Managing with Web 2.0

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The necessity to integrate information within different departments in an organization led to the design of information management systems able to meet the (Laudon & Laudon, 2011). The concept of MIS resulted in the creation of management information systems that are able to process and integrate data in an organization. Its workability in handling data stems from data collection and presentation in reports as required with respect to time.

MIS involves the use of computing tools that automate management by converting data, considered as raw materials, to information, the finished product, for easy interpretation by the management (Lucey, 2005). Essentially, mass data are not needed by managers to make decisions, but information that can be created from the raw data.

This article explores a case study regarding the use and importance of MIS in Denver. It also elaborates the problems and benefits associated with integrating MIS in the management of the organization.

Types of Problems within the organization

The analysis of input data and reporting of information in MIS is conspicuous with respect to the uniqueness of the managers within organizations (Laudon & Laudon, 2011). The utility of MIS in different departments in an organization or from organization to organization is dependent on the kind of data required for analysis.

In this regard, different types of MIS have been designed and developed in order to assist different functionalities of organizations. For instance, decision support systems have been designed to assist top-level managers to make effective decisions from data collected at junior level.

On the other hand, organizations use knowledge management systems such as learning management system in recording, managing, delivering and assessing learning and training of employees in an organization. The knowledge system is used to integrate corporate systems within an organization.

The case depicts Consolidated City-County government of Denver as a county endowed with a vast of resources. Among these, the human resources are composed of approximately six hundred thousand people living in a land resource of approximately 155 sq. miles (Laudon & Laudon, 2011). There is an elaborate transportation system comprised of five rail lines, a thousand buses, and an international airport.

These are managed by an elaborate Department of Motor Vehicles in the county. Moreover, the case shows that the county is endowed with close to 140 learning institutions, fourteen public libraries, and 29 recreation centers and about 200 parks, all protected by 34 fire stations. These resources, together with an animal shelter, are managed and controlled by many departments.

The functionality of these public utilities in quality service delivery to the people of the Consolidated City-County Government of Denver constitutes the primary problem of the county (Laudon & Laudon, 2011). Essentially, documentation of processes in different departments within the county requires interconnection.

For instance, many employees are required in Denver for record-keeping, verification and compilation of documents in each department. Also, synchronization of documentation from different departments in the consolidated city-county government is required.

The case shows the use of fourteen different document management systems in managing this documentation without success in terms of communication and/or interaction of the management information systems in various departments. As a result, there was decentralization of documentation with the Department of Information Technology, overseeing smaller independent IT systems in the departments.

This decentralization heightened documentation problems that affected not only document synchronization, but also information security, and record-keeping function audit. This problem was highly evident in financial records and scanned contract audit departments (Laudon & Laudon, 2011).

As a result, the consolidated city-county government was faced with problems relating to decreased employee performance, repetition of IT functions and tiresome procedures for document location and scanning.

How the Alfresco ECM System Provided a Solution to the Above-Mentioned Problems

The development of Web 2.0 technologies has eased different functionalities in the management of multifaceted organizations (Harmelen, 2008). In fact, it has reduced the number of problems associated with documentation and synchronization of information in different departments. In addition, it has resulted in a reduction in the cost of this information sharing.

Management by Web 2.0 technologies is made easy and feasible because they allows small distributed, but virtual teams that generate and share information while working together in an efficient and effective way that exploits the new-generation management information system technology. The technologies are relatively cheap (Lucey, 2005). The technologies are Web-based project management tools (Harmelen, 2008).

The Alfresco ECM System is a Web-based information management tool that works under the same principle as Web 2.0.

When decentralization of documentation at the consolidated city-county government of Denver had issues with information retrieval and sharing, centralization of the government’s IT group and the conception of a management information system for restructuring and synchronizing IT functions was the ultimate solution (Laudon & Laudon, 2011).

Installation of the enterprise content management system resulted in restoration of information security and the contract record system. In addition, it provided searching utilities for easy retrieval of information across the departments of consolidated city-county government.

The consolidated city-county government of Denver aimed at developing a cost-effective management system that did not interfere with service delivery in its collaborative functionality. Installation of the Alfresco solved this problem because of its functionality as an all Web-based open source ECM system. As a complete Web 2.0 management system, the Alfresco ECM system was cheaper to install and cost-effective.

Thus, it saved the government over a million dollars in five years following its implementation. The Alfresco ECM was able to manage documentation, record keeping, document versioning, and support for image management, multiple client operating systems, and multiple language support (Harmelen, 2008).

In addition, the MIS provided support for web-based content management, and the MySQL integration. Based on its superiority in information management, the Alfresco ECM system was implemented as the consolidated city-county government’s relational DBMS (Laudon & Laudon, 2011).

Managing with this Web 2.0-based MIS technology-facilitated auditing of financial records on the premises of its integration with PeopleSoft Financial Management software, which has features that allowed access to contracts and contract requisition, forwarding and approvals.

In addition, the procure-to-pay process was leveraged within the PeopleSoft FMS integrated with Alfresco, which allowed dissemination of related information via a Web service (Lucey, 2005; Harmelen, 2008). The ability of this tool to facilitate distributed team collaboration and its communication ability via the Web allowed the government to integrate government documents into the system.

An example of components that were incorporated into the system included the customer relationship management system for easy access of government documents and services by the people. In a nutshell, the Web MIS solved the problems that existed.

The Management, Organizational, and Technology Issues Addressed in Selecting and Implementing Denver’s New Content Management System

The case study has addressed several management issues by the new Web MIS implemented in Denver. Specifically, employee motivation was largely impacted negatively by the previous document management system. In effect, employee productivity was reduced considering that search of documents was cumbersome and time-consuming.

