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The Stage 2 case study project is due as shown in the schedule.  The assignment instructions are attached. The Case Study is posted under Course Resources > Case Study.

Use the Case Study to develop your assignment and use the weekly readings to understand the concepts and what is required for the assignment.

Stage 2:   Process Analysis

Before you begin work on this assignment, be sure you have read the Case Study and reviewed the feedback received on your Stage 1 assignment.

Overview

As the business analyst in the CIO’s department of Maryland Technology Consulting (MTC), your next taskin developing your Business Analysis and System Recommendation (BA&SR) Report is toconduct a process analysis.  This will identify how the current manual process is working and what improvements could be made to the process that would be supported by a technology solution.

Assignment – BA&SR:  Section II.Process Analysis

The first step is to review the feedback you received on your Stage 1 assignment, making any needed corrections or adjustments. Part of the grading criteria for Stage 4 submission includes addressing previous feedback to improve the final report.  For this assignment, you will add Section II of the Business Analysis and System Recommendation (BA&SR) Report to your corrected Section I. You will conduct an analysis of the current hiring process and present information on expected business improvements.  This analysis lays the ground work for Section III. Requirements of the BA&SR Report (Stage 3 assignment) which will identify MTC’s requirements for a system.

Using the case study, assignment instructions, Content readings, and external research, develop your Section II. Process Analysis.   The case study tells you that the executives and employees at MTC have identified a need for an effective and efficient hiring system.  As you review the case study, use the assignment instructions to take notes to assist in your analysis.  As the stakeholders provide their needs and expectations to improve the process, identify steps that could be improved with the support of a hiring system.  Also look for examples of issues and problems that can be improved with a technology solution.

Use the outline format, headings and tables provided and follow all formatting instructions below. 

Begin with your Section I (Stage 1 assignment) and add Section II.  Apply specific information from the case study to address each area.

1. Process Analysis
2. Hiring Process:

First, insert an introductory opening sentence for this section that addresses what the complete table provides (Part 1 and Part 2 are defined just to help you logically work through the table information.  One complete table should be provided with the 4 columns completed.) Refer to Week 3 and 4 content on processes and analyzing process improvements.Additional research can expand your knowledge of these areas.

Part 1 – To understand what the new hiring system needs to do for MTC, you will first analyze the current hiring process, often referred to as the “As-Is Process”).  Remember, a process is a series of steps to perform a task; therefore, think about what the users are doing as part of the hiring process. The stakeholder interviews in the MTC Case Study provide some needed information about how the process is currently conducted, but you may need to make some additional logical assumptions.  You will need to combine the steps that each interviewee discusses and organize them into a logical sequence showing the high-level start to finish process.

Then insert into the table the steps that are missing and enter the position title of the person who would perform each step. The beginning and ending steps have been provided for you and should remain in your table.  Each process step should be concise and include an action verb.  Note:Although different organizations can use different hiring practices, focus on information from the case study to capture key steps needed for this system.  Incorporating additional steps such as testing, second round of interviews, etc. may cause you to omit key steps required for MTC’s process.

Part 2 – The overall hiring process has several steps which you listed for Part 1 above.  For each of the steps listed, complete the To-Be Process column in the table describing how this part of the process will be supported by the technology solution to improve the hiring process.  Then complete the Business Benefits of the Improved Process column by explaining how this part of the process can contribute to the overall business strategy– think at a higher level than the specific process step.  For example, a process benefit might be “receiving an application faster” but the broader business benefit would be “reducing time needed for the hiring process to enable MTC to identify and hire top IT talent more quickly.”For each step, identify the result of using the system, as shown in the two examples.  While it is truethat the system will speed up each step of the process, think about how MTC or the responsible employees would benefit from using an automated system to perform that step.

The first row and last rows have been completed for you as an example and must be retained and not revised.  Insert logical steps that would sequentially fall between #1 and #12.Be sure your table contains a total of 12 steps.  Use the examples to help you provide clear process steps and business benefits.

1. Expected Improvements – As noted in the case study, there are a lot of manual processes, overwhelming paperwork, difficulty scheduling interviews, etc. related to MTC’s current manual hiring process.  A technology solution can address many of these issues.  For each of the areas listed in the table below, provide an example of an issue from the case study and how a technology solution could be used to improve that area.  Issues and improvements should be addressed in 1-2 clear, complete sentences with information incorporated from the case study. The first one is provided as an example.Note:  This is not about the stakeholders’ wishes or expectations for the new system but identifying the current issues they have.  Some may be explicitly stated in the interviews and for others you may need to apply some critical thinking. (Provide an introductory sentence and copy the table and insert information within.)  For explanations of these areas, refer to Week 4 content on analyzing process improvements.Additional research can expand your knowledge of these areas.

Formatting Your Assignment

Consider your audience – you are writing in the role of aMTC business analyst and your audience is MTC and your boss, the CIO.  Don’t discuss MTC as if the reader has no knowledge of the organization.  Use third person consistently throughout the report.In third person, the writer avoids the pronouns I, we, my, and ours. The third person is used to make the writing more objective by taking the individual, the “self,” out of the writing. This method is very helpful for effective business writing, a form in which facts, not opinion, drive the tone of the text. Writing in the third person allows the writer to come across as unbiased and thus more informed.

• In Stage 2, you are preparing the second part of a 4-stage report. Use the structure, headings, andoutline format provided here for your report.  Use the numbering/lettering in the assignment instructions as shown below.

1. Process Analysis
2. Hiring Process
3. Expected Improvements

• Begin with Section I, revised according to any feedback received and add to it Section II.
• Write a short concise paper: Use the recommendations provided in each area for length of response.  It’s important to value quality over quantity.  Section II should not exceed 3 pages.
• Content areas should be double spaced; table entries should be single-spaced.
• To copy a table: Move your cursor to the table, then click on the small box that appears at the upper left corner of the table to highlight the table; right click and COPY the table; put the cursor in your paper where you want the table and right click and PASTE the table.
• Ensure that each of the tables is preceded by an introductory sentence that explains what is contained in the table, so the reader understands why the table has been included.
• Continue to use thetitle pagecreated in Stage 1 that includes: The company name, title of report, your name, Course and Section Number, and date of this submission.
• Use at least two resources with APA formatted citation and reference for this Stage 2 assignment. Use at least one external reference and one from the course content. Course content should be from the class reading content, not the assignment instructions or case study itself.  For information on APA format, refer to Content>Course Resources>Writing Resources.
• Add the references required for this assignment to theReference Page.   Additional research in the next stages will be added to this as you build the report.The final document should contain all references from all stages appropriately formatted and alphabetized.
• Running headers are not required for this report.
• Compare your work to the Grading Rubric below to be sure you have met content and quality criteria.
• Submit your paper as a Word document, or a document that can be read in Word. Keep tables in Word format – do not paste in graphics.
• Your submission should include your last name first in the filename:Lastname_firstname_Stage_2

GRADING RUBRIC: