COIT 20252 - Analysis of IS Redesign in a Social Services Agency

This case study analyzes an information systems redesign project undertaken by a state social services agency, focusing on the project's goals, scope, structure, and the challenges encountered. The primary objective was to automate benefit calculations, improve the user interface, and introduce electronic benefit transfers. The project scope encompassed eight Business Area Analyses (BAA), including automation of fieldwork, quality assurance, client administration, benefit payment, collection, accounting, federal reimbursement, and hearings. The project faced significant issues such as inadequate planning, underestimation of complexity, and organizational and cultural challenges, ultimately leading to its failure. The intended purpose was to reduce workload, automate operations, minimize errors, and enhance overall system efficiency.

Information Systems
Redesign in a State Social
Services Agency
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:

Project Goals
 The main goal of the project is to redesign
the entire information system of the agency.
 Another goal of the project is to ensure all
benefit calculations based on policies and
procedures are automated instead of
manual, thereby ensuring minimization of
errors (Kateb et al. 2015).
 Finally, it is required to improve the overall
interface, reporting process and introduce
electronic transfer of benefits.

Project Scope
 The project scope involves eight main Business Area
Analyses (BAA) (Laudon and Laudon 2016).
 The eight BAAs are as follows.
1) Automation of field work, thus being able to receive
FAMIS certification
2) Automation of quality assurance and management
3) Improvement of frond and back end of the client
administration system
4) Automation of Benefit Payment
5) Automation of Collection
6) Automation of Accounting
7) Federal Reimbursement
8) Automation of Hearings

Project Structure and
Stuffing

Problems Faced
 There are a number of problems faced in this
project. These are listed as follows.
 The project lacked proper planning and hence,
the project manager could not control it after
some time (Arvidsson, Holmström and
Lyytinen 2014).
 The overall size and complexity of the project
were underestimated.
 There were several cultural and organizational
issues that also led the project towards
failure.

Purpose
 The purpose of this project was to
redesign an information system for
an agency.
 The main aim was to reduce the work
load of the workers and automate the
entire operational process in order to
reduce errors and make the system
much more efficient.

References
Arvidsson, V., Holmström, J. and Lyytinen, K., 2014.
Information systems use as strategy practice: A
multi-dimensional view of strategic information
system implementation and use. The Journal of
Strategic Information Systems, 23(1), pp.45-61.
Kateb, M., Swies, R., Obeidat, B. and Maqableh, M.,
2015. An investigation on the critical factors of
information system implementation in Jordanian
information technology companies. European Journal
of Business and Management, 7(36), pp.11-28.
Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2016. Management
information system. Pearson Education India.