Business Analysis and System Recommendation (BA&SR) Report for MTC's Applicant Tracking System

Section I. Strategic Use of Technology (Stage 1)

As a business analyst in the Chief Information Officer’s (CIO's) department of Maryland Technology Consulting (MTC), you have been assigned to conduct an analysis, develop a set of system requirements, evaluate a proposed solution, and develop an implementation plan for an IT solution (applicant tracking or hiring system) to improve the hiring process for MTC.  This work will be completed in four stages, and each of these four stages will focus on one section of an overall Business Analysis and System Recommendation (BA&SR) report to be delivered to the CIO.

Section I. Strategic Use of Technology (Stage 1) - The first step is to look at the organization and explain how an IT system could be used to support MTC's strategies and objectives and support its decision-making processes. 

Section II. Process Analysis (Stage 2) – Next you will evaluate current processes and workflow and explain how MTC can use IT to improve its processes and workflow.

Section III. Requirements (Stage 3) –Then you will identify key stakeholder expectations for the new technology solution to support MTC’s hiring process and develop a set of requirements.

Section IV. System Recommendation (Stage 4) – Finally, you will review the provided Vendor brochure for a proposed applicant tracking system and explain how it meets the requirements and what needs to be done to implement the system within MTC.

Write an appropriate Introduction to the entire BA&SR Report (guidelines are provided below).  Section I of the BA&SR document contains an organizational analysis and identifies ways in which an information system to improve the hiring process can help MTC, the organization in the case study, meet its strategic goals and meet the information needs of various levels of management.  

Begin your report with a clear, concise, well organized introduction to explain why you are writing and what is to come in the complete BA&SR report (not just Stage 1).  This should briefly set the context for MTC – business purpose, environment, and current challenges related to hiring.  Then specifically provide what is to come in the full report.   Keep your audience in mind – this is an internal report for the CIO of MTC.  Provide an introduction in one paragraph that engages the reader’s interest in continuing to read your report. 

A.Business Strategy – In this section, you should clearly present – at a broad level – what MTC’s business strategy is (refer to case study information), then what issues the current manual hiring process may present that interfere with achieving that strategy, and how improving the hiring process will benefit MTC and support its business strategy.  (Use two to three strong sentences that explain how the system would support the strategy and justify your position with specifics from the Case Study.)  

B.Competitive Advantage - First, provide an overview of the competitive environment that MTC is currently operating in based on information from the case study. Then explain how and why MTC can use the new hiring system to increase its competitive advantage and help achieve its overall business strategy.  Your explanation should demonstrate your understanding of what competitive advantage is as well as how improving the hiring process will help achieve MTC’s competitive advantage. Include how MTC can use the type of data or information that will be in the hiring system to improve its competitive advantage. 

C.Strategic Objectives- Review the four Strategic Goals presented in the Strategic Business Plan section of the MTC Case Study.  The CIO has asked you to come up with an example of an objective to help meet each goal and explain how a new hiring system would help achieve that objective.  As you can see from the example provided in the table below, an objective is a statement that is clear (not vague) and is something that can be measured or evaluated to determine whether it has been met or not. An important part of setting objectives is that they are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound).  In order to evaluate whether an objective has been achieved, it’s important to be able to measure it.  Consider this difference – Student wants to get a degree (non-specific and not measurable) vs.  Student wants to earn a degree in Information Systems Management by May 2020.  (This objective provides specific what and when.)    First, insert an introductory opening sentence for this table.  Then, for each of the rows listed below, complete the table with the requested information.  (Provide an introductory sentence and copy the table.  Create an objective for each of the 3 remaining goals and explain using 2-3 complete sentences for each.)   Note:  This is not about an objective to implement a hiring system or broad business goals but rather the focus is on objectives that would be supported by the use of a technology solution to support/improve the hiring process.