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Conferences Presentations by James Robertson 40 to 59 -- 1996 to 2005

Legacy Presentations by James Robertson on diverse topics, please browse to see what is available

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Conferences 40 to 59

59      Robertson, J A (2005) The Critical Factors for Information Technology Investment Success.  IT Service Management Forum SA, 6th Annual Conference and Exhibition, August 2005.

57      Robertson, J A (2004) The Critical Factors for Information Technology Investment Success.  Colloquium at the School of Information Technology at the University of Pretoria, May 2004.

56      Robertson, J A (2004) Seamlessly Integrating Information Technology Into the Business.  Information Technology Service Management Forum of South Africa Annual Conference, May 2004.

55      Robertson, J A (2003) Evaluating Current Medico Legal Practices to Determine Whether or Not they are Conducive to Effective Health Management.  The 2nd Annual Medico Legal Symposium 2003, July 2003

54      Robertson, J A (2002) A  Holistic View of Information Systems as a Context to Business Intelligence Business Intelligence Symposium, October 2002

53      Robertson, J A (2002) Some Thoughts On Is An Engineering Maintenance Manage­ment Methodology Coupled With A Radical Rethink About Clinical Data Code Design The Answer To Radically Improved Health Care In The New Millennium?  2nd Annual Clinical Data Management Symposium 2002, July 2002.

053 - Engineering Maintenance Management Methodology With Radical Rethink About Clinical Data Code Design

2nd Annual Clinical Data Management Symposium 2002 -- July 2002

The current clinical data codes, ICD 10 and CPT 4 are exceptionally weak as information classification, management and analysis tools and massively inhibit the creation of clever clinical and medical software, there is a huge opportunity to redesign these codes and use the resulting intelligent codes to develop very sophisticated health management systems drawing on engineering maintenance management and other techniques in order to provide solutions for areas and countries with a limited number of healthcare practitioners

 

Some Thoughts on Is an Engineering Maintenance Manage­ment Methodology Coupled with a Radical Rethink about Clinical Data Code Design the Answer to Radically Improved Health Care in the New Millennium?

by Dr James A Robertson

We routinely travel in commercial aircraft for thousands of kilometres and view it as a major event when mechanical faults delay departure.  Mechanically related in-flight failures are major events in worldwide news reports since they are so extremely uncommon.

While the human body is immensely complex, it is arguable whether there are more discrete components and systems in the human body than in any of the modern generation of airliners.  Yet catastrophic failure of major human body systems is far more common than comparable system failure of aircraft, nuclear power stations and other comparably complex systems.

It can be argued that the level of variation between different human beings is greater than that between aircraft.  However consideration of the diversity of aircraft ranging from F15 fighter aircraft, through Boeing 747 Jumbo Jets to heavy lift transports such as the C130 Hercules and the wide diversity of helicopters in the air today, must indicate that the overall diversity of human form is FAR LESS than that of aircraft.

If we consider all aspects of the complexity and diversity of modern flying machines and the extremely low in-flight mechanical failure rate, we must surely ask ourselves whether modern human maintenance management lags seriously behind the standards of maintenance management applied to advanced engineering systems such as nuclear power stations, spacecraft and aircraft of all sorts.

An enormous amount of human maintenance management, that is medical care, is reactive in response to manifestation of symptoms of unwellness.  As much as the health care industry may strive to take measures to introduce preventative healthcare measures, honest introspec­tion must lead us to conclude that something is lacking.

An objective technical analysis of health maintenance manage­ment techniques compared to the highly sophisticated predictive maintenance management techniques applied in the aeronautical industry must lead to a conclusion that there is a major gulf between what is routinely successfully applied to keep aircraft from falling out of the sky or suffering crippling or disabling failures on the ground or in the air and the measures applied to managing the health of human kind!

The reason for this gulf, despite the massive investments and massive per capita expenditure on health insurance / medical aid is a fundamentally different approach.

From the inception of design throughout the operating life of any major commercial or military aircraft, sophisticated computerized risk management systems monitor operating conditions and other indicators which are applied to determine when repair, replacement or refurbishment of components is statistically required in order to meet the criteria of millions of event free air miles that are standard in the industry.

To the best of the writer's knowledge no comparable system is operating anywhere in the health care industry and there are fundamental factors which stand in the way of such an objec­tive.

It is the writer's contention that the factors which are preventing such a quantum improvement in health management are:

1) the lack of an industry vision that such an approach is possible.

2) the bias of the industry toward reactive health insurance instead of health management.

3) the lack of suitable structured data coding systems to make effective technical health maintenance management possible.

