Innovative Web-Based Administrative Platform For Smith Consulting Services

The Need for Innovative Solutions

Question:

The objective of the business case report is to develop your ability to convincingly argue a business case, which is a key function of business development.

Identify for whom and/or for which organisation you will be writing the business case document. (For instance, you might be pitching to an investor or the management of a firm, such as the management team at a group member’s.
 

Due to the expansion of client base, the consulting organisation has transformed towards a de-centralized style of business model and it has been following this model last two years. The main objective here is to support more and more number of clients in different locations. But the problematic issue came to the surface in the form of workforce administration related difficulties (Lasagni, 2012).       

As of now, all the internal requirements of the company have been done with the help of legacy mainframe systems, those requirements are- , resource management, payroll activities, and reporting (Ngo & O’Cass, 2013). However, with the expansion of workforce, it has been seen that the legacy mainframe systems continued to be inadequate in terms of effective management of the administrative activities. Higher costs along with higher employee turnover manifest the inadequacy over last year. Therefore, web-based application is the possible solution here which the figureheads and the stakeholders think as the most effective solutions to reduce costs, improvement of employee turnover and effective administration management (Kilelu, Klerkx & Leeuwis, 2013). The roles and responsibilities of the employees are quite confusing now when it comes to manage the administrative issues, access towards the timesheets in a secured way, disoriented style of administration with diverse platforms are the key problematic issues here. So, innovation is necessary here while formulating the business case report (Lasagni, 2012). 

With the implementation of innovative approaches, Smith Consulting Services is trying to move towards a more effective centralized style of web-based administrative platform. The key anticipated outcomes of this WP project are-

• Proper management of the employee payroll systems and consolidated manner of administrative functions
• Technology migration so that reduction of overhead costs will be possible which is associated with the large workforce while dealing with different tasks in different locations.
• More autonomy in case of decentralized employees so that proper management of training, administrative tasks, payroll elections, reporting etc can be done.
• Accurate and timely financial reporting thanks to the continuous updating of the financial metrics by the regional managers.
• Real time access will help in error reduction, improvement of the cycle time as well and all the authorized users can readily access it.

Several options as well as alternatives of innovation should be analyzed so that the most excellent approach of leveraging technology for business development can be determined. Here, special consideration should be given towards the corporate objectives of Smith Consulting so that the innovation and business development will be perfectly meet those objectives based on costs reduction, capitalizing on technology and organizational efficiency (Gaziulusoy, Boyle & McDowall, 2013). The company also should make sure that the web-based platform is perfectly compatible with the existing IT systems and implement the innovation strategies formulated by the company.    

The innovation strategy of Smith Consulting is based on the justification points related to the administrative functions as well as migration of payroll with the help of web-based platform that will result into greater level of efficiency. It is quite justified looking at the effective management of business processes along with resources. This WP project is completely aligned with the organisational objectives, innovation goals and corporate strategies. The initial estimates of the project reflect the justification here those are given underneath (Carlisle et al., 2013).

• During the first operational year, the overhead costs will reduce up to 15%.
• Employee turnover will decrease to 10%
• Generation of monthly as well as weekly financial reports will take 50% less time
• Resolving payroll issues will take 25% of lesser time than before

Benefits of a Web-Based Administrative Platform

The Problematic Issue

The mainframe system has been utilized by Smith Consulting so that payroll management along with different administrative employee functions management can be effectively done. However, with the growing number of employees and excessive burden in different headquarters, the effective management of administration is not possible anymore. Reporting is also a problematic area and the financial reports are being generated manually which is quite time taking and full of error (Baden & Haefliger, 2013). 

Benefits

The employees can enter as well as edit the timesheet data whenever they have time and it is accessible from any location. With this approach, they won’t have to phone the regional managers so that entry can be made in the mainframe system. For reporting as well as quality control purposes, immediate access of the timesheet as well as payroll data is necessary and it is the most beneficial point of this innovation approach (Bagautdinova et al., 2014). With this, they don’t have to gather, then analyze and then compile the information while dealing with non-billable positions. They can also register for the purpose of training and it will enhance the abilities of managers along with the training staffs to lessen some of the burden.      

