___Assignment # 5___

What are the barriers in IS/IT implementation in a company or organization?

As we all know, IS/IT is very important in a certain company or organization. It is the heart of all operations. As from the meaning given by the wikipedia, the term Information System (IS) refers to a system of people, data records and activities that process the data and information in an organization, and it includes the organization's manual and automated processes. In a narrow sense, the term information system (or computer-based information system) refers to the specific application software that is used to store data records in a computer system and automates some of the information-processing activities of the organization. Computer-based information systems are in the field of information technology. The discipline of business process modeling describes the business processes supported by information systems. And in implementing such system, there could be some negative output and also positive as well. Such barriers that can either be give benefits to the company or not.
As I browse the internet, I found some site that talk about the barriers in information sharing and their management. There’s a lot of different problems occurred in implementing system which are Human resource problems, Technical resource problems, Physical resource problems, Financial problems, Communication problems, Operational problems, Psychological and other problems.

Human resource become one of the problem because you can determine here the insufficient skilled management in information-gathering and retrieving information,insufficient trained personnel at all levels and insufficient communication skills. When creating a system, people ware plays a big important role here. They are the one who plans what will be the system to be created for the company, the one who made the decisions of the system to be used, the one who code it, study it and make it. There should be understanding and cooperation between them to reach their goal for the company.

Technical resource is one of the major problems encountered by some personnel within the system. It has the need for modern information systems, difficulties in setting up information programmed, have problems in data processing, technical constraints to reproducing or copying documents, decoding statistics collected and the structure of statistical reporting, time factor in the collection and updating of information, need for qualitative aspects of information. In creating certain system, the very most difficult is the data collection and especially management. It is because it has something to do with the system. It is where you can examine and evaluate datas collected that will help make a deep and not regrettable decision for each company. Data processing takes a long time to process for it requires a step by step formula to make it effective and can satisfy the needs of end-users.

For physical resource, it has something to do with need for publishing houses and need for documentation centres .The very main problem we all know in management is the financial problem. In the real world, we can say that all business are rolled by the money. To have a small business, one needs capital to go with it. Just like in a well grown business, even though it was successful, changing in technology is what the company should have to consider especially in the company that has something to do with the software and hardware. It includes need for funds for processing, printing and dissemination of information so that everything is flowing through and through and just go with the flow. In many cases, the initial purchase and associated implementation costs for these advanced technologies are known to be significant. Administrative and clinical executives at health care facilities cite the lack of financial support as the biggest barrier to implementing information technology. Only organizations with the financial resources and strategic vision to undertake such an investment purchase these systems especially when competition for capital dollars is high.

Another problem exist in implementing such system is the communication problems. There maybe insufficient understanding of the objectives, goals and aims of programmers that lead to unnnecessities expectations that may occur. One of the requirements in creating a certain system is having a purpose or purposes for a better development. If in that case, people who are involved are having misunderstanding or have conflict even in knowing the objectives of their proposal project, this could be lead to unsuccessful work. This also due to the production of incomprehensible information, top-down approach, languages which is the media of communication, information-filtering, untargeted information and insufficient understanding among interest groups. One of the key to successful in making it is the better understanding of each of the personnel involved in the project.

Operational takes also a big role in the company or organization specifically in the information system side. Such co-ordination and networking among professionals and educational institutions is needed. Need for supportive policy to release information, insufficient access to information source is recognize, of course confidentiality is needed here for security, redundancy of information makes the operations takes a long process and can be trouble minded to the personnel, nature of policy directives, it also needed in identifying sources of information for a better one, centralization of activities to make effective and competitive, and need for systematic documentation.

Psychological can also be a hindrance of course because it is in here where every person whom making the system is involved and they should be comfortable with each other. It is in here where mutual trust between professionals and administrators is needed to make it reliable, also need trust in information sharing to each individual to avoid conflict and to have an understanding, need of goodwill also plays a big role here. As we are in the real world, we can’t deny the fact that each know that each organizations are having competitions in their products. And it is natural for them because we are now in that situation. It is also one of the psychological problems. Another is censorship and war.