Given the trends in the health insurance industry in recent years and particularly developments in South Africa in the past three years, there must surely be those who would embrace a vision of effective health management were such a vision to be effectively presented within a set of parameters which indicate that it can be made to work.  In other words, factors 1 and 2 are relatively easily overcome by people with vision within the industry.

The major challenge facing the industry lies in point 3.

It is this point which makes this subject relevant and topical to a conference on Clinical Data Management.

On a technical level, viewed from the perspective of acquisition, storage, processing and interpretation of computer based data, the single biggest factor, and perhaps the last frontier in clinical computer application, is the lack of effective engineered data codes and data acquisition.

ICD9 and ICD10 while supposedly essentially diagnostic codes contain components which link back to the cause of injury, the type of vehicle involved and a wide diversity of other factors.  Collectively these represent literally dozens of different techni­cal data entities all lumped into one coding scheme.  The net effect is that any form of automated, reproducible interpreta­tion of clinical indicators based on ICD requires enormous technical complexity in the software which then becomes proprietary, copyright and inconsistent across the diversity of software applications available internationally.  The lack of congruency and conformity between ICD9 and ICD10 is a further indicator of the extremely unhealthy state of healthcare information coding, particularly when contrasted with the exceptionally high levels of standardization in component specification, classification and description that pertains in the Engineering industry.

CPT4 and CPT5 are supposedly essentially treatment and procedure codes to be used for billing but code components range over a diversity of factors which overlap with ICD and include variable parameters such as time embedded as code components.  Again dozens of individual technical data entities are lumped into one omnibus code system which defies simple, elegant and reproducible analysis directed at developing predictive measures of health condition that can be mobilized sufficiently early on to indicate preventative adjustment at a level that will prevent the occurrence of disabling or fatal conditions.

Going beyond the limitations of ICD and CPT as maintenance management software support tools the lack of industry standardization of available measurements further mitigates against effective human maintenance management.  For example, the ECG is a widely used device for measuring heart condition and performance and ECG response to stress is an important indicator of future heart attack.  However, following detailed research a few years ago, the writer was unable to locate any standard computer based techniques for describing in detail the wave form, amplitude pattern, frequency pattern and other characteristics of the ECG test result.  The sole data acquired from an average ECG is an overall, experience based, categorization of the resulting output into what amounts to categories of good, bad or imminently dangerous.  The reality must be that the use of digital ECG devices provides an opportunity for numerical acquisition and analysis of the ENTIRE wave form at a level of technical detail that will enable even the most minute aberration to be identified and tracked by computer thus permitting effective early diagnosis and prescription of correcting behaviour years before the deviation becomes visible to the naked eye of even the most experienced medical practitioner.

Armed with data acquisition tools such as these, harnessed to technically sound first principles design of structured codes which exactly capture all aspects of the human condition, effective probabilistic techniques linked to existing data ware­house and data mining technology have the potential to support a quantum leap in HEALTH MANAGEMENT techniques.

All that is lacking is for a significant player to seize the vision and finance the development work that is necessary to put together the solution.

52      Robertson, J A (1998) I.T. Management for Non-I.T. Managers.  Two Day Course for AIC Training, June 1998.

51      Robertson, J A (1997) I.T. Management for Non-I.T. Managers.  Two Day In-house Course on Behalf of AIC Training for Shell and B P Refineries, July 1997.

50      Robertson, J A (1997) How to Develop an Effective Contractual Framework for Purchas­ing Informa­tion Technology Related Services to Overcome the 70% Project Failure Rate.  Seminar and Workshop on Effective I.T. Service Purchasing, Rand­burg, May 1997.

49      Robertson, J A (1997) The Real Issues in Information Technology (Why 70% of Corpor­ates are Dissatisfied with their I.T. Investments).  Paper presented at the Informa­tion Technology Management Forum '97, Sandton, June 1997.

48      Robertson, J A (1997) Effectively Integrate the IT Strategy into the Vision and Strategy of the Business.  Paper presented at the Information Technology Manage­ment Forum '97, Sandton, June 1997.

47      Robertson, J A (1997) FMIS Renewal as a Platform for Re-Engineering.  Paper pres­ented at the Conference on Financial Management Information Systems, Sandton, May 1997.

46      Nelson, J and Robertson, J A (1997) Insourcing : Restructuring the I.T. Depart­ment for Better Business Focus and Increased Effectiveness.  Armscor Case Study. Paper presented at the Outsour­cing Information Technology Conference, Johannesburg, March 1997.

