be experienced in trying to fix
them?
3. Sarah is anxious to find a solution to the problems with implementation of the CRM system. You explain
that the implementation problems stem from problems with the acquisition as well as the implementation
process. Explain and justify a process that you believe would lead to the more successful acquisition and
implementation of a packaged CRM application in the Professional Services practice at ICS in the future.
The marking guide for the assignment further outlines the areas that you may need to consider for this assignment.
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