Week 1 - Assignment Research Topic and QuestionPrior to begi.docx

Week 1 - Assignment
Research Topic and Question
Prior to beginning this assignment,
· Read Module 1 in your course textbook.
· Watch the GEN103 Annotated Bibliography and Picking Your
Topic IS Researchvideos.
· Review the Week 5 Annotated Bibliography Example, and the
4 Easy Steps to Using the Ashford Library for Background
Research, Possible Topics for Research, and How to Ask an
Open-Ended Question handouts.
· Download and review the Week 1 Research Topic and
Question worksheet that you will complete and turn in for this
assignment.
This week, you will develop a research question for your
annotated bibliography:
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Choose a research topic.
1. How is the use of robotics is changing infantry training and
tactics?
2. I've also wondered what the military consensus is for what
has gone wrong in Afghanistan over nearly 20 years of being
there. Why haven't we won?
3. With the Arctic region being more important, what are are
tacticians saying should be the level and types of deployment
for American forces in the region?
4. What evidence is there that America needs a "Space Force" as
part of our national armed services?
5. If you want to go historical you could try and assess what
American efforts in Korea and Vietnam stalled in the 20th

century. What was the overall impact of air power in WWI?
There are limitless inquires you could make in that area.
2. Explore your topic.
3. Write your research question.
Choose a Research Topic
Choose a research topic related to your program or major. This
topic will be used for all five weeks so choose one that interests
you and for which two scholarly articles, one e-book , and two
non-scholarly sources are available. Review the Possible Topics
for Research handout if you need ideas. It is recommended that
you review the GEN103 Week 1 Assignment example.
Provide a two to three sentence explanation of the research
topic and how it is related to your major on the Week 1
Research Topic and Question worksheet.
Explore your Topic
On the Week 1 Assignment worksheet, fill in the KWHL chart
to explore the research topic. Be sure to carefully follow the
instructions on the worksheet. The 4 Easy Steps to Using the
Ashford Library for Background Research is a helpful resource
at this point.
Write Your Research Question
Write the first draft of your research question in the table at the
bottom of the Week 1 Assignment worksheet. Your research
question will help you focus your research by defining the
information you are looking for as you research your topic.
Your research question must be:
· Open-ended (should begin with "how," "why" or "what")
· Clear
· Concise
· Detailed
TheHow to Ask an Open-Ended Question handout can help you
formulate an open-ended question.

Maryland Technology Consultants, Inc. (MTC)
Business Analysis and System Recommendation (BA&SR)
Name
Class
Date
I. STRATEGIC USE OF TECHNOLOGY
INTRODUCTION:
Maryland Technology Consultants, Inc. is an Information
Technology Consulting Services Company that has managed to
prove itself through utilizing IT and management programs that
have been measured to be efficient and effective in providing
positive and measurable results for their consumers. “The
consumers are from small-mid size businesses, non-profit
organizations, and government entities at the local, state, and
federal levels (Maryland Technology Consultants Case Study,
2018, p. 1)”. The company’s headquarters is located in
Baltimore, Maryland and was founded on May 2008. The
company has a total annual gross revenue of ninety-five million
dollars and has employed 450 hardworking individuals whom
are scattered across the varying company locations which

include: Baltimore, MD, Herndon, VA, and Bethesda, MD. The
firm’s major concern is the need to hire 75 additional
employees in order to meet the needs of acquiring two new
contracts, but with the current utilization of the manual hiring
system there is fear that the task at hand may cause difficulty in
meeting such requirements (Maryland Technology Consultants
Case Study, 2018, p.1).
A. BUSINESS STRATEGY
The business strategy of Maryland Technology Consultants
(MTC) is to provide high quality services and recommendations
to its consumers by hiring employees who are knowledgeable
and highly skilled with the business practices of technology.
The company would also like to build a plethora of international
consultants in order to promote research and analysis to assist
in supporting MTC’s onsite teams in the U.S. It is crucial for
the company to not only move from using the outdated manual
system of hiring new employees, but to transition to an
automated system in order to hire new employees in an adequate
timeframe to meet the company’s objectives and goals for future
contracts. The just-in-time concept will motivate the company
to meet the needs of the new contracts so that resources are not
wasted utilizing an outdated system compared to if an
automated system were in place (Maryland Technology
Consultants Case Study, 2018).
B. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE:
“MTC receives and obtains most of its contracts through
proposals from business, government entities, and non-profit
organizations through placing bids on solicitations (Maryland
Technology Consultants Case Study, 2018, p. 2)”. MTC’s
business has grown due to the accumulation of referrals and
follow-on contracts from previous satisfied consumers and the
business continues to grow and awaits taking on 2 new contracts
in the future. Thus, updating and transitioning to an automated
hiring system would be beneficial in improving time efficiency
along with weeding out varieties of highly suitable candidates
to hire on board from across the globe. The new hiring system

