INFORMATION GATHERING

Information Gathering

Information Gathering

Introduction3

Discussion3

Background to the Project3

Information Gathering Techniques5

Results of the Survey7

Analysis and Evaluation of the Results8

Process Followed to Evaluate the Recommended Software10

Recommendations11

Reflections12

Conclusion12

References14

Appendix A16

Meeting Minutes16

Name of Organization: Xtreme Sporting Supplies Ltd16

Executive Summary

Xtreme Sporting Supplies Limited (XSSL) is going through a phase where it wishes to achieve a sophisticated Document Management System (DMS) to solve their various document-associated problems. A systematic approach is important for effectively finding a solution to the issues and problems. The paper aims to identify the problems in the current DMS, conduct a research for exploring the reasons, discuss the process used for information gathering and discuss the usefulness of the recommended solutions.

Introduction

Data management and administration plays an important part in the entire working of the Organization. This is the reason why companies plan and implement different strategies and policies for ensuring a proper and well-organized data management system. However, it is important to note that one of the most basic and fundamental element of the data management systems are the various different types of documents that are used and circulated within and outside the company for both information sharing and communication purposes. Therefore, it is essential that a sophisticated system is adopted by the Organizations that ensure that all the updated and modern techniques and tools are used for managing the Documents. XSSL also wishes to bring the necessary changes in its DMS for achieving a better document management performance.

Discussion

Xtreme Sporting Supplies Limited or XSSL manufacture a wide range of specialized sporting products, which are sold in different cities in New Zealand with the help of their own distribution network.

Background to the Project

The size of the Company has grown significantly. As a result, the number of working staff dedicated to product development has also grown. This has led to different communication issues between their teams working on the distributed product development. Moreover, the company has analyzed that the currently working staff dealing with the publishing, reading, processing and managing the documents, also lack the capability to better organize the maintenance of the documents. In order to cater this and many other similar problems, the company is considering to establish a better-managed document environment to achieve many of the commercial and business related purposes.

The major obstacle that the company faces in the current scenario is that the employees are unsure of the updated version of documents. Hence, the employees continue to use the old document versions, as they are usually unaware when the documents are updated. There also has been noticed a lack of supervision over when these documents are updated in addition to who updates them. Moreover, the location management of these documents is also poor as the staff usually fails to locate a document when needed.

The communication misunderstandings between the individuals regarding the documents are also very common. There exist a culture of ownership of documents by the individual employees. However, the Company wishes these documents to be regarded as the enterprise ...