[6 - I-lH Gregg: Deciding on a New Information Technology Platform 177 Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (B): Cleaning Up an Information Systems Debacle As Sage Niele, the newly appointed Vice President of Operations and Chief Financial Ofcer for the Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (MSCC), walked over to the microwave in her ofce, she recalled her excitement when she rst started in this position. Only a few weeks prior, Sage was the owner/operator of a successful information systems and nancial consulting business that kept her in the ofce or on the road an average of 80 hours per week. With a family and dreams of a simpler life, Sage decided to start working for someone else, where she thought her schedule would be much less hectic. Today, it did not seem like her life had changed much. She was still working 80 hours a week, and her life was just as hectic as before. Sage thought that she could see hope on the horizon, however. A few days after Sage began her position, Leon Lassiter, MSCC President, gave her the daunting task of managing the MSCC's information systems. In most organizations, this role would be challenging, but it was especially so at the MSCC due to its history. Over the last several months, the MSCC had been receiving what it con sidered erroneous charges from its software vendor and consultant, Data Management Associates (DMA). DMA had been charging the MSCC for work related to errors in and/or the implementation of the relational database sys- tem and customized reportwriting software that the MSCC had purchased nearly a year ago. Now it was clear that this was another incident in a long history of poor operational decisions for the MSCC's information sys tems. And it was Sage's job to correct the situation and build a direction for the future. As Sage looked down at the calendar, she realized that she had just two more days until her lOO-day action plan was due to Lassiter, on December 24, 2010. Among her list of things \"to do\" was to determine the deciencies of the cur- Copyright 2010 by Daniel W. DeHayes and Stephen R. Nelson. This case was prepared with the assistance of Daniel A. Pfaff from a history provided by an organization that wishes to remain anonymous. It is intended to be the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an adminierative situation. rent information systems, to ascertain the MSCC's future information systems needs, and to investigate the alternatives that existed should the MSCC need to scrap the DMA sys- tem. Beyond that, however, some items needed to be xed immediatelyincluding the deteriorating relationship with DMA and the implementation of the new software. While she knew that she did not have all the answers now, her 100- day plan had to lay out a process for getting the answers. Given Sage's consulting experience, she decided the best way to start was to investigate the troubled history of the MSCC's information systems to help nd the clues nec- essary to avoid disaster in the future. \"How ironic,\" she thought. \"The situation at the MSCC has the same potential to explode as the popcorn does when I hit the start button.\" The Midsouth Chamber of Commerce A more extensive description of the MSCC and its history and computing systems can be found in Case Study 1, M idsouth Chamber of Commerce (A). The Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (MSCC) was created in the early part of the twentieth century, but its information systems history began in 1989 when personal workstations and a suite of software were rst introduced into the organization by Ed Wilson, the Vice President of Public Affairs. Many staff members were skeptical of the automation effort and reluctant to accept this approach. However, with the help of Jon Philips, a small business consultant, Wilson acquired the equipment and hired a programmer to write custom software for each functional areathe marketing division, the operations division, and the human resources division. During the 19905, the use of these systems grew steadily. In 1998, Wilson selected another outside consult- ant, Nolan Vassici, to review the organization's informa tion systems needs and to select the hardware and software solutions that the MSCC required. After a careful study, Vassici recommended more personal workstations. And a year later, Vassici revised and updated the custom software used by each division. 177 178 Part I . Information Technology In June 2003, Wilson hired a systems analyst, Simon the UNITRAK system, including a small IBM server and Kovecki-a recent computer science graduate-to the UNITRAK software. increase the MSCC's computing capabilities. Wilson con- tinued to manage the computer systems and, with the help Implementation of the System of Kovecki, upgraded the hardware and software almost every year. Under Kovecki's watchful eye, the systems Despite Lassiter's interest and urging, implementing the were very reliable. new system took much longer than was planned. Delays in issuing the purchase order and testing the software only added to the time to make the system operational. Training The Necessity for Change finally took place in August 2006. The training went well, By 2005, Lassiter was bothered by the lack of a compre- but data migration became a serious problem. On the final hensive information systems plan that would provide day of training, Lassiter told