Technology Management Plan

  
1.    Title
Technology Management Plan 

3. Steps to Completion (paper)
1) Analyze the Situation 
First review and analyze the business and IT operations of the call center.  Break down the entire process into smaller parts and analyze these parts. If necessary draw a sketch.
In general, here are some typical questions one should consider as part of the analysis:
1. What is the business model for the corporation?
2. Where is technology strong? Where is it weak? 
3. How do we manage capacity both in terms of our computer system’s capacity (and response time and fault tolerance) and our staffing capacity (does the work performed full occupy the expertise for which it is paid?).
4. What is our sustainability policy?
5. What is our technology innovation strategy?
6. What is our level of contract support? How are contracts evaluated for their full value to the efficiency of the corporation? 
7. How are problems solved within the corporation?

Next identify key issues and challenges. Beyond technical concerns, there are also managerial issues that need to be addressed.

Deliverable: Capture this information in an issue matrix which is a table that lists, categorizes and prioritizes these problems (High, Medium, and Low), that assigns responsibility for the problem to internal staff, to contract support, or to others (specify these individuals) and contain other information you feel relevant.  This will be shown to management so they will readily identify and understand the key concerns. Use your creativity.

Identify problems and do not jump the gun and start identifying or implying solutions at this point. Solutions are to be presented in Step 3.

2) Identify Best Practices
Research current best practices relating to technology management practices including operational improvement approaches. You can start with these U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) information: 
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-AIMD-97-38/pdf/GAOREPORTS-T-AIMD-97-38.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/key_issues/leading_practices_information_technology_management/issue_summary
http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/663051.pdf
Also, key management best practices are listed in Chapter 2 of this reference: https://books.google.com/books?id=SPjRBQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
(Note: If you have trouble accessing this reference, you will need to go to the Safari e-book database. To do this, go to the library home page at http://www.umuc.edu/library, click Databases by Title (A-Z ), and then S, and then the Safari Books Online database. Using the search bar, you can then locate the book entitled “IT Best Practices”. Click on the book that is by Tom C. Witt. Proceed to Chapter 2.)
Also identify people management skills needed to have an effective operation. You can begin with this link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2014/06/09/6-tips-for-managing-people-who-are-hard-to-manage/
Understand ethical requirements for individuals in an organization. Here is a Prezi presentation about the subject:
https://prezi.com/swchhg04exdh/how-ethical-theories-apply-to-it-professionals/
Deliverable: Prepare a best practices report that addresses the key findings from this step. This will be shown to corporate management. Minimum length: 400 words.

3) Select Applicable Operational Improvements
You are to identify what is needed for managing the call center. You use all of your staff as a team to identify solutions (Note: you may request for new positions on your staff but you cannot exceed your current number of slots). 
You have a sense of the problems; now document the best practices which, if implemented, generate a computing environment more stable, reliable and innovative and help in resolving the challenges you have set as top priorities facing your corporation. 

Specifically, identify needed operational improvements applicable to Rustic Americana’s call center with a set of recommendations. Among other approaches, explore the use of ITIL to provide customer-centric IT services. Here is a good starting resource: https://docs.newhorizons.bg/itil/ITIL-the-basics-White-Paper.pdf
Here is an introduction to call centers: https://books.google.com/books?id=0ZdG1qF2XvYC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Also, be sure to address ethical behavior based on concerns raised in this learning demonstration. This has been a major concern in Largo Corporation because of recent unethical corporate practices that has been in the news recently.
Also address needs for the support, renewal, and sustainability of a call center technology. Be sure to specify effective day-to-day practices needed to manage operations.

Deliverable: Develop an operational improvement report that summaries the key requirements discussed above. Minimum length: 600 words.

4) Document Findings and Recommendations
 Document key findings and recommendations in a presentation to your executive team (e.g., CEO, CFO, and Director of Marketing). This presentation should document the issues and solutions identified earlier. 

4) Deliverable: Final presentation Steps to completion
The presentation should consist of 10-15 slides. It should include audio narration (directions are found at: https://support.office.com/en-au/article/Add-narration-to-a-presentation-0b9502c6-5f6c-40ae-b1e7-e47d8741161c). The narration should also be captured in the slide notes. 

1) Issue matrix
2) Best practices report
3) Operational improvement report
4) Final presentation

Except for the presentation, combine all of the files into one Word document. Provide an abstract, introduction, table of contents and conclusion in this one document.
Title your files using this protocol: LastName_FirstName_I-2_AssignmentName_Date. 
In lieu of submitting the presentation, you may provide a link to your presentation file.