Strategic Plan

The strategic plan of this project involves team work for which the employees have to think beyond the convention business models proposed by Osterwalder and Pigneur known as Business Model Canvas (Carlisle et al., 2013).  Here, the employees have to work as a team and go beyond the nine fundamental blocks- known as customer segments, key activities, cost structure, value proposition, customer relationships, key resources, core partnerships, channels, revenue streams along with cost structure. Rather, the structuring, management and consolidating of the processes here involve the business strategy and innovation model of D.J. Teece which evaluates the modern business models so that existing state related to business ecosystem can be assessed against those innovation models (Arlbjørn & Paulraj, 2013).         

Project Options Analysis

Here, option identification, feasibility analysis, option selection are the main steps of analytical study followed by Smith Consulting. Current demand of a web-based platform to administrative management is quite necessary and the intranet facility with the IT section of the company show the demand analysis and available technology examination. There will be certain level of impacts on the roles and responsibilities of the employees due to the implementation of the WP project (Davenport, 2013).      

Delivery of Recommended Solutions

It covers the project assumptions and project constraints, as these points have to be resolved by the capable employees of Smith Consulting. With the development of the project innovation, the employees should be trained properly about data entry, reporting tasks along with time sheets while handling the web-based system (Ngo & O’Cass, 2013). Funding should be available all the time for effective training management, purchasing of software as well as hardware. For the completion of this particular innovation management, the department heads will play major roles.

On the other hand, there are certain constraints that might come in the way of this WP innovation project. In the company, limited resources are available so supporting the innovation will be really difficult (Paasi et al., 2012). The limited COTS otherwise known as commercial off the shelf product is another constraint here.

Role	Description	Name/Title
Executive Sponsor	Executive support for the WP project	John Doe, Vice President Operations
Technology Support	Provides technology-based support	Jane Smith, Vice President Information Technology
Process Improvement	Advises the employees and the teams about process improvement techniques	Jim Jones, Process Team Lead
Project Manager	Manages the project team as well as business case	Steve Smith, Project Manager
Software Support	Provides diverse sort of software support	Amy White, Software Group Lead

Strategic Plan and Innovation Model

Project charter of this innovation project in Smith Consulting Services can’t be done without considering the organizational impact and five core phases that are the milestones of the strategic innovation.

Phase-1

At first, purchasing of hardware and software will be done and afterwards creation of WP system as per the web-based environment will be followed and then tested with the help of IT development group (Carlisle et al., 2013).

Phase-2

The IT group of the company will have to establish a temporary legacy platform so that the day-to-day operations related to administration activities as well as payroll can be done in the technology lab. It will be later utilized as a back-up system for archiving the data.  

Phase-3

The platform will be filled with the administrative data as well as present payroll information. This has to be done alongside with each of the pay cycle.  

Phase-4

Training will be given to all the employees so that they will get acquainted with this new innovation strategy and business development approach.

Phase-5  

Activation of the web-based platform along with archiving of the legacy mainframe system

With the implementation of this innovation strategy into the main framework of Smith Consulting, the WP project will allow better level of autonomy in case of employees and with the new D.J. Tecee innovation model, burden of the managers will get reduced. By reducing the non-billable overhead places in case of the organizational structure, the bottom line responsibilities can be shaped as the ground level workers in the chain of command can add a lot to the administrative and payroll innovation management in terms of web-based technology (Bagautdinova et al., 2014). With this approach, the roles and responsibilities of the employees will not get changed to a considerable level especially in case of the IT staffing requirements.    