046 - Insourcing: Restructuring the I.T. Department for Better Business Focus and Increased Effectiveness -- Armscor Case Study

Conference on Outsourcing Information Technology -- 18 March 1997

Insourcing: Restructuring the I.T. Department for Better Business Focus and Increased Effectiveness

Armscor Case Study

By Mr Jof Nelson, I.T. Business Support Manager: Armscor and Dr James A Robertson PrEng


1.  INTRODUCTION

I.T. in business over the years has frequently raised expectations which have not been satisfied.  Frequently, organizations resort to restructuring the I.T. function in order to overcome management's dissatisfaction with the failure of I.T. to meet their expectations.  Robertson has over a number of years at conferences in South Africa, Munich, London and Tel Aviv reported that indications are that management of in excess of 70% of corporations are dissatisfied with the performance of their I.T. Departments.  At the same conferences, a diagnosis of the major factors has been presented and proposals made for addressing the "real issues".  In December 1995, the opportunity to test these concepts in practise arose when Differentiated Strategic Solutions was appointed by Armscor on open tender to develop the new Armscor I.T. Strategy.  Jof Nelson was the client Project Manager on the project.  This paper overviews the process that was adopted and reports on the results one year later.

The process involved a market focused strategic analysis of the I.T. environment at Armscor which gave rise to a user satisfaction rating of 42% in which it was found by the consultants that, while the Technology aspects of I.T. at Armscor were of a World Class standard, most of the soft issues identified by Robertson were not receiving adequate attention and this was the source of dissatisfaction.  A comprehensive Strategic gap analysis was undertaken and from this a detailed three year strategic action plan was developed.  Armscor have been engaged in the implementation of this plan since June 1996.

As a result of the I.T. Strategy, the Armscor I.T. Department has significantly refocused on business service and business effectiveness and significant improvements have been experienced.  The paper outlines some of the steps that have been taken and some of the benefits that are already being experienced.  It is concluded that the implementation of a market focused I.T. Strategy at Armscor has given rise to a situation where outsourcing is unlikely to be found necessary and where insourcing has been found viable.


2.  PROCESS OVERVIEW

The I.T. Strategy process applied in this particular case comprised the following major components:

a.    Executive Workshops

A total of five workshops were held with approximately 100 middle to senior managers.  In these workshops, the issues giving rise to I.T. underperformance were highlighted and a series of Critical Success Factor determinations for different aspects of I.T. were undertaken.  As a consequence of the market focused strategic analysis, it was determined that there was a considerable gap between the expectations of users and what was being delivered.  It was also established that the gap lay in areas not traditionally addressed by I.T. Departments.

b.   Systems and Technology Audit

A high level systems and technology audit was undertaken of all I.T. systems, processes, etc.  The conclusion reached was that there was little room for improvement and that the technical aspect of I.T. services was of a world class standard.  It was clear that the level of dissatisfaction expressed by users had very little to do with technology.  Accordingly, it was recommended that a number of technology projects should receive lower priorities than previously intended and the focus of the strategy project was directed at addressing the major shortcomings identified by the user workshops.  It was concluded that significant opportunities existed for improving user satisfaction without incurring major capital expenditure.

c.    Strategic Gap Analysis

Having determined that a strategic gap between actual and expected service levels existed in every I.T. service area, a series of workshops were held with I.T. management during which the detailed steps that could be taken to close the strategic gap were identified and documented.  Significant reference was made to the "real issues" identified by Robertson.

d.   Strategic Action Plan

Having determined the steps to close the strategic gap, an intensive series of workshops were held to develop the Strategic Action Plan.  This plan involved the systematic and iterative walkthrough of the gap actions in order to allocate responsibilities, time frames, required internal and external manpower requirements, capital expenditure implications and expected financial and service level benefits.  In the process of iteratively developing the plan with two alternative manpower scenarios, a high level of understanding of the implications of the plan was obtained thus resulting in a high level of plan ownership by the management team.  This resulted in a plan which, to date, has been implemented with no further external input.

e.  Implementation

The I.T. Management team have been involved with the implementation of the plan since mid 1996 and subsequent sections outline in more detail what has been done.


