1. Company description
Industry and company goals and objectives:
Idaho Power Company (IPC) originally filed for its incorporation on May 6, 1915 in Maine. Later, the IPC was reincorporated in 1998 as a subsidiary of IDACORP Inc. in Idaho. The firm is involved in the sale, purchase, generation, distribution as well as the transmission of electricity in the eastern Oregon and southern Idaho. The firm operates two natural gas plants, hydroelectric dams as well as coal plants (IPC, 2013). The 33 per cent of the power of the IPC comes from hydroelectric power, 28 per cent from the other generation firms while the 39 per cent of the power is sourced from the thermal power. The firm operates in the electrical generation and distribution industry.
There are a number of goals that are explored by the Idaho Power Company. First, there is the goal that is geared towards the cutting of the levels of the emissions that are released by half by 2020. The other goal of the firm is to be able to undertake partnerships that will spur economic development in the areas where the firm is engaged in the operations for instance Idaho Power is a key partner in the different efforts to improve the economy of Idaho based on the Project 60 goals by the governor of Idaho (IPC, 2013).
Company culture
The organizational culture of IPC is focused on the safety of the employees and the environment, the focus on the integrity of the members of the organization and the respect for the different stakeholders for instance the employees, the suppliers, the customers and the other industry players (IPC, 2013).
Market position and how this impacts the investment in IT
The firm holds the highest market share in the industry in Idaho. The firm focuses on the way through which they can enhance the reliability and the accuracy of the service and the billing of the customers respectively (IPC, 2013). Therefore, the firm is being aided by the need to be able to offer the different services promptly to the customers. IPC has thus focused on IT hardware and software investments to be able to achieve the goals.
Work System Snapshots
The IT in the organization is used for the business processes and for the customer relationships. The customers can be able to read their meters, make their payments as well as learn about the rates and make the enquiries about the products or any other issues that they may have (Van, 2001). The business processes that entail the use of the IT at IPC include the ,production of the power, billing of the customers, CRM and the power distribution to the different customers who are found in the market.
3. Profile of individual interviewed
The person who was interviewed is Steven Carlton who is the Power Production Information Technology Support Manager at IPC. There are a number of roles that he undertakes in the firm for instance he is usually in charge of the different projects that are undertaken in the firm. Therefore, he makes the decisions about the IT projects that are to be implemented in the firm. Also, he is the team leader in the IT support thus he engages in the making of the decision with regards to the support functions that are to be provided to the firm, the different stakeholders and the customers of the firm (Interview).
4.
1. IT Department and staff
a. CIO title and reports to whom
The CIO of the firm is Dennis Gribble. He is the Vice President and Chief Information Officer of IPC. The CIO, Dennis Gribble, reports to CEO, who is Lamont Keen
b. IT department title, number and allocation of staff (refer to an Org chart)
The title of the IT department is Power Production IT Support and it has 8 staff members who are involved in the undertaking of the different operations (Webster & Robins, 1986).
c. Percent of the IT budget of the total budget
The IT budget of the department takes up 100 per cent of the total IT budget of the firm. This is based on the fact that this is the only IT department in the firm.
d. Analysts resident and reporting to user departments?
There are a total of 8 staff members who report to the CIO of IPC. They engage in the different support functions that are required by the different individuals that are found in the organization
e. Are users project leaders at your organization?
Not all of the users of the IT system are project leaders. The project leadership comes based on the skills and the competence of the different individuals that are found in the firm.
f. Outsource of functions
There are no functions that are undertaken by the IT department of the firm that are outsourced as all the functions are undertaken in-house. This is due to the fact that the costs are properly managed and the employees have the requisite skills to complete the functions.
g. Number of new hires last year and number of these who were entry level
In the last year, the IT department did not make any hires as the capacity of the department remained the same and there was no turnover. The employees are highly committed to the firm due to the high levels of motivation in terms of good working conditions and appropriate pay and reward structures (Berg, & Schumny, 1990).
h. Average time IT staff stay or a turnover statistic
There has been no turnover in the embedded IT department staff of 8 for the last 10 years. The employees are still youthful, highly committed and highly appreciated by the department.
i. Number of IT layoffs in last budget year and at what level
The solid performance of the firm in the last couple of years has led to strong financial position thus the firm has not laid off any employees due to its capacity to pay the salaries and wages.
2. Is there a Web team? What is the Web team called, and where does it report?
Yes. The web team of the firm is called The Spillway Web Team which reports directly to the CIO on the different developments that they have made.
3. Systems development life cycle
a. Methodologies used to develop systems
Waterfall Methodology is used when the IT projects are not complex and thus would follow a linear sequence (Schniederjans, Hamaker & Schniederjans, 2010). The Agile methodology is used when change have to be introduced midway or when a product needs to be delivered at each stage of the software development.
b. Percentage of purchased packages vs. in-house development
Majority of the packages that are used by the department are purchased (90 per cent) while the rest are developed in-house.
c. Project team assignment
It is important to note that the department undertakes different developments thus all the members of the department- including the interns- usually serve a project leaders.
d. Learn what you can about an ongoing or recently completed development effort
The ongoing project by the IPC is the display monitor for power usage in Idaho. The total budget that was committed to the project is $200,000. The project is to be completed by December 2013. The team was composed of the Power Production Information Technology Support Manager, two interns and another member of staff at the firm. The project management software that was used is the
e. Capability Maturity Model rating
The display monitor is low maturity and a number of bugs need to be fixed. It is important to note that such bugs will be fixed and by the end of the development period the software will be high maturity (Ray, 2004).
f. Offshore software development projects, vendors, onsite activity
The department does not outsource any projects. However, the firm purchase completed software packages while only 10 percent of the packages are developed by the firm.
