Information Technology Management Report: Coffee Constructions

This report analyzes the implementation of Information Technology (IT) Management within Coffee Constructions Australia (CCA), a construction company. It explores the business value proposition of using IT, particularly Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and enhance decision-making. The report examines how IT can support various business functional areas, including human resources, marketing, finance, and project management. It highlights the benefits of using IT, such as improved data management, real-time project updates, and better risk management. The report emphasizes the need for CCA to adopt IT to remain competitive, improve project supervision, and enhance the overall value proposition for its clients. The report also discusses the project manager's perspective on using IS, and the advantages of efficient leadership and team management. The report concludes with recommendations for CCA to embrace IT solutions to modernize its business processes, improve data control, and ensure its future success.

Running head: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
Information Technology Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................2
2. The Business Value Proposition using Information System (IS)....................................2
2.1. IS used by Competitors.............................................................................................2
2.2. Business Value Proposition......................................................................................3
3. Supporting Business Functional Areas............................................................................4
3.1. Standard Functional Areas for a Business................................................................4
3.2. Why use IS?..............................................................................................................5
4. Value and Use of Information systems............................................................................6
4.1. IS in managing project in project manager’s perspective.........................................6
4.2. More valuable...........................................................................................................7
5. Conclusion and Recommendations..................................................................................8
References............................................................................................................................9

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1. Introduction
The Coffee Constructions is Australia based privately owned business providing building
and civil engineering business across the country. The company, which commenced its
operations in Melbourne in 1973, holds its fully certified business licenses in NSW, OLD, NT
and ACT. The different projects of Coffee construction include boutique hotels, large residences,
local councils and waste water treatment plant. In the year 1980, the company got a huge
contract of developing a regional art centre. The Coffee Construction Australia (CCA) of
Australia has worked on several major projects and has successfully delivered all the projects
successfully. The expertise of CCA spans over the construction industry spectrum from smaller
renovation to multimillion dollar project. The report sheds light on the business value proposition
of CCA that it can achieve using the best practices of information systems. Use of information
system in the business processes is sure to improve the operations of the organization. The report
further evaluates the process by which the IS would support the various business functional areas
in CCA. The Coffee Constructions Australia can adapt to the use of information systems in their
daily business process. Since the Coffee Constructions Australia I an old-style family based firm,
it has not embraced on the use of information technology or automated construction technology
in the business. However, with the growing volume of projects, the board of directors of the firm
has become quite concerned about the future business opportunities. This report discusses the use
of the information system of the firm so that it can be used by the project managers in managing
the different projects of CCA (Van Petten and Luka 2012).
2. The Business Value Proposition using Information System (IS)
2.1. IS used by Competitors
Leading construction companies across the world has embarked on use of Information
system in order to enhance their business process. Implementation and use of Enterprise resource
solution or ERP is common in many constructional and manufacturing industries across the
world. The example of companies using a large scale ERP is Nestle. ERP and similar automated
business process improves the business operations including the management of accounts,
personnel and other project details (Sajady, Dastgir and Nejad 2012).

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CCA although holds a leading position in the market of construction, it is essential for the
organization to update from a manual record keeping system to an automatic process. Use of an
Enterprise resource planning system ensures that all the business processes are integrated in a
single system. This increases the data availability and easy transformation of the information.
ERP systems are used by different organizations as it helps in collaboration of the different
operations running within the organization. Therefore, it is recommended for the organization to
adopt ERP system to integrate all the operations of CCA.
2.2. Business Value Proposition
The use of an effective information system such as Enterprise Resource Planning system
is likely to enhance the business value proposition if CCA. The use of information system is
however challenging as any incorrect use of the automatic business process can return inaccurate
business results. The concept of value proposition is highly elusive in construction industry as it
cannot be always reduced to hard currency. The different processes by which the use of an
information system can enhance the business value proposition of CCA are as follows-
1. The use of Information system can streamline all the operation of CCA. This will further help
in keeping all the team members informed about the various project needs.
2. It will increase the efficiency of the business processes running within CCA by analyzing the
different needs of the project from the real time data obtained along with a systematic flow of
information (Stair and Reynolds 2013).
3. The use of information system helps to keep the stakeholders informed about the project. This
is done by development of a proper communication channel. Use of a set communication
channel within CCA will help the project team members in communicating the project
information among them. This helps in understanding and measuring the gap in the ongoing
project.
Therefore, it can be said that the use of information system in business of CA is expected
to improve or redesign the business processes of the organization. The use of Information system
will help in developing a conceptual framework within the organization that will build the base
of the customer value proposition within the organization (Venkatesh, Brown and Bala 2013).

