Case Study: KALCH Distribution Company (KDC) Overview KDC is a regional transportation and distribution company in operation for over 60 years. The company serves major cities in the Mid-Atlantic region. They are headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware and have a staff of 400 employees including truck drivers. There are 6 distribution terminals (Philadelphia PA, Baltimore MD, New York City, Washington DC, Newark NJ and Wilmington DE) for consolidating freight, and 100 delivery vehicles including 20 tractor/semi-trailer units, 40 box trucks and 40 panel vans. The company operates in a highly competitive business environment. Growth has been stagnant because of a slow economy. John, the president of the company, would like to see growth at 5% per year. He would also like to see expenses cut by 5% to help fund new initiatives. Current revenue is about $39 million a year with profit running at 4%. To familiarize yourself with commonly-used shipping terms in the freight industry, visit this site and refer to it as you read the case study and assignments: http://www.shipnorthamerica.com/htmfiles/glossary/gloss_shipterms.html Current Business Operations KDC operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Sales personnel (12 people, two per terminal) visit prospective customers to outline company capability, services provided and costs. When a customer decides to use KDC they call the dispatch office with shipment information. Usually they FAX a copy of the bill (s) of lading to a terminal with information such as origin, destination, product description, weight and number of packages. A dispatcher at a terminal makes a list of freight pickups and sends a truck to get the freight. To do this they use the routing system to determine the sequence of pickups by zip code. They use local maps within a zip code to map out the specific order of pickups since there may be several in a zip code area. They have a performance goal of 98% of freight picked up within 24 hours of availability. A driver follows the dispatch order for pickups. Many of the drivers complain that the pickup order is not efficient. When they pick up an order they sign for receipt and either load the freight or guide the customer's forklift operators to arrange it properly in the truck. After freight is picked up it is brought to the terminal where it is unloaded and sorted by destination. A dispatcher then prepares a delivery ticket (again using the routing system) that is used to load a truck in the proper sequence for delivery. Some trucks take freight from one terminal to another while others make local deliveries. About half of a terminal's space is used on any given night. Dispatchers have a goal to turn freight around in the terminal overnight for next day delivery. When freight is sent out for delivery, the driver follows the delivery ticket order. Often they are held up at a delivery destination by traffic or by lack of available unloading space. This can cause the driver to be 11/30/2016 1 late trying to make the day's deliveries. Sometimes they get to a destination and the facility is closed and they bring the freight back to the terminal for delivery the next day. It is unloaded and re-sorted by destination. The dispatchers then add it to the next day's delivery tickets. The major freight volumes are between New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore (about 70% of total volume). Trucks run at about 70% of capacity between terminals overall. Local delivery volume is heaviest in New York, followed by Baltimore and then Philadelphia. Local delivery trucks operate at about 80% full while pickups fill about half of the vehicles space. Some customers pick up and/or drop freight at a terminal with their own equipment. Truck drivers communicate with the dispatchers using two-way commercial radios. Some also carry personal cell phones and use them if the radio is out of range. A few drivers also carry GPS devices to help locate addresses. In general the drivers are content with the company. Pay and benefits are good and they get overtime pay when deliveries run late. Complaints are few and mostly center around either the sequence of pickup and delivery of shipments or vehicle maintenance. The fleet is maintained at the main Wilmington maintenance shop and at a smaller shop in Washington. Either one can handle minor maintenance and preventative work. Only Wilmington can perform major engine and transmission work. Overall the fleet is in good operating condition. All vehicles are on a preventative maintenance schedule which places them out of service two days a month, usually on weekends. Maintenance scheduling is a challenge because it can interfere with the steady flow of shipments both between terminals and for local delivery. There are no \"extra\" vehicles in the fleet. Administration The company management team consists of the President, Vice President of Operations, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Information Officer (CIO), Sales Manager, and a Fleet Manager who is in charge of maintenance and safety. They meet weekly to discuss opportunities and issues and to plan for the future. Except for the CIO, the management team has been in place for many years The president of the company just hired its first Chief Information Officer (CIO), Leona, after the previous IT Director retired. She comes from a nearby manufacturer who is also a major