3.  OUTCOME OF I.T. STRATEGY

As a consequence of the I.T. Strategy Project at Armscor, the I.T. Department re-evaluated it's position and focus on a number of different fronts including:

a.    I.T. Position in Armscor

I.T. in Armscor is located in the Finance and Administration Division and will remain in this division for the foreseeable future.  As a consequence of this positioning, the I.T. Department had always regarded itself as purely a demand driven service provider rather than a partner with the business users.  The I.T. Strategy clearly identified that I.T. should seek to enter into a partnership relationship with the rest of the organization paying particular attention to it's role as a specialist advisor dedicated to identifying opportunities to add value to the core business operation.

b.    Type of Services Rendered

In the past Armscor I.T. concentrated on delivering services as requested.  A consequence of this approach was that projects were undertaken without consideration of the business benefit and in many cases, the nett effect was that the I.T. Department was perceived not to be adding value to the Corporation.   I.T. is now giving careful consideration to the business problem that requires solution and seeking to be proactive in identifying the business problem that the user is seeking to address and thereafter making recommendations as to the most appropriate value adding solution.  The possibility of a "do nothing" recommendation is now recognized.

c.     Tasks Performed by I.T.

I.T. previously provided technology services such as programming and technical support.  Today I.T. is seeking to be proactive in advising the business and understanding the business environment and business opportunities.  The medium term objective is to reach a point where I.T. identify business opportunities before the business user and assist the user to turn these opportunities into effective business solutions that truly add value to the stakeholders in Armscor.

d.    What are I.T. Starting to Do

I.T. are now starting to send staff to work with business users for a period in order to understand the business and the practical problems associated with using I.T. in the business context.  Recruitment is now focusing on personnel who have the ability to understand the business users and to communicate effectively with them.  Business users are being invited to spend time in I.T. in order to gain a better understanding of what I.T. has to offer and the practical constraints on introducing new solutions.  Business users are being actively involved in projects.

e.    What are I.T. Stopping

I.T. are actively seeking to stop thinking in a technology blinkered fashion and waiting for users to bring problems and requests to I.T.  I.T. is now actively approaching the business with possible solutions that will add value and with recommendations to eliminate value destroying use of I.T.

f.   How I.T. Should Do What They Must Do

I.T. are seeking to get away from the old, "conservative" I.T. Department approach and change to be more business benefit oriented with open communication with the business users.  The focus is on redefining the I.T. shop to be seen by the business users as value adding.

g.  Implement Business Case

I.T. are moving towards a model where projects are only undertaken if there is a clear business case to demonstrate that value will be added to the business by the project.  If a clear business case demonstrating value added cannot be developed and delivered, then projects are not undertaken.


4.  REVISIT THE I.T. ORGANOGRAM

After careful consideration of the impact of the I.T. Strategy on the I.T. Department, it became apparent that the old Department structure was no longer appropriate.  Accordingly, the Management Team undertook a detailed analysis of the existing structure and the structure that was appropriate to achieving the strategic objectives.  As a consequence, significant changes were implemented.

In particular, the department was restructured towards a business unit model with it's own administrative and financial sections.  The change in operational focus was also reflected by the introduction of a Business Support and marketing section.  The development section was refocused on the total system life cycle and a call desk was implemented in order to provide central liaison and communication irrespective of the service required.

Psychological testing was introduced in order to ensure that personnel were matched with different groups of users in order to minimize personality clashes resulting from incompatible personality styles and also to ensure that personnel were suited to their positions in terms of their natural personality preferences.


5.  I.T. ALWAYS THOUGHT AND PRACTISED I.T.

I.T. had always thought of themselves as purely a technology department.  As a result of the strategy, I.T. started to move towards thinking of themselves as business solution providers.  In particular:

a.     User Business Control

I.T. recognized the need to give the users control over the business direction of any project and to interact with them in order to determine exactly what the business problem and business objective were.

I.T. are also involving users in the project management of I.T. projects.  In this way, I.T. are able to draw on the extensive project management experience of the business users thus avoiding past suggestions that I.T. was doing a second rate project management job and ignoring the expertise of the business users.  As a consequence, business users are now gaining a much more realistic understanding of the realities of I.T. projects and are no longer making unreasonable demands in terms of deadlines and deliverables.  The user is now far more involved in establishing the project plan and in ensuring compliance.  The result is more realistic planning on both sides.

b.    Make it Fun

The more you know about anything the easier it is to contribute and give worthwhile input, this makes the work more enjoyable.  A job well done and well received is far more satisfying and enjoyable.  There is a lot of satisfaction to be gained to solving a user's problem before he realises that it exists.

c.   Understand the User's Problem

An I.T. person who understands the user's problem is able to offer meaningful solutions.  Many I.T. people spend much of their time trying to solve the technical problem they think the user has rather than understanding the business problem.  In many cases, the solution may not be a technical solution, changes in business process, implementation of better standards and many other business focused actions are often called for in order to solve a problem that was previously seen to be a technical problem.  A major benefit is that I.T. are no longer seen to be making the problem worse.


