STUDENT ID: 000990714

COURSE TITLE:
COMP 1647
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
PLANNING

(HEAVEN HOTEL GROUP)

WORD COUNT: 3903

000990714 COMP 1647_INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLANNING

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is a pleasure and a privilege to do this coursework and I am grateful for the help from IPMC.
Thank you to all the instructors of IPMC GHANA for the successful completion of this
assignment.
I say without their supports and proper guidance my coursework might not have been completed.
The assignment has help me immensely in my career building.

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000990714 COMP 1647_INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLANNING

Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................................................. 1
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 3
Background ................................................................................................................................. 3
ISSUES AND WAYS FORWARD ........................................................................................ 3
STRATEGIC EVALUATION........................................................................................................ 5
Swot analysis .............................................................................................................................. 5
IMPACT OF IS ............................................................................................................................... 6
A Major System .......................................................................................................................... 6
What HMS Is Expected To Do ............................................................................................... 6
Reporting Requirements Expected From HMS ...................................................................... 7
information for managing director .............................................................................................. 8
Compare and Contrast............................................................................................................. 8
BIGGEST ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES ......................................................................... 10
HOW TO ADDRESS THE ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES .......................................... 10
PROCESSES OUTSOURCED................................................................................................. 12
DISASTER RECOVERY PLANNING ................................................................................... 13
Persuading Managing Director ................................................................................................. 14
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 15
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 16

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000990714 COMP 1647_INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLANNING

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND
Heaven hotel group opened it door for business in 1991 and has been among of the 43 6
star hotels located around the world. The hotel group have been growing gradually
because they acquire rundown properties through auction sales at a very low price which
they later turns those places to a top of the range hotel. Heaven hotel group have most of
the employees from Eastern parts of Europe. Even with a good rating with their website,
the director still envisions the group becoming the number one in the world.

ISSUES AND WAYS FORWARD

1. Ban of Europeans.
With a charge of fixing vote for hosting the next world cup, people from Eastern
Europe has been banned. This has had a high impact on the group because the group
is likely to face a decrease in labour and lose the experience employees from Eastern
Europe.
Solution: Heaven hotel group should develop a core program to grow their own
employees by creating a smart career path for prospect school leavers when they lose
the eastern Europeans.

2. Lack of IT system.
Despite the managing director appreciating the chain in growing, he still has this as a
problem. Considering the scope and complexity of the hotel environment, the groups
are currently operating individually.

Solution: Nevertheless, this issues can be solved when heaven hotel group focus on
implementing an IT system. IT systems can bring the hotel groups together and
integrates their business operations.

3. Increase in hotel prices.

The increase in hotel price and will cause people not to patronise the hotels. This
issue is caused by focusing on overcoming the lack of IT systems. Lower patronage
due to the rise in hotel price will affect profit growth and improved return on
investment.

Solution: in focusing on the way forward, heaven hotel group has to cut down its
operational cost, improve employee maintenance and consider outsourcing the
implementation of IT systems.

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000990714 COMP 1647_INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLANNING

4. Lack of qualified staff.

Because the finance department including the directors qualification is below
standard their end of year report did not meet standard and cost was not kept down.
Solution: Heaven hotel group should provide opportunities for experience employees
to upgrade their knowledge in hospitality management.
5. Managers reluctant to change.
Heaven hotel group managers with visions of making the hotel groups the number
one, are showing and finding the use of IT system abhorrent even when employees
share their opinions.
Solution: in focusing on the way forward, Heaven hotel should encourage and
motivate their managers to accept the use of IT systems and deceit them from the
traditional way of running the hotels.
6. Financial transaction done manually.
Manual transactions gives competitors the upper hand. This issue forces heaven hotel
clerks to send details of all processed transaction to the head office on daily basis.
Solution: heaven hotel group can adopt effective new technology which requires
systems integration as it needs to fully optimise their operation.
7. Disorders from natural disasters.
The trend of global warming appears that, natural disasters will continue to be
frequent in recent years. The potential threat of heavy rains and thunderstorms can
affect the basement as the marker in the basement states how high waters reach some
years ago.
Solution: Heaven hotel group should have a well-documented and rehearsed business
continuity plan to implement when such issue happen.
8. Manual Record Booking. This has been an issues for heaven group hotel because
currently booking can be done over phone calls.
Solution: Heaven hotel group should focus on getting a web based system which will
electronically accept bookings and allow reservations to be made.

