JetBlue and the Veterans Administration: The Critical Importance of IT Processes
Case Study Questions
1. ric ric Brin!er Brin!er of JetBlu JetBlue e noted that the data"ase data"ase de#elop de#eloped ed durin$ durin$ the crisis crisis had not not "een "een need needed ed "efo "efore re "eca "ecaus use e the the comp compan any y had had ne#e ne#err e%pe e%peri rien ence ced d a meltdo&n. 'hat are the ris!s and "enefits associated &ith this approach to IT plannin$( Pro#ide some e%amples of each.
The The data databa base se syst system em that that dev develop eloped ed dur during ing the the cris crisis is has has now been een implemented at JetBlue airways, but there are certain risks and benefits associated with this approach to the IT Planning. )is!s: a) Inabi Inabilit lity y of the employ employee ees s and and IT taff taff to discer discern n if there would would be a syste system m failure that may happen, as a result to failure in the fi!ation and continuation of the systems operations. "nother disadvantage that may occur is the low volume of customer customers s who who will will patroni patroni#e #e the services services offered offered by JetBlue JetBlue resulting resulting to decreasing market share.
b) "ddi "dditi tion onal al allo alloca cati tion on of mone money y to comp compen ensa sate te for for the the new new syst system em and and its its maintenance implemented by JetBlue was e!pensive. c) $ot all the staff staff are educati educational onal or e!perie e!perienced nced enoug enough h how to use the system, system, as a result greater probability that failure may occur. As for e%ample: %n &ebruary '((, after an ice storm, JetBlue "irways was forced to cancel more than *,((( flights, on that very day, JetBlue doesn+t have enough of its homeoffice employees or crew members that was trained enough for their reservation system. If they were unable to resolve that problem using their system there might be a possibility that there business process and operations will take certain circumstances.
Benefits: a* Better communication between JetBlue and the customers arises through the use of the database system. ince then, the customers are able to take auto,
mated flights which was addressed to them through email and mobile devices. "s a result of this implementation of the database system, increase in competence and marketability was established. "* taff members and employees are able to do the multitasking, additionally, there was an increase in efficiency and increase in productivity resulting to gain of profit.
c* Better flow of communication and information through the members and staff of JetBlue. They have now the capability to discern certain situations happening from time to time. +. 'ith hindsi$ht, &e no& !no& that the decision made "y ric )affin of the VA not to fail o#er to the -en#er site &as the correct one. o&e#er, it in#ol#ed failin$ to follo& esta"lished "ac!up procedures. 'ith the information he had at the time, &hat other alternati#es could he ha#e considered( -e#elop at least t&o of them.
-ric affin made the decision not to fail over to the /enver site to avoid further risk /enver site could be incurred. But, if the problem is softwarerelated, fail over from acramento 0" medical facility to /enver 0" medical facility he could lost the remaining ** sites in the /enver environment.
1st Alternati#e:
eforming the IT organi#ation at 0" 1edical &acility from local processing to regional dataprocessing centres. &rom the case, we know that 0" owned an IT service, has personal budget authority, and its own staff, additionally it has its own autonomy on how its infrastructure evolved.
/ecisions with related to IT are generated between the local IT 2eadership officials and the director of 0" 1edical &acility. This kind of program made a necessary ad3ustment across sites to be closely impossible to undertake, to counteract this situation they need to make a data processing centre so that information+s and certain data needed will be centrali#ed.
+nd Alternati#e:
Provide a centrali#ed data storage infrastructure for IT 4onsultancy and other IT ervices. By this, the capability to conclude for possible solutions whenever failure come up will be easy.
/. A small, undocumented chan$e resulted in the collapse of the VA system, lar$ely "ecause of the hi$h interrelationship "et&een its applications. 'hat is the positi#e side of this hi$h de$ree of interconnection, and ho& does this "enefit patients( Pro#ide e%amples from the case to 0ustify your ans&er.
0" uses two application on their daily operations, the first one is 0IT" which stands for 0eteran 5ealth Information ystem and Technology "rchitecture which maintains electronic health records. The other application is 4P which stands for 4omputeri#ed Patient ecord ystem, is a collection of clinical applications that provides an acrossthe boardview of each veteran+s health record. To access 4P, the user needs 0IT" applications, with these two combination doctors and nurses able to pull up patient health records. &rom studying the record doctors could increase the accuracy of his diagnosis for the patient. &rom the case, we know beside the accuracy of diagnosis, interrelationship of the systems gives the user other advantages that it enables the user to have a realtime order checking, notification system to alert clinicians of significant events, and a clinical reminder system.