4. Hierarchy of information systems
a. AI applications
The department does not have any AI applications currently
b. DSS applications
The department does not have any decision support system applications. However, it would be important to develop such capabilities in the future.
c. MIS reports
The MIS reports in the organization play an important role in the decision making for instance the making of the decision with regards to which employees to deploy on which projects.
d. TPS
TPS plays an important role in the division of the work into individual and indivisible operations that can then be undertaken by the employees of the firm.
e. Mobile
Mobile usage in the firm is limited to the access of the emails and the access to the intranet of the firm.
f. Support of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)
BYOD at IPC supports the access to the intranet and the access of the emails.
5. Hardware
a. Numbers and types of platforms
The firm has one mainframe computers, has 7 servers and there are 30 workstations that are found in the department. There are over 300 PCs that are used in the department in the firm.
b. Critical input/output devices particular to your firm and industry
There are handheld devices that are used to monitor water information, the IE temperature, flow rate, volume as well as the monitoring of power usage and production.
c. Cloud services
Cloud computing is currently not extensively used in the firm. The service is majorly used in the employee documentation.
6. Software
a. Type of OS for each platform, critical applications
Billing system for utilities, the HR operations in the department and the CRM makes use of a mix of OS for instance the firm makes use of both Windows Server 2005 and 2008, Linux and Windows 7. The latter is mostly used for the general administrative operations and project planning.
b. Programming languages used for legacy and new development
There are three main programming languages that are used in the firm. They include JavaScript, vb.net and C#.net
c. Collaborative software
Team Foundation Server .NET is the only collaborative software that is used in the firm. It is used for agile development practices and application lifecycle management (Doyle, 2000).
d. Office automation software and policies
Automation software used includes Ms. Excel, Ms. Word and PowerPoint.
7. Database management systems (DBMS)
a. Name of DBMS used across platforms
The DBMS in the firm is undertaken through the use of SQL and Oracle.
b. Critical application databases
The customer information databases are undertaken through the use of the SQL and Oracle (Interview).
c. Database administrator on staff
There are 5 database administrators on staff at the department (Interview).
8. Telecommunications
a. Number of LANs and WANs
IPC has four LANs i.e. for video surveillance, for the company IT network, for the GRID operations and the for Craft network; the communication between the substations and the sites. The LANs are connected through the Firewall to the IT network. There are no WANs at the firm (Interview).
b. Internet service providers
The firm has two internet service providers (ISPS). They include Clearwire and Cable One (Interview)
c. Intranet
Yes
d. Extranet
Yes (Interview)
e. Use of wireless
Yes (Interview)
f. EDI with suppliers
Typically use of XML trying to move away from EDI (IPC, 2013).
g. e-Commerce activity with customers and suppliers and security employed to do
E-commerce with customers and suppliers through the webpage of the firm. The security employed is IPsec (Stoyles, Pentland, & Demant, 2003).
h. Videoconferencing
Videoconferencing is not used in the firm due to the fact that the premises of the firm are in one location (Interview).
i. Global transmission and issues with foreign countries and cultures
No global transmissions as the power are mostly supplied in Idaho and the neighboring states (IPC, 2013).
9. Management perspective (SWOT Analysis)
a. Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths include the good knowledge of business practices and processes and the ability to provide custom software based on needs thus ensuring the success of the firm (Stoyles, Pentland, & Demant, 2003). The weaknesses of the firm include the embedded IT especially due to difficulty in back-up, difficulty in the streamlining of the functionality and the problems brought about by the evolution of the technology.
b. Threats and opportunities
The main threat is the cost escalation that may force the firm to outsource some of the functions (Khosrowpour, 2003). The opportunity that exists in the ability to continue to provide software solutions tailored to exactly what the users want.
c. Issues and implication for the organization
The firm must focus on the ways through which the knowledge of the business practices can be used to minimize the threats of the cost escalation. Secondly, there is the need to focus on the development of functional software that will help the firm to be able to achieve its goals.
5. Conclusions
The firm has a very stable IT department that will continue to play an important role in the success of the firm. The e-commerce is one IT application that has helped to reduce the costs while also ensuring greater reliability of the service and the billing of the clients of the firm.
6. References
Berg, J. L., & Schumny, H. (1990). An analysis of the information technology standardization process: Proceedings of international symposium on information technology standardization, Brunswick, F.R.G., 4-7 July 1989. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Doyle, S. (2000). Understanding information & communication technology. Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes.
Interviews
IPC (2013). Idaho Power Company. Web. http://www.idahopower.com/
Khosrowpour, M. (2003). Information technology & organizations: Trends, issues, challenges & solutions. Harrisburg, Pa., U.S.A: Idea Group Pub.
Ray, A. K. (2004). Information technology: Principles and applications. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India.
Schniederjans, M. J., Hamaker, J. L., & Schniederjans, A. M. (2010). Information technology investment: Decision-making methodology. Singapore: World Scientific.
Van, G. W. (2001). Information technology evaluation methods and management. Hershey, PA: IRM Press.
Webster, F., & Robins, K. (1986). Information technology: A luddite analysis. Norwood, N.J: Ablex Pub. Corp.
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