6.  THINK BUSINESS

Flowing from the above, a fundamental paradigm shift is in process, the I.T. personnel are learning to STOP THINKING I.T. and START THINKING BUSINESS.  In order to do this, I.T. are starting to work with the users and learn business terms, the business of the business is the business of I.T.

I.T. personnel are participating in and managing non‑I.T. projects or subsets thereof such as the current BPR project.

Considerable emphasis is placed on encouraging and equipping I.T. staff to listen to users rather than telling business users how they should run the business.  As a direct result, I.T personnel are learning to speak the user's language.  The improved understanding is greatly reducing miscommunication and solving of non-existent problems giving rise to new problems that were not there in the first place.  End result : more satisfied users at lower overall cost, a WIN WIN situation.

The focus on becoming part of the business requires that I.T. stop trying to be different.  In the past, I.T. personnel tended to go out of their way to dress differently and behave differently.  There was a "them" and "us" mentality.  Today, that is being actively discouraged and the focus is on becoming an integral part of the business.  At the same time, by becoming part of the team, the I.T. staff are starting to get in behind the scenes in the business where the business of the business really happens.  This can only take place once I.T. has earned acceptance and respect as part of the team.


    7.  USER INVOLVEMENT

As indicated previously, a vital consequence of the new I.T. direction has been a recognition that the users have considerable expertise that is of value to I.T. and is necessary for a successful project outcome.  Flowing from this recognition, users are being invited to work in the I.T. Department and to run I.T. projects.  In those cases where the user has the necessary expertise, I.T. has even gone so far as to appoint the user as the chief system designer.  I.T. simply provide the necessary services to assist the user achieve his stated objective and advise as necessary.

8.  WORK TOGETHER

The emphasis on becoming part of the business, improved communication and understanding has brought about a culture in which I.T. are now actively seeking to form relationships and even partnerships with the business community within the corporation.

By giving the users what they want in the way they want, it levels of user satisfaction are improving.  The number of satisfied users is steadily increasing.

In seeking to achieve user satisfaction, the I.T. department is seeking to reverse the normal I.T. tendency of over promising and under delivering.  Today the slogan is "under promise - over deliver".  I.T. staff are encouraged to be honest with users in terms of deadlines, problem understanding, lack of knowledge, etc.  Users value honest answers, the truth comes out eventually anyway.

At the same time, I.T. have recognized that there will be differences in opinion but that there is a responsibility on the part of I.T. to "sell the difference in opinion" where they can see pitfalls or uncertainties which the user does not recognize.

Working together with users to set deadlines and targets greatly improves the likelihood of achievable targets.

9.  CONCLUSION

By stepping back from the situation and appointing outside specialists to evaluate the real needs of the internal markets, Armscor I.T. were confronted with a major gap in between the level of service that they thought they were delivering as compared to the user's opinion of the service.  

After the initial shock, the I.T. Department recognized that this presented a great opportunity for improvement and wholeheartedly committed themselves to developing the I.T. Strategy to a point where the action plan was sufficiently detailed for implementation.

The recognition of the need for user and market focus also caused I.T. to take their eyes off technology and place them on the business with a resulting reduction in technology spend and increase in efforts to understand the business and get to know the users.  The outcome to date has been a significant increase in the level of user satisfaction and a steady move towards I.T. being viewed as a business partner rather than technology freaks always seeking to spend money on new toys.

This has opened the way for the Armscor I.T. Department to deliver a quality, value adding service to the Corporation which is expected to largely eliminate debates about centralized versus decentralized I.T. as well as eliminating much of the pressure which might otherwise have built up for outsourcing.  The final outcome is expected to be a more integrated and effective business I.T. service than could be achieved by implementing an artificial commercial profit boundary between I.T. and the business which is the current trend with outsourcing.  The long term benefits of insourcing in this way are expected to be considerable.

FOOTNOTE : ARMSCOR

Armscor is the main procurement and acquisition agency for the South African National Defence Force.  Armscor offers the SANDF a full range of procurement and acquisition services covering the full spectrum of concept development to final delivery of sophisticated custom weapons and defence systems.

