Assignment Case Study
St Cuthbert’s Healthcare
The information on St Cuthbert’s Healthcare provides the basis for your data collection and business case assignment. These assignments require you to investigate the application of information technology and systems in small private hospitals and present a business case for an IT solution that can be adopted by the hospital.
You are required to research the private hospital environment, hospital systems and technology developments, identify an IT solution that could be adopted by St Cuthbert’s Healthcare, and produce a business case report to management with the title: The Business Case for Investing in [insert the name of the IT solution here] at St Cuthbert’s Healthcare.
To understand the issues associated with the hospital and medical fields you should not only rely on the information provided in the case study but also conduct your own research. You should identify the issues that have relevance to a business case and produce a written report from the information available.
Healthcare is very topical and the use of IT in hospitals and connectivity with medical records is a growth area. There is a wealth of information available through the ECU e-library. McKinsey and Gartner for example produce reports and insights into this area. There are some materials provided in the assessment folder to get you started.
You must also consider the ethical and social implications of the implementation of these systems. The assignment will be completed in two parts:
Part 1: Data collection (worth 25%)
You are required to collect data in respect of private hospitals within Australia. Firstly, obtain an understanding of how private hospitals operate: the business context and the key processes. Research IT systems in private hospitals and select an IT solution that could be implemented at St Cuthbert’s. Identify a vendor of the IT solution and establish the solutions the IT vendor provide: functionality of systems, IT architecture, risk and security, costs and benefits, implementation strategy, vendor background information.
It may help you to structure your data collection like this:
The requirements for a private hospital
- What is the business context of St Cuthbert’s Healthcare:
- what is the nature of the business market,
- what challenges do they face,
- what constraints are they under,
- what special regulatory, social and ethical circumstances do they operate in?
- What are areas of breakdown or problems in the practice?
- What processes and services do they perform?
- Who are the key stakeholders, their needs and requirements?
IT solution – vendor and solution
- Who is a Vendor offering IT/software solutions?
- What is their background?
- What functions do they offer?
- What is their architecture?
- What equipment do you need?
- What risks are there in implementation?
- What are the costs and benefits of the solutions?
- How will you proceed with the implementation project (roles and responsibilities?)
This is not a formal report, this is just the input data to the subsequent analysis and business case in Part 2. You may write up some of your data as a well-structured set of tables which contains the key data in a compact form.
There is no word-limit to this part, but DO NOT COPY-PASTE FROM THE VENDOR SITE. Take any relevant data and put it into summary form ready for business case analysis.
It is mandatory that you provide an audit trail of your data collection activities: sources of data (e.g. Internet URL, brochures), dates when the data was obtained (e.g. dates Internet was accessed), the data itself (to be attached in the appendix of your business report).
Part 2: Business Report (worth 45%)
Once you have collected the above data, a formal report should be produced with the following structure (or similar):
Cover Page
• title of report, to whom it is addressed, who has written it, date
1. Executive summary
This summarise the total report. It is neither background information nor an introduction. By reading this summary, the executive is given an overview of the how the analysis was done, what was covered, what were the main findings and recommendations, and what are the limitations of the report. This section should be about one-page long.
2. Key Recommendations
There should be 2-4 primary recommendations and a number of secondary recommendations for each of the primary recommendations. They are derived from the analysis that was completed and the connection should be clear.
3. Strategic Context
A brief overview of private healthcare/hospitals and St Cuthbert’s Healthcare, the challenges they are facing in the healthcare marketplace and also any operational problems, issues or opportunities.
• The business background to the decision, covering the business environment, the current state of St Cuthbert’s Healthcare, the desired future state and actions to bridge the gap.
5. Analysis of the investment
This should cover:
The evaluation approach used in the analysis:
- Financial benefits and costs
- Non-financial benefits and costs
- Risks of implementation
- Organisational change impact
- Real options and future digital opportunities supported by this investment
6. Benefits Realisation
Describe how you can assure management that the benefits claimed will actually be achieved:
- Project governance and oversight
- Risk management
- Target measures
7. Ethical and Social Implications
Describe how you can ensure ethical and legal implications of the system are acceptable:
- Identify relevant ethical and social principles
- Describe and evaluate potential risks and threats to patients and staff (any others?)
- Describe measures to ensure outcomes are acceptable
8. Limitations
This covers any shortcomings of the analysis, e.g. relied on the information provided in the case material and other sources, missing data that is needed to complete the business case.
Appendix
You should include any relevant data that you collected, provide an audit trail and any worksheets.
You should use the material provided in the unit (slides, readings, reports etc.) as well as your own research to develop the business case.
Techniques and Tools
You will be assessed on your use of tools and techniques taught in the course. This includes but is not limited to:
- Strategic context: SWOT analysis, mission statement
- Stakeholders: Customer Journey Map
- Business context: Business Process Model
- Business Target State: Business Process model, Business Model canvas
- Financial Analysis: NPV, ROI, IRR, Breakeven Point
- Non-financial benefits: use of KPIS, balanced scorecard
- Project and social / ethical Risks: risk matrix
- Benefits Realisation: benefits realisation map, causal map
Marking criteria
Concise, written answers to the analysis, demonstrating your understanding of business/IT benefit management issues contained in the case, are required. In other words, marks will be awarded for work that demonstrates a clear understanding of the key issues contained in the case and the application of relevant knowledge you gained from the unit. Your analysis will be assessed according to the marking schedule shown below.
| Submission information Weighting | These two assignments account for 70% of the assessment for the unit. |
| Max-Min length | The data collection has no word limit, as it consists of data you collect and summarise (25%) Part 2 should be no more than 3500 words (45%) |
| Due Date and Time | See unit plan |
| Submission | Blackboard Turnitin |
| Format | Individual, written |
When put together the whole assignment should reflect a professional standard. The written parts of the report should be no more than 3500 words (excluding references).
If you write more than 3,500 they will not be read or marked!
Learning outcomes
Completing this assignment will primarily develop professional knowledge in IT benefit management and value realisation and information literacy.
- Explain the major activities and techniques involved in IT/IS value management.
- Define the role of governance in IT/IS value management • Construct a business case to support an investment in IT/IS.
- Assess the impacts of IT implementation on diverse stakeholders, including from an ethical or social perspective.
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