Kovecki to migrate the data in the MSCC with the kind of ongoing support the organi- the current workstation systems to the new system. zation needed. Even though the systems were stable, the Kovecki had considerable problems doing so as less than data used by the MSCC were segregated onto several 15 percent of the data rolled over into the proper assign- workstations. Lassiter felt the information systems area ments. Because there was no documentation on the old needed more attention and integration. He took it upon software to refer to, it took him until late 2006 to get the himself to send out requests for information to a number data migrated to the new system. In the meantime, most of of firms servicing the software needs of organizations the MSCC workstations were essentially inoperable. like the MSCC. In August 2005, Lassiter attended a Requests for lists and labels for mailings could not be national association meeting where a session on man- fulfilled. And word processing, payment and invoice post- agement software led to Lassiter's discovery of a small ing, data changes, and list management were very difficult firm called UNITRAK. UNITRAK had recently devel- during this time. oped a software system that Lassiter felt the MSCC Lassiter was also finding it very difficult to gain should consider-based on his (and Kovecki's) 2004 information from Kovecki as to the progress and status assessment of the MSCC's current and anticipated of the system conversion. It seemed that Kovecki, frus- divisional needs. trated with the problems he was having and irritated with the staff coming to him to ask for assistance, was going Planning the New Information Technology out of his way to avoid staff members. System UNITRAK came through, however, and by the end Lassiter had identified features provided by the of the year the system was up and running-and at no UNITRAK software that he felt would allow the MSCC to additional cost (beyond the initial hardware and software be more efficient-including quicker access to account in- cost) to the MSCC. Problems still remained, however, as formation, the ability to use a centralized database of it soon became clear that the system had severe limita- information, and increased quantitative analysis of activi- ions-most importantly the lack of a relational database ties. In a memo to the management group, Lassiter com- management system. Nevertheless, the MSCC managed mented, "The UNITRAK system not only meets our to get by with the UNITRAK software through 2007. needs today, but this user-friendly package is also power- Then in February 2008, a more severe problem cropped ful enough to provide the MSCC with the room to grow up-UNITRAK was experiencing serious financial over the next five years." problems and filed for bankruptcy protection. Soon In October 2005, Lassiter invited Greg Ginder, thereafter, UNITRAK's existing support staff was dis- President of the UNITRAK Software Corporation, to give missed, and the MSCC was left with no technical sup- a short demonstration of the system's capabilities. Wilson port. To alleviate this problem, Lassiter hired an outside observed about 30 minutes of the three-hour demonstra- consultant, Zen Consulting, to write programs, generate tion and told Lassiter, "I'll support it if you want it. It will new reports, and assist in the maintenance/support of the work for my project in public affairs." Kovecki's com- software. ments were different. He remarked, "The software has its strengths and weaknesses and it probably would save some Moving Past the UNITRAK Implementation of my time. But I don't like the idea of the staff having In September 2008, Kovecki became concerned about his uncontrolled access to so much data. It's not clear what future with the MSCC. As a result, he resigned to take a they'll do with it." Lassiter was able to convince the position with a local law firm operating a similar hard- MSCC's Executive Committee to approve the purchase of ware platform. In late October 2008, Dick Gramen, aCase Study I7 - Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (B): Cleaning Up an Information Systems Debacle 179 former staff computer trainer for a locallybased insur ance broker, was hired to replace Kovecki. Gramen came from a HewlettPackard (HP) computing environment where he established and maintained a large HP server and a local area network. Gramen, however, had no expe- rience working with IBM servers. Additionally, Gramen had no previous exposure to the UNITRAK software or trade associations generally. Soon after he arrived, Gramen realized that this new environment would be very difcult to learn as he struggled with even the most basic system management tasks. These struggles made him wonder why the MSCC's needs could not be satis fied on HP server hardware and a workstation network. Determined to conrm his Views, Gramen consulted one of his college roommates, John Harter, about the proper system for the MSCC to have in place. Harter was now a consultant for the local HP valueadded reseller (VAR). Harter said, Obviously, Dick, I'm going to tell you to buy the HP system. l-lP makes the perfect system for your type of organization, and I am sure UNITRAK will oper- ate on it. And it should be simpler for you to main tain. I have to be honest with you, though. It's going to be a tough sell to your board. There are cheaper systems out there that