IT Consulting Services For Eastern Dental Clinic: Business Needs Analysis Report

Introduction and Background

In this assessment task, you will play the role of an IT Consultant and identify IT services areas and support needs of various business functions for a business. A business case/scenario will be provided for this task. However, examples of other organisations can be used in consultation with your Manger (trainer/assessor roleplay).

This roleplay also requires interaction with a Client. Your trainer/assessor will facilitate the client interview sessions during the class sessions.

Read the following company profile and needs;

EASTERN DENTAL CLINIC

 Introduction and Background

Early in 2008, Robert O’Donnell, D.D.S., and Sophia Kozlaw, D.D.S., decided to combine their individual dental practices in Vaucluse and Rose Bay in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, to form the Eastern Dental Clinic. Carl Rivera, D.D.S., an orthodontist, joined the clinic in late 2011. In 2014, an oral surgeon, Stephen Garvin, D.D.S., and a periodontist, Colette Early, D.D.S., joined the group and the practice moved to its current location next to a new mall in the fastest-growing sections of the city.

At the present time, the staff of Eastern Dental Clinic includes those five dentists (Who are all equal partners in the business), five dental technicians, four hygienists, and six office staff. Eastern Dental Clinic’s motto is Full Family Service and the practice has grown considerably since it began in 2008.

Eastern Dental Clinic currently has a patient base of 5,500 patients from 1,800 different households. Eastern’s patients are employed by 250 different employers, many of which provide dental insurance policies for their employees. Consequently, Eastern Dental Clinic currently has to deal with 34 different insurance companies.

Emily Hendriecks, who has been with Eastern Dental Clinic since its inception, is the office, manager. In addition, Hendricks assisted by Chris Brown, handles office payroll, tax reporting, and profit distribution among the associates. Susan Gifford is responsible for maintenance of all patient records. Tom Capaletti handles most of the paperwork concerning insurance reporting and accounting. Mary Ann Carruthers has the primary responsibility for the appointment book; her duties include making reminder calls to all patients the day before an appointment and preparing daily appointment lists for all the dentists and hygienists in the clinic. Carla Herrara is primarily concerned with ordering and organising the office and clinic supplies.

Each of the six office workers has one or more primary responsibilities; however, all members of the staff help out whenever necessary with patient records, insurance processing and appointment processing. In addition to their regular responsibilities, all six-office workers are involved in the preparation of patient statements at the end of the month.

Currently, Eastern Dental Clinic is not computerised in any way. In looking towards the future, they realise that computerisation of at least some (if not more) of their procedures will be needed to maintain their customer service policy

The Required system

The Future computerised system will consist of:

• Manage patient dental records
  

• Manage the appointment book
  

• Manage patient payments
  

• Manage insurance reporting/accounting
  

• Manage office and clinical supplies (stock control)

The Partners intend opening a new Dental Surgery at Bellevue Hill with some exiting staff (One dental technician, one hygienist and 3 Admin Staff) moving to the new surgery. They will then hire new staff consisting of 2 dentists, 2 dental technicians and 2 hygienists.

Any computer system will require a networked solution with communication and possibly shared data between the two dental surgeries.

The Partners are aware that good dental software exists and they recognise that off the shelf systems may meet their needs once hardware has been installed.

A sample Business Plan is provided for further information and the required context. Review this plan to better understand the nature of business and its operations.

Assume that you for an IT consulting company, which consists of the members of your team. As an implementation specialist, you have been given the task to gather and analyse the client requirements and create a Business Needs Analysis Report.

Part A: Preparation

Undertake the following process;

• Prior to the client meeting, develop a list of questions to be asked to the client in a face-to-face interview, including current and future directions of the business/company
  

• Draft a Client Needs Analysis form to capture all the details and information. A sample CNA form can be used as a reference. However, you will need to develop your own form in consultation with your Manger (trainer/assessor roleplay)
• Meet the client on the designated day
  

• Discuss the requirements and complete the CNA form
  

• Provide a copy of the completed form to your Manger (trainer/assessor roleplay) for reference and feedback

Part B: Analysis and Report

In order to address client needs and expectations, you have been given the task to prepare the necessary documentation to finalise business information in a report format;

