The Work System Method - Department of Computer Information ...

The Work System
Method
Introduction, Motivation and Definitions

Definition
• Work
• The application of resources such as
people, equipment, time, effort, and
money to generate products and
services for internal or external
customers

Work System
• Work System - a system in which human participants
and/or machines perform work using information,
technology, and other resources to produce products and/or
services for internal or external customers.
• Typical business organizations contain work systems that procure
materials from suppliers, produce products, deliver products to
customers, find customers, create financial reports, hire employees,
coordinate work across departments, and perform many other
functions.
• Every work system can be viewed as a subsystem of a larger work
system, the boundaries of a work system are treated as a carefully
considered decision by the work system modeler.
• In general, the relevant work system for a particular analysis is the
smallest work system that exhibits or possesses the problem, issue,
or opportunity that prompted the analysis

Work Systems
• Typical business organizations contain work systems that
procure materials from suppliers, produce products, deliver
products to customers, find customers, create financial
reports, hire employees, coordinate work across
departments, and perform many other functions.
• Every work system can be viewed as a subsystem of a
larger work system, the boundaries of a work system are
treated as a carefully considered decision by the work
system modeler.
• In general, the relevant work system for a particular
analysis is the smallest work system that exhibits or
possesses the problem, issue, or opportunity that prompted
the analysis

Examples of Work Systems
(from papers by MBA students at Georgia State Univ. )
Calculating rates for
insurance renewals
Managing software
development projects
Acquiring clients at a
professional service firm
Receiving materials at a
large warehouse
Approving real estate loan
applications
Planning and dispatching
trucking services
Performing preemployment
background
checks
Performing financial
planning for wealthy
individuals
Scheduling and tracking
health service
appointments
Operating an engineering
call center
Purchasing advertising
services
Determining salary
increases
Collecting and reporting
sales data for a
wholesaler
© Steven Alter, 2009, all rights reserved
Planning for outages in
key real time information
systems
Invoicing for construction
work

Example work Systems
Work system #1: How a bank approves commercial loans.
Work system #2: How a software vendor tries to find and qualify sales
prospects.
Work system #3: How Zoo Atlanta defines its membership recruitment
process.
Work system #4: How A major bank authenticates callers to be bona fide
customers before connecting to a call center.
6

A Limiting Paradigm…
Viewing Systems as IT-based tools that are used by
users.
© Steven Alter, 2010

Work systems are NOT Information Systems
Information Systems
Work systems supported by information
systems
8

© Steven Alter, 2010
Work System Framework

One Lens Fits Almost All
Work system
Service system
Information system
Project
Supply chain
Use of e-commerce web site
(c) Steven Alter 2012

Basics of Work System
Method
System and Problem
Define work system based on problem
Summarize “as is” using work system snapshot
Analysis and Possibilities
Drill down using work system elements and alignment within
the work system
Recommendation and Justification
Summarize “to be” using work system snapshot
Drill down to understand impact of changes
10 questions related to recommendation and justification
© Steven Alter, 2010

A Starting point:
The Work System Snapshot
• a highly summarized but balanced view of a work system that a business
professional can produce quickly or can understand quickly when it is
presented.
• uses six central elements to summarize what a system is and what it produces.
At this summary level distinctions between technology and technical
infrastructure are unimportant.
12

Work system snapshot
example
(c) Steven Alter 2012

Customers
Loan applicant
Bank’s Risk Management Department and top management (a
secondary customer)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (a secondary
customer)
Products & Services
Loan application
Loan write-up
Approval or denial of the loan application
Explanation of the decision
Loan documents
Major Processes and Activities
Loan officer and loan applicant discuss the client’s financing needs and discuss possible terms of the proposed loan.
Loan officer helps loan applicant compile a loan application including financial history and projections.
Loan officer and senior credit officer meet to verify that the loan application has no glaring flaws.
Credit analyst prepares a “loan write-up” summarizing the applicant’s financial history, providing projections explaining sources of
funds for loan payments, and discussing market conditions and applicant’s reputation. Real estate loans all require an appraisal
by a real estate appraiser.
Loan officer presents the loan write-up to a senior credit officer or loan committee.
Senior credit officers approve or deny loans of less than $400,000; a loan committee or executive loan committee approves
larger loans.
Loan officers may appeal a loan denial or an approval with extremely stringent loan covenants. Depending on the size of the loan,
the appeal may go to a committee of senior credit officers, or to a loan committee other than the one that made the original
decision.
Loan officer informs loan applicant of the decision.
Loan administration clerk produces loan documents for an approved loan that the client accepts.
Participants Information Technologies
Loan officer
Loan applicant
Credit analyst
Senior credit officer
Loan committee and executive
loan committee
Loan administration clerk
Real estate appraiser
Applicant’s financial statements for last three years
Applicant’s financial and market projections
Loan application
Loan write-up
Explanation of decision
Loan documents
Spreadsheet for consolidating
information
Loan evaluation model
MS Word template
Internet
Telephones

