This is where IT can help improve the value of the organizations human recourses. For the staff training, Ed Transformers can use on-line staff training programs to enable them to train at any time, improving their efficiency. On-line staff monitoring system can also be used so that employees and volunteers can examine their wages, leave etc, so that they do not waist their work time checking these basic items. With the internet in mind, the organization can also use employment websites to publicize job positions that are available to an open amount of viewers; having more advocates for a position means having a greater chance of acquiring an individual most suitable to perform the job.
Marketing is too a primary function required for Ed Transformers. It is used to induce customer awareness of the services offered by their organization. The marketing team have “successfully made Ed Transformers the charity of choice with graduates.” The Donations project on television for instance has been largely considered in attracting donations and even volunteers to the entity as well.
IT, together with marketing staff in the Donations team, is also responsible for the businesses website which forms a very large part in the marketing of the organization to the general public. The site explains the key projects of the company, and enables the visitors to view student testimonials and make donations. At present, the website is not very effective as it is often unavailable due to technical problems, and together with its slowness, the users become very frustrated which means that they can lose many donations due to this inconvenience.
There are many other problems within the marketing system, but if corrected the website can give an accurate amount of donors and visitors. There too can be various categories for different things people want to do like viewing testimonials, donating various items from money to laptops, and becoming a volunteer, etc. Ed Transformers can also set questionnaires to get the visitors opinions and improve their efficiency in specific problem areas. The company can also use the acquired information to then focus promotion and advertising operations in key points in their marketing functions. Further information about the website will be mentioned later in the report.
Finally – linked to marketing – Ed Transformers Finance function plays an important role in the operations of the company. All of the every-day accounting of the individual projects in the organization are administered by the finance staff. It also handles the assets, liabilities and equity of the entity and is also used for budgeting, paying the wages of the employees and helping make decisions in a project through the analysis of financial information. At the end of every month, Project Managers prepare financial reports for the CEO to illustrate the financial health of these projects, and then planned financial issues are dealt with, providing recommendations so that a “strategic direction of the organization can be planned.
IT can help in various instances. If the organization was using a manual accounting system, swapping to a computerised one (like MYOB, etc) will be more time efficient, so that time can be used on other important matters and decisions can be made far quicker than before. Decisional Support Systems (DSS) and Executive Information Systems (EIS) can also be used to aid in making decisions (Baltzan, Phillips, & Haag, 2008, pp. 119-122). The employee’s payroll can also be managed by specialized software which can be very quick and accurate.
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Organizational Structure (Divisional Structure).
Figure 1
This is a divisional structure as the organization is divided into various projects (Laptop, Donations and GradEd).As mentioned in study guide 1 (2009, p. 10) it organizes people, resources and activities around the different projects in Ed Transformers. Each project has its own group of functional departments (HR, Marketing, Finance, IT, Organizations, etc). This can all be illustrated in figure 1.
The advantage of this divisional structure is that it makes the company very flexible. It can also adapt to variations and opportunities, as the groups are not large and the management of functions happens within the groups (2009, p. 10).
Another advantage is that the company can now use an organizational behavioural approach to management rather than a scientific one, due to the smaller groups (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, & Coulter, 2008, pp. 54-55). This allows for more socialising within the groups which makes them happier and easier to talk to, and because it is charity organization, this makes them more approachable from the students’ side.
The disadvantage however, is if the project divisions do not communicate to each other and clashes can take place. Incompatibilities between their project groups together with other setbacks can/will occur (2009, p. 10).
Another serious disadvantage is that duplications in wherewithal and proficiency can take place between the various projects if they do not converse with each other on a timely basis (2009, p. 3).
In this divisional structure, the organization is not getting the most out of their IT function. The project-based IT team is very small, mostly comprising of inexperienced third year students at Nomash University. Their interactions within the projects are quite limited, except when dealing with Ed Transformers website. As mentioned earlier, due to the lack of communication, there is much duplication and minute consistency in the structure. This induces more time and effort into the operations, and decreases their efficiency and effectiveness.
