The Work System Method. Introduction, Motivation and Definitions

Transcription

1 The Work System Method Introduction, Motivation and Definitions

2 Definition Work The application of resources such as people, equipment, time, effort, and money to generate products and services for internal or external customers

3 Work System Work System - a system in which human participants and/or machines perform work using information, technology, and other resources to produce products and/or services for internal or external customers. Typical business organizations contain work systems that procure materials from suppliers, produce products, deliver products to customers, find customers, create financial reports, hire employees, coordinate work across departments, and perform many other functions. Every work system can be viewed as a subsystem of a larger work system, the boundaries of a work system are treated as a carefully considered decision by the work system modeler. In general, the relevant work system for a particular analysis is the smallest work system that exhibits or possesses the problem, issue, or opportunity that prompted the analysis

4 Work Systems Typical business organizations contain work systems that procure materials from suppliers, produce products, deliver products to customers, find customers, create financial reports, hire employees, coordinate work across departments, and perform many other functions. Every work system can be viewed as a subsystem of a larger work system, the boundaries of a work system are treated as a carefully considered decision by the work system modeler. In general, the relevant work system for a particular analysis is the smallest work system that exhibits or possesses the problem, issue, or opportunity that prompted the analysis

5 Examples of Work Systems (from papers by MBA students at Georgia State Univ. ) Calculating rates for insurance renewals Managing software development projects Acquiring clients at a professional service firm Receiving materials at a large warehouse Approving real estate loan applications Planning and dispatching trucking services Performing preemployment background checks Performing financial planning for wealthy individuals Scheduling and tracking health service appointments Operating an engineering call center Purchasing advertising services Determining salary increases Collecting and reporting sales data for a wholesaler Steven Alter, 2009, all rights reserved Planning for outages in key real time information systems Invoicing for construction work

6 Example work Systems Work system #1: How a bank approves commercial loans. Work system #2: How a software vendor tries to find and qualify sales prospects. Work system #3: How Zoo Atlanta defines its membership recruitment process. Work system #4: How A major bank authenticates callers to be bona fide customers before connecting to a call center. 6

7 A Limiting Paradigm Viewing Systems as IT-based tools that are used by users. Steven Alter, 2010

8 Work systems are NOT Information Systems Information Systems Work systems supported by information systems 8

9 Steven Alter, 2010 Work System Framework

10 One Lens Fits Almost All Work system Service system Information system Project Supply chain Use of e-commerce web site (c) Steven Alter 2012

11 Basics of Work System Method System and Problem Define work system based on problem Summarize as is using work system snapshot Analysis and Possibilities Drill down using work system elements and alignment within the work system Recommendation and Justification Summarize to be using work system snapshot Drill down to understand impact of changes 10 questions related to recommendation and justification Steven Alter, 2010

12 A Starting point: The Work System Snapshot a highly summarized but balanced view of a work system that a business professional can produce quickly or can understand quickly when it is presented. uses six central elements to summarize what a system is and what it produces. At this summary level distinctions between technology and technical infrastructure are unimportant. 12

13 Work system snapshot example (c) Steven Alter 2012

14 Customers Loan applicant Bank s Risk Management Department and top management (a secondary customer) Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (a secondary customer) Major Processes and Activities Products & Services Loan application Loan write-up Approval or denial of the loan application Explanation of the decision Loan documents Loan officer and loan applicant discuss the client s financing needs and discuss possible terms of the proposed loan. Loan officer helps loan applicant compile a loan application including financial history and projections. Loan officer and senior credit officer meet to verify that the loan application has no glaring flaws. Credit analyst prepares a loan write-up summarizing the applicant s financial history, providing projections explaining sources of funds for loan payments, and discussing market conditions and applicant s reputation. Real estate loans all require an appraisal by a real estate appraiser. Loan officer presents the loan write-up to a senior credit officer or loan committee. Senior credit officers approve or deny loans of less than $400,000; a loan committee or executive loan committee approves larger loans. Loan officers may appeal a loan denial or an approval with extremely stringent loan covenants. Depending on the size of the loan, the appeal may go to a committee of senior credit officers, or to a loan committee other than the one that made the original decision. Loan officer informs loan applicant of the decision. Loan administration clerk produces loan documents for an approved loan that the client accepts. Participants Information Technologies Loan officer Loan applicant Credit analyst Senior credit officer Loan committee and executive loan committee Loan administration clerk Real estate appraiser Applicant s financial statements for last three years Applicant s financial and market projections Loan application Loan write-up Explanation of decision Loan documents Spreadsheet for consolidating information Loan evaluation model MS Word template Internet Telephones

