Troubleshooting Information Systems at the Royal Hotel

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CASE STUDY

Troubleshooting Information Systems at the Royal Hotel

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Contents

1.        Case Overview        2

2.        Discussion Question Answers        3

3.        Alternatives Analysis        4

4.        Conclusion        4

1. Case Overview

Blake Cantera, a master student at Very Famous University, take a summer internship with Fancy Consulting Company. FC is a local IT consulting firm with high reputation, it serves clients ranging from hotels to international grocery chains. After receiving a brief introduction and only two week training program, Blake was assigned to his first job which is to consult the Royal hotel in New York. This is the first project Blake did independently, he is willing to perform well.

The Royal Hotel is a relatively small but luxury hotel mainly serving business people around Manhattan. As Blake arrived at the hotel for a one week task, he met with the general manager and had a basic understanding of the situation. The GM required a high standard for this hotel and he thought some situations like a clogged toilet are unacceptable. So he need Blake to make sure such situations never happen again. Though Blake is a junior consultant without too much experience, he had confidence to solve this problem.

After examining the hotel and interviewing a number of people, Blake recommended the hotel to purchase and install M-Tech’s Espresso! Rapid Response Solution. He presented four mainly advantages of the information system to the executive team: Rapid response, Quality control, Preventive maintenance and Reporting. He also help the hotel set up the information system like license, configuration and one week training. After he completed all the project, he was called by FC to assign another project. He turned over all the work and information system design to his classmate Jack Scarso and notice him to be careful about the GM’s impatience.

However, after a month and half since Blake had gone, he got a call from his boss to inform him that the information system got worse and did not work as expectation. Since Blake is the main consultant in this project, he should take responsibility. Upon returning back, he noticed that no one used the machine running Espresso! And employees preferred to use the old system. The old GM thought it was waste of money to buy the software and required him to carry out his promises in presentation. Blake need to figure out the problems make the project fail.

1. Discussion Question Answers

1. Despite having relatively little specific information about why the system failed, what do you think are the main reasons for such failure?

There are four components of an information system, we could identify some potential reasons of failure:

1. The software is too complex for the employees to handle. Since the Royal Hotel is relatively a small hotel, lite and simple old manual system may work better than large software with full functions
2. Espresso may have some bugs when it comes to use. Blake only have a week to set up the information system, so the system may encounter many unexpected bugs in practical use. And the IT employees of the hotel lack the knowledge and skills to solve these problems.
3. Espresso is not a part of customer’s process. If the visitors of hotel encounter some problems like a clogged toilet, they would prefer to call the maintenance operators come to repair rather than to use the information system. Workers may also get used to the paper-based process rather than use electronic pad to record.
4. The GM was an old-school hotelier but the solution is relatively new things depending on information technology. The cultural change may have a bad effect on the effectiveness of new system.
5. Blake only had a one week assignment, he did not have enough time to interview with the end users. Lack of training may impact end users adaption to the new system,
6. Remove Blake from the project before the project is completed. The new Consultant, Jack Scarso, did not get enough support and communication from Blake and FC.
7. The customer did not satisfy with the effect and the quality of new system.

1. How could you fix these problems?

The failure of new system is due to the systemic effects of all four components. In order to fix these problems, we need to take efforts on all aspects:

1. Additional training is necessary to allow the employees to get used to the new system.
2. Blake should interview with more end users and find why they stopped using the system. He need to seek all the stakeholders’ commitment.
3. A management team could help maintain the system, answer end users’ question, and communicate with FC if necessary.
4. Analyzing other issues may occur in the implementation of new system. Like what happened to housekeepers and maintenance team when they are using the system? Why workers preferred old manual system? What is the situation about project transition to Jack?
5. Blake could upgrade the current system to improve efficiency and effectiveness instead of new system and give refund. This is the last resort.

After this process of analysis, Blake could form a report and create action plan to fix these problems.

1. Reflecting on this experience, what do you think where the main mistakes, if any, that Blake made in handling the engagement?

I think the main mistakes Blake made are:

1. He left the project before completion. This resulted in discontinuity between original design and final project.
2. As a student without too much experience, Blake should require FC to send an IT support team with him. Blake was not familiar with information technology. Skilled team should help him set up the system and train the employees
3. Blake did not fully understand the scope of the project. He just sold the software to customers without interviewing with end users carefully.
4. After handing the project off to Jack, Blake should make sure that his friend fully understand the project and he need to pay attention to this project continually.

1. Alternatives Analysis

1. FC should also take responsibility for the failure of project. The consulting firm give this project to a zero work experience intern, this would be too hard for him. After reading the description, I found Blake is account for all the respects of the new system like configuration, start-up cost, onsite training, etc. FC should send some experienced consultants help Blake with the project.
2. What’s more, FC changed people before completion is another mistake. Unexpected problems may happen during the transition. Jack may be not familiar with the project and Blake cannot get firsthand information about it.
3. GM is too anxious to complete the project. He should consider the project carefully and listen more end users’ advices. He could even contact to FC directly and ask for IT support team.

1. Conclusion

This case study shows the possible causes of the failure of project, analyzes the main mistakes made by Blake and proposes a set of solutions to these problems. We could learn from the failure and do a successful program in the future.