In addition, the previous management system did not allow users of the government resources, i.e., Denver citizens, to utilize and acquire services from governmental departments efficiently. In the same way, the system was not allowing governmental employees working in these departments to offer quality services to their citizens (Laudon & Laudon, 2011).

Another management issue addressed is the ability of the management to centralize and effectively manage customer relations. The integration of CRM into the new document management system solved the problem in human resources, which directly impacted customer relation management.

Organizational issues addressed by the installed Web-based technology include the fact that the previous document management system posed a significant inability to facilitate auditing of financial records and other records within the city-county government departments.

This issue mainly depicted lack of accountability in the city-county government, which the government transparency and efficiency proponent Major Hickenlooper did not condone in the decentralized IT setting, leading to his formulation of the centralized IT facet. The new content management system ensured easy provisions that countered the mentioned inefficiencies.

Several technological issues were also addressed by the implementation of the new document management system, including a fact that information retrieval and sharing between the different departments was difficult and impossible (Laudon & Laudon, 2011). Many management systems had been tried, but synchronization of documentation to facilitate sharing was not possible.

The implementation of the new MIS made it possible and in a cost-effective manner through the Web. Moreover, the security of documents was compromised by the previous information systems. The new system commanded high security of government documents and information, and allowed communication between different departments via the Web, thereby allowing information sharing and easy document retrieval.

How the New Content Management System Changed Governmental Processes for Denver

On selection and implementation of the new content management system, the system improved the functionality of many of governmental processes in Denver. The first consideration of improvements was the restoration of the contract records system, which slowed down the process of contract procurement, application and approval.

With its integration into the Web technology, it was streamlined and made easier (Laudon & Laudon, 2011). Secondly, government employees were able to perform easy searches for employees across all governmental agencies in Denver.

This process ware initially cumbersome considering the inferiority of the documentation systems in use (Lucey, 2005). This also negatively impacted security standards, but on implementation of the new management information system, the process was streamlined.

Another governmental process changed was documentation, licensing, deployment, and maintenance of departmental documents. Installation of the new content management system educed better flow of information, which culminated to reduction in costs associated with continuation of the processes considering the recurring nature of the processes (Girdhar, 2013).

Inclusion of learning management system into the Alfresco ECM system resulted in employee motivation, which was combined with better working conditions brought by the new MIS to result in better employee productivity, and better service delivery (Laudon & Laudon, 2011).

Importantly, auditing processes were improved with the synchronization of departmental financial systems via the integration of PeopleSoft FMS into the Web technology. This process resulted in accountability of public funds within all departments.

How the New Content Management System Benefited Denver Citizens

The new Web MIS resulted in diverse benefits of Denver citizens. The primary benefit was an improvement of the economic standing of the citizens as a result of integration of CRS into the new system (Laudon & Laudon, 2011).

The improvement of the 311 service with its integration into the new Web system resulted in better services for the Denver citizens getting better feedbacks on non-emergency services. This improved the quality of the citizen’s social life. Moreover, the integration of CRM into the new Web MIS was crucial for the development of better customer relations between the government employees and citizens (Girdhar, 2013).

In effect, the implementation of the system provided citizens with a platform to air their opinions and complaints to the government directly online, leading to better quality of services rendered (Laudon & Laudon, 2011).

Lastly, the installation of the Web 2.0 technology commanded by the integration of Alfresco ECM, PeopleSoft FMS, and Oracle ESB ensured easy navigation through licensing, tracking, permitting, and inspection processes which affect citizens directly (Lucey, 2005; Harmelen, 2008).

Conclusion

Information is essential in any organization because decisions with regard to the management are made on the premises of information that is obtained from data analysis. Effective management of any organization in the contemporary management setting calls for effective information management systems. Automation of systems for managing information is important in this era of increased usage of IT applications.

Inclusion of different MIS at all levels of management results in superior quality of service delivery to customers and motivation of employees due to better working processes and conditions. Information sharing and retrieval is an important management process, which can negatively impacted employee productivity in terms of time wastage and challenging level.

The use Web 2.0 technologies in the management of the consolidated city-county government of Denver has shown that such a technology commands superior attributes in providing information retrieval and sharing commands.

Better still, platforms that allow integration of diverse management information systems, as is the case with the synchronization of Alfresco ECM, PeopleSoft FMS, Oracle ESB, CRS, and CRM into one superior MIS, ensures that information retrieval and sharing can be centralized such that their acquisition is easy at any location within an organization.

In actuality, with such an MIS, decision-making is made easy due to the availability of raw data and finished information at and management tier. Considering the provisions provided by the Web technology, employee and customer satisfaction is a parameter that can be quantified based on customer responses provided via the CRM platform.

In fact, the system allows a collaborative approach of management with different teams within an organization working together in providing better customer service, while customers provide their feedback on the quality of service rendered.

In conclusion, the development of management systems such as financial management system, knowledge management system, and customer relationship management system, and their inclusion in management information systems such as the Web 2.0 MIS technology results in information management systems that command better service delivery in diverse types of organizations.

References

Girdhar, J. (2013). Management Information Systems. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

Harmelen, M. (2008). Briefing paper on Web 2.0 Technologies for Content Sharing: Web 2.0, an introduction. Web.

Laudon, K., & Laudon, J. (2011). Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm (12^th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Lucey, T. (2005). Management Information Systems. Stamford, CT: Thomson.

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