15 Explain why the following is or is not a good work system snapshot Applicant Customers Loan Products & Services Major Processes and Activities * Find applicants * Produce loan application * Approve or decline * Send paperwork Participants Information Technologies * Applicant * Loan office *Committee * Application * * * Telephone * Spreadsheet * Word processor (c) Steven Alter 2012

16 Characteristics of a good work system snapshot? Describes the relevant work system The smallest work system that has the problem or opportunity that is being analyzed The boundaries of a work system are not known in advance. No more than one page Internal consistency: See Guidelines following (c) Steven Alter 2012

17 Customers The people who receive, use, or benefit directly from products and services that a work system produces. In most cases they can experience or perceive the quality of those products and services. Customers include external customers and internal customers. External customers receive and use the economic products and/or services that a firm produces. Firms exist to produce those products and services. Internal customers are employees or contractors who receive and use a work system s products and/or services while performing work in other parts of the same firm s value chain.

18 Products and Services the combination of physical things, information, and services that the work system produces for its various customers. products and services may take various forms, including physical products, information products, services, intangibles such as enjoyment and peace of mind, and social products such as arrangements and agreements.

19 Services intermediate products and services --used by other activities within the work system. not considered to the products and services of the work system unless they are received and used by the customers of the work system for some purpose outside of the work system. E.g., assume that a loan approval process produces a formal evaluation of a loan. The approval is considered to be among the products and services of the work system if it goes to a work system customer for some purpose outside of the work system. If the approval process is only used to make a decision in a subsequent activity and then discarded; it is an intermediate process.

20 Participants People who perform the work The role of work system participant is more important than the more limited role of technology user, whether or not particular participants happen to be technology users. Customers are participants in many work systems. Minimal involvement-- such as when their request launches a production process that they are not involved in. Vs quite involved (e.g., selecting furnishings for a room with the help of a designer or sales person, learning in a classroom with the help of a teach, and helping a doctor perform a medical examination). A strong trend -- toward self-service work systems whose customers perform much of the important work (e.g., paying bills online, using an ATM, or doing research on the internet about a possible car purchase).

21 Information Includes codified and non-codified information used and created as participants perform their work. Codified information is the pre-defined information used in tracking packages, entering orders, and performing repetitive financial transactions. In each case, each data item must be defined precisely, and the information is usually processed using explicit rules. Uncodified information includes computerized or handwritten documents, verbal agreements, and formal or informal conversations. Information may or may not be computerized. Knowledge can be viewed as a special case of information. Explicit knowledge is recorded in documents, images, rules, and other forms. Tacit knowledge exists in people s heads and is not explicit.

22 Technologies Tools that help people work more efficiently or that perform automated work steps autonomously. Some technologies, such as search engines, cell phones, spreadsheet software, and automobiles, are general-purpose because they can be applied in a wide range of business situations. Other technologies are tailored to specific situations. Examples include a spreadsheet model for calculating mortgage interest and a software package for designing kitchens.

23 Infrastructure Human, informational, and technical resources that the work system relies on but are outside the work system and are shared resources with other work systems. Human infrastructure -people and organizations that supply services shared by different work systems. For example, training organizations, internal consultants, and human resources departments are typically considered part of the human infrastructure that may be relevant to a work system. Information infrastructure -- information shared across various work systems, such as mutually accessible databases and other enterprisewide information. Technical infrastructure includes the Internet, corporate computer networks, database management software, and other technologies shared by multiple work systems and often hidden or invisible to work system participants. e.g., Enterprise software such as ERP suites is technical infrastructure that is shared across multiple work systems. A specific program or module in an ERP suite can be viewed as

24 Environment The organizational, cultural, competitive, technical, and regulatory environment within which the work system operates. Factors in the environment affect work system performance even though the work system does not rely on them directly in order to operate. The organization s general norms of behavior are part of the culture in the environment that surrounds the work system, whereas Behavioral norms and expectations about specific activities within the work system are considered characteristics of processes and and activities within the work system.