Milestones/Deliverables	Target Date
Project Charter	01/01/2017
Project Plan Review	03/01/2017
Project Kickoff	03/10/2017
Phase-1 Complete	04/15/2017
Phase-2 Complete	06/15/2017
Phase-3 Complete	08/15/2017
Phase-4 Complete	10/15/2017
Phase-5 Complete	12/15/2017
Project Completion	12/31/2017
Business Goal/Objective	Description
Accurate reporting in time	Web based technology and tools will allow the perfect and real-time reporting related to the different payroll as well as administrative metrics
Improvement of the staff efficiency	Fewer Human Resource personnel along with payroll staff will be needed for the management of the activities that can improve organizational efficiency
Reduction of employee turnover	Greater autonomy as well as flexibility will help to address the employee concerns while allowing the managers to concentrate on the billable tasks
Reduction of overhead costs	Fewer members will be required by which reduction of company overhead costs will be possible
Key Processes and Resources	Performance Measure
Reporting	Reduction of reporting discrepancies like- duplication as well as gaps by the web-based system. It requires reconciliation in each six months rather than monthly reconciliation.
Timesheet	Elimination of non-billable working of the managers that allows employees for direct data entry.
Software along with System Maintenance	Decreasing the staff requirements and cost because of system maintenance will be reduced each month up to next six months after the implementation of the new system.
Staff Resources	Elimination of at least five HR positions as well as reduction of payroll that are unnecessary due to the automated functions.

The innovation project can directly support the strategic plans of Smith Consulting Services and with this strategic alignment occurs that can improve the business to achieve next level of maturity (Baden & Haefliger, 2013).

Plan	Goals/Objectives	Relationship to Project
2017 Strategic Plan for Innovation Management and managing information	To improve information management along with record keeping	This project will allow for real-time information and data entry, increased information accuracy, and a consolidated repository for all payroll and administrative data
2017 Innovation Plan for Information Management	Utilization of the new technology so that the company missions can be supported	Technological advancement will allow the different payroll as well as administrative functions to be automated by the reduction of staff required for systems management
2017 Innovation Plan for Human Capital	To engage the employees along with improving employee retention	It will allow the employees to actively participate in innovation management in terms of payroll along with administrative elections

Action	Action Type	Description	First year costs
Purchase Web-based product and licenses	Cost	Initial investment for the innovation project	$400,000
Software installation along with training	Cost	Installation of new software and cost for the training group	$100,000
Reduction of HR as well as payroll staff to 5 employees	Savings	Reduction in the overhead costs that is equal to the annual salary of 3 Human Resource specialists along with the two payroll analysts.	$183,495
Managers no longer required to work non-billable payroll and administrative tasks	Savings	18 regional managers are working currently with an average of 16 hours each week that shows non-billable time. Reduction of the number to not over 2 hours each week can save up to ($36.00 x 14 hours/wk reduced non-billable time x 18 managers) which is around $9072 that can added to the weekly revenue.	$471,744
System maintenance in each of the 6 months rather than every month	Savings	Reduction in frequent utilization of IT resources while working on the non-value added tasks resulting in $42,000 savings.	$42,000
10% reduction of employee turnover	Savings	By out-processing the exiting employee as well as by recruiting, hiring, and training new employees, savings up to $50,000.	$50,000
Net Savings			$247,239

No Project (Status Quo)	Reasons For Not Selecting the Alternative Innovation Strategies
Keeping the mainframe legacy system in the right place	·         Pointless expenditure due to the increased staffing levels ·           ·         Continued occurrence of greater data errors ·           ·         Poor and inconvenient as well as untimely reporting ·           ·         Lack of automation
Alternative Option	Reasons For Not Selecting The Alternative Innovation Strategies
Outsourcing the implementation related to a web-based platform	·         Extensively higher cost ·           ·         Expertise is already there in house ·           ·         Lack of familiarity in case of salesperson with the internal requirements
Alternative Option	Reasons For Not Selecting The Alternative Innovation Strategies
Develop software internally	·         Lack of qualified resources ·           ·         Major costs linked with software design ·           ·         Timeframe needed is much longer

The approval of the president and Executive VP is necessary here and after they sign the business case, the new innovative project can be implemented in different locations where Smith Consulting Services currently perform its operations.

Approver Name	Title	Signature	Date
Black, J.	President
Brown, A.	Executive Vice President

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