If Ed Transformers increased the size of their IT staff in that function for the various projects, there will be an improvement in operations. The IT function must be further integrated into the other projects other than in the website to help improve their efficiency even more. They must also use compatible, standardised and stable systems to develop further operational timeliness, system availability and information accuracy (efficiency). Where the IT function cannot keep compatibility or consistency, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) components (2009, p. 65) can be used to help improve its structure. The ERP system can integrate the entire organizations human resources, financing and even marketing information and make it compatible for all the projects and their different functions.
- Characteristics of Ed Transformers.
Function or purpose: Ed Transformers is an organization that exists to serve those students who are unable to afford tuition fees or laptops. They are a charity organization that receives money from previous students to pay for the tuition and sponsor new underprivileged students. They also receive laptops from post-graduates to give to those that are unable to afford them. Donations are too solicited from other companies and the broad community to aid in the running of Ed Transformers to fund the projects as required.
To perform its purpose, the organization requires different information. They firstly need to know the financial status of the students who are receiving the donations to make out if they are really in need and not just “leaching” for self gain. Also important is having the information of the donors, like making sure they have the resources that they stated they will give, and insuring the items are not stolen etc. Accurate and reliable knowledge of the employees and other volunteers is also valuable to the entity, so that they know what type of people are doing the different types of jobs, i.e. they cannot have a person working in the IT function if they do not know how to operate a computer, etc. Ed Transformers need also know their financial status at all times to ensure that they have the resources on hand to give to the people that they said they will donate to.
The volume of the different types of information varies in the organization. The volume of information about the students they serve is larger than the volume of information they have on their donors. This is because they require as much information about the people they are giving resources to – ensuring they are legitimate – but some of the company’s donors wish to remain anonymous, so there is less information known about them.
Even though Ed Transformers is a non-profit organization, their information is still valuable to them so that they can compete against the other charity organizations to remain “the charity of choice” with graduates. The information on their donors are very valuable as they do not want other companies finding out this information and taking these donors away from them. They do not either want competitors knowing their financial status or the way they perform their operations in order to maintain the organizations survival.
Interface with clients and donors: In interacting with donors, Ed Transformers utilizes their website and call centre, and other advertisements like the television to accept their donations and they even speak to them personally. With the students, they communicate with them through the schools and universities, personal interaction through interviews, website and via the telephone.
As the clients/students are disadvantage and might not be able to travel cross-country to acquire financial help, Ed Transformers has offices located in every state of Australia to be close to the students. Donations however can be made from anywhere electronically etc, and laptop donations can be made at any state office.
In its divisional structure, the company uses IT and Marketing to interact with the donors through the means mentioned above. They use the operational staff however to communicate with the different schools and universities in order to communicate with the students together with the other methods stated above. Because the divisional structure is spread across each state, the information each office has to manage has been greatly reduced, but the transfer of that information between branches in the country have increased
Size: Ed Transformers is a large organization as it has 3000 volunteers and 300 other employees across the Australian continent. It also has an office in each of the 8 states of the country.
As mentioned in study guide 1 (2009, p. 14), the size of the company is a significant determinant in the amount of information it produces, and the complication of the problem of maintaining the correct flows of information within the business to ensure that it runs efficiently.
Even though the Ed Transformers is quite large and complex, the divisional structure divides the amount of information and work required by each operation. This makes it slightly less complex than a functional organization of the same size, and the company can then run more efficiently.
Approach to internal management and control: As mentioned in page 8, due to Ed Transformers divisional structure, they can use an organizational behavioural approach to management. Usually an organization of their size would use a scientific (structured) or administrative (bureaucratic) approach (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, & Coulter, 2008, p. 49). However, Ed Transformers is subdivided into different offices, which is then divided into different projects and then teamed into their various functions, team project managers can communicate with each individual volunteer and employee in a very social way, and they can socialise with each other too. This social system is very important as this is how they appeal themselves to the students requiring help.
