APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

SCENARIO
Felder Community Hospital is a 200-bed acute care facility that has served a large metropolitan area for over 100 years. For the first two decades the hospital was in operation, it was a small 20-bed acute care hospital. With the increase in chronic disease and the aging baby boomer population, the hospital is experiencing unprecedented growth. It has gone from 50 to well over 2,500 employees and growing in the past three decades. The hospital continues to expand on multiple fronts and is experiencing an increase in the number of orthopedic, oncology, cardiovascular, and gastroenterology patients.

While growth has increased both revenue and profits, this rapid growth has presented various challenges for the hospital. One of the most pressing challenges is the onboarding of new employees. In the first 12 years, the organization hired one or two employees every few years. An administrator easily handled this process, and each department handled tasks pertaining to the new hires’ various roles. More recently, the hospital has experienced monthly increases in personnel of as many as 20 new employees, making the current onboarding process obsolete. The administrator who previously handled employee onboarding had been trying to improve the process, but it has become clear that the hospital no longer has the time or processes in place to surmount this challenge.

In addition, an analysis of the competition in the healthcare industry in the surrounding areas implies that a quick growth of the employee workforce could position Felder Community Hospital to improve its market share.

Over the years, Felder Community Hospital has grown and developed a seasoned software team as part of the IT department, and the team feels confident a new software application called FeldHealthHR can meet their needs and address many of these concerns. While anticipating rapid growth and additional software vulnerabilities, their other concerns include security and customer support.

A. Explain how using an IS solution can help Felder Community Hospital achieve strategic goals and competitive advantages.

1. Explain how business-process engineering (BPE) and business-process management (BPM) can help the IT department in the development and implementation of FeldHealthHR.
2. Describe how you would apply Porter’s models (i.e., five forces industry analysis, generic strategies, and the value chain) to the scenario.
3. Explain how each of the five phases of the System Development Lifecycle (SDLC) would be applied to this project.
4. Explain each of the responsibilities of four key contributors (individuals or groups) directly involved in the strategic planning phase.

B. Select one system development method to be used in the implementation of FeldHealthHR by doing the following:

1. Justify your selection, citing the strengths and weaknesses of your method.
2. Explain how each milestone within your chosen system development method would be implemented.

C. Describe the intentional and unintentional threats to security after the implementation of FeldHealthHR.

1. Explain how to protect against digital and physical threats to FeldHealthHR.
2. Describe available resources and regulations to be followed when creating a contingency plan in the event the FeldHealthHR system was compromised.

D. Explain the importance of the final phase of the System Development Lifecycle (SDLC) in supporting FeldHealthHR.

1. Describe how the hospital IT department can provide ongoing monitoring and support of FeldHealthHR.
2. Describe how the hospital IT department could provide ongoing support to handle technical issues related to FeldHealthHR.

Sample Solution