customer. At that company she was Deputy CIO and primarily responsible for network operations and security. At a recent meeting the management team decided to change the strategic plan for the business in order to meet growth and cost goals. They highlighted three new strategies they want to employ to increase profitability and grow the business. First, they desire to provide warehousing services for customers who want to reduce delivery time to their customers by having product available locally. Second, they want to improve the percent of loaded miles in their fleet to reduce costs by coordinating the pickup and delivery of freight at the same time in the same geographic area. Third, they want to track the whereabouts of freight both in the terminals and on the trucks to provide customers with accurate delivery dates and times. 11/30/2016 2 In addition, the management team wants to ensure that the company remains in compliance with all applicable federal and state regulations. The ones they are most concerned about are: (1) the Sarbanes Oxley financial audit and reporting requirements; (2) a new federal requirement to conduct a vehicle safety check every 10,000; and (3) a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) reporting requirement on the number hours per day for each driver (or max per week, etc.). The CFO has been charged with the overall project. He has asked Leona to help with this effort by modernizing information systems to support the new strategies. She has decided her first step is to update the IT strategic plan to link to the new strategies in the corporate plan. Second, she wants to engage her customers in a proactive way to first, identify and prioritize IT projects that will help meet the new goals, and then develop a set of requirements for each project. Third, she wants to decide on the best approach to modernize the information systems that will meet requirements at a reasonable cost, and for this she will need to make some changes to the IT organization. Technology KDC is using a mix of older technology products for finance and accounting, route optimization, freight tracking and fleet maintenance. There are several projects already in the IT portfolio competing for resources. The CIO sees a major challenge in balancing available funding, IT staff workload and project prioritization. The project nearest completion is the adoption of the Accurate Financials System to replace the aging finance and accounting system. It will be completed in six months. There are two other projects under way, one for management reporting and one for a mobile application that sales staff can use to show potential customers information on the fleet, distribution services available and freight rates, including a comparison to the competition. The route optimization and freight tracking system is very important to the operations manager and dispatchers. The current system allows the input of freight origin and destination information. This is taken from a bill of lading which contains a plethora of specific information. When the dispatchers enter the origins and destinations into the system they are grouped by zip code. The dispatchers then decide which zip codes will be loaded in a truck and in what sequence for delivery. This takes several hours at night to accomplish and must be done as quickly as possible so trucks can be loaded and sent out in the morning for delivery. Arranging shipment sequence within a zip code is done by locating each address on a map and entering it into the system in the best order. Pickups are handled in a similar manner. The fleet maintenance system contains information on each vehicle in the fleet. It includes all vehicle specifications, a summary of all repairs, a preventive maintenance schedule and an inventory of parts on hand. This information is entered by accounting clerks, mechanics, purchasing clerks and anyone else who has time to do data entry. It is not as time consuming as the routing system but it contains information critical to fleet reliability. The greatest challenge is scheduling preventative maintenance since it requires vehicles to be down for two days. The dispatchers do not want the equipment taken out of service because it causes planning headaches. The relationship between dispatchers and maintenance personnel is strained. 11/30/2016 3 IT Organization When Leona was hired as CIO last month she took a close look at the current staffing. The IT staff consists of 22 people, seven of whom are programmers. The programmers are charged with all systems development and integration work for the company. They have three projects in their current portfolio. Their skill sets include SQL, .Net and C+ programming, and Web design. There are six helpdesk personnel who support the six distribution terminals (one at each terminal). The remaining staff includes 2 network engineers, a financial systems specialist (an expert in Accurate Financials), a computer security expert, two shift supervisors and the CIO and her two personal assistants. The IT staff supports multiple locations. At the Wilmington headquarters/terminal there are 15 servers (they contain all software and data; one stores a backup copy of the data) and 30 PCs for accounting, marketing, IT, administration and management. The terminal operations office has 5 PCs for dispatchers, one for the maintenance office, one for parts and one for drivers in the driver