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000990714 COMP 1647_INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLANNING
STRATEGIC EVALUATION
SWOT ANALYSIS
Using SWOT analysis identifies the internal strength and weakness issues that heaven hotel
group has controlled over and also point out the external opportunities and threats that hit the
group directly. (Belloc, 1923)
Strength
Cash rich
Good website ratings
Highly skilled employees
Ability to pick up rundown buildings at
low prices
A strong basement for IT system setup
Opportunities
Opportunity in getting potential school
leavers as good tradespersons
Opportunity for heaven hotel group to
improve services as many man power
works will be done electronically.
Opportunity in spending less in
looking for An IT setup place.
Opportunity to acquire neglected
properties at low prices through proper
tendering.
Opportunity to be become one of the
best as the mangers envisions.
5
Weakness
Hiring the services of external auditor
to assist with financial records
Lower qualifications for the director
and finance staffs
Manual financial transaction processes
Managers finding IT system repulsive
Lack of IT system
Threats
The need to spend more money for the
implementation of IT systems
The rise of hotel price due to increase
in operation cost
Opponents getting extra customers
during the implementation of IT
systems
Rains and thunderstorms can destroy
equipment at the basement
Possibilities of losing the qualified
employees due to government policies
Managers repulsive attitude towards
IT systems.
000990714 COMP 1647_INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLANNING

IMPACT OF IS

A MAJOR SYSTEM
Following the current issues of Heaven Hotel Group (HHG), a HOTEL
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (HMS) would be described as a major system the group
needs to focus on going forward. HMS is an all-inclusive management system that will
be used to cover objectives and business operations of HHG. This system will help
automated all manual activities of HHG. Using this system, operations can be monitored
to control cost therefore the hiring of personnels to handle accounting issues of HHG
will be cut. In all the operations that will run the hotel group successfully will be
computerised hence making it able to carry out tasks easily to reduce the number of staff
required for a task. HMS has powerful features which will make it easy to manage daily
procedures of HHG while improving on overall guest services. Moreover this system is
vital because it helps the management and employees to continue with their operations
regardless of the size of the business. Therefore HMS is recommend as a major system
for HHG in view of becoming one of the best in the world.

WHAT HMS IS EXPECTED TO DO

In an expectation, HMS with its integrated functionalities is anticipated to accommodate
the inflexible operational requirement of HHG by completing processes efficiently to
increase productivity.

Reservation Operations

Managing reservations has been one of the most key issues of heaven hotel group.
HMS will address this issue by bringing efficiency without compromising time.
This function of the system handles all reservation queries with quest, create quest
and company profile in an understandable format, produce best rate. It will also
facilitate reservation with minimum input that is enabling quick room or room
type booking and instant multiple booking. In all the availability of processes
concerning reservations will be displayed right on a screen for quick decision
making.

Front Desk Operations

Hotel Property Management System will be a catalyst for efficiency by smoothing

the activities of front desk operation. HMS will allow the group to manage
essential tasks, such as check-in/out, room assignments, housekeeping status and
room maintenance. This functionality from HMS can help the hotel front desk
execute it errands while still keeping their focus on their guests.

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Financial Operations

Looking at the financial issues of HHG, HMS through this function will make
sure daily miscellaneous sales and expenses are maintain in a dedicated account,
close and update accounting books are done on daily basis. It will again put
together the days activities in a whole for verification hence enabling the clerks
and the financial director have a clear idea to make evaluation easy.

Back office Operations

This function with its features and tools will collaborate with hotel top level
position holders to perform internal operations of HHG and keep track of the
complexity of the operations. These features help speed up housekeeping, payroll
and maintenance of HHG properties relatively easily.

