Veterans Health Administration System Development Lifecycle

Problem Statement It has been noted that shortcomings in the Veteran Health Administration (VHA) system that systematic issues affecting the Return on Investment (ROI) may be due to improper adherence to the steps in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). This document presents key areas of the SDLC that may be behind the shortcomings and recommends a root cause analysis study.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Veterans Health Administration System Development Lifecycle specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Context The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is series of steps that play an integral role in the production of software. The cycle includes system engineering, software requirements analysis, systems analysis and design, generation of code, testing and maintenance (Lewis 26). Based on reports from the PE Lessons Learned team, it has been reported that during development of the VHA system systematic i ssues suggest poor adherence to the SDLC. In turn this may be responsible for poor Return on Investment (ROI) for the project. Because of this several areas have been identified that could be the reason behind the poor performance of the project. Concept Initiation Issues attributed to poor adherence to the SDLC of the VHA system can be traced to concept initiation. Evidence in support of this is identified in the GAO report which highlights the fact that despite spending large sums on money and time on the VA project implementation is yet to be done on many of the projects. It has been observed that an estimated $127 million has been spent on this project over a period of nine years. It should be noted that of this amount $62 million of the amount was to be spent on planning, management support development equipment and environment. It has also been noted that the department also paid a further $65 million to the contractor to develop the replacement scheduling system. It should be noted that prior to initiation of the project the VA system relied on an outpatient scheduling system that was over 25 years old. Given that in 2009, VA terminated the contract supporting the development of a suitable scheduling project one can understand why so many defects still exist in the system. His is because if the scheduling system is so significant, the VA should have first developed this system before undertaking other systems. As a result of this poor planning it was noted that the project was still plagued by a number of defects that VA and the contractor were unable to resolve.Advertising Looking for assessment on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It has therefore been concluded that it is likely that VA did not adequately plan its acquisition of the scheduling application. This can be traced to the fact that one of the best practices in development of software is to closely align software projec ts with business or organizational goals (ISACA 116). Concept Definition Another shortcoming that is attributable to lack of adherence to the SDLC is observed when considering concept definition. This is because an SDLC can be broken into three main stages namely, definition, construction and the implementation phases (Tan and Sheps 296). In the definition phase, the project team attempts to provide a detailed explanation of what the system is expected to accomplish. It is based on these requirements that the software engineering specialists develop the proposed solution (Tan and Sheps 296). It is therefore clear that an incomplete or unsuitable concept definition will most likely result in a system with degraded performance. At this point it is also important to mention that definition also involves feasibility study which is essential to the proposed system. The objective of the feasibility study is to point out if the project is absolutely necessary and if the organization is abl e to complete the software project envisioned (Tan and Sheps 296). Based on the VHA case it appears evident that a complete feasibility study was not undertaken and as a result a poor system was developed. In addition to that another important question that can be traced to the feasibility study is related to the Enterprise Architecture (EA). Based on the feasibility study it should have been noted that the Enterprise Architecture to support such a system was absent. This in turn would have suggested the need to develop suitable architecture. The feasibility study should have identified the lack of the required architecture to manage the project. In this case the development of the suitable architecture should have arisen and been addressed accordingly. Concept Planning It has already been established that during the development of a software project the project team goes through a series of steps to ensure success of the product.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sa mple on Veterans Health Administration System Development Lifecycle specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In a good software project the development team will allow the organization to review progress periodically. It is believed that these reviews play a crucial role in the development process. This is because reviews present opportunities to identify errors and inconsistency (Tan 201). Such reviews provide developers with an opportunity to plan, correct and re-plan the project as it progresses. In the development of the VHA System it is possible for one to assume that such planning in relation to the concept was not done. For this reason it is evident that due to poor acquisition strategies led to solutions that do not satisfy the stakeholder needs. In addition to that it is noted that due to poor planning there were numerous delays in the project schedule. Also