FOOTNOTE : dS2

Differentiated Strategic Solutions (dS2) is a firm of independent business informa­tion system specialists concentrating on offering I.T. and management consultancy services and bespoke system development on a project basis with a strong emphasis on strategic solutions and on creating and sustaining competitive advantage.  Through associates in The MaXus Group and other associated specialists they are able to provide a wide range of additional consulting and other services in support of the concepts outlined in this paper.  dS2 can be contacted on (011) 886-9863, fax 787-0132.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS : ARMSCOR

The permission of Armscor to publish this case study is acknowledged with thanks as is the contribution of the Armscor I.T. Management team to spent long hours on the Strategy development with fervour and commitment and who have taken the Strategic plan and run with it's implementation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS : dS2

The contribution of our clients, associates and staff, without whom we would not have had the opportunity to evolve and develop these concepts is gratefully acknowledged.  The contribution of my partner and co-director, Ettienne du Preez is particularly acknowledged.

It is also dedicated to Ingrid and my children Alexandra and Struan and my parents, Angus and Thelma without whose support the knowledge shared in this paper would never have been acquired.

DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to God our Father, His Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit Who is the source of all wisdom, understanding and knowledge and the reason for our existence, without Whom this work would not be possible nor of any significance.  For The Lord is the God of Knowledge and by Him actions are weighed (1 Samuel 2:3).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

44  Robertson, J A (1996) Use of IT to Create and Manage Market Driven Strategic Plans Presenta­tion to the Marketing Infor­mation Systems Confer­ence, Johannesburg, Sep­tember 1996.

41  Robertson, J A (1996) Why 70% of Corporations are Dissatisfied With I.T. : How to Avoid Dissatisfaction in Your Organization  Presentation to the Compuware Confer­ence, Tel Aviv, June 1996.

37  Robertson, J A (1995) The Reasons Why More Than 70% of Corporations Are Dissat­isfied With Their I.T. Investment : How Senior Management Can Respond Proactively to Overcome This Syndrome in Their Organizations Presentation to the Compuware/Uniface Executive Forum, Munich, Octo­ber 1995.

33  Robertson, J A (1995) Shaping the Future - Information Technology and Strategic Change  Presentation to the Strategic Planning Society Special Interests Group and the British Computer Society, London, September, 1995.

28  Robertson, J A (1995)  The Information Environment : Delivering Informa­tion Effectively  Keynote Address  Paper presented at the Annual Congress of the South African Institu­tion of Civil Engineers, Port Elizabeth, April 1995

14  Robertson, J A (1994)  A Market Focused Approach to Developing an Informa­tion Technology Strategy  Paper presented at Informa­tion Systems Manager Confer­ence, Johannesburg, March 1994.

12  Robertson J A (1993)  Differentiating between Strategic, Tactical and Operational Information Systems  Keynote Presentation to Com­puter Society of South Africa Strategic Information Delivery SIG, Johannesburg, July 1993.

7    Robertson J A (1992) Enhancing Information System Effectiveness : The Human Element  Paper presented at Executive Information Systems Conference.  Johannesburg, March 1992 and South African Institution of Civil Engineers Confer­ence May 1992.      

   


046 Insourcing -- Restructuring the IT Department for Better Business Focus and Increased Effectiveness --Armscor Case Study -- by Jof Nelson and James Robertson from James Robertson


Download Insourcing -- Restructuring the IT Department for Better Business Focus and Increased Effectiveness --Armscor Case Study -- Slides in Adobe pdf format

Download Insourcing -- Restructuring the IT Department for Better Business Focus and Increased Effectiveness --Armscor Case Study -- White Paper in Adobe pdf format


45      Robertson, J A (1997) Determining the Most Effective Type of Outsourcing for your Strategic Requirements Paper presented at the I.T. Function Confer­ence, Pretoria, February 1997.

44      Robertson, J A (1996) Use of IT to Create and Manage Market Driven Strategic Plans Presenta­tion to the Marketing Information Systems Confer­ence, Johannesburg, Septem­ber 1996.

43      Robertson, J A (1996) How Effective are your Performance Measurement Systems  Presenta­tion to the Financial Controllers Conference, Johannesburg, August 1996.

42      Robertson, J A (1996) Learning From The Reasons Why 70% of Corpor­ations are Dissat­isfied With I.T. : Client Server Applications in a Mainframe Environment  Presenta­tion to the Compu­ware Conference, Tel Aviv, June 1996.

41      Robertson, J A (1996) Why 70% of Corporations are Dissatisfied With I.T. : How to Avoid Dissatisfaction in Your Organization  Presentation to the Compuware Confer­ence, Tel Aviv, June 1996.

40      Robertson, J A (1996) Outsourcing Information Technology : A Construc­tion Industry Model  Presentation to the Outsourcing Conference, Johannesburg, April 1996.             