Due to the behavioural approach, they can run very informally, making their clients feel more comfortable in their uncertain circumstances. This freedom may not be the most efficient mode of management, but it is the most effective when dealing with their target audience.
Lastly, the complexity of the company affects the approach to management used. Again, as the organization is divided between states and into different projects, the management process is less complex, so the organizational behavioural approach is even more supported and justifiable. This is very unique for such a large entity.
- Business Processes and Informational Systems.
- Student Application System (SAS).
The student applications use the Transaction Processing System (TPS). This is used to record data at the point where business interacts with others, in this case the students. The data recorded by the TPS is then fed into other systems, turning it into usable information.
The SAS manages the applications process. The Student Application website is used to record the data of new student applicants like their student name, date of birth, address, contact numbers, email, parental details, yearly income, number of siblings, school name and address, bond details, etc. This data is then processed with the Funds Allocation system (described later), to generate the usable information like a list of successful applicants.
Previously, Ed Transformers had parents fill out hard copy forms which were sent in. This created problematic data entries as the information in the forms were not always completed and occasionally inaccurate. Ed Transformers now uses an online form which can only be submitted when all mandatory fields are filled in.
Before there were also issues when staff entered inaccurate information into the excel spreadsheets, making it illegible. With the introduction of IT, these forms can be filled in automatically from the application forms with specialized software, and drop down lists are now utilized to ensure that the information that is recorded is accurate.
Another major problem is previously the selection process was done manually which took a long time to process. IT has improved this system by taking the information from the SAS and combining it with the FAS – as mentioned earlier – to automatically generate a list of successful applicants.
There are various factors that apply to the quality characteristic of this information. In this report, the accuracy, completeness, uniqueness, timeliness will be the key factors mentioned and discussed.
The information in the Student Application system has very accurate information (as accurate as it can be). It can only be as accurate as the student determines it to be as they can lie in the forms. The student could have lied about their address or income etc. This can be partially combated with the implementation of an IT system that compares the address in the application for instance to a government database of addresses to see if the information is the same. Otherwise Ed Transformers are very detailed in the analysis of their applicants as they require information as illustrated in the second paragraph of 2.2.1). They changed from a manual form to an on-line one so that accidental mistakes are no longer, and spreadsheets are no longer manual but done automatically and through drop down lists, all to ensure as accurate information quality as possible.
Completeness is also a very important quality factor in the recording of information. It ensures all the required information is filled in and not missing.
This factor is easily implemented by Ed Transformers. Before the information in the forms of the Student Applications were not fully filled out in the manual system. But, with the implementation of the on-line forms, they cannot be submitted until all the required sections are filled in. This ensures virtually 100% completeness and as accurate a representation of each student as possible.
With regard to uniqueness, this factor states that every transaction and all other information is recorded or represented only once.
This is where the disadvantage of the company’s divisional structure comes into account. Each divisional project has an IT team. Nevertheless, this IT team interacts very limitedly with each project. This creates many redundancies within the entity, and some students could have been entered through the SAS more than once, inducing backlogs with the other students.
Lastly, timeliness is factor that Ed Transformers has gotten partially correct. It refers to all the information of the organization being current with reference to their requirements.
Their information is generally correct and up to date. It would take a few days to post a hard copy of an application form, but with online forms, submission is instantaneous. Previously, the company lost a vast amount of time processing all the forms manually, taking two terms to make a payment. Recently, the day after the application cut-off date, a list of successful applicants is automatically produced at a push of a button, and payments are made within a few days. The website however is often not running due to technical problems, and therefore cannot always be accessed, decreasing the entity’s timeliness.
When these factors improve, so does the quality of information. When the information quality increases, the entity’s efficiency and effectiveness develops further.
The Student Application system can be described in terms of the information systems activities outlined under inputs, processing, storage, outputs and control, and information system resources identified under people, software, data, hardware and network resources (2009, pp. 31-33).