lounge. The other 5 terminals have 10 PCs each and connect to headquarters by a virtual private network (VPN). IT Portfolio Accurate Financials- This new system will replace the current finance and accounting system. It is an offthe-shelf product that requires the owner to make modifications to interface with other systems they may own. Two programmers are working on the project. One is setting up the database and loading the software on servers. The other is learning about the system in order to write an interface with the routing system. A representative of Accurate will train the accounting staff in its use. This will take about two weeks. Management Reporting System- Senior management wanted to know financial information on a daily basis. Two programmers have been working on a system to compile the data in a format they can use. They plan to extract information from Accurate Financials when it is ready but for now have focused on the current system. They will be done in two months. Mobile Marketing App- The marketing manager asked for an app that sales staff could use to show potential customers information. This would include things like fleet photos and specifications; pictures of the six terminals and information about the distribution services KDC can provide; and a comparison of their costs using sample shipments with rates from competitors compared to KDC costs. A programmer and the web designer are working on the project. It will take two more months to complete. The current design and development process is best described by the way it worked in the selection and integration of Accurate Financials. The CFO asked the (former) CIO to develop a new finance and accounting system. The CIO interviewed large, respected companies and, after comparing their capability to the current system, chose Accurate Financials. Two programmers were assigned and an 11/30/2016 4 Accurate Financials specialist was hired to work between IT and the finance office. The CIO receives progress reports every two weeks. Situation When Leona was hired, she toured each terminal to see the IT setup and understand local business operations. It was important to her to know just how each person used the systems. She spent time with bookkeepers and accountants, dispatchers, drivers and terminal management. Since she came from one of KDC's customers she knew that customers could offer insight into business improvements that would be good for both companies. She visited one large customer in each of the terminal's area of service to get feedback on how operations between them and KDC could be improved. Her goal was to see how she could translate what she learned into systems improvements. Interestingly the most complaints came from bookkeepers and accountants. They said the system was slow and data entry was tedious because accuracy was very important. If they entered wrong information, it could cause incorrect billing (rates are based on weight and size), improper loading (the wrong zip code could mean sending freight in the wrong direction unless a dispatcher caught the error), and more. They estimated current accuracy at about 95% but they had no way of knowing for sure. Further, they complained about financial reporting and their ability to meet compliance requirements. Reporting was mostly a manual process and data they needed from the system was not easily accessed. Most of them had resorted to keeping small ledgers at their desk to track information they knew they would need for reporting. The dispatchers explained that routing wasn't all that hard, just time consuming. The routing system grouped all of the shipments by zip code. They would take all of the shipments in a zip code and look at the weight and size (how much cubic space each one needed in a truck), plot them on a map and then put them in delivery sequence. They thought most trucks left the loading dock full and that that the drivers made adjustments in delivery sequence when needed. Pickups were a bit more challenging. Sometimes they sent a truck out just to pick up freight and bring it back to the terminal. Other times they contacted a driver to ask them to stop at a customer to pick up a shipment while they were making deliveries. Since they didn't know exactly how much space was available on the truck this was a hit or miss situation. Drivers were left to decide if they could make it work. Drivers were the most outspoken, probably because no one ever asked for their opinion. They were also the happiest of employees (this might explain why they were non-union). They liked being able to make decisions on the go and they knew the customers very well. In fact they could call some of them if they were running late and the customer would stay open so they could deliver or pick up a shipment. They seemed to have favorite customers and often spent extra time with them talking about common interests. Generally they were good ambassadors for the company. Terminal managers were under constant pressure. Their main goal was to get shipments into and out of the terminal as quickly as possible. Delivery times were measured and part of their performance plan. They knew the company had established three new strategies because they were explained in an email they just got. Leona asked how they might provide warehousing services. Most felt they had extra space 11/30/2016 5 and could take on some storage but keeping track of the shipments