Case Study I-1 – IMT Custom Machine Company, Inc
Teaching Note on Case Study I-1
IMT Custom Machine Company, Inc.:
Selection of an Information Technology Platform
Objectives
The primary objective of this case is to illustrate some of the issues organizations may face when
choosing a computing platform. Special attention is placed on the reasons favoring/disfavoring a central
A secondary objective of this case is to illustrate to students what can happen when an organization lacks
an information technology vision. IT applications specific to IMT had been created to address a variety
of issues within that organization. But very little thought had been placed on the relationships between
these applications or the relationships between the users of the systems that in turn created data flows.
This case should help make the students more receptive to the emphasis placed on an information vision,
the IT architecture, and IS planning as presented in the textbook.
Other possible uses for this case include:
Overview
International Machine and Tool (IMT) a custom production machine company based in Bonn,
Germany owned New York-based IMT- -based
operations, including Custom Machine Company, Inc. (CMCI). Of those holdings, its Fort Wayne,
With that information in hand, Browning presented four options to Page in mid-October 2002:
Option 1 Centralized Computing
Case Study I-1 IMT Custom Machine Company, Inc.
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Questions for Discussion
1. What do you think of the particular assignment given to Browning?
The assignment seems clear. The issue of which technology platform to use going forward is a critical
one for many companies. Page was correct in wanting to analyze the long-term issue.
2.
Directions and Objectives Statement (see case Exhibit 5). What is your opinion of these
statements? Are they appropriate? Are they comprehensive? Are they at the correct level of
generality? Were these statements appropriately developed and adopted?
Generally, both statements appear to be incomplete, inappropriately developed/adopted, and a mixture of
too much detail and too much generality. More specifically, the CMCI Mission/Vision Statement
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3. Discuss the specific developments within CMCI over the previous five years and currently under
consideration that have impacted or will impact the overall information systems architecture at the
Fort Wayne plant.
Many new plans/developments were ongoing, but the following are seven of the more important ones:
2. The human resources department had plans to install a local area network to handle various
3. The source of computer systems support differed, depending upon the application. For example,
the engineering systems group supported engineering and drafting, but the IS group supported
4. The IMT business group containing CMCI decided that all its custom machine design work
5. A new marketing and negotiation system was in the advanced stage of planning, with work
6. The CMCI field sales group was planning a new network system for transferring order
7. The current bill of materials system had to be replaced. While a decision had been made to
4.
material given in the case study as well as your reading and general knowledge of information
systems.
Option 1 Centralized Platform
Pros
1. The IS staff is best prepared to handle this option. The staff knows how to build and maintain
mainframe application systems.
3.
Case Study I-1 IMT Custom Machine Company, Inc.
Cons
1. The IMT business group had adopted a strategy of moving the design work to a common system on
Option 2 Workstation Computing Platform
Pros
1. The workstation computing option is consistent with the IMT business group strategy of moving
Cons
1. The IS staff is not well prepared to handle the workstation computing option. Significant hiring
and/or retraining would be necessary.
3.
mainframe vendor (IBM).
Option 3
Pros
3. Staffing could be reduced or limited in growth. The cloud provider takes responsibility for system
Cons
1. Software licensing cost would likely not be reduced. Application software providers continue to
cost is often the largest cost of operating an IT department (other than personnel).
3. For many IT departments, cloud computing may cost more in the long run than installing and
maintaining applications internally. Cloud computing may be best when a significant new
Case Study I-1 IMT Custom Machine Company, Inc.
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Option 4 Wait and See
Pros
1. While some software control tools have not yet been developed for workstations, they will likely be
developed over time.
2. The use of workstations to do the processing for an organization is unusual and it would be quite
Cons
2. By delaying action, CMCI will likely be forced to upgrade its mainframe simply to keep current
5. Should Browning have provided other options?
a reasonable combination of a mainframe and a workstation environment should have been proposed to