• Articulation of business need/problem based on the client needs analysis
  

• Develop a statement of service and expected deliverables (outcomes) including client approval process at various stages of the project
• Outline role of project stakeholders and the degree of involvement in the process

• Methods to gather the required information for identification and implementation of the project tasks
  

• Information sources and the required codes/regulations pertaining to the proposed solution
  

• New system requirement and specifications, including hardware, Network Operating System, and Operating System for workstations
• Physical requirements, including server room and location
  

• Estimated cost (project estimation)
  

• Quality assurance requirements, including any legislative or regulatory requirements
  

• A service proposal template with section for client verification, comments and approval against each service and physical item.

Introduction and Background

Step 1: List of Questions for Client

Business Needs/Problems

The business needs/problems of absence of an integrated information system for management of the patient’s information are issues in management of the information, absence of records for patient’s payment information, and stock management issues (Percy 2016). The Eastern Digital Clinic has to face the issues of lack of information regarding the patient’s health record. The health records would be required for the management of the treatment operations for the patients. The health records must be kept for treating the patients with improved treatment facilities. The business needs for the use of the improved information system placement would allow the development of the faster and better treatments for the patients.

Issues in Information Management: The issues in information management system are resulted due to lack of effective operations and alignment of the effective operations for the management of the effective operations (Yarwood, Ryerson and Wennberg 2014). The issues in management of the information would result in causing hindrance for sustainable and improved activities.

Absence of Payment Information: The absence of payment information for the patient’s treatment is another major factor that had made the implementation of the integrated information system inevitable. The records of the patient’s payments should be kept integrated so that all departments of the treatment centre can access it.

Stock Management Issues: The stock management issues are another major factor that would form the hindrance in the deployment of the effective treatment facilities for the patients. The lack of information regarding the treatment information of the patients can tend to form the issues in successful completion of the operations.

The statement of service is a document made for recognizing all the required works in the project for the clients (Yarwood, Ryerson and Wennberg 2014). The services required by the client for completion of the project successfully is listed in the document made. The developed document would help in forming the effective conveyance of the information to the required stakeholders. The statement of service document would comprise of improved information regarding the work requirements. The statement of service is deployed for managing the communication of the effective and successive deployment model.

The deliverables for the project of Implementation of Patient's Information System for Eastern Dental Clinic include project plan, charter documentation, and plan development. Along with this the successive management of the operation implementation for network server implementation is deployed for listing the allocation of the system development (Joseph Phillips, CBAP and PMP 2018). The completion of the network server implementation is helpful for ensuring that the compact management of the operations.

The Required System

The project stakeholders for the project of Implementation of Patient's Information System for Eastern Dental Clinic is helpful for ensuring that the management of the successive deployment of the improved functional development would be helpful for forming the management of the operations. The stakeholders of the project are project steering committee, operational committee, and management department are aligned in the project for ensuring that the project would form the supporting the management of the operations. The project stakeholders have various roles in managing the management of the effective management roles. The steering committee is employed for forming the effective decision making for the project activities. The management of the successive development of operations is employed for listing the various operational decision making operation. The operational processes would involve the completion of the project and the effective management of the situation. The operation team would be responsible for taking care of the operation and listing the supportive development model. The managerial department is helpful for forming the management of the activities of the operations (Schwalbe 2015). The alignment of the operations is formed for the management of the successive operational management.

The information gathering process in project is deployed for listing the completion of the project and its alignment for the development of operations (Joseph Phillips, CBAP and PMP 2018). The project of Implementation of Patient's Information System for Eastern Dental Clinic would help in forming the development of the successive operational development. The information gathering process is helpful for aligning the deployment of the successive management process. The gathering of information can be managed with the help of alignment of the supportive development option. The gathering of the process is aligned with the use of the past reports and documentation. The use of the proper documentation would allow the formation of the successive integration management. The information accumulation is carried on for listing the management of the successive deployment model. The information accumulation is done using existing reports for the management of the effective management model is aligned and the situation of complete management. The gathering of the information is carried on for listing the development of all possible outcomes of the process (Brander 2017). The alignment of the successive operations for listing the development of the functions is formed with the help of the information technology development process.