The inputs of this system are the data collected from the online application forms. This ranges from the student names and addresses to income and mortgage details. This information was inputted via a keyboard, mouse and/or touch screen. People, software, hardware and network resources are used for this activity.
The information is then processed with the preliminary allocation of places to schools from the Funds Allocation system via computers, servers, verification programs and financial/asset checks. Software, data and hardware resources are mostly required to perform this information activity.
Storage is used to amass the information of all the accepted students, from application forms to qualification evidence. Data, hardware and network resources are used for storage. The information is stored in databases, servers, or hard copy (if space permitting) for a year until new and existing students re-apply for the scheme next year (2009, p. 4).
The output of these processes is a generated list of successful candidates for the 3 main projects. These are displayed electronically through monitors, and through paper copies. Notifications are then sent to the student applicants informing them if they have or have not been accepted into the program and an explanation is provided if the applicant is not successful. Payments and notifications are then made to the schools for each child etc, which falls to the Fund Allocation system. People, hardware and of course network resources are utilized in the operations of this information activity.
In Ed Transformers, controls used to be implemented manually, but are now done via software applications. Entering data into or changing the system requires verification and validation. To log onto the system, a user name and password will be required. This information system activity also checks on part availability and compatibility (2009, p. 4), and error logs are reported and preserved, like if students receive the wrong letter, etc. The control system also verifies that the Student Application system is working correctly, and authenticates date as it is entered ensuring all the fields have the correct type of data in the valid areas (2009, p. 35). This is where software, data, hardware, network, and even human resources come together to control the entire activities of the Student Application System for Ed Transformers.
- The Funds Allocation System.
The FAS is an Executive Information System (EIS). It is a specified form of a Decisional Support Structure and is used to help the top executive (CEO) make decisions. The system obtains data from internal as well as external sources, and enables the CEO to get detailed information from a variety of perspectives, summarizing the information for the company (2009, p. 30).
The Fund Allocation system ascertains external information from the government about which areas of the country they should target, information from the Australian Education Department about the socio-economic status of the different schools, and internal information about the achievement and support of the projects at the school levels, the amount of economic support deemed appropriate by schools for the students, rental and property costs in the different areas, information about the financial health of Australia, and the standing of students from the Student Application system, donor details, etc.
Before, Ed Transformers found it difficult to attain the best method of spreading their funds. This often meant that some students with a real need missed out, where students who had a higher “socio-economic status” were being sustained. Now, the CEO uses this Funds Allocation system to save time in the Executive teams operations and optimize the use of funds and other donations. Information is now ascertained from a variety of sources, as mentioned in the paragraph above, to enable the Fund Allocation system to calculate how many students can be supported by GradEd and other donations in diverse schools and universities around the country. The FAS also ensures that the company meets the goal of ensuring everyone access to education, regardless of their circumstances, enabling it to become the leading organization in the world of charities.
The project managers use this information from the FAS to give them a synopsis of the socio-economic prominence by school and state. This information can be “sliced and diced” (Baltzan, Phillips, & Haag, 2008, p. 122) to view the information from a variety of perspectives. “One slice of information for example can exhibit the socio-economic status in a particular state. If required, the team is able to drill down and look at the socio-economic status of universities and states in Australia.” Inside this system, the project team is able competent in determining how to apportion places to universities, how much to assign per place, what donations they require, the possible financial shortfall/under-budget and how they need to plan for thereafter, etc.
- Information Technology.
- The Company Website.
There are many metrics used to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of IT in an organization. This report will discuss 2 ways to measure the efficiency success and 2 metrics to measure effectiveness success of Ed Transformers website.
For effectiveness, the usability – ease in which individuals find information or perform actions – of the company site can be measured. Most importantly is the number of clicks (2009, p. 4) that is required before a donor or other user can find the information they require; the less the more effective the site is. The internal links and advertisements on the site must be as little as possible and easy to navigate, and there must be a category list that the user can go through to get to their required information without actually searching all over the site.
