Introduction to Business Information Systems (IBIS)

CONUNDRUM CONSULTANTS (CON) – Fictitious case study scenario

Background
Conundrum Consultants (CON) is an organisation of private surveyors who issue building permits, sewerage
and waste disposal permits and road access permits for building projects in Victoria. The applicants for these
permits may be homeowners or builders for the construction of new homes and buildings and for any
remodelling projects as well as the conversion of unoccupied spaces such as garages into living or working
space.

Three of the departments at CON include Building, Health and Roads. The Building department performs an
initial engineering review of all permits and issues permits for cranes, temporary parking and temporary
fencing or site sheds. The Health department issues permits for sewerage, waste disposal and water testing.
The Roads department issues permits to provide driveway entrances to government roads, traffic control or
temporary road closures.

For many years the permit process has not changed. First the permit office clerk receives the application
along with payment of appropriate fees for each permit then physically hands the application to the Building
department for an engineering review. If the application is rejected it is returned to the clerk who notifies the
applicant. Applicants do not receive a refund but may resubmit their application with appropriate changes. If
the Building department approves the initial review but determines that Sewerage or a water review is
needed the application will be sent to the Health department where again it could be rejected. If the
application passes this stage but it is determined that road access is required, the application will be sent to
the Roads department. At this stage an application may still be rejected or final approval is given. The
outcome (rejection or approval) is passed onto the permit office clerk who notifies the applicant and collects
any outstanding fees for the subsequent stages before permits are issued.

Builders and homeowners find this process to be slow and very frustrating. For one, they don’t like its
sequential nature. Only after a permit has been approved or rejected by an engineering review process would
they find out that a health or highway review is also needed. Because each of these reviews can take three or
four weeks, applicants requesting permits want the review processes to be concurrent rather than serial. Also,
both the permit applicants and CON personnel are frustrated because they never know where a particular
application is in the permit process. A builder may call to ask how much longer a permit will take but it can
take an hour or more just to find which desk the permit is on.

Therefore the General Manager of CON, Mr Harold Zhang has asked for the permit process to be changed.
In this new process, the permit office clerk would still receive the application and appropriate fees but would
then scan the application and email it to each department at the same time. The departments would review
the application in parallel and email their decision to a processing officer. This officer would collate and
analyse the results and, if there are no rejections, approve the permit. The outcome (rejection or approval)
would be emailed to the permit office clerk who would notify the applicant and collect any outstanding fees
before permits are issued.

Mr Harold Zhang would like to have a clearer understanding before these changes are implemented so he has
asked you to submit a business report (with academic references) with the following information:

– responses to some direct questions (refer Task A)
– two (2) process models depicting ‘As-Is’ and ‘To-Be’ processes (refer Task B)
– two (2) graphs created in Microsoft Excel that show department statistics (refer Task C)

Task Requirements

Task A: QUESTIONS
Respond to the following questions
(i) What is the role of business process modelling for organisations such as CON? What are the
benefits of providing an As-Is model and a To-Be model to the General Manager, Mr Harold
Zhang?
(ii) There is minimal mention of information technology (IT) in the CON case study. Broadly
explain the importance of information in organisations like CON and provide an example of
how IT can provide a useful tool for attracting new customers.
(iii) How does using a software tool such as Microsoft Excel support business decision making?

Task B: PROCESS MODELS
Produce two (2) process models (not hand drawn) using Swim Lane format from the details provided in
the Background section (clearly state any assumptions made):
1. The first Swim Lane diagram must represent the ‘As-Is’ application processes at CON
2. The second Swim Lane diagram must represent the ‘To-Be’ application processes at CON.

https://elms.ict.swin.edu.au/

Task C: EXCEL SPREADSHEET
Harold wants to evaluate the 2014 statistics from permit applications. Harold knows enough about Excel
to realise it could be a useful tool so he has asked you to create a Microsoft Excel prototype which lists
the type of permits received in 2014 and the revenue collected. The data for the spreadsheet is available
on the next page as well as a suggested layout and hints for formula to be used.

Graphs: You are also required to create two (2) graphs.
1. Column chart: Show total revenue by department (example on next page).
2. Pie chart: Show number of applications by department as percentages (example on next page).

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