FGV System Recommendation Paper As the business analyst in the CIO’s department of Maryland Technology Consulting (MTC), your next task in working towards

FGV System Recommendation Paper As the business analyst in the CIO’s department of Maryland Technology Consulting (MTC), your next task in working towards an IT solution to improve the hiring process at MTC is to write a justification and implementation plan for a system that the CIO has decided will meet MTC’s needs. The system, EZ-ATS, is described in the vendor brochure provided with this assignment. The vendor, UMUC Hiring Solutions, Inc., and EZ-ATS are fictitious names created for use with this case study but based on real-world SaaS application information. In this Stage 4 assignment, you will explain how the selected system meets MTC’s requirements, and what needs to be done to implement the system within MTC.

Section IV of the Business Analysis and System Recommendation Report will explain how the selected system helps MTC achieve its strategy, improve its hiring process, and meet its system requirements, and you will explain how each implementation area might be addressed to help ensure a successful implementation of the technology solution.

Using the case study, assignment instructions, vendor brochure, Course readings (in particular, Implementing a SaaS Solution and Developing a System Proposal)and external research, develop your Section IV. System Recommendation. Approximate lengths for each section are provided as a guideline; be sure to provide all pertinent information.

IV. System Recommendation

A. System Justification

Provided with the Stage 4 Assignment Instructions is a brochure that describes an IT solution that the CIO has selected, with the HR Director’s endorsement, to meet the needs of improving MTC’s hiring process. In Stage 1, you analyzed the strategy and objectives for MTC and how a technology solution to improve the hiring process would contribute. In Stage 2, you analyzed how to improve the hiring process with a technology solution, and in Stage 3 you identified specific requirements. After reviewing the EZ-ATS Brochure, briefly describe the selected solution. Then, describe how that selected solution aligns with achieving the strategy, improves the process, and meets the requirements. Write two to three clear, concise, well-organized paragraphs to summarize this assessment. Don’t just repeat information from previous stages but synthesize this information and provide strong information and justification to explain why this proposed solution is a good fit for MTC. Remember you are writing a report to your boss, the CIO of MTC, that he can use to convince the leadership team why this is the best solution based on your analysis.

B. Implementation Areas

To successfully implement this technology solution, MTC will need to develop an Implementation Plan and below is a list of key implementation areas that should be included. First, provide a brief introduction to this section – what it contains and why an Implementation Plan is so important for MTC. Then address each of the seven (7) areas below to explain what MTC needs to do (with support by the vendor). Below the numbered heading, write one to two paragraphs to address the area. The sub-areas (a,b,c, etc.) contain questions and areas to help guide your thinking about what should be covered and should be incorporated within your response to the major category. For an explanation of the implementation areas, refer to the Week 7 Reading “Implementing a SaaS Solution”. The vendor brochure provides information for some of these areas, but you need to include what MTC must doas well. Remember you are writing this section to help MTC plan for a successful implementation. It is not sufficient to just indicate “Vendor provides”or “employees need to be trained.” In addition to incorporating course content, external research on implementation areas will strengthen your understanding and explanation. The goal for this section is to help MTC know what needs to happen in each area to help support a successful implementation of EZ-ATS.

Vendor agreement (MTC must enter into a contractual agreement with the vendor before full implementation. This identifies responsibilities as well as costs.) Incorporate answers to the following questions in your paragraph – do not include the questions themselves.
What does the vendor require from MTC to be able to start using the system?
How much will it cost to get access to and configure the system for MTC’s use?
How much will it cost per month to support 60 system users?
What option is offered for MTC to just try out the system to see how it works?
Hardware and telecommunications(Although this is a SaaS solution, MTC must ensure that its IT infrastructure can support the use of the system and that its employees can correctly access the system.) Include the following:
List the types of hardware MTC employees can use to access the system.
Identify what kind of telecommunications will be used for the solution, including local connectivity inside MTC and Internet access from outside MTC.
Configuration(Even SaaS solutions require a degree of configuration for each client. What needs to be done to implement the MTC job requisitions, workflow, reports, terminology and/or logo/graphics?) Include the answers to the questions below, but not the questions themselves.
What options does the vendor offer for configuring the off-the-shelf system to MTC’s needs?
How will the configuration be done and by whom?
4.Testing
Once MTC has signed up and configured the system, how will it test the system to see if it is working properly for its needs? Describe how MTC will conduct User Acceptance Testing. (This would be a good area for you to research.)
Choose one of the user requirements (listed in Section III of your BA&SR Report) and explain how that requirement will be specifically tested to ensure it is working properly and the requirement is met.
Employee preparation and support– Identify what MTC should do in each area below to prepare the employees (including the hiring managers in the various departments) for the introduction and use of the new applicant tracking system. Identify who (by their title or role) should do what in each area. (Incorporate information from Course readings on Leadership and Change Management.)
Leadership (2-3 sentences)
Change Management (2-3 sentences)
Training (2-3 sentences)
User Support (2-3 sentences)
Data Migration–Consider what existing data (applications in process with the manual process) would need to be entered into the system to get started and how this might be accomplished.
Maintenance– How will updates and enhancements to the EZ-ATS system be made? What will the vendor be responsible for and what should MTC address? Again, provide the information, but not the questions themselves.