would be able to increase its competitive advantage by
assigning consultants who are appropriately skilled in meeting
the needs of the contract and consumers. By providing greater
value in services and using highly skilled consultants will
improve and add to the reputation of the company and will
allow more contracts to be taken on by the business increasing
revenue. The process, organization culture, risk management,
quality, and variety offered by the company will put itself above
its other competitors.
C. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES:
In the table below are goals and objectives the company would
like to reach systematically in a timely order to help increase
getting the brand-name out there and allow more opportunity to
bring in more contracts while ensuring the ability to keep up
with efficiency and quality of services provided.
Strategic Goal
(from case study)
Objective
(clear, measurable and time-bound)
Explanation
(2-3 sentences)
Increase MTC Business Development by winning new contracts
in the areas of IT Consulting
Award 4 new contracts monthly
Utilize the new hiring system by establishing electronic media
to promote and attract new consumers against competitors.
Provide innovative and market leading technology that will gain
the attention of contracts across the globe with the assistance of
new hires internationally.
Build a cadre of consultants internationally to provide remote
research and analysis support to MTC’s onsite teams in the U.
S.

Increase international recruiting efforts and employ 5 research
analysts in the next 12 months.
The new hiring system would allow applicants from around the
world to apply online, increasing the number of international
applicants. It would enable the recruiters to carefully monitor
the applications for these positions, identify the necessary
research and analysis skills needed, and screen resumes for
these key skills. Recruiters could quickly view the number of
applicants and identify when additional recruiting efforts are
needed to meet the objective.
Continue to increase MTC’s ability to quickly provide high
quality consultants to awarded contracts to best serve the
clients’ needs
Set aside 12 candidates that have the skillset to fulfill new
contracts awarded to fit the needs and expectations that the
consultant is best suited for.
The new hiring system would have a collection of data stored of
vetted consultants/candidates best suited for prospective
positions of future contracts. This will allow time efficiency to
be of no issue as the management team will have already
weeded through the necessary candidates during selection.
Increase MTC’s competitive advantage in the IT consulting
marketplace by increasing its reputation for having IT
consultants who are highly skilled in leading edge technologies
and innovative solutions for its clients
Provide thorough trainings monthly of updated policies,
procedures, and any new information within technology
advancement catering towards the clients.
Trainings will allow consultants to be knowledgeable about any
changes within the system of technology. In doing so, the
company is able to provide the best possible services to the
clientele and to overall provide the best chances of competitive
advantage over other competitors.

D. DECISION MAKING:
The table below lists the different levels of decision-making
within Maryland Technology Consultants to assist in aiding a
better visual of responsibilities within the company.
Role
Level as defined in Course Content Reading
Example of Possible Decision Supported by Hiring System
Example of Information the Hiring System Could Provide to
Support Your Example Decision
Senior/Executive Managers
(Decisions made by the CEO and the CFO at MTC supported by
the hiring system.)
Strategic/Executive
1. Creates the strategy and objectives of the company.
2. Determines if the correct personnel are in the right position.
3. Responsible for the company’s name brand.
If the company is able to fulfill new contracts within enough
time, this will allow the opportunity to add more employees to
the workforce. Having enough consultants to add to the team
will determine whether or not more contracts will be able to be
processed and handled through the corporation (How
Information Supports Decision Making, 2020).
Middle Managers
(Decisions made by the Director of HR and the Manager of
Recruiting supported by the hiring system.)
Managerial
1. Selects the best applicants
2. Schedules the interviews
3. Makes job offer
Being able to overview the new system will allow recruiters to
make sure the process of workflow is working efficiently and
provide exceptional offers to new employees.
Operational Managers
(Decisions made by the line managers in the organization who
are hiring for their projects supported by the hiring system.)
Operational

1. Communicating resumes between departments
2. Interviewing process
3. New hire in-processing procedures
High turnovers within the business will allow the Hiring
manager to have the ability to expedite the process of hiring to
add more employees to the company.
E.
II. PROCESS ANALYSIS
A. HIRING PROCESS
The MTC hiring process is outdated and needs to be changed.
Below is a table, which represents the current process, who is
responsible, changes to be made, and the benefit of the new
process. The table shows MTC’s desire to provide customers
with the best service, which means selecting top candidates to
fill certain roles within the company. In due time, the hiring
process will change which will take time and patience. The
current process will continue to be in place until all the kinks
have been worked out within the new process, so the company
can better assist customer’s needs.
MTC Hiring Process
As-Is Process
Responsible MTC Position
To-Be Process – How the system Will Support and Improve the
hiring process