Explain why the following is or is not a
good work system snapshot
Applicant
Customers
Loan
Products & Services
Major Processes and Activities
* Find applicants
* Produce loan application
* Approve or decline
* Send paperwork
Participants Information Technologies
* Applicant
* Loan office
*Committee
* Application
*
*
* Telephone
* Spreadsheet
* Word processor
(c) Steven Alter 2012

Characteristics of a good work
system snapshot?
Describes the relevant work system
The smallest work system that has the problem or
opportunity that is being analyzed
The boundaries of a work system are not known in
advance.
No more than one page
Internal consistency: See Guidelines following
(c) Steven Alter 2012

Customers
The people who receive, use, or benefit directly from
products and services that a work system produces.
In most cases they can experience or perceive the quality of those
products and services.
Customers include external customers and internal customers.
External customers receive and use the economic products
and/or services that a firm produces. Firms exist to produce
those products and services.
Internal customers are employees or contractors who receive
and use a work system’s products and/or services while
performing work in other parts of the same firm’s value chain.

Products and Services
• the combination of physical things, information,
and services that the work system produces for its
various customers.
• products and services may take various forms,
including physical products, information
products, services, intangibles such as
enjoyment and peace of mind, and social
products such as arrangements and
agreements.

Intermediate Products and
Services
intermediate products and services --used by other activities
within the work system.
not considered to the products and services of the work
system unless they are received and used by the customers of
the work system for some purpose outside of the work system.
E.g., assume that a loan approval process produces a formal
evaluation of a loan.
The approval is considered to be among the products and
services of the work system if it goes to a work system
customer for some purpose outside of the work system.
If the approval process is only used to make a decision in
a subsequent activity and then discarded; it is an
intermediate process.

Participants
People who perform the work
The role of work system participant is more important than the
more limited role of technology user, whether or not particular
participants happen to be technology users.
Customers are participants in many work systems.
Minimal involvement-- such as when their request launches a
production process that they are not involved in.
Vs quite involved (e.g., selecting furnishings for a room with
the help of a designer or sales person, learning in a classroom
with the help of a teach, and helping a doctor perform a
medical examination).
A strong trend -- toward self-service work systems whose
customers perform much of the important work (e.g., paying bills
online, using an ATM, or doing research on the internet about a
possible car purchase).

Information
Includes codified and non-codified information used and
created as participants perform their work.
Codified information is the pre-defined information used in
tracking packages, entering orders, and performing repetitive
financial transactions.
In each case, each data item must be defined precisely, and
the information is usually processed using explicit rules.
Uncodified information includes computerized or handwritten
documents, verbal agreements, and formal or informal
conversations. Information may or may not be computerized.
Knowledge can be viewed as a special case of information.
Explicit knowledge is recorded in documents, images, rules,
and other forms.
Tacit knowledge exists in people’s heads and is not explicit.

Technologies
Tools that help people work more efficiently or that
perform automated work steps autonomously.
Some technologies, such as search engines, cell
phones, spreadsheet software, and automobiles, are
general-purpose because they can be applied in a
wide range of business situations.
Other technologies are tailored to specific
situations.
Examples include a spreadsheet model for
calculating mortgage interest and a software
package for designing kitchens.

Infrastructure
Human, informational, and technical resources
that the work system relies on but are outside the
work system and are shared resources with other
work systems.
Human infrastructure -people and organizations that supply services
shared by different work systems.
For example, training organizations, internal consultants, and human
resources departments are typically considered part of the human
infrastructure that may be relevant to a work system.
Information infrastructure -- information shared across various work
systems, such as mutually accessible databases and other enterprise-wide
information.
Technical infrastructure includes the Internet, corporate computer
networks, database management software, and other technologies shared
by multiple work systems and often hidden or invisible to work system
participants.
e.g., Enterprise software such as ERP suites is technical
infrastructure that is shared across multiple work systems. A specific
program or module in an ERP suite can be viewed as technology

Environment
The organizational, cultural, competitive,
technical, and regulatory environment within which
the work system operates.
Factors in the environment affect work system
performance even though the work system does not rely
on them directly in order to operate.
The organization’s general norms of behavior are part
of the culture in the environment that surrounds the
work system, whereas…
Behavioral norms and expectations about specific
activities within the work system are considered
characteristics of processes and and activities within the
work system.

