Analyze & Decide: Apply IT Concepts to BusinessDecisions
Read the information given, and respond in detail, to thequestions below.
Spring Street Company (SSC) wanted to reduce the “hidden costs”associated with its paper-intensive processes. Employees jokinglypredicted that if the windows were open on a very windy day, totalchaos would ensue as thousands of papers started to fly. If aflood, fire, or windy day occurred, the business would literallygrind to a halt. The company’s accountant, Sam Spring, decided tocalculate the costs of its paper-driven processes to identify theirimpact on the bottom line. He recognized that several employeesspent most of their day filing or retrieving documents. Inaddition, there were the monthly costs to warehouse old paperrecords. Sam measured the activities related to the handling ofprinted reports and paper files. His average estimates were asfollows:
- Dealing with a file: It takes an employee 12 minutes to walkto the records room, locate a file, act on it, refile it, andreturn to his or her desk. Employees do this 4 times per day (fivedays per week).
- Number of employees: 10 full-time employees perform thefunctions.
- Lost document replacement: Once per day, a document gets“lost” (destroyed, misplaced, or covered with massive coffeestains) and must be recreated. The total cost of replacing eachlost document is $200.
- Warehousing costs: Currently, document storage costs are $75per month.
Sam would prefer a system that letsemployees find and work with business documents without leavingtheir desks. He’s most concerned about the human resources andaccounting departments. These personnel are traditional heavy usersof paper files and would greatly benefit from a modern documentmanagement system. At the same time, however, Sam is also riskaverse. He would rather invest in solutions that would reduce therisk of higher costs in the future. He recognizes that the U.S.PATRIOT Act’s requirements that organizations provide immediategovernment access to records apply to SSC. He has read thatmanufacturing and government organizations rely on efficientdocument management to meet these broader regulatory imperatives.Finally, Sam wants to implement a disaster recovery system.
Prepare a report that provides Samwith the data he needs to evaluate the company’s costlypaper-intensive approach to managing documents. You will need toconduct research to provide data to prepare this report. Yourreport should include the following information:
1. What is the problem and some criticalissues?
2. Prepare a SWOT Analysis
3. What is a solution to the problem?
4. What is an implementation plan for the solution inboth the short AND long term?
5. How will you monitor and evaluate this plan andsolution?