Random Selection of Articles by Dr James Robertson

Dr James A Robertson PrEng

Business Systems NOT delivering?

Call the Business Systems Specialist

Dr. James Robinson

Dr James A Robertson -- has been involved in the effective application of Business Information Systems, including but NOT limited to ERP, since 1987 and in the profitable and effective use of computers in Business since 1981.

Drawing on a diversity of experience, including formal military training in Quick Attack techniques at the Regimental Commander level, Dr Robertson has developed highly effective methods of investigating any sub-optimal Business Information Systems situation -- be it an established system or a stalled project or any other source of Executive frustration -- quickly and concisely diagnosing the root cause of the problem and prescribing concise practical actions that Business Executives can effectively act on see the Pulse Measurement page and also the Sample Reports page for redacted real reports.

He has also developed highly effective methods of strategically enriching systems to unlock the full potential of existing investments, see the Precision Configuration page and couples this to architecting small pieces of clever software that harness the full potential of your investment, see the Software page.

If you are having problems with your systems, your project or your IT Department, call The Business Systems Specialist
James@James-A-Robertson-and-Associates.com

Business System Failure is RIFE -- we offer insight into why this happens AND WHAT is required to prevent it.

Failure is at epidemic levels with massive damage done to client companies -- if you are NOT aware of the extent of the problem please visit the About Failure page for a catalog of major failures running to billions of Pounds and Dollars.

All evidence indicates that the established players do NOT know how to deliver stable, reliable high value solutions that WORK.

There HAS to be a better way!

This website provides information relating to that way with a large collection of white papers, presentations, standards documents, etc that you can use to start bringing the situation under control

We also offer high level advisory services with regard to the application of the principles advocated on this website

We offer an ENGINEERING APPROACH to addressing these issues

Click here to read more about the Engineering Approach

By Engineering I mean the formal, structured, highly disciplined, highly systematic, highly practical approach that consistently delivers results in ALL areas of human endeavor where formally trained and certified engineers are the ONLY practitioners permitted to operate -- think large buildings, factories, motor vehicles, aircraft -- highly complex systems that work at a level that we take it for granted that they WILL work and where failure is all but unthinkable and, when it happens, attracts immediate public attention and rigorous investigation directed at ensuring that such failures are prevented in the future -- in fact, everything that the management consulting industry that implements complex software systems is NOT

This approach is discussed further on the Engineering Approach page.

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The prevalence of IT project failure, the factors that cause failure, the Critical Factors for Success, the problem of IT people who lie, issues of integrity, morals and ethics, the need for a regulatory body and legislation
Cnf 091 Business Process -- Over Rated and Over Stated

Discussion of why the current focus on Business Process Mapping is seriously misplaced and is leading to major inefficiencies and negative project outcomes in the business information systems industry -- concludes that "Business Process Obsession is killing ERP"
Prd 043 Strategic Guidance and Advisory Services

Overview of the full range of services that are offered by James A Robertson and Associates

Book -- The Critical Factors for Information Technology Investment Success

In 2003 I undertook an in-depth analysis of all the information and experience that I had gathered with regard to the factors giving rise to Business Information System failure including ERP and general IT and classified this information into a number of categories including "The Factors Causing Failure" and "The Critical Factors for Success" based on this I developed a two day Course "The Critical Factors for Information Technology Investment Success" which is still offered today.

Based on this I wrote the book of the same name, which is available in electronic form here for download:

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Articles by James A Robertson and Associates

There is a large body of white papers, articles and other content produced by Dr James Robertson available on this website

Please click here to visit the detailed listing of articles



ArticleTagCloud for Articles Published by James A Robertson and Associates

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writer     

Table of Contents

Home

About Dr James A Robertson PrEng -- The Business Systems Doctor -- and Other Topics

Catalogue of Major Business Information System Failures

About the Engineering Approach

James Robertson's Value Add

Attributes of a HIGH VALUE solution

Recognizing Business System Failure

The Critical Human Foundation

Old Software IS Viable

From South Africa

Competencies of Dr James A Robertson PrEng

About Professor Malcolm McDonald

Table of Contents

About my relationship with the Almighty Creator, Yah the Eternally Self-Existing

Comments relating to the Business Systems Industry and other topics

Testimonials and other positive material regarding James Robertson

Reference Articles

List of Articles

Article Catalogue

Achieving High Value Business Information System outcomes

Executive Custody -- What is it and HOW do you get it?