Strategies
The guiding rationale and high-level choices
within which a work system, organization, or firm is
designed and operates.
Strategies at the department and enterprise level may
help in explaining why the work system operates as it
does and whether it is operating properly.
A work system’s strategy (its guiding rationale and
high-level choices) should be aligned with the strategy
of the organization and firm that it serves.
E.g., a work system designed to produce the
highest quality products might not fit in an
organization operating under a cost minimization
strategy.

Internal consistency guidelines
for a work system snapshot
Processes and activities are complete sentences that
identify actions and who performs the actions.
Participants perform at least one step
Customers receive and use products and services.
Any information mentioned is used or produced in at least
one process or activity
Any technology mentioned is used or produced in at least
one process or activity.
Every customer group that is mentioned receives or uses at
least one of the products and services
(c) Steven Alter 2012

Typical problems in work system
snapshots
Describing the whole company, not just one work
system
Viewing programmers as participants in a system
that uses IT
Viewing department managers as participants in
operational systems that they only supervise
Treating technology as the product of the system
Ignoring ways in which customers are participants
(c) Steven Alter 2012

Analysis of Systems
Describe
Identify Criteria
Evaluate in Relation to Criteria
Draw conclusions or make recommendation
(c) Steven Alter 2012

Metrics
Metrics are measures of performance during a time period,
not built-in characteristics.
Metrics are related to management issues, such as speed,
accuracy, rate of output, cost, reliability, and conformance.
A metric includes a unit of measure such as:
Units per hour
Defects per 1000
Minutes from start to finish
Percentage of rework during a week
Downtime percentage
Cost to the customer
Cost of production per unit

Metrics
• The value of a metric is a number describing how well a
work system or part of a work system is currently operating
or operated in the past. Here are some examples:

Aspect of
performance
(c) Steven Alter 2012
Metrics and Performance Gaps
Metric (specific
measure of
performance in this
situation)
Current value of
metric
Realistic desired
value of metric
Amount of production Total output per week 50 units per week 60 units per week
Speed
Cost
Inefficiency due to
rework
Errors
Customer satisfaction
Average time to
resolve customer
questions
Cost per invoice
handled
4 hours 2.5 hours
$5.35 $2.00
Rework rate 10% 3%
Error rate in
calculations
Customer satisfaction
ratings from a survey
3% 0.5%
6.2 out of 7.0 on a
monthly survey
Equipment utilization Uptime of equipment 99.5 % 99.8%
6.7 out of 7.0 on a
monthly survey

Metric examples

Level of Abstraction & Analysis
• Organizational Analysis levels (include )
… the entire enterprise,
… a department within an enterprise,
….a work system within a department within an enterprise,
… a subsystem of the work system.
The person doing the analysis should decide on the right organizational level
for the analysis that needs to be done.
• The level of detail differs across the roles and across
different situations.
• In all cases, the analysis and design of a system
should include typical steps of identifying the problem
and system, performing an analysis, and producing a
justified recommendation.
• People in different roles should use the framework and
related ideas at different levels of depth.

Premises of the Work System Method
The goal: Improving business performance.
Assumption: Business performance is generated
by operation of sociotechnical work systems.
Improvement process: Changing work systems,
not just creating, installing, or using information
systems or IT.
Links to more formal ISA&D techniques (UML,
SOA, etc.)
Decompose work systems into smaller work systems:
some of which are sociotechnical
some of which are autonomous computerized agents.
© Steven Alter, 2010

Q: Should Business Professionals
Analyze Systems for Themselves?
Can they be trusted?
Do they have the appropriate skill and knowledge?
IF NOT: How is it possible for them to do their work and
manage organizations?
IF NOT: How is it possible for them to participate in the
development of information systems?
What system should be analyzed?
© Steven Alter, 2010

Typical Systems Analysis
Methods are created for IT
Professionals
Mostly about documentation, not really about analysis
Emphasis on precision and completeness
Complex, opaque terminology
Emphasis on use of tools, not on business performance
© Steven Alter, 2010

