INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT ESSAY

Urgent IS Management essay/report need to be done by Thursday 12pm(UK time) 12/2/09 Detailed specification has been uploaded ================Detailed specification====================== The chief activity of a large UK company is the provision of a domestic breakdown service [login to view URL] charges householders an annual membership fee, in return for guaranteeing to send out an appropriately-trained tradesperson within 24 hours to fix the problem. The problem might be, for example, a central heating boiler not working properly, or an electric cooker oven malfunctioning, or a burst pipe, or a blocked drain. The list is almost endless; indeed, the company is called “Fix It All”. It also acts as an agent for several insurance companies, selling various insurance products e.g. life insurance, motor insurance, etc. Fix It All’s IT usage is extensive and sophisticated. Nearly 70 IT professionals, all located at the organisation’s headquarters in a Midlands city, develop and support a variety of application systems, running on a variety of equipment. Some of the systems are the sort found in virtually any commercial organisation – e.g. payroll, sales and purchase ledgers, etc - and are based around commonly-available packages. Other application systems are developed in-house; these are usually business-specific such as those used by the 24x7 call centre for the breakdown service, and a web-site which enables people to (a) join/ renew membership of the breakdown service, and (b) purchase insurance products. There are ten depots around the country, from which the organisation’s own breakdown fleet of vehicles operates. But most breakdown servicing is carried out by local self-employed tradespeople with whom the company has contracts for the provision of a breakdown service. These tradespeople are contacted by phone by the call centre. A dedicated network links the call centre and the depots. The forty high street shops, from which insurance products are sold and accident claims sorted out (if not processed by the call centre) are also linked to Head Office. Discuss the issues which you would expect the company’s Disaster Recovery (also known as Business Continuity) Plan to address, making recommendations where appropriate. Length guide: 1600-2000 words. More than 2000 will be penalised on a progressive scale. At the end of your essay, state the number of words used (excluding bibliography/ references list).