Lotus
Automation
3
. Problem / Opportunity Definition & Objectives
Background to Problem/Opportunity
The new millennium bought challenges along with success. An outstanding
growth record over the last few years of the 1990s saw Lotus Automation
achieve 50% + compound growth. However, this meant that the MIS infrastructure
was growing increasingly out of date. In order for the company to
move forward and ensure that the company could speedily and flexibly
respond to customer requests it was necessary to overhaul the existing
infrastructure.
Engineers on customer sites represent the Lotus Automation brand.
Customer perception of the brand is influenced by the following:
- the
quality of the engineer’s work and appearance
- the
administrative support provided by Lotus Automation headquarters
In
order to maintain customer’s perception of quality service
Lotus needed to build a robust MIS platform to ensure first-class
administrative support. For example remote, online access to timesheets
would improve the efficiency of the project management and invoicing
process.
Objectives
The specific objective was as followings:
- To
build and establish a MIS that supported the size and market position
of Lotus Automation going forward.
The
challenge was to develop an infrastructure that supported both customers’
needs and Lotus’s own needs for improved efficiencies. The
next section looks at the process Lotus Automation designed and
used for driving out the business requirements.
4 . Process for determining requirements
Lotus invested significant time in establishing the business requirements
for the eBusiness implementation. They designed a process to drive
out the business and technical requirements:
-
Determine customer’s ‘wish list’ for how they would
like to do business with Lotus
-
Run a reality check to establish feasibility of ‘wish list’
-
Specify what infrastructure was required to deliver feasible customer
requirements
-
Determine Lotus’s ‘wish list’ for how they would
like to administer and run their business
-
Run a reality check to establish feasibility of ‘wish list’
-
Specify what infrastructure was required to deliver feasible Lotus
requirements
-
Combine the two lists to isolate the infrastructure that the eBusiness
implementation had to deliver
The
output from this process was a list of infrastructure components
that needed implementing. The next stage involved a detail analysis
of the options and business case for delivering each component.
We will look at the choices and considerations they faced in the
next section.
Lotus’s process for driving out requirements was structured
and logical. It enabled them to focus in on the key enablers of
business success. It also was flexible enough to cope with the constant
evolution of their business. They were also careful to balance their
own internal needs with those of their key customers.
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