Work System Method:
a kind of Systems Analysis for Everyone
Else
Aha! Business professionals need to focus on work
systems, not just IS or IT.
© Steven Alter, 2010

Positioning of Work System
Approach
Enterprise
level
Organizational
architecture
Technical
infrastructure
IT-reliant work
systems in
organizations
Local
level
Localized rules
and routines
Tools, algorithms,
computer programs
Predominance of design
and social science
Predominance of engineering
and computer science
Links that ignore IT-reliant work systems within organizations
Links that emphasize IT-reliant work systems within organizations
© Steven Alter, 2010

Chapter 1
Systems a mess: Seven Common Temptations
• Temptation #1: Viewing technology as the system.
• Temptation #2: Assuming technology is a magic bullet.
• Temptation #3: Abdicating responsibility for systems.
• Temptation #4: Avoiding performance measurement
• Temptation #5: Accepting superficial analysis.
• Temptation #6: Accepting one-dimensional thinking.
• Temptation #7: Assuming desired changes will
implement themselves

“From a business viewpoint, the work defines
the system, not the technology that is used to
do the work.”
An organization as a group of work systems.
It is possible to view an entire organization as a
single work system.
In most situations, however, is better to view an
organization as a combination of many smaller
work systems.
Viewing an entire firm as a single work system
tends to produce a bloated analysis that covers
too many groups of people performing too many
different types of roles and activities.

Different types of overlap between work
systems and IS

Scoping the Work System
…the work system being analyzed should be defined as the
smallest work system that has the problems or opportunities that
launched the analysis.
The work system’s outputs are the products and services it
produces for its customers.
Those customers are often participants in other work systems that use the
products and services.
The work system’s inputs are information and other resources it
receives from other work systems and from other sources.
Some of the inputs a work system receives are not important enough to list on a
one-page summary.
Those that are important enough to include should be mentioned explicitly in the
activities listed under work practices.
For example, a sales system might start with a prospect list produced by a
different work system. In that case, the first activity listed under work practices
would be something like “salesperson contacts prospect on prospect list.”

Consistency guidelines…

Step 2:
Change
what?

Metrics?
Derived form an improvement attribute
Accuracy 10 ways to measure accuracy
Speed how do you measure speed?

Work System Analysis
Feed (forward & back),
common misconceptions,
errors, pitfalls and
challenges you will likely
face

Use the template tool
Name the snapshot
Complete the cover and required forms last
Identify the industry and problem time
Complete the informed consent form
Complete the WHOLE template
Professor
Truex

Work system analysis assumptions
You are doing a preliminary analysis.
Remember that your recommendation will go to a management committee that
will decide whether to start a project to implement your recommendations.
Include a bit of the background:
Don’t assume that everyone knows the environment and background and
acronyms
Select and pertinent aspects of the situation needed to understand the analysis
Your analysis must:
Start with a clear problem definition followed by problem-related facts,
conclusions, and logic.
Your recommendations should:
Your view of what actions should be taken to address the problem.
Be specific because the reader sees little value in vague recommendations.
Refer to measures and a base-line comparison
Be measurable and if possible quantitative, e.g. provide a 30% reduction in hold
times

Common pitfalls
Is the Work System identified-and named?
Is the topic really a Work System?
Important: Recall that an ERP or any other IS by itself is NOT a work system, but may
be part of a WS, or an instance of part of a WS
Is this work system worth analyzing?
Is there a chance for innovation?
Do the recommendations make sense?
Is the analysis and paper convincing?
Is the paper readable
or is it repetitious, inconsistent, etc.
Does it read like a draft (because no one proof read it?)

Probable challenges you faced in the
assignment…
Scoping, choosing the boundary
Choosing the right level of abstraction
How high, how deep or how ‘close to the bottom’ do I go?
Naming
“So in naming meaning begins” (poet M. vanTilberg, 1972)
Not getting ahead of yourself
Do not jump to the solution before examining the problem
Course name
Professor
Truex

Four key parts of
The Executive Summary
1. Brief Context of the WS’s environment
2. Description of the Work System
WS Name is/does the following
Here are key parameters of performance
3. Description of the issues with the as-is WK
This is why those problems matter
Here are metrics needing a fix
E.g., “The systems has these problems/issues…”
4. Describe alternatives and the proposed ‘fix’
We propose to do x, …y,… and z…
What are the measures and the metrics?
This is the estimated gain in doing these things…
Course name
Professor
Truex

Grammar Matters
Algorithm for improved writing:
Think, and plan a structure of the ideas/analysis
Loop::
Write a draft
Read the draft critically,
edit, revise, & improve
Repeat… until done
Read your text aloud, ask another to proofread when possible.
switch on MS Word’s grammar and spelling tool
Course name
Professor
Truex

Extensions to the basic Work
systems modeling concept.

