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To effectively implement a specific system, solution, or software in an organization, it is appropriate to apply a systems development life cycle (SDLC). The SDLC methodology allows for planning, building, and implementing an information system that addresses an organizations needs. MeiHomeLoans (MHL) is a small mortgage loan company employing 250 people and having several offices with two offices in Canada that are connected to the organizations intranet.
To work with customers, the organization utilizes a document management system with paper files, which leads to much paperwork and missing documents. The companys purpose is to double the number of operating loans and increase the overall size of the organization. The purpose of this paper is to propose a solution for MHL and apply an SDLC for its realization.
SDLC Diagram and Elements to Realize the Solution
The SDLC developed for MHL includes three phases as Definition, Construction, and Implementation (Figure 1). MHL requires the implementation of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) collaboration system because it is necessary to keep the customer-centric focus of operations and guarantee the exchange of customer-related information and loans among offices using the intranet, the Internet, and storage servers (Preece, Chong, Golizadeh, & Rogers, 2015). If the number of loans increases, it will be possible to manage them only with the help of a CRM system as an effective ready-to-implement application for optimizing the work with customer-related data.
The elements important to realize the CRM solution at MHL are the analysis of currently used information systems and technologies, the determination of demand, and the setting of goals. It is also necessary to select a CRM system with appropriate configurations and options to cover the companys needs, to install supportive software, and to determine the required hardware ( The SDLC is *not* a project management methodology, 2014). The process of testing the work of a CRM system is also required. Furthermore, it is also necessary to provide employees with mandatory training and focus on the work of the CRM solution to decide on updating or modifying it.
CRM Elements and SDLC Phases
At the Definition phase, it is important to conduct the feasibility analysis of the currently applied information system to identify the needs of the company. This step is necessary to focus on the requirements for the provided solution: to remain customer-centric, to guarantee the collaborative work on loans and easy exchange of data, to minimize paperwork and document losses (Brown, DeHayes, Slater, Martin, & Perkins, 2011). The selected collaboration CRM allows for the easy management and exchange of data and documents between many employees in different offices using the intranet and Internet resources.
The Construction stage of the SDLC is associated with the design of the system, it is building, and testing. Despite referring to a ready-to-use CRM solution, it is necessary to select appropriate CRM configurations, make changes in their design and ensure the use of VPN and secured cloud services for storing and exchanging data. Thus, much attention should be paid to customizing the chosen CRM system to address MHLs needs. At this stage, it is also critical to select additional supportive software and hardware, security means, and operating systems to guarantee the effective work of the CRM system in the environment of MHL (Brown et al., 2011). The testing period is important to guarantee that the CRM solution is effective to work with inputs and outputs typical of this company.
During the Implementation phase, the installation process should be completed with a focus on converting all previously used data to be included in a new system. This process can take several weeks and be realized along with the parallel use of the old system (Brown et al., 2011). The next step is the work with the CRM system based on training provided to employees. All the mistakes and problems identified during the operations step will be further analyzed during the maintenance step to realize the required updates and modifications to ensure that the system works appropriately. If there are any flaws in the implemented system, they are fixed during the maintenance step of the implementation stage. For MHL, it is important to check the flow and exchange of loans and financial documents and focus on the security of data sharing.
Conclusion
The development of an SDLC for the implementation of the CRM system at MHL allows for the evaluation of this methodology to be used in companies to realize the processes of changing information systems. It is possible to state that the advantages of using a CRM solution are in possibilities to work with many customers flexibly, without losing important data. The advantages of an SDLC for implementing this solution in the organization are in an opportunity to use a process that is easy to be managed and controlled at all stages. Disadvantages of applying this model are associated with the absence of addressing changes in requirements and demands, and the cycle realization can be discussed as a prolonged process.
References
Brown, C. V., DeHayes, D. W., Slater, J., Martin, W. E., & Perkins, W. C. (2011). Managing information technology (7th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Preece, C., Chong, H. Y., Golizadeh, H., & Rogers, J. (2015). A review of customer relationship (CRM) implications: Benefits and challenges in construction organizations. International Journal of Civil Engineering, 13(3), 362-371.
The SDLC is *not* a project management methodology. (2014). Web.
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