(Note:A free trial period does not suffice as software testing)

Summary and Conclusion: Close your Business Analysis and System Recommendation Report with a summary of the key points including the benefits MTC can expect to gain from this solution and the alignment with strategic objectives. (One well-written paragraph).Don’t just repeat information presented earlier but put it in context of a conclusion to provide a strong finish to this report. Just as your introduction informed your reader about why you’re writing and what’s to come, the conclusion should provide a clear and concise final paragraph to reinforce/emphasize key points and a compelling argument for the chosen solution – and it should urge the reader to take action. PDF.js viewer
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Leadership
10/7/19, 8)43 PM
Learning Resource
Leadership
It is important to set a corporate strategy to iden!fy the organiza!on’s priority objec!ves—where is the
organiza!on going and how does it get there? Having a strategic plan in place, however, means that your
work has just begun. The success of execu!ng a business strategy depends on the quality of the
organiza!on’s leadership—those who will guide the organiza!on in the right direc!on.
Leadership is a much-studied and wri”en about topic; below are several descrip!ons of leadership.
Perspec!ves on Leadership
Quote
Speaker
Source
“Leadership is a func!on of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated,
building trust among colleagues, and taking e?ec!ve ac!on to realize your own leadership
poten!al.”
Warren
Bennis
Saladis
(2006)
“The aim of leadership should be to improve the performance of man and machine, to improve
quality, to increase output and simultaneously to bring pride of workmanship to people. Put in a
nega!ve way, the aim of leadership is not merely to find and record failures of men, but to
remove the causes of failure to help people to do a be”er job with less e?ort.”
W.
Edwards
Deming
Out of
the
Crisis
(1982,
p. 248)
“My defini!on of a leader…is a man who can persuade people to do what they don’t want to do,
or do what they’re too lazy to do, and like it.”
Harry S.
Truman,
33rd
president
of the
United
States
Legacee
(2011)
“Leadership is the art of influencing and direc!ng people in a way that will win their obedience,
confidence, respect, and loyal coopera!on in achieving a common objec!ve.”
US Air
Force
The
Cadet
NCO
Guide
(n.d., p.
25)
“The task of a great leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not
been….Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.”
Henry
Kissinger
Clawson
(2003)
“Through years of study, teaching and working with people all over the world, from all walks of
life, I have determined that leadership is: Communica!ng to people their worth and poten!al so
clearly that they come to see it in themselves. It is the influence we have with others to help
them discover their own voice, to find their own purpose, to make their unique contribu!on, and
Stephen
R. Covey
Khan
(2005)
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Leadership
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to release their poten!al, that truly defines leadership.”
Source: Leadership Quotes, n.d.
One thing you might have no!ced in the six leadership quotes presented above is that posi!on or hierarchy
was not men!oned. This was not an inadvertent omission; it indicates that individuals at any level in an
organiza!on can influence and exhibit leadership characteris!cs. Think about your own life experiences, and
you can most likely iden!fy some influen!al leaders who lacked posi!onal power, yet others willingly
followed their lead. “Leading strategic change can occur on at least three levels: organiza!onal, work group,
and individual” (Clawson, 2003, p. 39). Although leadership is tradi!onally thought of as being at the
execu!ve and most senior levels of an organiza!on, leadership can, and should, be carried out throughout
the organiza!on. Some!mes the strongest influencers in an organiza!on are not si$ng in the execu!ve
o?ce suite, but are running machinery, working in the produc!on areas, or si$ng in a lower-level
supervisory posi!on.
Although many factors can contribute to an organiza!on’s success or failure, leadership is certainly a cri!cal
success factor. The Malcolm Baldrige Na!onal Quality Award (MBNQA) provides seven criteria that
organiza!ons can use to assess their organiza!onal e?ec!veness. It is no surprise that leadership is a key
category; in fact, it is among the highest-weighted criterion for the MBNQA.
To reinforce these quali!es, the graphic below shows the Baldrige Criteria Framework (Baldrige Performance
Excellence Program, 2017) from a systems perspec!ve. This framework demonstrates the importance of