The REAL Issues in Integrated Business Information System Success

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2 -- Mythology and Lack of Executive Custody

Part 3 – Strategic Alignment and Precision Configuration

Why your ERP is NOT delivering and HOW to FIX it

IT Project Management

Pulse Measurement

CEO Anthony Lee Comments on his experience of the Pulse Measurement

No Charge Guarantee on the Pulse Measurement Service

Examples of Pulse Measurement Outcomes

Critical questions regarding the Pulse Measurement™

The Pulse Measurement Workflow

The Critical Factors for Business System (ERP+) Investment Success in the Pulse Measurement

Indicative Pulse Measurement Durations

What is a JAR&A Pulse Measurement?

Survival of the fittest – why it makes sense to measure the pulse of your business

Examples of Pulse Measurement Outcomes over 24 years

Sample Pulse Measurement Reports

Strategy

Strategic Essence: The Missing Link in Business Information Systems

Strategic Essence: Overview

Strategic Essence: Part 1 -- Strategy Defined

Strategic Essence: Part 2 -- Differentiation

Strategic Essence: Part 3 -- The Essence IS Different

Strategic Essence: Part 4 -- The Essence should be the Point of Departure

Strategic Essence: Part 5 -- Discovering Strategic Essence

Strategy -- the Essence of the Business: What is it and how do you develop actionable strategic plans?

Simple Steps to Increase the Strategic Value of your ERP Investment

Free Strategic Snapshot Toolset and Manual

A strategy focused planning system beyond traditional budgeting

Tough IT and ERP Procurement and Contracting that Works

Robust Business Systems Procurement

Part 1 -- Introduction

Part 2 -- Bill of Services, Laboratory, Go-live Certificate, etc

Part 3 -- Executive Engagement, Bid Compliance, Adjudication and other matters

Procurement Documents

Guidance and Advisory Services

The Art of Project Leadership

Why Regular Communication with the CEO is Vital

The Business Simulation Laboratory

Precision Configuration and Strategic Business Information Architecture

Precision Configuration based on Strategic Engineered Precision Taxonomies

The JAR&A Cubic Business Model

Highly Structured Strategic Chart of Accounts -- a Vital Element of your Corporate Information Arsenal

The Product Catalogue -- an Essential Element of any Precision Configuration

Attributes -- answers to the questions you have NOT yet thought to ask

Case Studies of Notably Successful Projects with high value Precision Configuration

092 Doing things differently and better -- ASCO Case Study 2-- BPM Summit 2013

088 Strategic ERP Invesment -- ASCO Case Study -- Service Management Conference and Exhibition Africa

026 Information Architecture and Design of FIS for Rennies Group -- Financial Information Systems Conf

018 CRM Risk Control: Designing and Implementing an Integrated Risk Mgmt Sys -- Integrated Risk Mgmt Conf

011 V3 Consulting Eng: Benefits of MIS to Professional Practice -- SAICE 15th Ann Conf on Computers in Civil Eng

Strategically Enriching your Business Information Systems

Part 1 -- Introduction

Part 2 -- Principles of Data Engineering

Part 3 -- Steps in applying these recommendations

Simple Steps to increase the strategic information value yield from your Business Systems Investment

The Full JAR&A Taxonomy Manual

Part 1: Introduction, Problem Statement, Definitions and Examples

Part 2: Why Use JAR&A, Required Knowledge and Experience, Cubic Business Model and Chart of Accounts and Taxonomy Software

Part 3: How to do it, Case Studies and White Papers and other References

Example General Ledger Manual

Business Process -- Irrelevant, Distracting and Dangerous

The RIGHT Approach

Custom Strategic Software Design and Oversight of Construction

Standards for Custom Software Specification

What IS Software?

IT Effectiveness

Organizing Outlook

Critical Factors for I.T. Success

A Moral and Ethical Dilemma -- Systems that Fail

Case Studies examining Business Information System failures

The BBC Digital Media Initiative Debacle

The Bridgestone -- IBM Conflict

Speaking and Training

Showcase of Conference Presentations

Most Viewed Presentations

Briefings and Seminars

Why your ERP/BIS is NOT delivering and HOW to FIX it

ERP and IT Procurement that Delivers Results

The Critical Factors for IT and ERP Investment Success

Other Seminars

Conferences and Public Presentations

Conferences 80 to 99 -- 2009 to Present

Conferences 60 to 79 -- 2005 to 2009

Conferences 40 to 59 -- 1996 to 2005

Conferences 20 to 39 -- 1994 to 1996

Conferences 01 to 19 -- 1989 to 1994

On-Line Seminars (Webinars)

Webinar on Preparing and Presenting Webinars

Contacting James A Robertson and Associates Limited