Business Benefits of Improved Process (Align with MTC’s
overall business strategy and needs.)
1. Recruiter receives application from job hunter via Postal
Service Mail.
Recruiter
System will receive application via on-line submission through
MTC Employment Website and store in the applicant database
within the hiring system.
A more efficient submission process decreases time needed to
receive and begin processing applications. This will present a
positive image to potential employees and help MTC compete
for top IT talent.
1. Recruiter screens resumes to identify top candidates by
matching with job requirements from job description.
Recruiter
The system will allow select key words to help filter out criteria
from applications that match or meet minimum requirements for
the position listed (Gentle, 2018).
This will cut down time needed to get readily available resumes
to the hiring manager to take action.
1. Recruiter forwards top candidates to Administrative
Assistant via interoffice mail
Recruiter
The system will allow a time stamp and send an automated
message to AA.
Reduces errors and misplacement of manual paperwork (Gentle,
2018).
1. Administrative Assistant forwards candidates’ resumes and
applications to hiring manager for the position via interoffice
mail.
Administrative Assistant

The system will allow to send automated message to be sent to
the hiring manager with date/time.
Reduces errors and misplacement of manual paperwork.
1. Hiring Manager reviews applications and selects who he/she
wants to interview.
Hiring Manager
The system will filter out the best qualified candidates to move
forward to the next step/round.
Allows the hiring manager to avoid investing unnecessary time
sorting through applicants manually.
1. Hiring Manager sends email to Administrative Assistant on
who he/she has selected to interview and identifies members of
the interview team.
Hiring Manager
The system will allow an automated message to be sent back to
the administrative department with a time/date.
Reduces errors and misplacement of manual paperwork.
1. AA schedules interviews by contacting interview team
members and hiring manager to identify possible time slots
Administrative Assistant, Interview Team, and Hiring Manager
The system should allow possible time slots available for
candidates to be interviewed in timely fashion involving all
departments.
Reduces feedback time amongst all departments when
corresponding interviews in timely fashion.
1. AA emails candidates to schedule interviews.
The system should allow possible time slots available for
candidates to be interviewed in timely fashion involving all
departments.
Reduces feedback time amongst all departments when
corresponding interviews in timely fashion.
1. Interview is conducted with candidate, hiring manager and
other members of the interview team.
Hiring Manager and Interview Team
Interview is conducted with candidate, hiring manager and

other members of the interview team. (Hiring System is not
used for this step.)
n/a
1. Hiring manager informs the AA on his top candidate for
hiring
Hiring Manager
The system allows the data that’s inputted to be distributed out
to the AA electronically.
Allows processing time of the administrative assistant to be
reduced.
1. AA collects feedback from interviews and status of
candidates
The system allows a collection of data to be consolidated from
what is inputted by the interview team.
Reduces processing time through means of reviewing compiled
data to determine next step.
1. Administrative Assistant prepares offer letter based on
information from recruiter and puts in the mail to the chosen
candidate.
System enables AA to prepare job offer letter by storing the
offer letter template and information on each candidate; allows
AA to select information to go into letter and put it into the
template, which can then be reviewed and emailed to the
candidate.
More efficient offer process presents positive image to
applicants and decreases time needed to prepare offer letter, and
enables MTC to hire in advance of the competition.
B. EXPECTED IMPROVEMENTS
The table below provides information on current issues the
company faces and how with the use of the hiring process they
can be addressed and improved to meet the goals of not only the

company but meet the needs of the client.
Area
Current Issues
(from the Case Study)
Improvements
(due to use of technology)
Collaboration:
The Hiring Manager states that recruiting is only one area he is
responsible for and he isn’t as responsive to HR as he could be.
Therefore, he counts on the Recruiters to help manage the
process and keep him informed.
Current manual system causes considerable communication
breakdowns and takes additional effort and time to stay on top
of the hiring process.
An efficient system with all information in one place, easily
accessible via a dashboard, and updated in real time could make
his recruiting job easier; and he could devote time to effectively
working collaboratively and proactively with HR on his staffing
needs.
Communications: Explain how a hiring system could improve
internal and external communications
There is no proper communication amongst departments as
stated by the hiring manager. The process for screening
applicants, scheduling interviews, identifying qualified
candidates, and getting a job offer are currently not sound or
effective. Turnover rates are high in the IT world, thus
improving communication would be ideal.
The hiring system would provide better communication amongst
different departments within the hiring process by providing
tracking progress on potential hires. Efficient communication to
hires will allow feedback to come at a timely manner with
clients to provide the needs of the customer (Sherman, 2019).
Workflow: Explain how a hiring system could improve the MTC