And of course, in every problem, there should be solutions. There are some of the things to consider in order making it effectively managed. For the development of human resource, training and other capacity building can be helpful to help individual involved in the process more gain knowledge and skills to have an effective and reliable system. On the other hand, for the development of technical resource, establishing documentation centre (independent non-governmental institution for processing and disseminating information), installing modern technology, creating database and encouraging small-scale publishing can be very useful and helpful for the particular problem to be solved. Furthermore, for the development of physical resource, improving infrastructure and building documentation centre are those things to consider that can be helpful to such problem. And for the improvement of the operations, some helpful and useful things to do are setting clear policy guidelines in information dissemination, encouraging government to have depository laws and enforce them, introducing information system, using mass media, following a bottom-up approach, developing grassroots level inventory of information, creating awareness of the value of information, identifying user information needs, consulting target groups, developing target-oriented and useable information, developing effective system of information management and dissemination; information should be simple, understandable and manageable, institute efficient and effective co-ordination and networking and encouraging a free flow of information — horizontally and vertically.

Ref: http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/erd/english/wgesa/doc/ethiopia/appendice_2.htm

As I further browse the internet, another site I found is from the study in University of New Mexico Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in Latin America. Study revealed the obstacles in science and technology information (S&T) sharing and information technology (IT) developments in the region. These are lack of current information for planning and developing technology, lack of expertise in the use of information, lack of international cooperation in developing the critical mass needed for projects and joint efforts and lack of interaction (lack of confidence and sometimes lack of information) between universities and industries. For the first obstacle above mentioned, it simply signifies that since we are in modern technology or high tech world, we should be updated to something new in able to have a fast software and hardware. The second one determine about the skills in which not sufficient to make an effective and reliable one. The third obstacle emphasizes that in order to communicate to the other areas; we should be cooperative and an active individual as part of the fast of growing world of technology. The fourth one also signifies of having no cooperation between parties that lead them to lack of information needed.

Ref: http://www.unm.edu/~jreenen/dlbook/chapter9.html

Other barriers I found as I searched the net that is related to this assignment are the barriers ideal intergovernmental systems. These are:
A general lack of education and information about both technology and programs. Technology has rapidly permeated our society and most of our institutions, but government organizations often lag behind others. Government staff are often ill-informed and poorly trained in how to use information technology effectively. This is particularly true of the newest technical tools and platforms. Public employees, both users and technicians, seldom have ready access to skills training or professional development that continuously upgrades their knowledge and skills. Conversely, technical staff typically have few opportunities or incentives to learn the goals and operational realities of service programs and therefore tend to focus too sharply on the technical tools and too little on the programmatic reasons for new systems.

Lack of a shared, reliable computing and network infrastructure. Existing state-local systems suffer from the lack of a ubiquitous, consistent computing and communications infrastructure. This makes it difficult or impossible to operate technology supported programs in a consistent way from place to place and organization to organization. It also slows and complicates communication among state and local staff involved in joint programs. New York State is currently embarking on a statewide networking strategy called the NYT that will help solve this problem for future systems.
Goals that are too ambitious for the resources available to achieve them. Project goals are often laudably comprehensive, but the staff, equipment, and dollars allotted to achieve them are often underestimated. Projects that could succeed on a smaller or incremental scale, fail to achieve success when their goals and resources are played out on different scales.

Human and organizational resistance to change. In some cases, new state-local initiatives threaten a comfortable status quo. They promise big changes that not every participant is eager to see. Fear and resistance to change exist even in the best planned and managed projects. A new way of doing business threatens existing personal, organizational, programmatic, and political conditions by rearranging authority, influence, power, resources, and information. This natural resistance is exacerbated when new programs arrive with too little advance information, weak leadership support, inadequate user participation, too little funding, and less than comprehensive training and orientation.
Unrealistic time frames. Many information systems projects take considerably longer than originally planned. State-local projects, with their added layers of legal and organizational complexity are especially vulnerable to this problem. Since so many different organizations are affected by them, time delays lead to serious difficulties in planning for and adjusting to changes in operations.

Organizational, programmatic, technological, and legal complexity. The state-local environment is extraordinarily complex on a number of dimensions: organizational size, number of organizations, number and skills of staff, size of budget, financial practices, legal authority, programmatic focus, and geographic dispersion. Existing systems are an important complicating factor. Only so much change is possible in an environment that depends on information systems already in place — especially ones that were designed and implemented using older technologies. There is little that can be done to simplify this environment, making it essential that project participants have a good understanding of how it will affect their activities.
Changing priorities. Any project that lasts more than a few months is subject to changing priorities for time, money, and attention. This problem is multiplied in state-local projects since each participating organization is likely to be working in circumstances and with responsibilities and priorities that are unique to its own situation.