Work System Life Cycle
Model
Operation &
Maintenance
Initiation
Implementation
Development

Work System Life Cycle Model
(continued)
Planned and unplanned change
Planned change is achieved through formal projects
Unplanned change occurs through adaptations,
workarounds, experimentation
Relevant to work systems in general, not just IT
projects.
Relevant to recommendations for improving any work
system
Recommendations must be implemented.

Terminology for Talking about
Work System Life Cycles
Iterations
From one version of a work system to the next
version of the work system
Phases
Operation and maintenance
Initiation
Development
Implementation

Terminology for Talking about Work
System Life Cycles (continued)
Rework
Re-doing work within a phase
Returning to a previous phase to resolve difficulties in
the current phase
Adaptation and experimentation
Small changes within a phase; not a separate project
involving allocation of significant resources
Continuous vs. discontinuous change
Continuous: small adaptations, experimentation
Discontinuous: formal projects directed as significant
changes

Clarifications of the Life Cycle
Model
Initially, “as-is” work
system;
Later, “to-be” work system
Operation &
Maintenance
Implementation
Ongoing adaptations,
experimentation, etc.
Initiation
Development
A small work
system in its own
right; often a cause
of failure
Need to revisit
initiation is
often ignored
Refers to the
work system,
not just the IS
Possibilities for
adaptations and
discoveries
May or may not
involve software
development

Assumptions built into the
work system life cycle model
Systems evolve through iterations
WSLC includes planned and unplanned change
Adaptation and experimentation are positive,
not negative
“System development life cycle” (SDLC ) often
mentioned by IT professionals is basically a
project from initiation to implementation

Operation and Maintenance
Operate and monitor work system
Continuous improvement of work practices
through analysis, experimentation, and
adaptation
Information system maintenance including
bug fixes and minor improvements

Initiation
Clarify the reasons for changing the work
system
Identify the people and processes that will be
affected
Describe in general terms what the changes
will entail
Allocate the time and other resources
necessary to accomplish the change
Feasibility study
May produce functional specification

Results of Initiation Phase
Vision for the new work system
Operational goals
Allocation of resources and clarification of
time frames
Evaluation of economic, organizational, and
technical feasibility

Development
• Process of specifying and creating or
obtaining the tools, documentation,
procedures, facilities, and other physical
and informational resources needed before
the desired changes can be implemented in
the organization.
Even if software development is involved, business
professionals still have responsibilities.

Results of Development Phase
Detailed requirements for the new work system,
including information system requirements
Software production, modification, or acquisition and
configuration
Hardware installation
Acquisition and installation of other required
resources
Documentation and training materials
Debugging and testing of hardware, software, and
documentation

Implementation
Process of making the desired changes
operational in the organization.
Implementation activities include:
planning the rollout
training work system participants
converting to the new work methods
following-up to ensure the entire work system
operates as it should

Implementation (continued)
Implementation approach and plan (pilot?
phased? big bang?)
Change management efforts about rationale
and positive/negative impacts of changes
Training on details of the new work system,
including information system usage
Conversion to the new information system and
new work system
Acceptance testing

Conversion to the new work
system
Not just attaining usage of new software
Occurs after work system participants are
trained
To reduce risk, may require double work in
transaction processing systems

Typical Issues within Each Phase
Initiation
Development
* Can we agree on the purposes and goals of
the proposed changes?
* Are the proposed changes feasible
economically, technically, and organizationally?
* Are the changes unnecessarily elaborate
and expensive?
* Can we assure that the work system
changes genuinely solve the problem?
* Do the information system changes conform
to the organization’s expectations and
standards for technical quality?

Typical Issues (continued)
Implementation
Operation and
Maintenance
* Can we convert effectively and painlessly
from the old work system to the new work
system?
* Can we resolve personal and political issues
related to changes in work patterns and power
relationships?
* Can we attain acceptable work system
performance?
* Can we maintain and improve performance
with incremental changes, adjustments, and
experimentation?

Four Types of Development Models for
Information Systems
(most overlap with the development phase within the
WSLC)
Waterfall software development
Create a specification and built to it
Prototyping/ agile
Build and test multiple versions
Commercial application package
Buy software instead of building it
End – user development