leadership to achieving results, and the e?ec!veness of leadership determines an organiza!on’s level of
success.
Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence
Framework: A Systems Perspec!ve
Seven criteria used to assess organiza!onal e?ec!veness
What’s the Di?erence Between Management and Leadership?
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Leadership
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This is a common ques!on and poten!al source of confusion, although managers may be leaders, the terms
are not synonymous. The role of a manager, while it may vary from organiza!on to organiza!on, focuses on
direc!ng ac!vi!es and employees from an opera!onal perspec!ve—what work needs to be done in this
department for this par!cular !me period of the project. In contrast, leaders not only are more forward
looking but also set the vision for the direc!on and lead by example, building rela!onships and encouraging
followers, evalua!ng opportuni!es and poten!ally taking risks to propel the organiza!on to new levels.
Vision, Commitment, Managing Model
Just as there are many defini!ons of leadership, many di?erent leadership models, sets of characteris!cs,
and clever acronyms have appeared over the years. One simple model that supports the leadership quali!es
we want to emphasize comes from James Clawson (2003), author of Level Three Leadership: Ge$ng Below
the Surface. Clawson calls it the VCM model and uses it to illustrate three areas in which leaders
demonstrate their ability to influence, as shown below.
Source: Adapted from Clawson (2003, p. 37)
Vision is a cri!cal component of leadership. Visioning is describing where the organiza!on will be at some
future !me, which sets the direc!on in which the organiza!on should move to reach the stated goal.
Strategic planning is part of the process because it defines the route to achieving the vision. Cri!cal
leadership skills are required to help establish and convey that vision to the rest of the organiza!on. The
leadership skills required to be successful in this area include:
iden!fying trends,
scanning the environment,
knowing what has happened in the past, and
understanding where the organiza!on is in the present.
Commitment involves garnering the dedica!on of others. This includes sharing the vision to get others
involved with the direc!on and strategic objec!ves. Communica!on skills are cri!cal and include the
leader’s ability to convey his or her message to others. But equally important is the leader’s ability
to listen to others. Part of gaining commitment is alignment—ge$ng individuals to understand how they fit
into the vision and how they contribute to mee!ng the organiza!on’s strategic objec!ves. Aligning
individual goals with department goals that support the corporate goals is important to organiza!onal
success.
Management includes monitoring, measuring, direc!ng, and controlling the organiza!on. Skills required here
include the ability to assess how well the organiza!on is moving toward its vision and how well the strategy
is being executed. Having e?ec!ve measures in place enables leadership to course-correct as needed if the
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Leadership
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organiza!on begins to stray. Recogni!on is also important here—rewarding and praising those who are
helping to guide the organiza!on and achieve the intended results (Clawson, 2003).
References
Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. (2017). 2017-2018 Baldrige Excellence Framework: A systems
approach to improving your organiza!on’s performance. Baldrige Na!onal Quality Program. Retrieved
October 3, 2018 from h”ps://www.nist.gov/baldrige/publica!ons/baldrige-excellenceframework/businessnonprofit
Clawson, J. (2003). Level three leadership: Ge$ng below the surface. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pren!ce-Hall.
Leadership Quotes. (n.d.). The Teal Trust. Retrieved April 13, 2007 from
h”p://www.teal.org.uk/leadership/quotes.htm
Licenses and A”ribu!ons
Framework Overview
(h”ps://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/styles/960_x_960_limit/public/images/2016/09/06/2015_2016_Bus_NP_Overview
itok=4PqRGvg7)
from How Baldrige Works comprises public domain material from the Na!onal Ins!tute
of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce. UMUC has modified this work.
© 2019 University of Maryland University College
All links to external sites were verified at the !me of publica!on. UMUC is not responsible for the validity or integrity of informa!on located at
external sites.
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Developing a System Proposal
10/7/19, 8)42 PM
Learning Resource
Developing a System Proposal