would also meet your needs. If you do get the HP system, however, our company could provide some support if you had difculties. Gramen was certain that with the help of Harter and by avoiding the learning curve on the old hardware system, he would be able to handle the maintenance and support and succeed at the MSCC. Now, all he had to do was to convince the MSCC's managers to move to the HP system. So, one month into his tenure, Gramen began telling Lassiter, then the Vice President of Marketing, The MSCC can no longer afford to stay with its current computer hardware platform. The IBM machine just cannot meet your needs today, let alone tomorrow. The current online legislative information services system is maxed out, and without new hardware I just can't support the emerging political action program. If we don't get this situation addressed soon . . . Eventually, this combination of reasons led Lassiter to support Gramen's general hardware proposal. Lassiter was very pleased that finally the IS person was taking some initiative. He was convinced that MSCC's informa- tion systems were the key to maintaining Midsouth's pre eminence among business trade associations and thus the key to its nancial success. Lassiter was also fearful that the MSCC would not be able to be of real value to its mem bers in the legislative tracking arena without a change. As a result, Lassiter told Gramen to quietly pursue acquisition cost estimates. Gramen realized, however, that if he were to be successful in moving the MSCC to the new hardware, he would have to have support from the President of the asso- ciation, Jack Wallingford. When Gramen approached Wallingford, however, he was not prepared for the response: Dick, I agree that we may need entirely new hard ware, but we cannot repeat the problems that occurred with our previous information system purchase. We made some pretty serious errors when we purchased the UNITRAK system and those simply cannot occur again. And we don't have anyone from on our Board of Directors who can get us a good price from HP. Plus, I don't see how you can make this decision yet. You have not had enough time to learn about our current hard- ware (thc IBM server), software (UNITRAK), our data structure, or even what the MSCC is engaged in and how the organization operates. To alleviate some of Wallingford's concerns, Gramen agreed to arrange several meetings throughout the first quarter of 2009 with members of senior management for the purpose of outlining the organization's 15 needs and the general operations of the MSCC. Moving to HP Hardware After listening to Gramen outline the gravity of the situa tion, Ed Wilson decided to help Gramen by going to Lassiter and Wallingford individually to persuade each to support the HP system. Lassiter's support was of the great- est importance, though, because of his inuence within the Executive Committee and the fact that his division was the largest user of information systems. Nevertheless, when Wilson went to Lassiter, Lassiter was incensed: I told Gramen to quietly pursue acquisition cost esti mates so that we would be prepared when we knew exactly what we needed. Apparently he did not honor my request. I am not willing to rush into this blindly and I will not support taking this to the Executive Committee until we know what we need. We can't just rush into a purchase. Even though Lassiter's logic was sound, Wilson remained convinced that something needed to be done 180 Part1 - Information Technology immediatelyiwith or without Lassiter's support. Subsequently, even though they knew doing so would alienate Lassiter, Wilson and Gramen took their proposal to the Executive Committee. Wilson began, Ladies and gentleman, this decision is one that must be made expeditiously. The high cost of paying a consultant to support and maintain the UNITRAK software on hardware that is undersized is becoming a drain on our increasingly scarce resources. And with needs in the legislative services arena on the horizon, we must act quickly before we can no longer serve our members well. Our proposal is the perfect solution to this crisis situation. From a tech- nology standpoint, the HP technology is stateof-the art with impeccable stability and reliability. As important, however, is that we have received assur ances from HP that it will recommend a software vendor to meet our needs once a purchase is made. This proposal gives us the best of all worlds. Uncharacteristically, Lassiter sat in the back of the room, listening in complete silence. He felt condent that even without his input the Executive Committeecomprised of CEOs from twenty of the top companies in the state would never accept this proposal. Because of the economic downturn in 2008 and, in Lassiter's opinion, the limitations of the UNITRAK software system, the MSCC's revenue growth had slowed considerably while its expenditures con- tinued to increase. This had quickly sliced the MSCC's nancial reserves in half to just over $1 million which would make an offbudget purchase difcult to justify. Lassiter, however, had miscalculated the power of the crisis argument, as the Executive Committee instructed Wilson and Gramen to inquire into the acquisition cost of the HP equipment with only one limitationthat they use \"due diligence\" in developing the entire information systems solution. Realizing that the MSCC was starting down a dan gerous