hiring process by providing a consistent structure for each
participant to perform his/her part in the hiring process.
The Administrative Assistant states when the hiring volume is
up, the AA is then buried in vast amounts of paperwork. The
Administrative Assistant has to balance keeping up with all the
applicants and resumes, track status of applicant, and ensuring
needs are met. Wants to be able to be stay on top of the
workload while supporting the recruiters effectively. Current
manual system causes organization and time efficiency to lack.
Having a hiring system would allow for time spent on sorting
through applicants and filing to be cut down as all the necessary
information would be accessible in the system attached with
data collected through each step of the hiring process. This
system will also allow the Administrative Assistant to improve
scheduling candidates effectively in correlation with other
departments.
Relationships: Explain how implementing an enterprise hiring
system could foster stronger relationships with
applicants/potential employees.
The hiring manager has emphasized that there is no proper
communication, i.e. not being responsive to HR. The hiring
manager heavily relies on the recruiters to stay on top the
recruiting process.
The hiring system will allow feedback time to be cut down, and
will provide accessibility to have automated responses available
in order to allow open communication with different department
and clients. The hiring managers will have data available to pull
from the system to provide to clients about employees who will
be able assigned to certain projects. In turn, this will allow
potential employees to be inputted into the loop in having
details provided to them in an adequate amount of time
(Sherman, 2019).
III. REQUIREMENTS
A. STAKEHOLDERS INTERESTS

The table below shows stakeholders’ specific challenge related
to hiring process and how technology solution provides a way
the hiring process could address the challenge.
Role
Specific problem related to the current hiring process
How a technology solution to support the hiring process could
address the problem
1.CEO
Selecting the right candidate/consultants has been difficult in
meeting the needs that the client is paying for in regards to
contracts.
With the hiring system in place, matching the right candidates
to potential positions posted will benefit the needs of the
company and the clients. This will allow efficiency and cut
unnecessary time spent on filing through applications.
2. CFO
The current technology in place is not cost effective and it’s
inefficient.
The payroll and time-keeping is done manually and needs to
automatically integrate new employees.
The hiring system will allow integration of payroll and time-
keeping accordingly of new employees and provide a cost-
effective solution for the company.
3. CIO
Mobile computing is heavily relied on within the organization,
thus causing conflict of incorporating and viewing portability,
maintenance, and solutions.
Breach of data and security of the clientele’s information is of
concern, additionally compatibility of the system is crucial.
The system will provide a way to incorporate portability,
maintenance, and solutions that are compatible with the system
of hiring. Security breaches will be addressed and become
minimized with proper cybersecurity in place to safeguard
clientele’s information.
4. Director of Human Resources
The current manual process of hiring and meeting demands of

the company and clients are affecting time efficiency and
deadlines.
The hiring system will allow information to be store
automatically which will cut-down time consumption of tedious
duties.
5.Manager of Recruiting
Being in a competitive market, time efficiency is crucial when
performing the duties of hiring new staff.
The system will allow the amount of time spent on processing
applicants to be cut down 15-20% by filtering through
applicants and criteria they meet of the position posted
(Maryland Technology Consultants Case Study, 2018, p.5).
6. Recruiters
Feedback given to the applicants is slow and does not compute
in timely fashion which causes applications to get lost in the
shuffle. Scheduling is not consistent or coordinated well with
everyone involved in the interviewing process.
The system will ensure feedback to applicants is communicated
effectively and efficiently. The system will gather information
appropriately to align the best time frame for interviewers and
interviewees to meet (Gentle, 2018).
7.Administrative Assistant
Applicants and resumes are not being organized in a fashion
where the information is obtainable effectively for the position.
The hiring process will allow paperwork to be minimized and
allow quickly filtering through applicants in selecting possible
candidates.
8. Hiring Manager (Functional supervisor the new employee
would be working for.)
Screening, scheduling, and identifying applicants for the
position is not working effectively and is time consuming.
The system will provide a quick and efficient flow of filtering
through applications and identifying candidates who meet
criteria listed. The system will allow easy scheduling amongst
different departments from HR to hiring managers.

B. DEFINING REQUIREMENTS
MTC is an IT consulting company that requires multiple
requirements between business units. The system will have
requirements that are outlined in the table below that shows
functional and non-functional requirements that coordinate with
the responsible stakeholder (Requirements, 2020).
Requirement ID# only
Requirement Statement
Stakeholder
(Position and Name from Case Study that identified this
requirement)
User Requirements – (What the user needs the system to do)
EXAMPLE
The system must store all information from the candidate’s
application/resume in a central applicant database.
Recruiter – Peter O’Neil
1. Usability
The system must assist in screening applicants.
The system must schedule interviews with preferred applicants.
Hiring Manager
2. Usability
The system must allow resumes to be coordinated to the correct
applicants.
Administrative Assistant – Tom Arbuckle
3. Scalability
The system must cut down time of communication between
recruiters and hiring managers.
The system must allow quick responses to the applicants.
Recruiters – Peter O’Neil, Mike Thomas, and Jennifer

