Activity 7-10 IMAT

Activity 7: Prepare Economic Analyses: In this activity, the two work breakdown structures you prepared in Activity 5, along with their supporting data, should provide you with much if not all of the information needed to perform an economic analysis on each of your two final alternative solutions. Use the Economic Analysis Worksheet provided in the Economic Analysis reading from IT Economics Corporation. The reading and template are in the reference list.

You need to submit two completed Economic Analysis Worksheets, one for each of your two final alternative solutions. The worksheet is set up so that you can enter each on a separate sheet of the same Economic Analysis Workbook. All you need do for each worksheet is enter the name of your project, the project cost by calendar year, the benefits by calendar year, and risk probability data for each calendar year. Detailed instructions for completing the worksheets are provided in the Workbook. You should rely on the information you generated in preparing the WBS’s for each of your two best alternatives, which will help you make reasonable estimates for the calendar year(s). Submit the actual Economic Analysis Workbook Excel file that you downloaded and used to enter information for your two alternatives. Do not put the Economic Analysis worksheets into a Word document or a pdf file.

Special Note: The worksheet from IT Economics Corporation is “locked” so that only the information needed can be entered, and the formulas can’t be changed to distort the spreadsheet results. Anyone can purchase software that unlocks spreadsheets. However, unlocking an economic analysis spreadsheet is not permitted in organizations because then the data it contains cannot be trusted. Moreover, the Workbook is copyrighted by IT Economics Corporation, and there are ethical and legal issues that arise from tampering with copyrighted software. There is no need to unlock the spreadsheet, and no spreadsheet that is unlocked or modified can be accepted in this course.

T7-Economic Analysis.pdf

T7-Economic Analysis of Alternative Solutions.xls

Activity 8: In this activity, you will perform a comparative value-risk analysis of the two alternatives, using Template 8 (IT Investment Assessment Rating Form). The template is in the reading from IT Economic Corp. titled Comparative Analysis of Acquisition Alternatives. It is available in the reference list.

Use the criteria categories and weights provided in the template to rate your two alternative solutions. Based on the results of your assessments, select the best alternative. In other words, you conclude that it is the best solution to the performance problem because it has the best balance of value and risk for your organization.

T8-Analysis Alternatives.pdf

Activity 9: Write a value proposition for the alternative you selected. An explanation of how to write a value proposition is provided in the reading titled Value Proposition, which also gives two examples of value propositions. You can model your value proposition after the examples. The reading and examples are available in the reference list.

T9-Value Proposition.pdf

Activity 9: Write a value proposition for the alternative you selected. An explanation of how to write a value proposition is provided in the reading titled Value Proposition, which also gives two examples of value propositions. You can model your value proposition after the examples. The reading and examples are available in the reference list.

T9-Value Proposition.pdf

Activity 10: Develop an Acquisition Strategy Statement for your proposed IT acquisition project (that you selected in Activity 8 and summarized in your Activity 9 value proposition).

A template for preparing the statement, titled Acquisition Strategy Statement, is available in the reference list. Please use this template to prepare your Acquisition Strategy Statement. Keep your responses to the various sections of the Acquisition Strategy Statement as brief as possible, while still communicating your key points. As you likely know from your own experience, executives like the brief, to-the-point documents, preferably only a page or two. They usually do not read lengthy acquisition strategy statements.