25 Strategies The guiding rationale and high-level choices within which a work system, organization, or firm is designed and operates. Strategies at the department and enterprise level may help in explaining why the work system operates as it does and whether it is operating properly. A work system s strategy (its guiding rationale and high-level choices) should be aligned with the strategy of the organization and firm that it serves. E.g., a work system designed to produce the highest quality products might not fit in an organization operating under a cost minimization strategy.

26 Internal consistency guidelines for a work system snapshot Processes and activities are complete sentences that identify actions and who performs the actions. Participants perform at least one step Customers receive and use products and services. Any information mentioned is used or produced in at least one process or activity Any technology mentioned is used or produced in at least one process or activity. Every customer group that is mentioned receives or uses at least one of the products and services (c) Steven Alter 2012

27 Typical problems in work system snapshots Describing the whole company, not just one work system Viewing programmers as participants in a system that uses IT Viewing department managers as participants in operational systems that they only supervise Treating technology as the product of the system Ignoring ways in which customers are participants (c) Steven Alter 2012

28 Analysis of Systems Describe Identify Criteria Evaluate in Relation to Criteria Draw conclusions or make recommendation (c) Steven Alter 2012

29 Metrics Metrics are measures of performance during a time period, not built-in characteristics. Metrics are related to management issues, such as speed, accuracy, rate of output, cost, reliability, and conformance. A metric includes a unit of measure such as: Units per hour Defects per 1000 Minutes from start to finish Percentage of rework during a week Downtime percentage Cost to the customer Cost of production per unit

30 Metrics The value of a metric is a number describing how well a work system or part of a work system is currently operating or operated in the past. Here are some examples:

31 Aspect of performance (c) Steven Alter 2012 Metrics and Performance Gaps Metric (specific measure of performance in this situation) Current value of metric Realistic desired value of metric Amount of production Total output per week 50 units per week 60 units per week Speed Cost Inefficiency due to rework Errors Customer satisfaction Average time to resolve customer questions Cost per invoice handled 4 hours 2.5 hours $5.35 $2.00 Rework rate 10% 3% Error rate in calculations Customer satisfaction ratings from a survey 3% 0.5% 6.2 out of 7.0 on a monthly survey Equipment utilization Uptime of equipment 99.5 % 99.8% 6.7 out of 7.0 on a monthly survey

32 Metric examples

33 Analysis Organizational Analysis levels (include ) the entire enterprise, a department within an enterprise,.a work system within a department within an enterprise, a subsystem of the work system. The person doing the analysis should decide on the right organizational level for the analysis that needs to be done. The level of detail differs across the roles and across different situations. In all cases, the analysis and design of a system should include typical steps of identifying the problem and system, performing an analysis, and producing a justified recommendation. People in different roles should use the framework and related ideas at different levels of depth.

34 Premises of the Work System Method The goal: Improving business performance. Assumption: Business performance is generated by operation of sociotechnical work systems. Improvement process: Changing work systems, not just creating, installing, or using information systems or IT. Links to more formal ISA&D techniques (UML, SOA, etc.) Decompose work systems into smaller work systems: some of which are sociotechnical some of which are autonomous computerized agents. Steven Alter, 2010

35 Q: Should Business Professionals Analyze Systems for Themselves? Can they be trusted? Do they have the appropriate skill and knowledge? IF NOT: How is it possible for them to do their work and manage organizations? IF NOT: How is it possible for them to participate in the development of information systems? è What system should be analyzed? Steven Alter, 2010

36 Typical Systems Analysis Methods are created for IT Professionals Mostly about documentation, not really about analysis Emphasis on precision and completeness Complex, opaque terminology Emphasis on use of tools, not on business performance Steven Alter, 2010

