Technology Project Plan

Technology Project Plan: GE Sensing Boston Center

Information Management in Business

February 03, 2007

Abstract

This paper will propose a technology project plan involving an E Commerce solution for GE Sensing Boston Center. This solution will address the requirements highlighted by the business requirements analysis carried out on the same company. The E Commerce solution will involve all the major business processes of the company and will have a centralized web interface with differing access levels for various types of stakeholders identified in the paper. The requirements for implementing this solution in terms of networks, databases and programming will be analyzed. Finally the security considerations and the payoffs accruing to the various stake holders will be outlined.

Technology Project Plan: GE Sensing Boston Center

Introduction:

GE Sensing is a subsidiary of the General Electric Infrastructure and has a global footprint. Its core competence is in Instrumentation and the product portfolio is based both on individual devices and systems which enable its consumers to shield, supervise, manage, and validate their vital procedures and applications. The company is technology based and focuses on high growth engineering companies. GE Sensing’s products find diverse applications in sectors like ecological preservation, oceanography, meteorology, aviation, biotechnology, pharma, automobile, and transportation.

GE Sensing obtains 40 % of its revenue from USA, 40% from Europe and 20 % from Asia. This along with a dynamic product portfolio makes it a fit case to adopt E business strategies to optimise its business practices. GE Sensing has to concentrate on three areas. Firstly its supply chain which has a global foot print, this is essential to leverage IT to provide the manufacturing facilities with the required amount of spares and raw materials without maintaining an extensive inventory. Secondly, its business infrastructure and its information management systems, which guarantee that diverse platforms are integrated between the various arms of the company; and thirdly its technical group, which forms the foundation for its growth. The research and development for new products is handled by its own R&D division. Many projects in the R&D division involve regular interaction with the General Electric Global Research Centers. The technology project plan should leverage facilities in USA, Asia and Europe.

The Proposed Solution:

A primary approach to formalizing an e-business strategy involves the identification of all the business processes in GE Sensing which can be optimized by fully utilizing the capabilities of Information technology in a specific corporate scenario. Such a plan has to concentrate on the strengths of GE Sensing and capitalize on the opportunities in the marketplace while simultaneously identify costly and wasteful practices within their business processes which can be optimized (Haylock C, 1999). In this paper, an e commerce solution is developed. The suggested method will encompass all the three business processes identified, namely the supply chain, business infrastructure including the legacy information systems and finally the technical group. The solution also takes into account the distinctive potential of the organization’s IT architecture, thus enhancing the value of the legacy IT investments.

Supply Chain Software Specification:

This involves an E Commerce solution which plans to merge all departments and their functions together into an integrated database. This will entail easier data sharing and communication with each other. The E Commerce package will automate the various tasks involved in multiple business processes like order execution, expenses and inventory purchases, and makes the identical information available to all the other departments immediately. It is important to integrate the E Commerce implementation with the financial module, the manufacturing process, the R&D process and finally with the HR module (Haylock C, 1999).

With this integration, standardized information is available at all levels that will enable quicker decision-making by managers at the middle and senior levels.