Customer Satisfaction is another factor that came up when it comes to the use of Ed Transformers website. To measure this, the organization can implement a questionnaire for the donors to give feedback on their experience with the website with suggestions that they think will improve the service of the company. Ed Transformers can also analyze the number of repeat visitors to the site and the average number of donations each user makes when they utilize the donations system, to improve the conversion rates of the number of users to the amount of donations invested in the entity.
To measure efficiency, information accuracy is a must. The information about the different students must be correct as possible, so that the donors know that they are donating their resources to the right people that they want. The website must be capable in generating predictably correct results and ensure constantly accurate outputs based on its outputs. For instance, the information must be valid – from the details of the students, to the validity of the donations made by others. Donors’ details can be verified against respective records in the organizations databases, where some people pretend to be someone else or do not have the funds to support the donations that they said they would make. Donations via credit cards must also be checked to ensure accuracy and prevent fraud.
The system availability is another efficiency measure that Ed Transformers should use. Ensuring that the system is available for users as often as possible as this improves the amount of donors that can visit the site over period of time and limits their frustration too. No availability means that there would be far less donations made to the organization. The company should “investigate the reasons for their downtime and limit them as much as possible” (2009, p. 5).
Finally, these are suggestions that Ed Transformers can use to improve the success of their website. As mentioned before they must insert a category list in the website, so that the users can go through to get to their required information without actually searching all over the site to improve satisfaction and limit frustration.
The site should also keep track of the students that the users viewed, to remind them who they have already read about, so that they do not waste time looking at the same person twice. The less time they waste, the more time they get to spend looking at students that they may want to sponsor.
Ed Transformers should also place a video diary from each student, together with other details and updates, on the site to make it more personal and attract more donors to the website.
Lastly, Ed Transformers should make the donations easy to use, first allowing the user to select a project to donate to, then a student, then they fill in a form stating how much they want to give, when they will do so and via what means (credit card, etc), and finally verifying the information at the end. This will all make the user experience more pleasant, and the success of the website will improve.
- Conclusion.
Ed Transformers is a great charity organization with very set goals and objectives. It is also large and has a unique divisional structure that utilizes an organizational behavioural. This is where its characteristics help it excel. It operates through 2 main systems: the Student Application system which is a TPS and the Fund Allocations system which is an EIS, of which are very effective and efficient. If only the organization improves its website as mentioned previously, no organization would be able to compete, and Ed Transformers would have reached its goal of being “the leader in the charity world”
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List of References.
Baltzan, Phillips, & Haag. (2008). Enabling the Organization - Decision Making. In Business Driven Technology (3 ed., pp. 119-122). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, & Coulter. (2008). Management Yesterday and Today. In Management (5 ed., pp. 49-55). Pearson Education Australia.
Study Guide 1. (2009). Retrieved March 2009, from Moodle: http://moodle.med.monash.edu.au/file.php/92/Study_Guides/Study_Guide_1.pdf
Study Guide 2. (2009). Retrieved March 2009, from Moodle: http://moodle.med.monash.edu.au/file.php/92/Study_Guides/Study_Guide_2.pdf
Study Guide 5. (2009). Retrieved March 2009, from Moodle: http://moodle.med.monash.edu.au/file.php/92/Study_Guides/Study_Guide_5.pdf
Tutorial 1 Solutions. (2009). Retrieved March 2009, from Moodle: http://moodle.med.monash.edu.au/file.php/92/Tutorial_notes/Tutorial_1_Solution.pdf
Tutorial 2 Solutions. (2009). Retrieved March 2009, from Moodle: http://moodle.med.monash.edu.au/file.php/92/Tutorial_notes/Tutorial_2_Solution.pdf
Tutorial 4 Solutions. (2009). Retrieved March 2009, from Moodle: http://moodle.med.monash.edu.au/file.php/92/Tutorial_notes/Tutorial_4_Solution.pdf
Bruce Crossan at Monash South Africa Page
