Streamlining of Businees Processes at Ulv

UNIVERSITY OF LA VERNE

La Verne, CA

Streamlining of two Business Processes at ULV

Submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree

of Master of Business Administration

Professor Ala Hijleh

BUS 615, Managing Technologies

Submitted by

Vidya Narayanaswamy: vidhupn@gmail.com

Mehrdad (Tony) Salehpour: Mehrdad.salehpour@laverne.edu

Date Due: March, 11 2015

College of Business and Public Management

Department of Business Administration

Introduction

                Albrecht (2008) pointed out that as more firms adopt paperless technologies, the need for workflow automation has increased. The need is greatest when a firm’s task completion revolves around the use of more than one document (Albrecht, 2008). Similarly, Scichilone (2009) indicated that computer problems or human error might be viewed as a data integrity issue by firm outsiders resulting in possible compliance and other legal issues for a company. Nevertheless, for economical, technological or human reasons, businesses do not operate at the leading edge of technology (Baltzman, 2014). For example, a firm may not have the financial resources to overhaul its IT infrastructure. The leading technology may not be the best available solution, may have a lot of important technical issues, and may produce tremendous cost to the institution in the areas of implementation, training, and maintenance (Baltzman, 2014). Also, the human element manifests itself in long lasting habits of performing certain tasks in specific ways, not wanting to change or learn a new way of executing business processes (Baltzman, 2014).

                Like other organizations, higher education institutions are also under increasing pressure to be competitive, adaptive and efficient through use of the technological tools students have become used to from the commercial sector (Laserfiche, 2014). However, like other organizations, the education sector faces the same financial, technological and human impediments to effective automation of its processes (Laserfiche, 2014). Therefore, this paper presents the need for work flow automation in higher education, and efforts at changing from business-as-is to business-to-be at the University of La Verne.

The Need for Workflow Automation in Higher Education

        Competitive advantage is the key to keep up with new trends in management information systems. Automation and streamlining are key elements in keeping that competitive advantage.  Managing the work flow of multiple processes in real time across departments will result in lowering the cost of administrative functions and reduce valuable time in executing and maintaining those processes (Baltzman, 2014). However, concentrating on the agility of MIS infrastructure does not necessarily mean “cost effective” or “efficient” (Baltzman, 2014, p. 177). All three forms of MIS infrastructure need to interlink in order to meet the demands of its varied users (Baltzman, 2014).