The project of Implementation of Patient's Information System for Eastern Dental Clinic has collected information from varied sources. The information gathering process is helpful for aligning the deployment of the successive management process (Heagney 2016). The gathering of information can be managed with the help of alignment of the supportive development option. The gathering of the process is aligned with the use of the past reports and documentation. The use of the proper documentation would allow the formation of the successive integration management. The use of the past reports and information is aligned with the help of facility modulation. The various sources of information are used for forming the integration and deployment of the supporting development model. The information processing is listed for the development of the successive implementation process. The project would allow the formation of the improved functional modification. The assortment of the processes is formed for listing the alignment of the deployed modification. The information accumulation is done using existing reports for the management of the effective management model is aligned and the situation of complete management (Rickaby et al. 2017). The gathering of the information is carried on for listing the development of all possible outcomes of the process.

Part A: Preparation

The system requirements for the project of Patient's Information System for Eastern Dental Clinic are given below,

LAN: The LAN is the local area network configuration that is made for ensuring all the operations and database are connected on a single platform. The combination of the LAN network is formed so that the effective connection can be listed for the operations.

Network Routers: Routers are used for forming the connectivity of the devices with the network line established in the organization. The routers are formed for ensuring that the improved communication would be aligned for listing the combination models.

Switch: The switch is used for forming the development of the operations and alignment of the successive modification. The switch is formed for aligning the employment of the effective modification of the network connection.

Cables: The cables are aligned for ensuring the combination of the operations of the devices with the system configuration. The cables are listed for forming the development of the supportive integration of the routers, switches and devices (Djalalinia et al. 2014). The alignment of the operations is formed for integration supportive development model.

Devices: The devices for the system development so that the new system can be formed are aligned with the formation of the supportive development and alignment. The integration of the system devices is aligned for forming the supportive development of the operations. The devices are aligned for listing the comfortable deployment of operations.

The physical requirements for the project of Patient's Information System for Eastern Dental Clinic are system, routers, cables, analyst, documenter, project manager, planner, budgeter, risk analyst, designer, tester, designing tools, database developer, programmer, engineer, database, system tools, and testing tools (Sallis 2014). These are the physical requirements for the project and it would help in forming the effective development of the network infrastructure project.

The project of Patient's Information System for Eastern Dental Clinic is deployed for ensuring that the effective network server infrastructure is deployed for forming the improved functional operations (Djalalinia et al. 2014). The estimation of the project cost for the project of Patient's Information System for Eastern Dental Clinic is given below,

The quality assurance plan is formed for the project of implementation of new server network so that the outcomes of the project can be effectively evaluated (Goetsch and Davis 2014). The assurance of the quality for the server network implementation can be done in the following process,

Brander, M., 2017. Comparative analysis of attributional corporate greenhouse gas accounting, consequential life cycle assessment, and project/policy level accounting: A bioenergy case study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 167, pp.1401-1414.

Djalalinia, S., Owlia, P., Malekafzali, H., Ghanei, M., Babamahmoodi, A. and Peykari, N., 2014. Project monitoring and evaluation: An enhancing method for health research system management. International journal of preventive medicine, 5(4), p.505.

Eliufoo, H.K., 2017. Post Project Review and Organizational Learning: A Reflection of Building Contractors Practices. Management, 7(5), pp.161-167.

Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.

Hayes, J., 2014. The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Heagney, J., 2016. Fundamentals of project management. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.

JOSEPH. PHILLIPS, P.M.P., CBAP, I. and PMP, C., 2018. PMP PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL STUDY GUIDE. McGraw-Hill Education.

Percy, L., 2016. Strategic advertising management. Oxford University Press.

Rickaby, M.A., Glass, J., Mills, G.R. and McCarthy, S., 2017. Exploring alignment of personal values in a complex, multi-organisation construction project environment.

Sallis, E., 2014. Total quality management in education. Routledge.

Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.

Yarwood, G., Ryerson, T. and Wennberg, P., 2014. Quality Assurance Project Plan Project 14-026 Quantifying Ozone Production from Light Alkenes Using Novel Measurements of Hydroxynitrate Reaction Products in Houston during the NASA SEAC4RS Project.