Blackwell
4. Maintainability
The system must minimize obstacles dealing with maintenance
along with making sure that compatibility issues are limited in
regards to hiring new employees.
CIO – Raj Patel
5. Reporting
The system must minimize the process time of hiring applicants
by 15-20% (Maryland Technology Consultants Case Study,
2018, p.5).
Manager of Recruiting – Sofia Perez
System Performance Requirements – (How the system will
perform)
EXAMPLE
The system must be implemented as a Software as a Service
solution.
CIO – Raj Patel
6. Storage
The system must provide a time efficient process to store data
to fulfil hiring demands.
Director of HR – Joseph Cummings
7. Reliability
The system must provide information to be communicated
effectively between recruiters and hiring managers at a faster
pace.
Recruiters – Peter O’Neil, Mike Thomas, and Jennifer
Blackwell
8. Processing
The system must select prospective candidates that meet criteria
of the positions posted.
The system shall schedule interviews in correlation with the
candidates, team of interviewers, and the hiring manager.
Administrative Assistant – Tom Arbuckle
9. Security

The system must provide a back-up information of payroll.
The system shall provide back-up information of time-keeping.
CFO – Evelyn Lui
10. Security
The system must provide software to protect itself from possible
security breaches (Developing Requirements for an IT System,
2020).
CIO – Raj Patel
References
Analyzing Process Improvements Supported by IT. [Course
Content]. (2020). In IFSM 300: Information Systems in
Organizations. Retrieved from
https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/le/content/450763/viewContent/1709
9684/View
Developing Requirements for an IT System [Course Content].
(2020). In IFSM 300: Information Systems in
9686/View
Gentle, S. (2018, July 20). 10 Benefits of a Recruitment
Software. Onrec. Retrieved from
https://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/10-benefits-of-a-
recruitment-software
How Information Supports Decision Making [Course Content].
(2020). In IFSM 300: Information Systems in
9676/View
Information Systems Security [Course Content]. (2020).
In IFSM 300: Information Systems in Organizations. Retrieved
from
9690/View
Maryland Technology Consultants case study [Course
Resources]. (2018). In IFSM300: Information Systems in
Organizations: Spring 2019. Retrieved from

9664/View
Requirements [Course Content]. (2020). In IFSM 300:
Information Systems in Organizations. Retrieved from
9688/View
Sherman, F. (2019, March 07). What Are the Benefits of
Effective Communication in the Workplace? Small Business -
Chron.com. Retrieved from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-effective-
communication-workplace-20198.html
Christensen, D. (2013) Why communication matters in your
business plan. Retrieved from:
-communica!on-
-in-your-business-plan/
-communica!on-
-communica!on-
-communica!on-
Maryland Technology Consultants is a fictitious company
created for the IFSM 300 Case Study.

MTC Case Study 11/23/2019 Ver. 1 1
Maryland Technology Consultants, Inc.
Maryland Technology Consultants (MTC) is a successful
Information Technology consulting firm
that utilizes proven IT and management methodologies to
achieve measurable results for its
customers. Its customer base includes small to mid-tier
businesses, non-profit organizations
and governmental agencies at the local, state and federal levels.
MTC feels strongly that its
success is dependent on the combination of the talent of its IT
consultants in the areas of,
Business Process Consulting, IT Consulting and IT Outsourcing
Consulting and their ability to
deliver truly extraordinary results to their clients.
Corporate Profile
Corporate Name: Maryland Technology Consultants, Inc.
Founded: May 2008
Headquarters: Baltimore, Maryland
Satellite Locations: Herndon, Virginia; Bethesda, Maryland
Number of Employees: 450
Total Annual Gross Revenue: $95,000,000

President and
Chief Executive Officer (CEO): Samuel Johnson
Business Areas
MTC provides consulting services in the following areas:
• Business Process Consulting - Business process redesign,
process improvement, and best
practices
• IT Consulting - IT strategy, analysis, planning, system
development, implementation, and
network support
• IT Outsourcing Consulting – Requirements analysis; vendor
evaluation, due diligence,
selection and performance management; Service Level
Agreements
Business Strategy
MTC's business strategy is to provide extraordinary consulting
services and recommendations
to its customers by employing highly skilled consultants and
staying abreast of new business
concepts and technology and/or developing new business
concepts and best practices of its
own.