path, Lassiter drafted a memo to Wallingford and Wilson in which he wrote, The MSCC must hire an outside consultant to con- duct a thorough needs analysis and establish a long- range vision and IS goals before any decisions are made. Furthermore, we must recognize and learn from the mistakes we made with our first system. Hardware and software decisions cannot be made in isolation. Neither Wallingford nor Wilson responded to his memo. Enter Data Management Associates (DMA) Immediately after the meeting of the Executive Committee, Gramen contacted the HP representative for a recommen- dation on an appropriate vendor. Without hesitation the HP representative suggested a local valueadded reseller (VAR) that not only sold and installed HP hardware, but that also, for a fee, would search for software solutions that matched the MSCC's needs to the proposed hardware platform. With Gramen's shaky understanding of these matters, this seemed like the ideal solution. Because his friend, John Halter, worked for the local VAR, Gramen thought that this approach was the right way to go. This arrangement, however, turned out to be far from ideal. Without ever visiting the MSCCand based only on Gramen's View of the MSCC's operations and information systems needsthe VAR (for a $5,000 fee) contacted Data Management Associates (DMA) on behalf of the MSCC. DMA was a 54employee operation located 61 miles from the MSCC's offices and was headed by Dittier Rankin, a Stanford University alumnus and computer science Ph.D. DMA had recently undergone a shift in its focus and had begun developing custom software for small trade associa- tions and local chambers of commerce throughout the country. Nonetheless, even with DMA's lack of signicant experience, the VAR was confident in DMA's abilities. After several phone conversations between Gramen and DMA, arrangements were made for DMA to demonstrate its capabilities at the DMA ofce in May of 2009. While the meeting lasted only 45 minutes, Wilson and Gramen left it very impressed. With screen shots, report samples, and specication sheets in hand, Gramen was pre- pared to present this proposal to the Executive Committee. In the interim, however, a new situation had developed. John Hilborn, one of Lassiter's most trusted friendsand a member of the MSCC Executive Committeeapproached Lassiter inquiring about his silence at the prior meeting. Hilbom was not pleased with what he heard. As a result, at the next Executive Committee meeting, l-lilborn asked Lassiterduring Gramen's presentationfor his input on the proposal. With that cue, Lassiter only made one com ment: \"Guys, if the proposed solution turns out to be ideal for the MSCC it would be pure luck, as the software selec- tion process has not been comprehensive.\" And then Lassiter sat down. Those few words unnerved Gramen and made several members of the Executive Committee very uncomfortable. Immediately, a motion passed to table the proposal for a month while more information was gathered from and about DMA. With his proposaland potentially his jobon the line, Gramen arranged for DMA's President and two other Case Study I7 - Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (B): Cleaning Up an Information Systems Debacle 181 members of DMA's management to Visit the MSCC's ofces and conduct an IS needs analysis. Those individuals visited for two days. They spent the morning of the rst day provid- ing a complete overview of DMA and demonstrating, on a laptop, the capabilities of the software systems they offered. The remaining day and a half was spent interviewing the MSCC's staff on their job duties, on how they used the cur- rent system, and on any unmet needs they could identify. Additionally, Lassiter provided DMA with a very complete look at his division's 18 needs and his personal vision of the information system that the MSCC needed. Additionally, in an effort to explain the MSCC's capabili ties and to impress upon DMA the diversity and complex- ity of its operations, Lassiter gave DMA lots of materials. These included examples of every report and every type of document that the existing system could produce as well as explanations of the purpose and meaning (to the MSCC) of the information in each of these reports. Furthermore, he gave DMA an operations manual, detailing each task of each employee in the marketing division, and a lengthy report on the information that was currently in the database that could not be retrieved and printed in a useable report format. In all, this was a twofootdeep stack of reports and data. Lassiter was also unwilling to allow DMA to leave until he was given a detailed thesis on DMA's capabilities and its software systems. After two weeks, and in time for the June 2009 Executive Committee meeting, Rankin reported that DMA had reviewed the information gathered on its factnding visit and had successfully analyzed the IS needs of the MSCC. In doing so, DMA determined that its Association Plus software was the ideal match for the MSCC's needs and the HP platform. Lassiter remained undeterred, how- ever, as he urged the approval of travel funds to allow someone to visit at least one DMA customer to see the software in action. The Executive Committee, in deference to Lassiterand to the fact that his division was by far the most extensive user of the current information system agreed to delay the nal decision and to approve funds to