37 Work System Method: a kind of Systems Analysis for Everyone Else Aha! Business professionals need to focus on work systems, not just IS or IT. Steven Alter, 2010

38 Positioning of Work System Approach Enterprise level Organizational architecture Technical infrastructure IT-reliant work systems in organizations Local level Localized rules and routines Tools, algorithms, computer programs Predominance of design and social science Predominance of engineering and computer science Links that ignore IT-reliant work systems within organizations Links that emphasize IT-reliant work systems within organizations Steven Alter, 2010

39 Systems a mess: Seven Common Temptations Temptation #1: Viewing technology as the system. Temptation #2: Assuming technology is a magic bullet. Temptation #3: Abdicating responsibility for systems. Temptation #4: Avoiding performance measurement Temptation #5: Accepting superficial analysis. Temptation #6: Accepting one-dimensional thinking. Temptation #7: Assuming desired changes will implement themselves

40 From a business viewpoint, the work defines the system, not the technology that is used to do the work. An organization as a group of work systems. It is possible to view an entire organization as a single work system. In most situations, however, is better to view an organization as a combination of many smaller work systems. Viewing an entire firm as a single work system tends to produce a bloated analysis that covers too many groups of people performing too many different types of roles and activities.

41 Different types of overlap between work systems and IS

42 Scoping the Work System the work system being analyzed should be defined as the smallest work system that has the problems or opportunities that launched the analysis. The work system s outputs are the products and services it produces for its customers. Those customers are often participants in other work systems that use the products and services. The work system s inputs are information and other resources it receives from other work systems and from other sources. Some of the inputs a work system receives are not important enough to list on a one-page summary. Those that are important enough to include should be mentioned explicitly in the activities listed under work practices. For example, a sales system might start with a prospect list produced by a different work system. In that case, the first activity listed under work practices would be something like salesperson contacts prospect on prospect list.

43 Consistency guidelines

44 Step 2: Change what?

45 Metrics? Derived form an improvement attribute Accuracy è 10 ways to measure accuracy Speed è how do you measure speed?

46 Work System Analysis Feed (forward & back), common misconceptions, errors, pitfalls and challenges you will likely face

47 Use the template tool Name the snapshot Complete the cover and required forms last Identify the industry and problem time Complete the informed consent form Complete the WHOLE template Professor Truex

48 Work system analysis assumptions You are doing a preliminary analysis. Remember that your recommendation will go to a management committee that will decide whether to start a project to implement your recommendations. Include a bit of the background: Don t assume that everyone knows the environment and background and acronyms Select and pertinent aspects of the situation needed to understand the analysis Your analysis must: Start with a clear problem definition followed by problem-related facts, conclusions, and logic. Your recommendations should: Your view of what actions should be taken to address the problem. Be specific because the reader sees little value in vague recommendations. Refer to measures and a base-line comparison Be measurable and if possible quantitative, e.g. provide a 30% reduction in hold times

49 Common pitfalls Is the Work System identified-and named? Is the topic really a Work System? Important: Recall that an ERP or any other IS by itself is NOT a work system, but may be part of a WS, or an instance of part of a WS Is this work system worth analyzing? Is there a chance for innovation? Do the recommendations make sense? Is the analysis and paper convincing? Is the paper readable or is it repetitious, inconsistent, etc. Does it read like a draft (because no one proof read it?)

50 Probable challenges you faced in the assignment Scoping, choosing the boundary Choosing the right level of abstraction How high, how deep or how close to the bottom do I go? Naming So in naming meaning begins (poet M. vantilberg, 1972) Not getting ahead of yourself Do not jump to the solution before examining the problem Course name Professor Truex

51 Four key parts of The Executive Summary 1. Brief Context of the WS s environment 2. Description of the Work System WS Name is/does the following Here are key parameters of performance 3. Description of the issues with the as-is WK This is why those problems matter Here are metrics needing a fix E.g., The systems has these problems/issues 4. Describe alternatives and the proposed fix We propose to do x, y, and z What are the measures and the metrics? This is the estimated gain in doing these things Course name Professor Truex