Overlapping or conflicting missions among the participating organizations. Government organizations at both the state and local level have public service and public accountability goals that can overlap or conflict, even when they are engaged in a joint project. For example, a state agency manager may have the role of project leader which implies facilitation, collaboration, and support for other participants. At the same time, that person’s agency may have oversight responsibility and financial and other regulatory means of compelling local compliance with state requirements. In other projects, non-profit service providers may be project participants sitting at the same table with state or local officials who license and inspect their programs. These roles are all legitimate but can conflict and become a source of difficulty in sorting out the working relationships within the project team.
The barriers are undeniable. But the potential benefits of successful systems are compelling reasons to go forward with well-designed state-local initiatives.

Ref: http://www.ctg.albany.edu/publications/guides/tying?chapter=3&section=4
Additional barriers: The healthcare industry provides a unique vantage point to examine IT implementations considering the rapid infusion and diffusion of technological innovations in a highly legislated environment. It is further complicated where the primary focus centers not only on delivering quality patient care but also on facilitating continuous billing and reimbursement activities. There is uncertainty surrounding many healthcare organizations’ future technological resource and capital requirements because of the enormous scope of the necessary compliance activities, which have been brought
about by legislation such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This indecision serves to emphasize the need for a higher level of efficiency within the management of IT processes, especially as it relates to the success of technology implementation projects. The idea that successful IT implementation projects can be hindered by factors beyond those that are technology-based is not a new concept within project management education and research initiatives. Organizational factors do affect the success of information systems implementations, but the measure of success “must be individualized to the organization and to the various system users.” Fortunately, most non-technical factors can be controlled — or at least mitigated — within the project process if they are proactively recognized, properly understood, and ultimately expected.

Ref: http://www.ehrscope.com/downloads/may_articles/barriers_ehr_implementation.pdf

Barriers to successful in information technology are one of the studies done by Keith Fletcher and George Wright. In discussing the problems and issues in the use of IT, many different factors are usually mentioned. Schultz and Dewar (1984) referred to the technological challenge to Marketing Management, which they detailed as the way technology was changing the market place and the need to change organizational structures to meet the challenge. Indeed, these two elements, technology and organization are frequently mentioned when impediments to successful implementation or use of IT initiatives are discussed. Rucks and Ginter(1982) reflected on the previous decade and argued that the promise of strategic MIS was largely unfulfilled and that this was due to organizational structure deficiencies, communication problems between users and IS staff, and deficiencies in strategic planning models which did not reflect reality. There are lots of people identify the barriers whom are experts and in overall, researched into the barriers to organizations’ adopting IT intervention are consistent with a general conclusion that organizational barriers are more important than technical barriers, but that is frequently not recognized by the adopting firms. Organizational barriers relate to structural issues, such as fragmentation and poor relations between functional departments and an acceptance, by senior management of the strategic benefits of IT intervention and a clear strategy for its implementation. We all know that database is one of the way in which system is being made into functional and reliable one. And some of the barriers to implementing database management are: high cost of development, high fragmented system, data quality, account-based customer records, no clear DBM strategy, lack of company-wide marketing orientation, lack of direct marketing specialists, fragmented sales and marketing organization, lack of board level backing, agency relations and poor relations between marketing and IT.

And now based to our adopted company, barriers are as follows:

Lack of feelings of "ownership" of a project or execution plans among key employees. - Key employees tend to depend so much on the IT group in the execution of the project. They feel that the project is owned by the IT and they are just participants.

People are not measured or rewarded for executing the plan. – The success of the project greatly depends on the people implementing it. To inspire them, they need to be recognized for a good job, Tying up incentive and reward systems to success is a better way of doing it.

Competing activities distracted attention from implementing this decision. – In implementing projects, focus is vital. Each member in the team including management has to be involved and maintain focus during the implementation processes.

Major problems surfaced which had not been identified earlier. – Project plans that were not thoroughly discussed/reviewed/analyzed will create more problems during implementation. To minimize them, more time and analysis on identification of problems in implementation has to be done. Likewise delineation of work and role clarification should be addressed.

Took more time than originally allocated. – Controllable and uncontrollable factors can influence the time table of the project. The team must develop and evaluate strategies and plans that will expedite implementation.

Training and instruction given to lower level employees were inadequate. – Lack of training creates problem during implementation. Errors will be created, man hours wasted, project timeline exceeded. To address this, staff employees should be provided the needed training & instructions during implementation phase. Likewise, they should have higher involvement in strategic planning inputs and feedback.

Insufficient financial resources to execute the strategy. – Money to fund the project should be readily available at all times.

Information systems used to monitor implementation were inadequate. – Each member of the team has to be regularly updated on the status of the project. There should be tracking and dissemination of information on implementation of major tasks and activities. A development of better information and communication systems and feedback mechanisms is needed. Employees need to be updated on implementation tasks.