Event Management

This feature create custom packages according to regular events such as

weddings, receptions and business conferences that will be hosted at the hotel. It
will produce a package that covers even small or large event. It will again suggest
the creation of invitations cards, prepare groups seat and even chose equipment to
use during the event. Lastly this feature will provide a complete depiction of your
in-service resources and allows the hotel group with time to plan ahead for other
events. There will be feature to make sure that room reservations are not used for
events.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS EXPECTED FROM HMS

Reporting in hotel business is very significant. Its a way of providing the management
team with information to be able to check their progress and have a clear insight of their
performance. With HMS the following are the report requirement that is expected.

Accommodation statistics report (occupancy, tax breakdown, etc.)

Guests in house report
Advanced deposit & open balance reports
Pace report for managers

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000990714 COMP 1647_INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLANNING

INFORMATION FOR MANAGING DIRECTOR

Hotel management decisions has never been easy, but deferring decisions can create a
negative impression for guests and possibly reduce profits. For a right decision to be
made easily the hotel must work with HMS, as it will help with the growth of the hotels,
decrease costs and increase revenues. Being the world number one hotel is to make right
decisions and implementing them properly.

Therefore the list below describes the required information for a Managing Director of
HHG.

Up keeping and sanitary standards of all hotel facilities

The growth and performance of all hotels
The financial result of each hotel
The category of people who frequently stay at each hotel
Sufficient funds for operation of each hotel

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

The information need of the managing director as compared to the hotel managers
probably lies in the ideologies each of these managers operates with. An MD is a leader
of the hotel managers whereas the hotel managers supervises the employees. Therefore
the description below compares and contrast the information needs of MDs to the hotel
managers.

Up keeping and sanitary standards of each hotel facilities

In most hotel groups, a manager is tasked with day-to-day concerns of the up keeping and
sanitary standards of his hotel. For example managers are involved in looking at the
employees and monitoring all things to keep everyone in the right course.
An MD is however, not concern with the days standards. Instead he is concerned about
the long term plans to keep and maintain the sanitary standards of all the hotel facilities.

The growth and performance of each hotels

Hotel managers are to implement strategies to formulate the success at their hotels. They
have to focus on deadlines and schedules to improve the growth of their hotels. However
an MD is to transcend his strategies not in a singular vision. He must see to it that
implemented strategies used by the hotel managers has improve the performance and
growth of each hotel group.

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000990714 COMP 1647_INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLANNING

The financial result of each hotel

In most cases, an MD examines and evaluate financial result of each hotel group. Hes
concerned with profit and loss of each hotel and provides directives to solve any myriad
financial issue. A hotel manager on the other hand is concerned with the directives of the
MD to keep up with the financial status of his hotel.

The category of people who frequently stay at each hotel

For a hotel manager, he is usually tasked to deal with complaint and comment of people
who stay at his hotel. However an MD will focus on the report of his hotel managers to
provide directives that will give best services to the category of the people who stay at
each hotel.

Sufficient funds for operation of each hotel

An MD usually needs information on all aspect of each hotel operations to make sure
there is enough funds for them to operate with whereas the hotel managers will offer
services and product at their hotels to make sure their clients are satisfied.

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000990714 COMP 1647_INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLANNING

BIGGEST ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES

An organisational change is planning and implementing processes to minimise employee
resistance and cost. Heaven hotel group will definitely experience some changes with the
introduction of a new system. However these changes below will be required since HHG
envisions to be the number one hotel group in the world.

Changes to the hotel structure

Changes to norms and working habit of employees
Changes to training, hiring and responsibilities
Polices and legal agreement changes
Changes to processes and services
Changes to integration
Changes to client relationship

HOW TO ADDRESS THE ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES

Changes to the heaven hotel structure:

Implementation of the new system will surely cause HHG to expect a lot of
change resistance, particularly when some employees would feel they should have
been chosen for a task instead of a new system. Therefore to address this, HHG
must bring all employees together through a workshop to explain why a new
system will implemented, what the system will be able to offer and how it will
make all employees work easier.