52 Grammar Matters Algorithm for improved writing: Think, and plan a structure of the ideas/analysis Loop:: Write a draft Read the draft critically, edit, revise, & improve Repeat until done Read your text aloud, ask another to proofread when possible. switch on MS Word s grammar and spelling tool Course name Professor Truex

53 Extensions to the basic Work systems modeling concept.

54 Work System Life Cycle Model Operation & Maintenanc Initiation e Implementati on Developmen t

55 Work System Life Cycle Model (continued) Planned and unplanned change Planned change is achieved through formal projects Unplanned change occurs through adaptations, workarounds, experimentation Relevant to work systems in general, not just IT projects. Relevant to recommendations for improving any work system Recommendations must be implemented.

56 about Work System Life Cycles Iterations From one version of a work system to the next version of the work system Phases Operation and maintenance Initiation Development Implementation

57 Work System Life Cycles (continued) Rework Re-doing work within a phase Returning to a previous phase to resolve difficulties in the current phase Adaptation and experimentation Small changes within a phase; not a separate project involving allocation of significant resources Continuous vs. discontinuous change Continuous: small adaptations, experimentation Discontinuous: formal projects directed as significant changes

58 Clarifications of the Life Cycle Model Initially, as-is work system; Later, to-be work system Operation & Maintenance Implementation Ongoing adaptations, experimentation, etc. Initiation Development A small work system in its own right; often a cause of failure Need to revisit initiation is often ignored Refers to the work system, not just the IS Possibilities for adaptations and discoveries May or may not involve software development

59 work system life cycle model Systems evolve through iterations WSLC includes planned and unplanned change Adaptation and experimentation are positive, not negative System development life cycle (SDLC ) often mentioned by IT professionals is basically a project from initiation to implementation

60 Operation and Maintenance Operate and monitor work system Continuous improvement of work practices through analysis, experimentation, and adaptation Information system maintenance including bug fixes and minor improvements

61 Initiation Clarify the reasons for changing the work system Identify the people and processes that will be affected Describe in general terms what the changes will entail Allocate the time and other resources necessary to accomplish the change Feasibility study May produce functional specification

62 Results of Initiation Phase Vision for the new work system Operational goals Allocation of resources and clarification of time frames Evaluation of economic, organizational, and technical feasibility

63 Development Process of specifying and creating or obtaining the tools, documentation, procedures, facilities, and other physical and informational resources needed before the desired changes can be implemented in the organization. Even if software development is involved, business professionals still have responsibilities.

64 Results of Development Phase Detailed requirements for the new work system, including information system requirements Software production, modification, or acquisition and configuration Hardware installation Acquisition and installation of other required resources Documentation and training materials Debugging and testing of hardware, software, and documentation

65 Implementation Process of making the desired changes operational in the organization. Implementation activities include: planning the rollout training work system participants converting to the new work methods following-up to ensure the entire work system operates as it should

66 Implementation (continued) Implementation approach and plan (pilot? phased? big bang?) Change management efforts about rationale and positive/negative impacts of changes Training on details of the new work system, including information system usage Conversion to the new information system and new work system Acceptance testing

67 Conversion to the new work system Not just attaining usage of new software Occurs after work system participants are trained To reduce risk, may require double work in transaction processing systems

68 Typical Issues within Each Phase Initiation Development * Can we agree on the purposes and goals of the proposed changes? * Are the proposed changes feasible economically, technically, and organizationally? * Are the changes unnecessarily elaborate and expensive? * Can we assure that the work system changes genuinely solve the problem? * Do the information system changes conform to the organization s expectations and standards for technical quality?

69 Typical Issues (continued) Implementation Operation and Maintenance * Can we convert effectively and painlessly from the old work system to the new work system? * Can we resolve personal and political issues related to changes in work patterns and power relationships? * Can we attain acceptable work system performance? * Can we maintain and improve performance with incremental changes, adjustments, and experimentation?

70 Four Types of Development Models for Information Systems (most overlap with the development phase within the WSLC) Waterfall software development Create a specification and built to it Prototyping/ agile Build and test multiple versions Commercial application package Buy software instead of building it End user development