send him and Gramen to visit the Lake Erie Chamber of Commerceone of DMA's most recent clients. More Visits/Interviews While DMA had willingly given out the Lake Erie Chamber of Commerce's (LECC) name, this proved to be a bad choice for DMA. One hour into their visit, Gramen and Lassiter met with the LECC's President, George Franks. Mr. Franks explained, We were thoroughly impressed with DMA when we went through our due diligence process. They showed us reports and screen shots that gave all of us hope that this was our panacea. But guys, we have had seri- ous and persistent data conversion problems from the moment of implementation. And, I still don't know whether we will ever see any value from this system. With this information in hand, Lassiter (and a reluc- tant Gramen) reported these ndings back to the Executive Committee. Even though Gramen continued to argue that time was of the essence, the Executive Committee needed additional assurances. As such, they sent Lassiter and Gramen to DMA headquarters with two goals: (1) to determine what DMA's capabilities were and (2) to see an operational version of DMA's software. Immediately upon arriving at DMA headquarters, Lassiter and Gramen were given a tour and were intro- duced to some of DMA's senior staff. Soon thereafter they were led into a conference room where they were treated to a lengthy demonstration of what appeared to be a fully operational version of DMA's software. However, DMA had actually used the MSCC's data and reports to prepare sample reports and screenshots to create the appearance of a fully operational software system. As one former DMA employee would later tell Sage Niele, They used the sample reports and other informa- tion they received from Lassiter to create repre- sentative screens and reports. DMA so badly wanted to get into the trade association market with a big customer like the MSCC that they believed if they could just land this contract they could develop the software and stay one step ahead of the MSCC. The long and short of it is that they sold \"vaporware.\" During the demonstrations, Lassiter and Gramen repeatedly asked for and received assurances that DMA could, with \"relatively minor and easily achievable modi- cations,\" develop the software and convert the UNITRAK database to produce the demonstrated reports and lists for the MSCC. To every question and contingency raised, DMA responded that the development would be no prob lem, and that, additionally, the MSCC would receive the source code if it purchased the software. Satised with what they had seen, Lassiter and Gramen ew home. At the August 2009 Executive Committee meeting, they reported that this system (the HP hardware and the DMA software) was acceptable for pur- chase. Hearing this, the Executive Committee instructed Gramen to request design specications and specic cost estimates on this software system. Under the new congu- ration, a relational database management system called 182 Part1 - Information Technology EXHIBIT 1 DMA's System Configuration for Midsouth Chamber of Commerce Progress, created by DMA, would be loaded on the HP server. Existing data were to be converted by DMA into the new system. In addition, DMA was to use its Association Plus software to enable the MSCC's staff to produce the desired reports, lists, and other documents through a userfriendly reportwriter software package known as Results. (See Exhibit 1.) The design specifica- tions and cost estimates were presented at the September 2009 Executive Committee meeting where they were approved. The total price was $277,000. Gramen immedi- ately contacted DMA and asked the company to prepare a proposed contract. The DMA Contract In late September, DMA sent its standard contract to Gramen for the acquisition of the Progress relational data base management system, the Association Plus custom software module, and several packaged software compo- nents. When the proposed contract arrived, Gramen, recognizing that he had neither the expertise nor the incli- nation to review the contract, sent the contract to Wallingford with a note saying, \"It looks ne.\" Wallingford signed the contract, and the next day the signed contract was headed back to DMA without any other staff member or the corporate counsel or any outside specialist having reviewed the document. Had someone with greater legal acumen reviewed the contract, however, they would have immediately recog- nized that it was extremely onesided and contained none of the assurances that Lassiter and Gramen were given dur- ing their visit. In laymen's terms, it gave no specific or quantifiable performance standards for the services to be provided. The contract also gave DMA the ability to increase the price of services and products provided at its discretion, while limiting DMA's financial and perforrn ance liabilities. Troubles in Implementing the DMA Software Nevertheless, for the rst time in several years, excitement lled the air at the MSCC as it appeared as if a new comput- ing era had begun. On November 11, 2009, the MSCC held a kickoff celebration and invited DMA management to help commemorate the event. Just as important, however, were the meetings associated with this celebration. In these meet- ings, DMA attempted to set the project's implementation schedule by determining (1) the complexity of the various customization components, (2) the length of time