Changes to norms and working habit of employees

Some employees can get so irritated at the efforts of a new system based on client
grievances. Management of HHG should never bring this change to the
employees and say this is how we are working these days without enlightening
the purpose for this change. Therefore the employees should be enlightened about
the purpose of this change with proper document to serve as a guide.

Changes to training, hiring and responsibilities

Employees can resistance to this change if no formal training is offered to help
them understand the changes. Training on new techniques within HHG will be
very significant, especially with the implementation of a new system. Therefore
HHG will formulate an appropriate training plan for especially the finance
department and allocate roles to employees to avoid and address this problem.

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Polices and legal agreement changes

The awareness behind this change may have been understood but the
implementation on the other hand may be unblemished. This can cause
management to go back to the old style, especially when HHG is acquiring a
dilapidated property through auctions. Therefore HHG will ensure that legal and
documented policies are constantly communicated to all employees to address this
change.
Changes to processes
Change to processes for heaven hotel may be experienced since the efficiency of
work will increase. For example, the hotel management system is a systems that
analysis and eradicates excessive processes and improves how HHG uses
resources. Therefore an implementation of an effective transitions to draw up
plans and appoint a vibrant person to generate enthusiasm for the change in an
orderly manner can address this change.

Changes to integration
Heaven Hotel Group processes needs to work with the new system and the
employees need to understand the processes. For example, clerks has to
understand the processes of forwarding financial document from their hotels to
the head office. Therefore to address this change, all clerks and other employees
responsible for such processes will be trained with the rules applied to processes.

Changes to client relationship

The nature and the way employees relate to clients has greater significant on
HHG. In the new system employees are considered part of HHG client so
therefore it becomes critical that employees will have a good understanding of
themselves as to how they manage feedbacks from clients to make decisions and
solve problems.

(Arcangel and Johnson, 2011)

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000990714 COMP 1647_INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLANNING

PROCESSES OUTSOURCED

Kuhlin and Thielmann explains outsourcing as the practise of obtaining services or

product that internally a company cannot produce. The idea of outsourcing is sometimes
good for hotel business therefore Heaven Hotel group needs to engage an external service
provided by experts with skills to take care of processes like Human Resource, I.T. and
Marketing process of the company.

Why Human Resource Processes Will Be Outsource

The HR processes of HHG needs to be outsourced because, the hotel group is expected to
target school leavers to join the company when the Europeans leave. In doing this, HHG
reduce labour costs. Keeping the HR processes internally will incur more cost on the
hotel. Again HHG can focus on companys objectives. With the idea of becoming the
number one hotel in the world, outsourcing can help HHG to move its principal idea of
indirect performance to efficiency. Finally, HHG will outsource it HR processes to give
flexibility and make them available to start a new project.

Why The I.T. Processes Will Be Outsource

HHG will outsource it I.T. processes to external companies to wash their hands off
functions that are difficult to accomplish while they can still apprehend profits.
Outsourcing I.T. processes at HHG will cut the rise in hotel price and save cost because
the director is concerned about the cost of implementing an I.T. system.

It is very significant to outsource the I.T. processes of HHG because it will be costly if
people are employed to the I.T. department of the hotels. Even though they may be
expect they will still have issues with the management of the hotel group because they
dont have ample knowledge on I.T. management supervision.

For better maintenance and services of I.T. system, HHG should outsource this processes.
With the current issues at HHG it would be advisable if this process is outsourced
because HHG dont have the tools and softwares to maintain their IT system. Getting
this process outsourced means that the cost for tools and software purchased will be
reduced. Management can therefore focus on more strategies that will drive the hotel to
its ambitions.
(Rivard and Aubert, n.d.)

