Problem Analysis Summary

In today’s workplace, employers consistently call upon the knowledge of information technology from their employees. Problem solving tools can be defined as methods and procedures to increase the efficacy and/or effectiveness of the solving process. The use of such tools and procedures can effectively manage information in such a way that quality solutions are produced. The confirmed problem for the company is that paper order forms need to be replaced with electronic order forms. The problem analysis presented in this summary is organized as follows: identifying the problem, defining criteria, goals, and objectives, and evaluating the effect of the problem. Moreover, such initial steps are needed to frame the problem.

Often, the most difficult aspect of stating a problem is understanding and defining the problem. In this section we will address the identification of the problem. We will now consider the case of the company that uses paper methods of ordering instead of accomplishing this task electronically. IT specialists hired from the company have monitored that paper is not an optimal manner to handle the large ordering from the company. Several of the paper forms have been lost due to misplacement of the forms from the numerous departmental managers. Research and information gathering from our team indicate a high level of frustration with the administrative staff as to where the missing forms might have been relegated to. We can now examine what triggered this as a problem that caught the eye of administration. Through the examination of company sales sheets we noticed that when the order forms were lost the revenue from the company went down. Each occurrence of this seemed to be triggered by the cumbersome paper ordering form. Consequently, the misplaced order forms, coupled with the high volume of ordering, could be suggested as a possible cause for the unusually large number of misplaced order forms.

Our final objective is to find a solution to our problem that is most effective for the company. To do so, we must frame the problem with the goal of clearly identifying the causes and effects as well as any other variables involved. In our evaluation of solutions, we will require that they be cost effective, productive, and easily implemented in a short amount of time in order to fix the problem as soon as possible. In measuring a successful outcome, we will look at the solution that will be the least expensive compared to the amount of productivity that it will bring to the company.

The effects this problem has on the company are both directly and indirectly financial. Employee time must be spent entering the data into a digital medium before the order can be processed; this is a measurable cost that would be defrayed if the company received its orders digitally. Data entry is error-prone; hence this system will result in incorrect orders which cost the company