necessary to implement the customized software, and (3) the tasks that the MSCC needed to complete in order to facilitate the conversion. By the end of that day, the broad outline of an implementation schedule had been laid out with the first week of July 2010 set as the target completion date. Case Study 17 - Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (B): Cleaning Up an Information Systems Debacle 183 Two weeks after the initial meetings, Stacey Porter, a DMA consultant, arrived at the MSCC offices to install the rst version of the telemarketing module and to provide training on the constituents, territory management, and committees modules. This training served as the staff's first look at the software. The territory managers, however, were not impressed with the layout or content of the soft- ware, as it often forced them to work through more than twenty screens to perform relatively simple tasks. As a result, Lassiter demanded a significant rewrite of the territory management module, and by March 2010, similar delays were a part of the PAC, accounting, meetings, and legislative modules as well. With the scheduled conversion to the DMA software quickly approaching and delays becoming the norm, Gramen and Wallingford decided to continue running the old system until the staff was completely comfortable with the new system. Within three months, however, even though the DMA software was still not fully operational, the MSCC abandoned this directive as it had simply become too expensive to pay the consulting fees to keep UNITRAK operational. As implementation pushed into late July, DMA began encountering substantial problems converting the member- ship database from UNITRAK into the DMA custom soft- ware package. As progress ground to a halt on the software installation, Lassiter summoned Gramen and Porter into his office. During this meeting, the working relationship between the MSCC and DMA began to deteriorate further as Gramen warned Porter, \"1 think we've been pretty patient with you so far, but that is about to change. I've heard of far less serious situations ending up in court before. And I know you understand that this all falls on you.\" The Start of Additional Problems Further complicating this relationship had been a series of billing issues. In the process of installing the system, DMA ran into a myriad of problems with solutions in one area often leading to problems in other areas. By the middle of July 2010, no less than ve MSCC staff members were in regular contact with DMA identifying problems and requesting assistance. As a result, DMA had quickly used up the development hours specied in the contract, and it had subsequently started billing the MSCC for the work beyond the free hours guaranteed. As the problems worsened, Lassiter became increas ingly involved in the daily implementation problems. Feeling as if he was the only one who could right the ship, Lassiter went to Wallingford and argued that he should be given the responsibility of overseeing the entire project. Wallingford gladly consented to Lassiter's request. Immediately, Lassiter arranged a conference call between himself, Gramen, and Porter to address the many outstanding items past completion date. In the call Lassiter emphasized, We are in our eleventh month, and we still cannot use your software to close our books each month. This is completely unacceptable. You could at least provide the system documentation you promised so that we can reduce our own learning curve. It's no wonder that you cannot get the more complicated modules com- plete, though. I've been making simple requests and for some reason you can't meet them. And one more thing, we were promised the source code when our negotiations began, and now I've been told by one of your team members that this will cost us $20,000. What type of dishonest organization are you running? This is completely unacceptable and my patience is thinning. If this situation doesn't improve . . . The exchanges between DMA and MSCC continued to become increasingly strained, and disagreements on what items were and were not promised as part of the sys tem installation became a key point of contention. Given the nature of this relationship, Lassiter ordered that all DMA billings were to be carefully reviewed by Gramen for inappropriate charges. Furthermore, Lassiter asked for the opportunity to review the DMA contract. There rst appeared to be a glimmer of hope, as the contract specied that roughly half the cost of the soft- ware system had been due as a down payment with the balance due upon Gramen signing acceptance certicates after the satisfactory installation of each individual mod- ule. After meeting with Gramen, however, Lassiter learned that although none of the acceptance certificates had been signed, the full system had nonetheless been paid for in full. Lassiter could not believe that they had given up one of the most important pieces of leverage that the MSCC had. Lassiter quickly decided it was time to go back to Wallingford for his input. \"Jack, we have two problems,\" Lassiter said. \"First, it goes without saying that there are serious problems with the software and with DMA's capacity to support and deliver it. Just as important, however, is that Gramen does not seem to have the requisite ability to maintain and sup- port the hardware platform and is really of little value in terms of overseeing or solving problems with the software implementation. As a result, we are completely dependent on DMA for this project's success or failure. I think it's time we go in a different direction.