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To: The CIO of McTylor

From: Debbie Frye
Date: November 2, 2020
Subject: A Strategy of a Transaction Processing System Implementation

Introduction
Today business processes management relies heavily on information technology. Organizations
need transaction processing systems to survive a competitive market and keep ahead of the
competition. The use of a transaction processing system delivers economic value and gives an
organization a competitive advantage (Udoh and Inowa, 2016). However, implementing an
information system is always a challenging task. This is why a planning process becomes of
crucial importance to ensure the success of adopting a new information system and minimize
errors. It is significant to evaluate the selection criteria and create an implementation plan of a
new information system, which would address the issues of leadership approach to managing
change, approach to employee training, and how to overcome possible employee resistance to
embrace the change (Aguirre, Suarez, & Fuentes, 2019). Interoperability, scalability, and
compatibility of the system should also be considered.

Implementation of Proposed Information System

First, the process of the implementation of the transaction processing system should start with
building an IS implementation team. A strong team of professionals is half the battle of ensuring
that the process will go smoothly. At that, the team should consist of an upper manager,
department managers, and IT specialists who would be responsible for technical aspects. Second,
hardware choices should be considered, as hardware choice is one of the factors that affect the
budget for implementing the transaction processing system the most. Third, one needs to
determine how to transfer the data from the information systems, which McTylor is using, to the
transaction processing system. A checklist of information that needs to be entered into the
transaction processing system should be prepared to smooth data transferring and ensure that no
important information is missed. Fourth, the new system should be tested to prevent software
bugs and ensure that it runs as smoothly as possible. Finally, solid workflows should be created
prior to the transaction processing system's implementation to cut employee stress. It should be
said that inefficient workflows and inadequately trained employees can aggravate the
implementation process (Cresswell, Bates, & Sheikh, 2012).
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Figure 1. Information System Implementation (Source:

[Link]

Project Risks and Scope Creep

During the process of the system implementation, there may be a need to make partial changes to
the functional and business requirements as well as to technical objectives. To meet this
challenge, a well-controlled change management process should be employed, which would
consider possible risks. The risks that should be considered within a framework of a change
management process are as follows. First, it is important to determine whether the chosen
transaction processing system can manage the data volume it is anticipated to process. By doing
so, a risk of the failure of the system to conform to business requirements will be prevented.
Second, technology infrastructure should be scrutinized. It is worth noting that the transaction
processing system implementation and maintenance are associated with operational costs. This is
why an adequate assessment of the existing technology infrastructure is needed to prevent a risk
of the failure of the selected system to exist in it. Third, customization of the vendor’s transaction
processing system should be examined. It is important to note that the chosen system must be
easily customized to all scenarios desired by McTylor. Checking customization features of the
information system prevents the risk of costly workaround and wasting time to adapt it to the
required scenarios.
Furthermore, McTylor may face a challenge of scope creep while implementing the transaction
processing system that can lead to budget overrun. As mentioned above, there may be a request
to make partial changes to the functional and business requirements as well as to technical
objectives, which can lead to budget overrun. However, a few steps can be taken to prevent
scope creep. First, all deliverables should be clearly defined. Second, the impact of change
should be considered for all stakeholders. Third, if issues arise, a project team must be
immediately informed. Besides, anything that affects the scope must be documented. Finally, the
downstream effect of the system implementation should be evaluated before the implementation
process initiation (Madhuri, Rao, & Suma, 2014).

Figure 2. Project Boundaries (Retana, 2014)

Change Management Strategy
While developing a change management strategy, it is crucial to remember that organizational
culture and the human factor must never be neglected in the process of implementing enterprise-
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wide IT. The attention to change management in the process of implementing IT has a positive
effect on employee performance and job satisfaction, which ultimately results in successful IT
adoption (Kenett & Lombardo, 2006).
It is worth emphasizing that the responsibility for enacting change in an organization falls on a
leader's shoulders who should adapt leadership style to a new situation and circumstances. Basu
(2015) recommends adopting transformational leadership to minimize employee resistance to
change and increase the commitment of employees to embrace organizational change. It should
be said that poor communication and engagement, fear of the unknown, lack of awareness about
the change, and a weak organizational culture are the factors that may contribute to employee
resistance to change. However, if a leader adopts a transformational leadership style, those
barriers to implementing an IT system in the organization will be overcome. First,
transformational leaders inspire their staff to accept the change by visualizing a bright future of
the organization once a new IT system is implemented (Nrthouse, 2019). Second,
transformational leaders know how to improve communication between departments and
employees so that everyone knows his/her responsibilities, a phase of the transition process, as
well as where the organization moves. Third, transformational leaders provide some degree of
autonomy to their people, which stimulates them to use their creativity and intelligence and
makes them feel a part of the company and new system processes (Basu, 2015). 
Furthermore, staff training and support are some of the key issues to consider while developing a
change management strategy. A super user training approach is proposed to ensure the successful
implementation of the transaction processing system. This approach implies creating a team of
"super users" who will be trained on all features and functions of the new IS until they have a full
understanding of how the system affects the entire data flow through the organization. A training
process can include application and usability testing, workflow walkthrough. Also, it is essential
to familiarize super users with all activities related to the implementation process so that they
could get maximum exposure to the transaction processing system before it goes live. At that, it
will be important to train a core group of super users at the initial stage of the implementation
process so that they could champion the change initiative throughout the organization. It should
be pointed out that a team of "super users" must be opinion leaders in order not only to
effectively communicate knowledge, helpful hints and tips to all end-users but also to gain buy-
in from staff (Obwegeser et al., 2019). It is worth pointing out that I can shoulder the
responsibility for creating and training a team of "super users."
Another essential thing to consider while developing a change management strategy is to link
work employees are doing “to the future with predictable time‐paced intervals and a
synchronized transition mechanism” (Basu, 2015, p. 31). This will contribute to synchronizing
system processes as well as employee tasks with one another, which in turn will result in higher
performance (Ibid, 2015).

Evidence of Feasibility
One of the advantages of most transaction processing systems is that they are truly interoperable
systems. Large scalability is another strength of the proposed IS system. Thanks to inherent
scalability, transaction processing systems will reflect all data transactions. Moreover, a flexible
and scalable system architecture will handle any “volume” of the organization's workflow.
Finally, most transaction processing systems are compatible with other information systems or,
in other words, they can “work in tandem” with other information systems, which results in
improving information exchange (Trianita et al., 2020).
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References

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Northouse, P.G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice. 8th ed. California: Sage

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Obwegeser, N., Danielsen, P., & Hansen, K. (2019). Selection and Training of Super-

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