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The use of information systems will help CCA in automating the process of record keeping there
by creating a better business value for the company. The different use of information system in
business includes use of different hardware and software to collect, filter and process the vital
data of the organization. CCA can therefore definitely make use of information system such as
enterprise resource planning system in improving and updating the process of manual data
keeping.
3. Supporting Business Functional Areas
3.1. Standard Functional Areas for a Business
Coffee Constructions Australia spans the construction industry spectrum ranging from
smaller renovation projects to multimillion dollar projects. Therefore the company deals with
easy to complex projects. The company’s projects include the work in educational buildings,
hospitals, healthcare, industrial, telecommunication and data centers. The functional areas of the
business include both office work and working on site. Proper information update is therefore
necessary to consider in this case. The Information system to be implemented will automate the
process of data storage and information sharing across the project team. Apart from this, the
system will provide necessary data for taking vital business decisions. The elaborate use of
information system in the standard functional area of CCA is as follows (Pearlson, Saunders and
Galletta 2016)-
1. Human Resource: It is the most important business area of CCA as t is an integral
business asset. Proper management of the human resources of CCA is necessary for successful
implementation of the project (Trivellas and Santouridis 2013). Use of proper information
system will automatically update the company about the need of human resource in a particular
project.
2. Marketing and Promotion: use of information system enhances the business value of an
organization, which in turn can be used for marketing and promotion of the company in the
market place. The adoption of the information system in CCA will help the organization in
redesigning its business process thus adding to the marketing strategy of the organization (Hall
2012).

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3. Accounting and Finance is a major functional area of CCA as well. The use of an
information system such as ERP helps in managing all the financial activities of an organization
(Kanellou and Spathis 2013). In case of CCA, it will help in managing the cash flow in different
projects that the company undertakes.
4. Management is another major functional area of CCA as it relates to the management
of different projects associated with the organization (Beynon-Davies 2013). The use of an
information system not only helps in easy flow of information, but also helps in proper
management of the project by calculating the efficiency of each resource.
5. Use of information system in CCA will also enhance the company’s operation across
the country by streamlining and integrating the business process of the branches across the
world.
3.2. Why use IS?
Information system should be used in the business processes of CCA as in this
technology driven era, use of information system is not an option but an essential need of any
company. The business of CCA is expected to achieve operational excellence. Information
System is a tool that can be used to achieve high levels of efficiency and productivity in the
business process. Use of information system can help in designing innovative services and new
business model for better management of the projects undertaken by CCA. The presence of an
information system within an organization improves the decision-making process of the
company (Harrison and Lock 2017). This is because the information system will allow the
project manager with the real time data from the project site, the knowledge of which improves
decision making processes (Hadad, Keren and Laslo 2013).
Apart from real time data collection, the information system helps in data storage in an
organized way. With the increase in the volume of the projects it is necessary for CCA to
organize its data it becomes easily available in times of need. In short, the use of information
system makes the process of information storage much effective.
The use of IS further keeps a track on the margin and profits of the organization thereby
saving the organization from business from devastating crisis (Galliers and Leidner 2014). Use