might be a problem. They had to do this manually and the bookkeepers were the ones to keep the records. They felt more bookkeepers would be needed but they didn't know how many. Leona also met with the maintenance and safety staff at the Washington terminal. The maintenance folks had a large workload and complained that they had a hard time getting equipment in the shop for preventative work. They did not know when equipment would be available until the last minute so scheduling was always a scramble because they needed to make sure mechanics were available to do the work. They had a lot of complaints about shifting work hours and the effect it had on their personal lives. The safety manager expressed concerns over driver hours of service. There are federal regulations that limit drivers to 10 hours of driving at a time. Then they need to take an 8 hour break. The problem was tracking the driver's hours to make sure they stayed within the law. Dispatchers tried to help with this when they scheduled pickups and deliveries but there was no easy way to do it and the results were often based on best guess. The safety manager who was ultimately responsible for compliance had drivers turn in their hours each day but this was always after the fact. Leona's customer visits were eye-opening. Most of the customers had automated inventory systems and could easily track products from raw material to finished goods. They knew exactly what they would ship and when, usually several days ahead of time. Some customers however needed near instantaneous shipping. They wanted same-day pickup in a lot of cases and fast delivery. In most cases, they were all able to produce electronic documents such as the bill of lading and email or FAX it to KDC. During her interview for the CIO position, Leona was told that the previous IT Director had left a good foundation and that the staff seemed sufficient in number and appeared to be very capable. However, since KDC is developing its strategies for the future, the staff must be able to support the business strategies as well as the IT strategies that Leona would develop. One of the first things Leona did was to interview each member of her staff. She discovered that the roles and responsibilities tended to overlap and that morale among her staff was very low. Leona also interviewed the senior leadership of KDC and learned that her staff was not meeting their expectations for service. The help desk was perceived as being only somewhat competent and took much too long to respond to problems. Application developers were very slow in delivering systems, and when the systems were finally delivered, they did not reflect what the customers needed or wanted. Network outages occurred too often from the users' perspective. Finally, the Chief Financial Officer told Leona that the IT costs need to be reduced. Leona knew she had many challenges. She was determined to identify essential projects and then prioritize them for management review. The outcomes would affect almost every aspect of the business. Her IT portfolio was about to grow and her organization will need to change to meet the challenges. 11/30/2016 6 KALCH Distribution Company (KDC) IT Strategic Plan, Part 1 Before you begin this assignment, be sure you have read the \"KALCH Distribution Company Case Study\" and all the course content from Weeks 1 and 2. Purpose of this Assignment This assignment gives you the opportunity to apply the course concepts to begin development of an Information Technology Strategic Plan (ITSP) to support the strategic direction of KALCH Distribution Company (KDC). This assignment specifically addresses the following course outcomes to enable you to: identify, define, and explain the concepts of information technology governance and management IT Strategic Plan for KALCH Distribution Company Leona, the new CIO at KDC, has asked you to write an IT Strategic Plan that she can use to guide the direction for her organization. The ITSP will be developed in two parts. This assignment covers Part 1; Part 2 will be covered in the next class assignment. Together, they will form an ITSP that has been tailored to the course material covered in this class. You may work for an organization that has an ITSP, and it would be a good idea for you to look at it, but it will likely be structured a little differently from this one. Each organization develops an ITSP that will work for them. Assignment You will develop Part 1 of the ITSP for KALCH Distribution Company, using the outline below. Each of the topics to be included in your outline is covered in the course content readings assigned thus far. In addition to the course materials, at least one external resource (resource other than those provided in the class) must be used. Two or more cited references will earn top credit. Use a separate References page to list just the references you have cited. Remember to use the APA formatting rules and correctly cite and reference your sources with APA format. Use the Grading Rubric to be sure you have covered everything. Submit your paper as a Microsoft Word document, or a document that can be read using Word, with your last name included in the filename. Please use this outline to build your IT Strategic Plan. Use the numbering and headings shown below. Part One 1. Business Statement - Summarize in one paragraph the business of KDC. Include the location of the company/terminals, fleet information, and current/future financial climate/goals. Refer to Case Study. 