\" Wallingford replied, \"1 agree with you. I trust your judgment in these matters. But before we go any farther, 184 Part1 - Information Technology there is something I want to tell you. I am planning on retiring at the end of the year. This week the Executive Committee will appoint a search committee and begin accepting resumes from interested parties. I really would like you to consider applying for this position.\" Lassiter was speechless, but by this point he no longer had any desire to stay with the MSCC. In his mind, he had taken the marketing effort at the MSCC about as far as he could%specially given the informa tion system's limitations. Lassiter had already received a lucrative offer to be the chief operating officer of a local investment management company and was ready to accept it. Lassiter was not alone, however, as Ed Wilson had just had a nal interview with a new government pol- icy think tank. But, while Lassiter did not throw his name into consideration, Wilson did because his nal outside interview had not gone well. Nevertheless, the search committee was acutely aware that Wilson would just be a temporary x as he was nearing retirement; Lassiter was their preference. As a result, after reviewing the other available can- didates again, two search committee members contacted Lassiter and urged him to apply. After two lengthy meetingsin which the two members intimated that they would not take no for an answerLassiter relented and agreed to have his name offered for the presidency. At the August 2010 meeting two weeks later, the Board of Directors ratified that selection. A Lack of Progress The search for a President had not slowed down the MSCC's problems, however. in late August 2010, Lassiter gave Porter an updated list of problems with the softwareias compiled by the MSCC staffiand asked her to estimate the time to address these tasks in hours. Three weeks later DMA sent back the time estimates and a series of work orders with cost estimates. DMA indicated in that correspondence that it would initiate the work when the orders were signed and returned by the MSCC. Lassiter refused to sign the work orders and informed DMA that he considered the work to be part of the initial installation and that DMA was in breach of contract. On October 1, 2010, Lassiter ofcially took over as President, and shortly thereafter, Ed Wilson announced he would retire on December 1. Instead of replacing him, Lassiter decided to disperse his duties among existing staff members. Knowing that he had to shed some of his IS development responsibilities and realizing that he could no longer afford to leave Gramen as the sole person responsi- ble for the MSCC's information systems, Lassiter began looking for a candidate with a strong information systems and nancial management background to oversee the MSCC's information systems and to serve as chief nan- cial ofcer. In the interim he had Gramen report directly to him while temporarily retaining the role of overseer of the ever-tenuous relationship with DMA. Meanwhile, DMA seemed to be creating as many problems as it xed. Condence in the new software was dwindling, and paper systems began to proliferate as some modules were not installed and others were completely nonoperational. Because of the slow response time, the staff often had to work evenings and weekends to complete simple tasks, which further diminished morale. In addition, the integrity and dependability of the membership data- base had become increasingly suspect as a result of the data conversion problems and the general unreliability of the system. At the end of October, Rankin and Porter from DMA spent a full day in meetings with the MSCC's staff and senior management. Each division outlined its problems and frustrations with the software system. By the final meeting that day, Lassiter was livid: \"We have to bring the initial installation to an end! It is time for your company to deliver the system that we contracted for. I am tired of missed deadlines, unreturned phone calls, and partial solu- tions.\" \"I understand your frustration, Mr. Lassiter,\" Rankin said. \"But I want to reiterate our desire to keep you as a customer. We will redouble our efforts to nish the instal lation, and 1 will personally send a letter to you outlining the dates for completion of the outstanding problems.\" Two days later, Gramen and Porter held a conference call to once again discuss the discrepancies between the promised and actual delivery dates. Per Lassiter's instruc- tions, they also requested and received a listing of DMA's clients. Lassiter instructed Gramen to conduct a phone sur- vey of these businesses to determine their level of satisfaction with DMA. To Lassiter's dismay, this phone survey revealed that there was overwhelming dissatisfaction with DMA's products and services. The Lake Erie and Great Lakes Chambers of Commerce were already in litigation with DMA due to contract nonperformance, and many of DMA's other clients were calling for a multiparty lawsuit. On November 4, Lassiter sent Rankin another letter outlining the items still unnished and demanding a speedy resolution to these problems. In response, Rankin instructed Porter to phone Lassiter with a pointed message. \"Mr. Lassiter,\" Porter said, \"I just wanted to let you know that DMA has already incurred $250,000 of expenses it has not charged you in an attempt to meet your concerns. Nevertheless, DMA has decided to discontinue program ming support for the MSCC until the Chamber pays its outstanding invoices.