FinBiz Consulting

Information about the client organisation FinBiz Consulting works with other businesses, government departments and the non-profit sector, consulting on financial and business services. This includes share trading through the Australian Stock Exchange and utilising external experts when needed. FinBiz Consulting has also recently won a tender for a large project and has partnered with an overseas team on other projects.

A new Managing Director has recently joined FinBiz Consulting and has decided to modernise the workplace as the organisation’s current ways of working are outdated. This includes integrating different systems and implementing flexible working arrangements. FinBiz Consulting conducted a survey amongst staff members, which found that over 80% of staff members would like to work from home at least two days per week.

The current technologies and practices FinBiz Consulting uses include the following:

  • Managing projects using the waterfall method.
  • Licensed software installed on workstations.
  • Multiple servers on the premises.
  • Using a spreadsheet for the IT support ticketing system.
  • Most staff members are in the head office in traditional office space, although there are some small branches in other locations.
  • All teams are separated, communication and collaboration between teams is almost non-existent.
  • Many parts of the organisation (different locations and departments) have developed their own systems.

The Managing Director would like to see the changes implemented over two years. They are also concerned that some of their staff members may not have adequate skills to cope with new technology. In addition, FinBiz Consulting has several staff members who have vision and hearing disabilities and they want to ensure the accessibility of any new systems.

Part 2: Research emerging technologies

You will need to prepare for writing your proposal by analysing and researching relevant information. Create a word-processed planning document, addressing the following headings and content:

Requirements
1. Analyze the information and data in the scenario to determine the client’s problem, requirements and constraints.

2. Analyze the key elements of three of the technologies and processes that the client currently uses, to ensure you understand them.

3. Use at least two critical thinking protocols or processes to identify the limitations of these three technologies and processes.

4. Discuss your legal and regulatory responsibilities, and their implications, in proposing solutions for the client and how you will adhere to them.

Research
5. Create at least five questions to ask yourself, which will guide your research and analysis.

6. Research relevant emerging technologies and practices in the information technology industry to identify possible solutions to the client’s issues.

Your research sources must be from a range of reputable and verified complex and technical information, including diagrams. You must include a minimum of five research sources.

a. Include your research sources in an annotated bibliography, using applicable features and functions of your word processing software (such as the Citations & Bibliography tools in Microsoft    Word). Use either the Harvard or APA reference style.

b. Summarize each information source and evaluate the reliability of the information against the following criteria (150 words for each information source):

  • ■ The author’s background
  • ■ The intended audience and purpose
  • ■ The date of publication.

Decision making

7. Compare and contrast two different critical thinking concepts/approaches that you could use to make decisions for this proposal. Include descriptions of the key features/characteristics of the concepts/approaches.

8. Use a decision-making framework, according to the ICT Governance Policy, to: a. evaluate and challenge your ideas b. use and respond to different perspectives c. select three technologies and three practices as the optimal solutions for your proposal.

Communication

9. Develop a basic stakeholder communication plan for the project. Include at least three important communication exchanges that will be used (in Projects 1 and 2), identifying the stakeholder/audience, the purpose of the communication and the appropriate channel, format and tone to use. This can be in a table like the one below:

  • Stakeholder/ audience
  • Purpose
  • Channel
  • Format
  • Tone