Business Proposal on "Enterprise Saas ERP System for Workforce Dynamics"

Quoted Instructions for "Enterprise Saas ERP System for Workforce Dynamics" Assignment:

The purpose of the Course Project is to describe the solution to a business problem where technology can be of value. The initial paper is an introduction to the topic which you are choosing. You have enough knowledge to describe the major concept of the paper and then prepare the first milestone. It then evolves in incremental fashion throughout the course.

As an example, you could write their papers on some aspect of ecommerce. They might pick the topic of 4G mobile devices and tie it in to targeted advertising.

You could then tie the back-end databases that are necessary to support the ideas for his or her growing project (for example, how databases contain information that allows vendors to target their audience, and what those databases are).

The paper could then describe the infrastructure and networking (at a non-technical level) that would be required to support the idea (for example, the Web server farm behind the 4G devices etc.).

The functionality of enterprise systems moves to the cloud, and so the course project can tie the kind of systems enterprises that are required, as well as how the function is delivered. The paper could describe how ERP or CRM or supply chain functionality would be used. In the example, this could be how a business person would access this type of information.

When it comes to security, it can be tied nicely into what you have already written and you can describe the types of security, etc., required for their paper. Again, by way of example, the issues of security with mobile devices and in social networks would be a topic that would be interesting.

The Proposal and the three milestones are a single document. Submit the entire, growing document for each milestone and be sure to include a table of contents.

Proposal:

1. Describe the overall proposal in terms of the business problem being solved. Some ideas are:

a. Lack of competiveness and or profitability

b. Inefficient processes

c. Slow product development

d. Obsolete IT organization and technologies

e. Poor corporate communications

f. Ongoing personnel issues

2. Indicate the benefits it will provide the organization. This can be things like:

a. Financial ***** profitability, revenue, product costs*****¦

b. Improved competitiveness

c. Better marketing positioning

d. Efficiency in key processes, e.g., sales, manufacturing, development

e. Improved product and/or service quality

f. Improved product development

g. Better and more accurate support turn-around

h. Preparation for the future ***** how is the organization positioning itself for future growth

3 After identifying the business problem and the benefits describe:

a. Business approaches that can solve the problem, e.g., business-process reengineering

b. Technological approaches that can be used, e.g., cloud computing, outsourcing, mobile devices and a very long list of possible paths.

4. Who is the completed project directed toward, e.g., management, peers, customers, specific departments?

The proposal does not explain what each of the milestone will discuss or technologies used. As you learn about the relationship of business and technology, you will see areas that can be changed to bring about the desired change.

Milestone 1:

Based on the proposal, the paper starts describing the business problem, the benefits and the first part of the proposed solution. You will most likely not know the entire solution or all of its parts until you have a chance to learn about them. Don*****t be concerned if you cannot visualize the entire solution or all of its parts until you have a chance to learn about them. You know the goal, but not the detail of the pieces.

1. Briefly restate the business problem (the subject)

2. Company background

3. Discussion of business issues

4. Briefly restate the benefits of solving the problem

5. Describe the initial business/technical approach to solving the problem.

6. Describe at a high level the solution.

7. Example:

a. The business problem is high cost of IT and product development and*****¦

b. The benefits are profitability, etc., faster development time, increased sales and*****¦

c. The solution is cloud computing, this paper describes how the solution solves the problem and the cloud computing approach taken, e.g., SaaS or cloud virtualization.

d. The paper does not talk about the specifics of how this is done.

Milestone 2:

Given the information from the first milestone, the second milestone proposes some specifics of the solution. It chooses some area and highlights it. We cannot say what this will be, because for each topic you choose for the first milestone, it will yield a different second milestone. The structure of this milestone is the same as the first one, except that it is written like chapter 2 in a book. You don*****t restate the business problem, benefits, etc. You just pick the technologies or business practices or some of each that add detail to the first milestone.

1. Technology or business practices used to augment the solution in milestone 1.

2. Example:

a. Pick a cloud virtualization vendor, e.g., Amazon EC2

b. Describe the value of this approach:

i. Reduced IT staffing costs

ii. Reduced equipment costs

iii. Reduced real estate costs

iv. Improved application accessibility

c. Describe how this would be accomplished:

i. Type of EC2 services and costs

ii. Type of employees to retain

iii. Changes in infrastructure

iv. Application migration path

v. Business process changes

Milestone 3:

Do exactly what who did in milestone 2, except now you are writing chapter 3.