2. Business Strategic Objectives - From the information in the Case Study, list the three strategic objectives. Next add a new strategic objective of your own - one that you consider important to the current and future health of KDC's business. It should be a statement of how the management team would improve the business of KDC. 3. IT Vision and Mission Statement - Write two short paragraphs with separate vision and mission statements for the Information Technology Department at KDC. Use what you learn from the case study to create your own idea for the vision statement; and use the case study situation at KDC to write the mission statement for the IT department. Refer to the course materials on mission and vision, particularly the reading on "Creating a Future Vision for the Chief Information 11/30/2016 1 Officer". If you need help on a mission statement, do a little research on the web; you will find many examples of IT mission statements. 4. Governance - Using the course content materials and the case study, describe in two or three paragraphs how the IT governance process should work for KDC. Leona wants to engage the other senior leaders, so include: who the participants are, what their roles are (why they are members of the governance body), what governance methodology should be established, what responsibilities the governance body would have, and how they would prioritize IT projects. Refer to the course materials on governance and you may supplement those documents with external research. 5. Inventory of Current IT Systems - Using the information in the Case Study, you will use the table provided to describe the current systems in use and the IT resources allocated to their support. Copy and complete the table below, creating additional rows as needed to cover all current systems at KDC, then write a brief introductory paragraph to the table. The paragraph should come first in your ITSP, to explain what the table is providing. Current System Function/ Description Strategic Goal aligned to Business unit/ department Business Benefits IT Resources (people, equipment) The "right" and "wrong" answers have to do with whether or not you correctly incorporated the course concepts from the course content materials and addressed all parts of the assignment. The content of the mission and vision statements you create is not as important as that it makes sense considering the course content and the Case Study. Use the Rubric below to be sure you have covered all aspects of the assignment. GRADING RUBRIC: Criterion Business Statement 90-100% Far Above Standards 5 Points 80-89% Above Standards 4 Points 70-79% Meets Standards 3.5 Points 60-69% Below Standards 3 Points < 60% Well Below Standards 0-2 Points The summary description of the business in the Case Study is complete, clear and concise and sets the stage for the remainder of the ITSP; demonstrates understanding of course concepts, The summary description of the business in the Case Study is clear and concise and sets the stage for the remainder of the ITSP. A summary description of the business in the Case Study is provided. The summary description of the business in the Case Study is unclear, not concise, and/or does not set the stage for the remainder of the ITSP. Little or no summary description of the business in the Case Study is included. 11/30/2016 Possible Points 5 2 Criterion Business Strategic Objectives IT Vision and Mission Statement Governance 90-100% Far Above Standards analysis and critical thinking. 9-10 Points 80-89% Above Standards 70-79% Meets Standards 60-69% Below Standards < 60% Well Below Standards Possible Points 8 Points 7 Points 6 Points 0-5 Points 10 Three business strategic objectives are listed and fully stated. One new objective, highly relevant to the Case Study, is listed, also fully stated, and clearly relates to how the management team will improve the business; work demonstrates understanding of course concepts, analysis and critical thinking. 18-20 Points Three business strategic objectives are listed and are fully stated. One new objective, relevant to the Case Study, is listed; it clearly relates to how the management team will improve the business. Three business strategic objectives from the Case Study are listed. One new objective, relevant to the Case Study, is listed; it relates to how the management team will improve the business. Fewer than 3 business strategic objectives are listed or they are not drawn from the Case Study; the new strategic objective is not relevant to the Case Study; and/or new strategic objective does not relate to how the management team will improve the business. Few or no business strategic objectives are listed; a new objective is not added; and/or objectives are not related to the Case Study. 16-17 Points 14-15 Points 12-13 Points 0-11 Points IT Vision and Mission Statements are clearly written and highly relevant to the Case Study; and demonstrate strong understanding of course concepts, analysis and critical thinking. IT Vision and Mission Statements are clearly written and relevant to the Case Study; demonstrate understanding of course concepts, analysis and critical thinking. IT Vision and Mission Statements are both included and are relevant to the Case Study. One or both of the IT Vision and Mission Statements are not included, and/or do not relate to the Case Study; and/or are poorly written and do not convey the information. 