Instructor's Manual
Management Information Systems, Eighth Edition
Int’l Case 4-1
International Case Study
Case Study 4: Growing An Application From Collaboration To
Management Support—The Example of Cuparla
1. Show how organizational issues influence the software design and how the
software design affects the organizational behavior.
Before Cuparla, the council members were preparing and filing their work at their
homes. They felt that there must be a better way of keeping each other informed,
accessing documents, and collaborating on issues before the council. The case
mentioned several factors that influenced the software design; these include the
council members' mobility; the need to provide support at any time and any place,
support based on the context of the collaboration activity, support for a low degree
of process structure, and the novice computer skills of the council members.
The development team felt that they should not impose a new structure on the
group, and decided to use a "working context" design. The design team built a
system that consisted of a series of electronic work rooms. These electronic work
rooms were reflective of the types of activities that the council members would
engage in. Figures 1 and 2 show two interfaces for the Culpara system. These
interfaces are very intuitive for the council members. As the case points out, the
buttons, lists, and arrows are easy and appropriate for the council members to use.
The software design also gave the council members additional options that could
improve their work. For instance, the software gave the members search and
retrieval options.
2. Has Cuparla been effective? Describe the costs and benefits from the point
of view of a council member and from the point of view of a member of the
administration.
Cuparla has been effective. The case indicates that "Cuparla has become an
indispensable part of council work." The case also mentions that "the system
continued to grow due to user demand and organizational change."
From an administration standpoint, the groupware product needs to be used by all
council members, and all group members should actively participate. The
groupware product can help the council members make better informed decisions
and make council membership more attractive. Administration would want to know
the cost, time, quality, flexibility, human situation, and how the system supports the
individual, group, process, and organization. The administration incurred costs in
wiring part of the city hall, purchasing hardware, and collecting information.
The system can provide the council members with several benefits, including time,
flexibility, quality, and making council membership more attractive. The system
can provide better information, increase the coordination of activities, increase
communication support, and improve the cooperation on activities. The new
Instructor's Manual
Management Information Systems, Eighth Edition
Int’l Case 4-2
system could require extra work if all members do not actively participate. Also,
there was an intensive organizational learning process and the business processes
had to be reorganized.
3. Why has Cuparla been continuously changing? For what class of systems
is this typical?
User demand and organizational change has caused Cuparla to change. Reasons
sited in the case include an increase in the user population, increase in the volume
of data, and enhanced functionality. The Cuparla project was aimed at supporting
group collaboration and the knowledge work of the council members.
4. Design an interface and sketch out an architecture for a future Cuparla
system. This system should both include collaboration and Management
Support functionality.
Student answers for this question will vary. If you have the class time, you may
ask your students to present their interfaces and sketches to the class. Your
students may opt to build on the interfaces shown in Figures 1 and 2. One
important aspect of the Management Support System is its ability to integrate data
from various databases. The Management Support System should support
different interfaces (PDAs and mobile phones), provide cockpit functionality, and
support integrated search queries. A data warehouse would be useful as well.
5. Where would you expect organizational barriers and facilitators for the
implementation of such a future Cuparla System?
Student answers will vary. However, the administration may have concerns about
the costs and security of the system. Members may be concerned about the ease
of use. However, the council member experiences mentioned in the case seem to
indicate a willingness on the part of the council members to accept a new and
improved Cuparla system.