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000990714 COMP 1647_INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLANNING

Why The Marketing Processes Will Be Outsource

Even with the good rating from internet report, HHG needs to lend their marketing
processes to an external company. HHG outsourcing their marketing processes will
expand the hotels talent pool. Resources that are necessary to build a perfect market for
the hotel are not available therefore an external company doing this can help the company
to focus on their main business.
(Cavusgil, 2017)
DISASTER RECOVERY PLANNING
This section of the coursework provides the steps undertaking to ensure a quick
resurrection of servers destroyed at the head office during disasters. From the scenario an
employee made it known that flood is likely to occur since the statistic from the basement
shows indications of such incidence happening. Therefore the company through this
documented steps will prepare to resume its processes no matter the magnitude of a
disaster should it happen. It is also understood that disasters can occur in various ways, so
this document captures the technical processes of how HHG can get back into operation
using the backup facilities, data centres and cloud computing.
(Toigo, 2014)

Backups

Cold site: with this backup facility, the building only contains power and
HVAC but no computers and storage devices. Therefore a main site is made
available to make the place operational. As compared to hot site update not
accessible since the place has no computer and storage devices.

Hot site: with this back up facility, the company can resume it operations as
soon as possible because all data, applications and computer configurations
are fully up to date with the main site. Operations can begin quickly regardless
of the scope of disaster.

Site sharing: this form of backup ensures regular testing and secure stored
data at a different location. Therefore when it hit by a disaster, they can
quickly resort to these sites.
Data Centres

Heaven Hotel group will put in place centers that can keep some computers
and its peripherals. They will also have security device that will enable work
to begin as soon as disasters occurs
Cloud computing

In making a quick response to disasters at the head office, HHG will not
overlook cloud computing. Most of the companys data will upload to the
cloud storage mediums and will be accessed should a disaster hit HHG.

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PERSUADING MANAGING DIRECTOR

From the scenario the managing director of the hotel group finds it abhorrent due to the
perception of IT systems being expensive to be implemented. With this he thinks of
charging more from clients to be able to install the system required by the group to
change their processes. As a strategic management member he needs to be convinced that
the new system will be affordable.

The scenario records that the recent operation of HHG are manual. Meaning
all records are on paper and they have to find places to store these papers. This
process becomes difficult and waste time when data needs to be retrieved. The
new systems will do away with papers and saved data automatically to easy
the process of data retrieval.

The new systems will assist the finance department to make secure and
precise financial deals because the days of hiring external auditors for
accounting processes cost more and there would be point of hiring them
anymore.

From consultation made from the front desk if HHG consider to stay
competitive and be the number one best hotel group around the world, then
the client should have easy process of bookings. Therefore the new system
will aid clients to make booking anywhere around the world which can easy
be managed by an employee. This will increase the client and HHG can make
more profit.

The amount of money and time that clerks takes to send reports to the head
office needs to be measured. The implementation of the new system will cut
the time wasted by clerks and send reports to the head office within some few
minutes. This when done will increase productivity and save the group more
money.

If HHG ignores the implementation of the new system then it means

competitors will have the advantages of increasing their client base. The new
system will computerise all processes of the group and cut down all
unnecessary cost to save the company to acquire dilapidated buildings at low
prices.

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CONCLUSION

Implementing IT systems in HHG presently will control and make processes wind up
smoothly.

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REFERENCES

Al-Hawamdeh, S. (n.d.). Knowledge management.

Belloc, H. (1923). On. New York: George H. Doran Co.

Brown, D. and Wilson, S. (2008). The Black book of outsourcing. Hoboken, New Jersey:
John Wiley & Sons.

Kuhlin, B. and Thielmann, H. (2005). The Practical real time enterprise. New York:
Springer.

Rivard, S. and Aubert, B. (n.d.). Information technology outsourcing.

Rutherford, D. (1995). Hotel management and operations. New York: Van Nostrand
Reinhold.

Cavusgil, S. (2017). International Business: The New Realities. Harlow: Pearson

Education Limited.

Toigo, J. (2014). Disaster recovery planning. [Place of publication not identified]:

Prentice Hall.

Arcangel, D. and Johnson, B. (2011). Everything you want to know about Organisational
Change. Ely: IT Governance Pub.

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