August 2016

IIFT Consulting Course ITPCM: Individual

Assignment
Answers:
Q1. What is / are the problem(s) that are being faced by MSI?

Organizational fit between the parent company and acquired entities:

The five Facilities of the MSI hospital are running independently with their own

administrative systems and demographic cultures.

Lack of coordination between management: As the five entities run
independently, there is no coordination between the management which
increases the number of complexities and the reporting structure and
hierarchy is not defined. This makes it tough also for the employees to address

their problems/challenges to the right person in the company.

Multiple systems: There are no single and standardized information systems
in the entities. They all have separate ERP, HIS and time and attendance
systems. The track records of patients are maintained separately in every
facility. So it becomes difficult if a record of a patient has to be linked with

other records in its five other facilities.

Costs: Even after growing inorganically, MSI has not been profitable. Its

revenues are less and costs have been increasing.

Compensation Mechanism: Different compensation

mechanisms

are

followed by all entities. MSI, ElderCare and HeartPlus employ the staff and pay
them salaries where as its other two facilities pay their staff members on a Fee

for-service model.
Recent development: The family of a recently deceased patient brought a
lawsuit against the MSI. The patient who was being treated at HeartPlus was
brought to another facility in an emergency and died due to lack of proper care
coordination between the different facilities and physicians.

August 2016

Q2. As a consultant, what is the approach and timelines you would follow

for this engagement?

Problem Proposed Solution

Estimated
Time
to
Completion

Identifying and
Discussing the
various problems
with the client and
allocating a priority
status to each
problem.

Highest priority to be allocated 1 week

to maximizing revenue while
reducing costs. This is to be
achieved by addressing the
following issues as per the
order:
1. Bringing independent IT
infrastructure of each
entity on to a common
platform to ensure better
coordination
between
facilities and physicians.
2. Merging
the
management
and
reporting structure of all
the entities
3. Streamlining the staff
compensation structure.

Exploring the
possibility of
integrating the IT
systems being used
by each entities.

Analyzing the independent IT 3 weeks

systems and infrastructure of
each entity and studying the
possibility
of
a
merger.
Contacting the vendors of the
IT systems to work out a
solution of either integration or
development of a new platform
Merging and streamlining the 8 weeks
backend
operations
and
databases. Testing scenarios
and developing a common IT
platform to suit all entities of
MSI
Analyzing
and
suggesting 3 weeks
improvements to simplify the
reporting and management
structures of MSI in order to

Moving to a common
IT platform

Streamlining the
management and
reporting structures
of MSI

August 2016

Migrating to a
common staff wage
structure
End to End
Handover

facilitate better coordination

between
the
different
resources of MSI
Analyzing
the
different 2 weeks
solutions to move to a common
wage for all MSI staff
Handover of the entire set of 3 weeks
deliverables to the client.

Q3. What would your final recommendations be?

Organizational Goals: The organizational goals of the company as a parent

have to be decided and they should be in coordination with its subsidiaries.
Sometimes it may be the case where goals of the parent company outweigh
those of its subsidiaries, but in this case manager/board have to consider the

best interests of both the parties.

Employee Considerations: Compensation, benefits etc. should remain same
within the parent company and its other subsidiaries. Employees sometimes
may feel overshadowed by their counterparts working in the parent company.
They might be left out of the perks. So to ensure harmonious working by the
employees and avoid disgruntlement, strikes etc., managers should maintain

equity in the organization as a whole.

Common IT platform (Automation): Migrate to a common IT platform
across all entities of MSI and ensure the same for any future expansion. This
would help manage resources better while reducing costs of individual licenses
and trainings for each IT system. Also the company can look for automation of

manual processes to reduce processing time of tasks.

Streamlined reporting and management structure: This would centralize
various processes and help set up a shared resources platform thereby
reducing costs while improving operational efficiency.

August 2016