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of a high quality information system will help CCA in analyzing the stocks and past performance
of the company to predict a potential crisis. Since at this moment, the company is working with
manual record keeping services comprising of Microsoft office Suite, Excel and word and
therefore, there are high chances of data duplication and error in data entry. Working on a project
with improper data might result in huge loss for the company especially while working on a
complex project (Shaul and Tauber 2013). Therefore, information system will provide a better
data control to CCA, which will be beneficial for the project managers to control and implement
a project in a planned approach.
4. Value and Use of Information systems
4.1. IS in managing project in project manager’s perspective
The use of information system helps in proper planning of the project. The project
manager is responsible for planning the different project stages. The use of information system
allows the project manager the access to the computer generated data and supporting documents
which in turn helps in planning the different stages of business. The project manager is able to
properly manage the project and take proper business decision associated with the project in
consideration. This process will help the project manager of CCA is reducing the number of
errors in the planning stage of the project.
The use of information system in the organization will enhance the process of project
supervision as well. This can be achieved as the use of information system is helps in providing a
real time data of the different business processes running within an organization. The project
manager can make use of these data in ensuring proper project progress (Hacklin and Wallnöfer
2012). Furthermore, in case any discrepancy in the project work is found out, the project
manager can easily communicate the necessary changes in the project.
Efficient leadership is an integral need of the team management. Since Coffee
Constructions work with constructional project, leading and motivating the team is very
important (Nixon, Harrington and Parker 2012). Information system helps in calculating the
daily performance report of the organization. This can be use as a tool for leading and managing
the project team. The information system will further help in easy circulation of the progress
report among the project team members.

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Integration of the different business processes will help the project manager of the
organization in identification of the risks associated with a particular project. If CCA is
implementing enterprise resource planning system, will help the project manager in accurate
forecast of the project needs, resources and project progress (Tsai et al. 2012). The ERP solution
if implemented within CCA will eliminate any repetitive process running within the organization
and will further eliminate the needs of manual data entry. This is beneficial to the project
manager as it is possible to receive real time updates and data associated with the project (Leon
2014).
Although the initial cost of implementing such a complex system like ERP is huge, it will
later reduce the administrative and the operational cost of the organization. This is beneficial for
the project manager of CCA as well as it will help in managing the operations and delays
associated with the project (Popovič et al 2012). The project manager will be able to streamline
the business processes, which is particularly advantageous for the complex projects.
Therefore, it can be said that use of information system will be very beneficial for the
project manager of CCA for managing the different complex processes of the organization. It
allows flexibility in managing the different projects of the organization with the real time
information obtained from the information system implemented within the organization.
4.2. More valuable
The proper management of the complex project with the real time data fetched from the
information system of the organization is more valuable to the project manager as it is the
responsibility of the project manager in ensuring the project progress. Furthermore, use of an
information system increases data security as it eliminates the risk of data duplication and data
inconsistency. In order to design a proper project plan, the project manager needs to access all
the related information of a project. The use of an information system provides the project
manager a detailed knowledge about the different business requirements such as project cost,
project resources and the schedule of the project. Data security adds to another benefit for CCA
as it manages all the financial records and cash flow within the organization. CCA has been
working on different complex projects where communication plays a very integral role in
managing the project team and the project work (Kerzner and Kerzner 2017). Since the

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information system helps in collection of real time data, it becomes easier for the project
manager in project control. The project manager is the most important member of a project team.
Implementation of IS in CCA will enhance the power of the project manager and will help him
in taking business related decisions in a more effective manner (Medina and Medina 2014).
Therefore, it is recommended for the organization to switch to the automated process of
managing the different processes running within the organization.
5. Conclusion and Recommendations
After analyzing the different conditions such as business value proposition in CCA along
with the different functional areas of the organization, it can be concluded that it is high time for
the organization to switch to the automated system from the manual record keeping process. The
report discusses the various benefits of the implementing the information system in Coffee
Constructions Australia. The main benefit of the system is that it will provide the project
manager with an access of real time data that will in turn help the project manager in managing
the projects in a more efficient way. With the advent of technology, many organization in
different sectors, be it engineering, construction or manufacturing are implementing the
information systems in enhancing the different business processes running within the
organization. The recommendation for the use of a particular information system in CCA
includes implementation of an enterprise resource planning system for integrating the different
operations and business processes within the organization.
Recommendations
The recommendations for the use of a particular information system in CCA are as
follows-
1. CCA at first must evaluate the need of implementing an information system
2. An enterprise resource planning system can be implemented in CCA in order to update
from the manual record keeping system to an automated system.

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