Excerpt from the MTC Strategic Business Plan
While the complete strategic plan touches on many areas, below
is an excerpt from MTC’s
latest Strategic Business Plan that identifies a few of MTC's
Goals.
Goal 1: Increase MTC Business Development by winning new
contracts in the areas of IT
consulting.
Goal 2: Build a cadre of consultants internationally to provide
remote research and analysis
support to MTC’s onsite teams in the U. S.
Goal 3: Continue to increase MTC’s ability to quickly provide
high quality consultants to
awarded contracts to best serve the clients’ needs.
Goal 4: Increase MTC’s competitive advantage in the IT
consulting marketplace by increasing its
reputation for having IT consultants who are highly skilled in
leading edge technologies and

innovative solutions for its clients.
Current Business Environment
MTC provides consultants on-site to work with its clients,
delivering a wide variety of IT-related
services. MTC obtains most of its business through
competitively bidding on Requests for
Proposals issued by business, government and non-profit
organizations. A small but growing
portion of its business is through referrals and follow-on
contracts from satisfied clients. MTC
anticipates it will win two large contracts in the near future and
is preparing proposals for
several other large projects.
MTC, as a consulting company, relies on the quality and
expertise of its employees to provide
the services needed by the clients. When it is awarded a
contract, the customer expects MTC
to quickly provide the consultants and begin work on the
project. MTC, like other consulting
companies, cannot afford to carry a significant e number of
employees that are not assigned to
contracts. Therefore, they need to determine the likelihood of
winning a new contract and

ensure the appropriately skilled consultants are ready to go to
work within 60 days of signing
the contract. MTC relies on its Human Resources (HR)
Department to find, research, and assess
applicants so that line managers can review and select their top
candidates and hire
appropriate consultants to meet their needs for current new
contracts. It is very much a "just
in time" hiring situation.
The Headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, houses
approximately 350 employees. Satellite
offices have been opened in the last two years in both Herndon,
Virginia and Bethesda,
Maryland to provide close proximity to existing clients. It is
anticipated that new pending
contracts would add staff to all locations. The management
team believes there is capacity at
all locations, as much of the consultants' work is done on-site at
the clients’ locations.

Strategic Direction
As a small to mid-size business (SMB), MTC recognizes that it
needs to carefully plan its future
strategy. Considering the competitive environment that
contains many very large IT consulting
firms, such as Hewlett-Packard (HP), Booz Allen Hamilton
(BAH), and Science Applications
International Corporation (SAIC), as well as numerous smaller
companies with various skill sets,
market niches, and established customer bases, MTC will be
evaluating how best to position
itself for the future and recognizes that its ability to identify its
core competencies, move with
agility and flexibility, and deliver consistent high quality
service to its clients is critical for
continued success. MTC’s plan for growth includes growing by
7% per year over the next five
years. This would require an increase in consulting contract
overall volume and an expanded
workforce. One area that is critical to a consulting company is
the ability to have employees
who possess the necessary knowledge and skills to fulfill
current and future contracts. Given

the intense competition in the IT consulting sector, MTC is
planning to incorporate a few
consultants in other countries to provide remote research and
analysis support to the on-site U.
S. teams. Since MTC has no experience in the global
marketplace, the Director of HR has begun
examining international labor laws to determine where MTC
should recruit and hire employees.
Challenges
Increased business creates a need to hire IT consultants more
quickly. Overall, the Director of
HR is concerned that the current manual process of recruiting
and hiring employees will not
allow his department to be responsive to the demands of future
growth and increased hiring
requirements. There are currently two contracts that MTC
expects to win very soon will require
the hiring of an additional 75 consultants very quickly. He is
looking for a near-term solution
that will automate many of the manual hiring process steps and
reduce the time it takes to hire
new staff. He is also looking for a solution that will allow MTC
to hire employees located in
other countries around the world.

Management Direction
The management team has been discussing how to ramp up to
fill the requirements of the two
new contracts and prepare the company to continue growing as
additional contracts are
awarded in the future. The company has been steadily growing
and thus far hiring of new
employees has been handled through a process that is largely
manual. The HR Director
reported that his staff will be unable to handle the expanded
hiring projections as well as
accommodate the hiring of the 75 new employees in the
timeframe required. The Chief
Information Officer (CIO) then recommended that the company
look for a commercial off-the-
shelf software product that can dramatically improve the hiring
process and shorten the time it
takes to hire new employees. The Chief Financial Officer
(CFO) wants to ensure that all
investments are in line with the corporate mission and will
achieve the desired return on
investment. She will be looking for clear information that
proposals have been well researched,

provide a needed capability for the organization, and can be
cost-effectively implemented in a
relatively short period of time to reap the benefits. The CEO
has asked HR to work with the CIO
to recommend a solution.
Your Task
As a business analyst assigned to HR, you have been assigned to
conduct an analysis, develop a
set of system requirements, evaluate a proposed solution, and
develop an implementation plan
for an IT solution (applicant tracking system hiring system) to
improve the hiring process. You
have begun your analysis by conducting a series of interviews
with key stakeholders to collect
information about the current hiring process and the
requirements for a technology solution to
improve the hiring process. Based on your analysis and in
coordination with key users you will