This course has taken you from analyzing a business strategy to iden!fying opportuni!es for strategic
advantages and ways to increase the organiza!on’s compe!!ve posi!on; iden!fying process improvement
opportuni!es where a technology solu!on can increase e?ciency and e?ec!veness; defining stakeholder
system requirements; evalua!ng solu!ons, and steps to e?ec!vely implemen!ng an IT solu!on.
This is a lot of informa!on, and o$en the role of a business analyst is to create or help create a proposal or
presenta!on to inform key stakeholders of the findings above and “sell” the poten!al solu!on. Presen!ng
the informa!on in a clear, logical sequence to your audience is important.
Di?erent organiza!ons use their own formats and components in system proposals, but there are several
common areas that a business analyst will address:
1. Strategic Analysis—What are the key strategic goals and objec!ves of the organiza!on, and what is
the current business problem or opportunity being addressed? How might a technology solu!on help
the organiza!on achieve its strategy and where can a technology solu!on help?
2. Process Analysis—A process is a series of steps to perform a task. Many organiza!onal processes can
be very complex and include many sub-processes and steps. It is important to know what work needs
to be done, how it is currently being done, where opportuni!es for improvements exist, and how
technology can support the improved process.
3. Requirements—The requirements iden!fica!on is cri!cal to defining exactly what key stakeholders
need the system to do; what tasks they expect the system to complete or support; what overall
performance is required and what processes need improvement; how a technology solu!on can help
achieve the organiza!onal strategy and improve processes; and what specific requirements the system
needs to meet based on stakeholder informa!on. Defining these requirements enables poten!al
solu!ons to be clearly evaluated to ascertain whether they will fulfill the organiza!on’s needs.
4. Solu!on Building—A cri!cal part of any proposals is iden!fying the specific system that will e?ec!vely
support and/or improve the business process and clearly meet the stated user and system
performance requirements. This may include “build vs. buy” analysis to determine whether the best
solu!on should be developed internally or purchased as a COTS or SaaS solu!on. An organiza!on’s IT
Plan and architecture may help inform those decisions. Also the degree of specialty of the so$ware is
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Developing a System Proposal
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a factor: Is this a common business process used by mul!ple companies, such as Human Resources,
Logis!cs, Accoun!ng and Finance, or something very unique to the organiza!on that may not be
commercially available? Some!mes, alterna!ve solu!ons may be presented along with the pros and
cons of each op!on.
5. Implementa!on Planning—Equally important to iden!fying the best fit solu!on is implementa!on
planning. What has to happen (how and when) to help ensure a successful installa!on of the
technology solu!on? What suppor!ng ac!vi!es are required to ensure users are prepared to be
successful using the new system including communica!on, training, and ongoing support? The data to
be migrated to the new system must be iden!fied and any data integrity or compa!bility issues noted.
Also it is important to ensure appropriate maintenance and technical support are in place: Is the IT
sta? trained to provide Help Desk Support? Do users have a point of contact for issues? Should a
website be established with frequently asked ques!ons (FAQs) to help users especially in the early
days of implementa!on?
Without ge%ng into the details of wri!ng the proposal, understand it is important to convey the
informa!on clearly and concisely. At this point, significant work has been done to iden!fy the informa!on
above, and you want to present it as e?ec!vely as possible. Here are some things to keep in mind:
Iden!fy if there is a specific format or template that the organiza!on uses.
Is there a preference for a wri&en report, oral presenta!on, PowerPoint slides, etc.?
Who is your audience and what informa!on do they already know?
What is the key informa!on that you need your audience to pay a&en!on to?
Iden!fy specific next steps to keep the ini!a!ve moving forward.
© 2019 University of Maryland University College
All links to external sites were verified at the !me of publica!on. UMUC is not responsible for the validity or integrity of informa!on located at
external sites.
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Page 2 of 2
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EZ-ATS