\" Case Study I7 - Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (B): Cleaning Up an Information Systems Debacle 185 \"In that case,\" Lassiter responded, \"I guess we'll see you in court,\" at which point the phone conversation ended abruptly. Enter Sage Niele On December 1, 2010, Ed Wilson stepped down although he was retained as a parttime consultant and given the title of the political action committee's Executive Directorand Sage Niele arrived as Vice President of Operations and Chief Financial Ofcer. Niele held an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and had previously performed systems manager responsibili ties for a large pharmaceutical company in the Midsouth area. More recently, she had operated her own information systems and nancial consulting business. With two small children at home, she had decided to pursue something less rigorous and time-consuming than running her own business, but it soon became clear to her that this position might not t that billing. A few days into her position, Lassiter met with Niele in his ofce: Sage, it's good to have you on board. I need you to begin a planning and assessment process to deter- mine the deciencies of the current information system, along with the MSCC'S needs, and the alter- natives that exist in the event the MSCC needs to scrap the DMA system and start over. From this day forward, you are to be the exclusive contact person between the MSCC and DMA. I have begun the process of nding a suitable, top-notch replacement for Gramen, which will help you in your cause. I'll give him two months to nd a new job, but we have to let him go. That next week, Lassiter, Niele, and Gramen met with an attorney specializing in computer software con- tracts who had also been a past Chairman and current Executive Committee member of the MSCC. Lassiter out- lined the situation for her, but her assessment was far worse than Lassiter had imagined. \"The way I see this contract,\" she began, \"The MSCC has few, if any remedies. I wish you had contacted me earlierbefore the contract was signed. The absence of performance standards leaves you with only one real remedy, avoidance of payment. Because you have already made full payment, you have given tacit acceptance of the software system. From speaking with Leon earlier, I understand that your goal is to either receive reimburse- ment and the source code from DMAso you can hire a consultant to make the software usableior to get your money back and buy another system. These outcomes are unlikely. In my opinion, you need to tone down your demeanor with DMA and try to get as much additional progress out of them as possible until you decide what to do. If DMA does get serious about cutting off their support, pay what you think you owe and we'll go after them for specic performance.\" Taking that advice to heart, several additional pieces of correspondence were internally generated and sent to DMA with a more temperate tenor. Meanwhile, Niele con- tinued to send DMA payments for only those items the MSCC deemed to be billable. Each time she crossed her ngers that DMA would not pull the plug. With the help of the MSCC librarian, Niele identi- ed a list of eight software packages that would run on an HP hardware platform, that were designed for use in a trade association environment, and that appeared to be worthy of further investigation. At the same time, she began interviewing MSCC staff members to prepare an inventory of the current system deciencies as well as the needs for the future. An outgrowth of this effort was the creation of an ad hoc information systems committee that she used to help atten her learning curve about the MSCC and its current information systems. Furthermore, Niele also spoke with Lassiter and key board members to determine their vision for the opera- tional future of the MSCC. And Niele arranged for six CEOs from the Executive Committee to have their 18 man- agers or other key IS staff members serve on a steering committee to assist her in evaluating systems alternatives. Not only did that give her additional points of View, but she hoped this would make it easier to sell her nal recommen- dation to the Executive Committee. Unfortunately, Niele also knew that her assessment of the current situation and the alternatives she had iden- tified to date would not be attractive to the Executive Committee. On a legal pad in her ofce, she wrote down the problems as she saw them: (1) The modules will like ly never become operational, (2) DMA is unwilling to commit the resources necessary to nish the job, (3) the DMA relationship is still deteriorating quickly, (4) any costs already itemized are likely sunk due to poor con- tracting, (5) it will be expensive to start over from scratch, and (6) it is equally expensive to do nothing. Now the big question was, where to go from here? As the microwave sounded to signal that her popcorn was ready, Sage wondered which problems she would be putting to an end through her recommendations and which problems she would start by making additional changes