produce a Business Analysis and System Recommendation
Report (BA&SR) as your final
deliverable.
Interviews
In the interviews you conducted with the organizational leaders,
you hear the comments
recorded below.
CEO: Samuel Johnson
“While I trust my HR staff to address the nuts and bolts of the
staffing processes, what is
critically important to me is that the right people can be in place
to fulfill our current contracts
and additional talented staff can be quickly hired to address
needs of future contracts that we
win. I can’t be out in the market soliciting new business if we
can’t deliver on what we’re
selling. Our reputation is largely dependent on having
knowledgeable and capable staff to
deliver the services our clients are paying for and expect from
MTC.”
CFO: Evelyn Liu
“So glad we’re talking about this initiative. As CFO, obviously
I’m focused on the bottom line. I

also recognize it’s necessary to invest in certain areas to ensure
our viability moving forward. I
recognize that the current manual hiring process is inefficient
and not cost-effective. Having
technology solutions that improve current process and enable
future functionality is very
important to MTC’s success. We must consider the total cost of
ownership of any technology
we adopt. MTC is run as a lean-and-mean organization and
support processes must be effective
but not overbuilt. We do want to think towards the future and
our strategic goals as well and
don’t want to invest in technology with a short shelf-life.
Along those lines, we currently have a
timekeeping and payroll system that requires input from the
hiring process to be entered to
establish new employees; and to help support our bottom line
financially, any new solution
should effectively integrate with, but not replace, those
systems.

CIO: Raj Patel
“As a member of the IT Department, you have a good
understanding of our overall architecture
and strategy; however, let me emphasize a few things I want to
be sure we keep in mind for this
project. Any solution needs to be compatible with our existing
architecture and systems as
appropriate. Obviously, we have chosen not to maintain a large
software development staff so
building a solution from the ground up does not fit our IT
strategic plan. Our current strategy
has been to adopt Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions that
can be deployed relatively quickly
and leverage industry best practices at a low total cost. In
addition, our distributed workforce
means we are very dependent on mobile computing – this brings
some challenges in term of
portability, maintenance, and solutions that present well on
mobile devices. We’ve been
expanding at a rapid rate and are seeking to expand
internationally so any solution will need to
be viable globally. And last, but certainly not least, MTC’s

success is largely dependent on our
ability to satisfy the requirements of our clients and maintain a
reputation of high credibility,
reliability and security. Any security breach of our applicants’
data could have a devastating
effect to our ability to compete for new business as well as
maintain current clients. Any
technology solution adopted by MTC must contain clear
security measures to control access and
protect data and allow us to use our current security for mobile
links. I recognize that MTC can
no longer rely on a manual hiring process to meet these needs.”
Director of HR: Joseph Cummings
“Thanks for talking with me today. I see this effort as very
important to the success of
MTC. While the recruiting staff has done an excellent job of
hiring top IT consultants, the rapid
growth to date and future plans for expansion have pushed our
recruiting staff, and we
recognize we can no longer meet the hiring and staffing
demands with manual processes. I’m
also interested in solutions that are easy-to-use and can
interface with our existing systems and

enhance processes. I’m willing to consider a basic system that
can grow as MTC grows and
provide more capabilities in the future. I’m sure Sofia, our
Manager of Recruiting, can provide
more specifics.”
Manager of Recruiting: Sofia Perez
“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to begin the
process of finding a technology
solution to support our recruiting processes. In addition to
myself, there are 2-3 full-time
recruiters who have been very busy keeping up with the
increased hiring at MTC; and there are
no plans to increase the recruiting staff. It goes without saying
that a consulting company is
dependent on having well-qualified employees to deliver to our
customers. We’re in a
competitive market for IT talent and want to be able to recruit
efficiently, process applicants
quickly, and move to making a job offer to the best candidate
before the competition snaps
him/her up. When I talk with my colleagues in other
companies, they mention applicant
tracking systems that have enabled them to reduce their hiring
time by 15-20%. I’m so envious

of them and look forward to having our new solution in place
before the next set of contracts
are won and we need to hire 75 (to as many as 150) staff in a 2-
month period. I do not think my
team can handle such an increase in an efficient and effective
manner. On-going growth at
MTC will continue to increase the demands to hire more
consultants quickly. It really seems like
there would be a rapid return on investment in a technology
solution to support and improve
the hiring process.”
Recruiters: Peter O’Neil (along with Mike Thomas and Jennifer
Blackwell)
“This project should have happened 2 years ago but glad it’s
finally getting some attention. As a
recruiter, I’m sort of the middleperson in this process. On one
hand, we have the job applicant
who is anxious to know the status of his/her application and fit