1. Technology or business practices in addition to those described in milestone 2.

2. Conclusions and overall recommendations

3. Summary of milestones

4. Example:

a. Improve employee access via mobile devices giving employees access to applications from any location

b. Choose appropriate devices:

i. Devices that work with IT infrastructure

ii. Cost/benefit of devices

c. Roll-out plan

Course Project Overall Table of Contents

Cover Page

Table of Contents

Proposal (2-3 pages):

1. Subject of Course Project

2. Business problem statement

3. General benefits it will provide the organization

4. High level approach(es)

5. Audience

Milestone 1 (minimum of 3 pages):

1. Brief Company background

2. Discussion of business issues

3. Benefits of solving the problem

4. Business/technical approach

5. High level solution.

Milestone 2 (minimum of 3 additional pages):

1. Technology or business practices used to augment the solution in milestone 1.

2. Value of the approach

3. Business process changes

Milestone 3 (minimum of 3 additional pages):

1. Technology or business practices in addition to those described in milestone 2.

2. Conclusions and overall recommendations

3. High-level implementation plan

4. Summary of project

The Course Project*****s focus is on the use of technology to solve specific business problems. While the list of technologies that you can choose for your Course Project is vast, the following are some current technical topics that you could consider in solving your business problem.

1. Cloud computing, either cloud storage, and/or cloud applications

2. User involvement in IT projects

3. Mobile devices including phones and tablets

4. Targeted advertising

5. B2C and/or B2B and other types of e-commerce

6. Back-end databases required for your project

7. Infrastructure and networking (at a non-technical level) that would be required to support your idea (for example, the Web server farm behind the mobile device)

8. Business and process reengineering to streamline a business, followed by several new business technologies to support the new business model

9. The implementation of a secure business (website, software development, administration)

10. Development of an e-commerce website for a brick and mortar business

You will deliver the Proposal and its 5 subsections. This includes information before the Proposal i.e. Cover Page and Table of Content, and also contains a References section. Note that this additional material does not count towards the 3 page requirement for the proposal. In subsequent weeks, you will add a new section (Milestone 1, 2, etc..), expand the table of content, and add some more references..

1. This is a formal proposal and it should be about 3 pages long (stated in the Course Project of Week 1). For example, turning in a one a page proposal will get you 1/3 of the total grade.

2. The proposal should have a cover page with an appropriate project title. Make it a descriptive title and NOT something like: *****Course Project *****

3. The proposal should have a table of content with two heading levels i.e. Level 1 heading is:

a. Proposal , and level 2 headings are:

i. Subject of The Project,

ii. Business Problem Statement,

iii. Etc*****¦ (you can find these level 2 headings at the bottom of the Course Project from Week 1).

4. Break down the body of the proposal into the subheadings described in the previous item (i.e. level 2 headings) and make sure to include these subheadings in the proposal.

5. Make sure that information within each subheading relates to the title of the subheading: often, people write a subheading, and the body of the text deals with completely different matter than that of the subheading. For example, within the *****Business Problem Statement*****, you should only discuss the business problems and not some other stuff. So, if the text within a section is not relevant to the heading, then the whole section does not earn many points.

6. Organize each subsection into a series of paragraphs, with each paragraph containing ONE idea i.e. do not write long and convoluted paragraphs with so many ideas that you and the reader get lost. Best strategy is, before you start writing out a section, to start by writing out the list of ideas (one or two words) for each subsection in bullet form. Then convert each bullet into a paragraph by expanding it with explanations, examples, etc. I highly urge you to put the main idea (one or two words) of each paragraph in BOLD. This way, you remain focused on that idea and the paragraph stays focused. In general, you should not have a paragraph that is shorter than 4 or 5 sentences. (So again, start by creating the skeleton of your deliverable, before you start writing it all out. Once you have a good skeleton, writing it out becomes very mechanical. The other way around is not true i.e. piles of sentences/paragraphs do not necessarily yield a good skeleton, therefore, yields a bad paper).

7. Be careful with sentence structure. It*****s much easier to write in short sentences, than ones with over 3 or more lines. Properly punctuate your sentences.

8. Be careful with grammar and typos. Best strategy is to complete writing the proposal couple days before it*****s dues, put it away, and then re-read it and edit it before you submit. If your writing skills are weak, either work on improving them, or have someone read and edit your work for you. I did NOT say have someone write it: I just said have someone edit it and suggest mechanical writing corrections.

9. The proposal should have at least one good reference that is used in the proposal. Two references are even better. Remember, this is not an *****essay***** where your personal opinion/point of view is the most relevant. It*****s rather research based work. So, build your argument on the shoulders of giants in the field. Find who these are, and use them as your allies. Note: With each deliverable, you should have one or two more references added to the paper.