Description

Memo to CIO on Success Criteria for Enterprise System Implementation and Enterprise Architecture

Purpose of this Assignment

This assignment gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your ability to research, evaluate, and explain enterprise systems, and to communicate effectively at the executive level. This assignment specifically addresses the following course outcomes:

• analyze and examine how enterprise architecture and enterprise systems influence, support, and enable an organization's ability to contribute to strategic decision making and to respond and adapt to the business environment
• analyze enterprise system solutions to make recommendations based on benefits, limitations, and best fit within the enterprise environment
• analyze and explain the elements of a successful plan for implementing enterprise solutions, addressing structure, processes, culture, and other considerations
• analyze success criteria for higher application to enterprise architecture

Assignment

Your instructor has assigned each group one of several types of enterprise systems (ERP, SCM, CRM, etc.) to research and prepare a paper and an executive-level informational presentation. In Group Project 1, your team prepared a 2-3 page paper summarizing the case studies, evaluating the success of the implementations, and identifying lessons learned. For this assignment, you are to work independently and write a 1-2 page memo (not including references page) to the CIO that identifies more than seven success criteria for implementation of enterprise systems, for the category of enterprise systems assigned to your group (ERP, SCM, CRM, etc.).  (NOTE:  More than seven success criteria are required to receive all possible points; see Grading Rubric below.)

1.    Each of these success criteria should be briefly explained and then related to how they would be applied during an implementation of the assigned category of enterprise systems within the CIO’s organization.

2.    Discuss how each of the success criteria relates, on a larger scale, to satisfying the enterprise architecture.  Some areas to consider include the structure of the organization and its processes and culture; other aspects of a proposed implementation relate to the phases of the system development life cycle (needs analysis, design, development, implementation, maintenance).  

3.    The case studies your group is using may be a good source of ideas. The criteria you identify must be applicable to enterprise systems (in the category assigned to your group) and should come from your research.

Important: Often students write this memo from the perspective of what it looks like to have a successful implementation of ES/EA. Instead, the focus should be on the criteria that will help you be successful! There is a difference here.  For example, cost savings is the result but not necessarily the success criteria leading up to it. Now you could contribute cost savings to the fact that you had executive buy-in with sustained sponsorship (this could be an example) or other criteria that includes re-engineering of business processes as contributors. Please orient this memo such that you look at success criteria as the "drivers" for a good implementation. Also, please remember to put this into a memo format that looks professional. Please remember that the CIO has limited time and you should get to the key points quickly.   Please refer to the grading rubric and carefully follow the assignment instructions!

You are to use a Microsoft Word memo template. The use of at least three external scholarly resources (in addition to your case studies and other class materials) is required. (NOTE:  More than three external resources are required to receive all possible points; see Grading Rubric below.) You should use scholarly journals (rather than Wikipedia and authorless website postings). If you need assistance with determining what a scholarly journal is, the UMUC library is a very good source of information, accessed via the following link: http://www.umuc.edu/library/libhow/articles.cfm.

Remember to correctly cite and reference all sources. Since you are writing a memo, you should use in-text citations and list the references on a separate page at the end.

After your individual assignment has been submitted, you will work with your group to select a set of recommendations for a successful implementation that will become a part of your Group Project 2, the executive briefing.

Note: The filename of your paper should include your last name. An example would be: Smith_Memo.doc.

Grading Rubric

Your work will be graded according to the rubric below.