for the advertised position. It’s
important that the recruiters represent MTC well, as we want
the best applicants to want to
come to work for us. Then we have the actual hiring manager in
one of our business areas who
has issued the job requisition and wants to get the best applicant
hired as quickly as possible.
Obviously recruiting is not the hiring manager’s full-time job,
so we’re always competing for
time with other job responsibilities, so we can keep things
moving as quickly as possible. They
provide us with job descriptions to meet the needs of clients and
look to us to screen resumes
and only forward the best qualified applicants to them so they
can quickly identify their top
candidates. Working with Tom, our administrative assistant, we
need interviews to be
scheduled to accommodate everyone’s calendars. After the
hiring managers make their final
selections of who they would like to hire, it is our task to get
the job offers presented to the
candidates - hopefully for their acceptance. Everything is very
time sensitive, and the current
process is not nearly as efficient as it could be. Applications

and resumes can get lost in
interoffice mail or buried in email; and, when a hiring manager
calls us, we often cannot
immediately provide the status of where an applicant is in the
process. This can be very
frustrating all around. Speaking for myself and the other
recruiters, I have high expectations for
this solution. We need to really be able to deliver world-class
service to MTC in the recruiting
and hiring areas to meet the business goals.”
Administrative Assistant: Tom Arbuckle
“I support the recruiters in the hiring process. After the
recruiters screen the resumes and select
the best candidates for a position, my job is to route those
applications and resumes via
interoffice mail to the respective functional/hiring manager,
receive his or her feedback on who
to interview and who should be involved in the interviews,
schedule the interviews based on
availability of applicants and the interview team members,
collect the feedback from the
interview team and inform the assigned recruiter of the status of
each candidate who was

interviewed. In addition to preparing the job offer letter based
on the recruiter’s direction, after
a job offer has been made and accepted, I coordinate the
paperwork for the new hire with HR
and Payroll to ensure everything is ready to go on the first day.
As you can imagine when hiring
volume is up, I’m buried in paperwork and trying to keep all the
applicants and their resumes
straight, track their status in the process, and ensure everyone
has what they need is very
challenging. I love my job, but want to ensure I can continue to
keep on top of the increased
hiring demands and support the recruiting team effectively. Any
tool that would help the
workflow and enable many steps in the process to be done
electronically would be wonderful.”
Hiring Manager (in functional area; this person would be the
supervisor of the new employee
and would likely issue the job requisition to fill a need in

his/her department/team):
“While it’s a good problem to have – new business means new
hires -- the current method for
screening applications, scheduling interviews, identifying the
best qualified applicants, and
getting a job offer to them is not working. My team is evaluated
on the level of service we
provide our clients, and it is very important that we have well-
qualified staff members to fulfill
our contracts. Turnover is common in the IT world and that
along with new business
development, makes the need for hiring new staff critical and
time-sensitive. I confess that
sometimes I’m not as responsive to HR as I should be; but
although hiring new consultants for
the contracts I manage is important to successfully meet the
clients’ needs, this is only one of
several areas for which I’m responsible. I look to the recruiters
to stay on top of this for me. In
the ideal world, I’d like an electronic dashboard from which I
can see the status of any job
openings in my area, information on all qualified candidates
who have applied and where they
are in the pipeline. Electronic scheduling of interviews on my

calendar would be a real time
saver. It’s important that we impress candidates with our
technology and efficiency – after all
we are an IT consulting company—and using manual processes
makes us look bad. And, this
system must be easy to use – I don’t have time for training or
reading a 100-page user’s
manual. Just need to get my job done."
Stage 4: System Recommendation and Final BA&SR Report
Before you begin work on this assignment, be sure you have
read the Case Study and reviewed the feedback received on your
Stage 1, 2 and 3 assignments.
Overview
As the business analyst in the CIO's department of Maryland
Technology Consulting (MTC), your next task in working
towards an IT solution to improve the hiring process at MTC is
to write a justification and implementation plan for a system
that the CIO has decided will meet MTC's needs. The system,
EZ-ATS, is described in the vendor brochure provided with this
assignment. The vendor, UMUC Hiring
Solution

s, Inc., and EZ-ATS are fictitious names created for use with
this case study but based on real-world SaaS application
information. In this Stage 4 assignment, you will explain how
the selected system meets MTC's requirements, and what needs
to be done to implement the system within MTC. You will
combine Stages 1-4 to provide a complete final BA&SR Report.
Assignment – BA&SR Section IV. System Recommendation and
Summary & Conclusion
The first step is to review any feedback from previous stages to
help improve the effectiveness of your overall report and then
add the new section to your report. In addition to the Stage 4
content, part of the grading criteria for this final stage includes
evaluating if the document is a very effective and cohesive
assemblage of the four sections, is well formatted and flows
smoothly from one section to the next
Section IV of the Business Analysis and System
Recommendation Report will explain how the selected system
helps MTC achieve its strategy, improve its hiring process, and
meet its system requirements, and you will explain how each
implementation area might be addressed to help ensure a
successful implementation of the technology solution.

Using the case study, assignment instructions, vendor brochure,
Course readings (in particular, Implementing a SaaS

Week 1 - Assignment Research Topic and QuestionPrior to begi.docx

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