McGraw-Hill: PRIMIS

ANALYSIS

• Describe the kinds of questions McGraw-Hill might have asked as part of determining the feasibility of the Primis idea. Be sure to address the needs of the organization, end users (sales representatives, faculty, and students), IT specialists, and the groups involved in producing the finished custom books. Assess the likelihood of implementing the system given the information the team had at the time. Justify why, or why not.

     In the very beginning, it could not be effectively understood how to proceed with a final idea. For example, there are several questions McGraw might ask in the process of feasibility determinations. The term feasibility generally involves situations where there is a large sum of money that is at stake. In the process of a feasibility study or analysis, the main focus is to best determine whether or not a proposed project is technically feasible, whether or not the project is feasible within the estimated cost, and third, whether or not the proposed project can be expected to be profitable. Concerning a business setting, a feasibility study is generally utilized for the purpose of providing support to the organization within its decision-making operations. These types of studies tend to strongly focus on the actual business or the project viability. This particular study is commonly performed in the process of deliberation.

     The process of deliberation is generally operated in that businesses development cycle, before he actual commencement of the business plan that is most formal. It was a technical team that first reviewed proposed system. It was finally identified that there was a level of expertise that was efficient enough to develop the system in question. The same level of expertise was also efficient enough to implement and to manage the system as well. Involving the economic feasibility, an analyzation was performed for the purpose of determining whether all cost would outweigh all benefits deliberation.

     Involving the legal feasibility, the proposed system was also analyzed to determine system capabilities. For example, the system was analyzed to determine if the original authors would be given full credit for their works through independent calculations and through royalty fees, as well as other fees that were set to be charged. For example, errors in the operation of this system could very well result in legal liabilities on the company’s behalf. The company has agreed to comply with certain laws involving the protection of their data as well as other laws involving copyright infringement issues and violations.

     Although, one question could be how he or the organization should involve the implementation of marketing techniques and strategies. The organization and its team of employees are currently experiencing a great need for financial growth purposes. Therefore, McGraw might want to produce questions involving the most effective marking strategy that would promote a greater level of growth that is most profitable. The organization as a whole wants to mainly focus on maintaining a high level of student interest, yet the need for a cost benefit analysis still exists.

     Other questions should concern benefits deliberation. In this process, both tangible benefits as well as the benefits that are intangible should be identified as well. This would help the company in its decision-making process. When making determinations involving the feasibility of the Primis data, the question of the strengths and weaknesses of the sales representatives and agents to promote the strategy of custom publishing should arise as well. This can help to predict the overall outcome of the operation as well as determine whether any changes or improvements would be needed deliberation. Other questions should involve the actual material and strategies that should be utilized to produce the most effective form of student communication and their levels of understanding.

DESIGN

• Process engineering is the design of business processes to achieve competitive advantage in cost, quality, speed, and service. Evaluate which advantages were driving the development of the Primis system for McGraw-Hill.
    
     Driving forces can shape the future of an organization. For example, simple organizational knowledge and competence of management skills and workforce operations are known as driving forces deliberation. Other external forces are identified as the economy, an organization’s level of technological skill or even the company’s competitors.
 
     Both internal as well as external factors influence this company’s decisions and organizational policies, which in return, helps the company to maintain high levels of competitiveness. In the process of the development of the Primis system for McGraw-Hill, there were several different driving forces. For example, the ISBN system, the metadata system, the royalties’ system as well as the sales representative database all served as drivers which helped the company to both achieve and to maintain an advantage that was competitive in addition to speed, quality and costs deliberation.

     When identifying the true meaning of quality, we can say that the term quality in a business perspective is known as a measurement that is numerical. This measurement involves the actual performance of an organization. For example, as identified in the text, the true quality of performance can be assessed through the measurement of physical products. These measurements most commonly involve statistical sampling as well as the output of processes, through the implementation of survey procedures whenever goods and service purchases are made deliberation. Overall, quality is known as a numerical measurement of divisional performances as well as procedural performances.
  

    There are a number of advantages businesses can experience by providing speed within their services and operations. For example, let’s say that company A can sell 20 books within a one-hour period, yet company B can only sell five books at the price of five dollars. This can mean that company A performs at a much faster pace than company B can perform. This also means that company B can be considered to be much less competitive compared to company A. As a result company A is returning a profit of $100/hr., when company B only profits at a rate of $20 dollars an hour.

     Speed of operation is essential within business operations deliberation. This also means that company A may be spending a lot less to operate their business as well as experiencing an opportunity where they could be even more competitive through a reduction in prices per every sale that is made. However, quality must also accompany speed where service is involved. Customers want the lowest price and the highest possible level of quality. As a result, some students may be more satisfied than others. Today, compared to in history, more and more companies like McGraw-Hill have become more and more interested and aware of their needs to improve in their quality of services as a whole.

• Business customers must perceive that products/services are solutions to their problems. Describe how the Primis system design kept this objective in mind.
    
  Instructors are better able to decide the content of the topics and to choose based on the institution’s structure. The timeliness of customer services helps to maintain customer satisfaction deliberation. In the process, a reduction in cost is appealing to customers as well. Today, compared to history, internet technology has greatly advanced. When the Primis system was developed it was created with these very same predictions in line, involving  high expectations of the use of technology, with a customer in business intertwined with these services that are offered.

     Although plans were also made to help to resolve any issues resulting from such changes. The team knew that there would be some degree of confusion or uncertainty in the midst of modifications. The amount of funding that was spent on the system was justified by improvements in the financial outcome overall. When the feasibility study was complete, alternative solutions were developed and evaluated which helped the team to identify a solution in accordance with McGraw-Hill’s perspective.

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

• Assess whether the prototyping would have helped the Primis team. Justify why

or why not.
   
     Yes, prototyping would have helped the Primis team. For example, prototyping would have helped the team to foresee future expectations which could have supported more ethical spending activities, along with a reduction in the overall cost of capital.

• Conclude why it was important to consider the relationship of Primis to back-end

systems at McGraw-Hill.
    
     A relationship to back-end systems are critical to the success of the system because end users are directly involved by interaction of the system deliberation. Also, all royalties were paid out through this system and all ISBN numbers are identified through this system as well. Access to databases and inventories are provided through these types of relationships as well.

• If you were the project manager for Primis, explain and defend what would you have done differently.

     If I were the actual manager, I would have implicated the prototype strategy. With such a new system for the purpose of identifying the actual risk of barriers that could possibly develop in the process of the development.

MAINTENANCE

• Part of system maintenance is managing the growing volume of content in the Primis database. Explain the criteria you might use for determining content to add to the database. Since many print textbooks are revised every few years, describe how this process would affect contents in the Primis database.

     Publishing the custom text, would be a good strategy that I might use in the process of determining what content would be added to the database. Today, professors now have the ability to choose what content they want to include in their courses. As a result, the text that is chosen can be potentially effective to the class that is taught deliberation. In the very beginning, it could not be effectively understood how to proceed with a final idea.