23-25 Points 20-22 Points 18-19 Points IT Vision and Mission Statement do not cover both vision and mission, are not relevant to the Case Study, or are lacking in demonstration of understanding of course concepts, analysis and/or critical thinking. 15-17 Points The Governance Section presents a well- The Governance Section The Governance Section addresses how Governance section does not include all Little or none of the required information is 11/30/2016 20 0-14 Points 25 3 Criterion 90-100% Far Above Standards supported and convincing explanation of a governance process for the business in the Case Study that engages other senior leaders in the organization. This section includes a thorough discussion of: participants, roles of participants, what governance methodology should be established, responsibilities of the governance body, and the prioritization process for IT projects; is highly applicable to and appropriate for the Case Study; and demonstrates understanding of course concepts, analysis and critical thinking. 80-89% Above Standards presents a good explanation of a governance process for the business in the Case Study that engages other senior leaders in the organization. This section includes a clear discussion of: participants, roles of participants, what governance methodology should be established, responsibilities of the governance body, and the prioritization process for IT projects; and is clearly applicable to and appropriate for the Case Study. 70-79% Meets Standards the CIO will engage the other senior leaders, and includes: who the participants are, what their roles are (why they are members of the governance body), what governance methodology should be established, what responsibilities the governance body would have, and how they would prioritize IT projects. 60-69% Below Standards required content (participants, roles, methodology, responsibilities, and prioritization process for IT projects); is not applicable to or appropriate for the Case Study. < 60% Well Below Standards presented in the Governance section; and/or it is not relevant to the Case Study. Inventory of Current IT Projects 18-20 Points 16-17 Points 14-15 Points 12-13 Points 0-11 Points This section includes an effective and well-written This section includes an appropriate introductory This section includes an introductory paragraph that This section is somewhat incomplete (lacking in Little or no information is provided on the Inventory of 11/30/2016 Possible Points 20 4 Criterion 90-100% Far Above Standards introductory paragraph that is applicable to the Case Study and the table that follows. The completed table contains all required information accurately extracted from the Case Study; demonstrates thorough understanding of course concepts, analysis and critical thinking. External Research 9-10 Points Report Format 80-89% Above Standards paragraph that is applicable to the Case Study and the table that follows. The completed table contains all required information accurately extracted from the Case Study; demonstrates understanding of course concepts, analysis and critical thinking. 8 Points 70-79% Meets Standards applies to the Case Study. The completed table contains all required information extracted from the Case Study. 60-69% Below Standards introduction or required table, or table content is incomplete); is not applicable to the Case Study; or is lacking in demonstration of understanding of course concepts, analysis and/or critical thinking. < 60% Well Below Standards Current IT Projects; table is missing; and/or information presented does not apply to the Case Study. 7 Points 6 Points 0-5 Points Two or more sources other than the class materials are incorporated, are substantive and are used effectively. Sources used are relevant and timely, contribute to the analysis and support conclusions. References are appropriately incorporated and cited using APA style. 9-10 Points At least one source other than the class materials is incorporated and used effectively. Source(s) are relevant and contribute to the analysis. References are appropriately incorporated and cited using APA style. At least one source other than the class materials is used and properly incorporated into the text. Reference is cited using APA style. A source other than the class materials may be used, but is not properly incorporated, and/or is not relevant or timely; and/or APA style for references and citations is not followed. No external research is incorporated or reference listed is not cited within text. 8 Points 7 Points 6 Points 0-5 Points Report is very well organized and is easy to read. Very few Report reflects effective organization; has few errors Report has some organization; may have some errors in Report is not well organized, and/or contains several grammar Report is extremely poorly written, has many 11/30/2016 Possible Points 10 10 5 Criterion 90-100% Far Above Standards or no errors in sentence structure, grammar, and spelling; presented in a professional format. 80-89% Above Standards in sentence structure, grammar, and spelling; presented in a professional format. 70-79% Meets Standards sentence structure, grammar and spelling. 60-69% Below Standards and/or spelling errors. < 60% Well Below Standards grammar and/or spelling errors, or does not convey the information. Possible Points TOTAL Possible Points 11/30/2016 100 6