APPLICANT TRACKING SOFTWARE
EZ-ATS
Brought to you by UMUC Hiring Solutions, Inc .
Applicant Tracking Software that provides
everything you need to create a high performing
Hiring Process and a great Candidate Experience!
More Efficient and Cost-Effective
Hiring!
Easy to implement…..and
Easy to use!
Guaranteed!
EZ-ATS is a single platform for all of your applicant
tracking needs. We guarantee that we’ll improve
your total hiring system results or your money
back!
Do you need to replace your paper applications
and spreadsheets, but don’t have a big
budget? We make it easy to get a hiring system
without breaking the bank!
With EZ-ATS you’ll see:
With EZ-ATS you’ll get:
Increased Collaboration and
Communication with Hiring Managers
Decreased Time to Fill Positions
Applicants’ Skills Highlighted
The Best Candidates Before Others Hire
Them
Decreased Cost-per-Hire
Less work for HR to Manage and Report
on the Hiring Process
No Long-Term Contracts Required
Access to all EZ-ATS Capabilities
Global access 24/7
System and data security
Mobile device access
Unlimited Support at No Additional Cost
Pricing Based on Number of Users
($50 to $500/month)
Free 30-day Trial
What You Get
Custom Implementation
Dedicated Account Manager Automatic Software Updates
UMUC Hiring Solutions, Inc. is a fictitious company designed for the UMUC IFSM 300 case study and is representative of typical SaaS products.
Page 2
EZ-ATS
APPLICANT TRACKING SOFTWARE
Use EZ-ATS to:
Attract top talent with a responsive, professional interaction
with applicants.
Retain and motivate top HR talent with a flexible, workflowdriven applicant tracking system.
Align hiring goals with corporate goals with clear visibility
into how efficiently hiring the right talent contributes to the
success of the organization.
Drive a strategic, end-to-end hiring strategy with a single,
integrated system for all hiring-related activities.
Customers love our:
Configurability: Arrange your dashboards and workflows
however you like, to meet your needs.
Custom Reports: Create customizable reports to track
performance and recruit more effectively.
Workflow: Expedite approval processes for job openings,
candidates, and formal offers.
Customer Support: Our mission is your success — our
customers are our top priority.
Cloud-Based Software as a Service (SaaS)
? Connect Anywhere – Just connect with Internet or Wifi
? Use Any Device – PC, laptop, mobile devices
? No New Hardware – Systems at our data centers
? Unlimited data storage – Online and archived data
? Secure Your Data – Professional protection
UMUC Hiring Solutions, Inc. is a fictitious company designed for the UMUC IFSM 300 case study and is representative of typical SaaS products.
Page 3
EZ-ATS
APPLICANT TRACKING SOFTWARE
Everything You Need to Track and Manage Applications
Preparation: Work seamlessly with hiring managers to develop job requisitions that will allow automatic
screening.
Advertise: Post your job to hundreds of job boards, social media sites, workforce services, colleges, and
associations with a click of the mouse.
Screening: Automate your screening of new applicants by having the system compare the application to the
requisition and highlight resumes with requisite expertise and/or experience.
Evaluation: Easily review and evaluate candidates to ensure minimum qualifications are met.
Workflow: Use the system to automate your company’s steps in the hiring procedure workflow from recruiter
to reviewer to hiring manager as tasks are completed – working the way your company already works.
Dashboards: All authorized stakeholders in the organization can have a custom dashboard with relevant
information and notices of actions that need to be taken in the system.
Collaboration: Quickly coordinate actions while maintaining transparency and security in the hiring process.
Interview Scheduling: Coordinate electronic calendars to schedule interviews to include all participants.
Selection: Obtain the best candidates before they are hired by others by using a streamlined hiring process.
Communication: Efficiently and effectively communicate with job seekers and hiring managers throughout the
hiring process using our integrated email and QuickText communication inbox.
Metrics: Generate real time hiring metrics to help you identify opportunities for improvement in your process
and job requirements.
Integration: Easy integration with your corporate email, existing systems, website, and social media sites.
Impress the Candidates: Impress applicants with the efficiency of the process and professional
communication, including offer letters.
Capture Skills of New Hires: As applicants are hired, their information and skills can be exported to your
employee management system.
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