evident in the project is the lack of communication and absence of meetings between the participants. This appears to be a reason behind the delays in completion. It has been suggested that in similar projects the participation by both the users and the project team helps to keep the project on track (Tan 201). Based on this reason, the numerous delays suggest that there was poor execution of the planning stage. Development In the production of software solutions the development stage normally involves the translation of user requirements to code (Langer 221). The code produced during this stage relies heavily on the amount of time dedicated to the definition and planning stages of the SDLC. Therefore, if there were major flaws in definition and planning phases the product produced will certainly contain these flaws. In this stage of the SDLC, the software is also tested to provide data on its performance vis-Ã  -vis the requirements (Langer 221). It has been reported that due to the fact that VA did not ensure requirements were complete and sufficiently d etailed, it was thus unable to guide the development of the scheduling system. It is reported based on guidance that the use of disciplined processes for definition and management can help reduce risks associated with developing a system that does not meet user needs. Based on the failures associated with the system it is possible to infer that VA did not adhere to this practice. It is also essential that requirements should be well defined and documented by the team to make development an easier task. The move to abandon the scheduling system and begin afresh suggests that not only was the contractor in appropriate, the requirements were not properly defined and documented. Implementation During this stage in the development of software a number of tasks are undertaken. These tasks are important because they vet and review the requirements (Kostojohn, Paulen and Johnson 96). There are a number of approaches that can be utilized during development. In this stage the program will als o be tested for integration.Advertising Looking for assessment on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It has been observed that the VA approach to the performance of testing increased the risk that the system would not perform as expected. This is because best practices suggest testing activities should be incremental in nature. This is because incremental testing will uncover minor issue which in turn may affect the overall performance of the system. This allows for early detection and correction of software errors. This leads to use of less time and resources in correcting errors. It has been noted that instead of using the best practice approach to testing, the VA chose a high risk approach of undertaking all testing activity concurrently instead of incrementally. This is based n information provided by project officials that indicated stage to testing on all 12 versions of the scheduling application began before stage one testing was completed. It has been mentioned that stage two testing began 78 days before stage one testing of the same version was completed. It is even mentio ned in a further two cases that stage two testing began even before stage one testing. It has been further pointed out that the first alpha version had 370 defects that were of critical, major or average severity. However, the department proceeded with these tests even when the departmental criteria for commencing stage two testing indicated that all such defects were to be resolved before stage two testing began. To deal with this issue caused by the defects the VA hired a second contactor to deal with the defects. However, almost two years after commencing stage two testing 87 defects still remained unresolved. Scheduling project officials reported that they ignored the departmental testing guidance and approved stage two testing. Based on this it has been suggested that if the VA is to succeed in its new initiative it is critical that the project adhere to testing guidelines to ensure prompt problem resolution. Operations and Maintenance It has been reported that a significant am ount of money spent system development goes into maintenance. For this reason there are a wide number of maintenance activities that can be undertaken on an information system. Corrective maintenance involves the repair of design and programming errors (Dixit 412). Adaptive maintenance involves the modification of the system to changes in the operating environment. Perfective maintenance is meant to evolve a system and take advantage of existing opportunities (Dixit 412). There is also preventive maintenance, which is performed with a view to providing safety from future problems. Upon analysis of the VHA system the changes made to the RTLS implementations suggests that the system was poorly maintained. Evidence of this is in the observation that non conformities led to difficulty in data retrieval, viewing and analysis. Based on this information it is possible to suggest that other than poor requirements definition there was poor maintenance. This is because such inconsistencies sh ould have been identified upon implementation and rectified using corrective maintenance measures. Close out The final step in a software project is the closeout phase. This stage entails performing actions that effectively conclude a software project (Rittinghouse 157). In this stage the project team holds a post mortem meeting with the stakeholders. After this meeting, a report of the meeting is produced. It is expected that the report will act as a road map for future activity involving the project (Rittinghouse 157). In the case of the VHA system due to inconsistencies and performance issues it is still not possible to complete this stage. This position suggests a need to take remedial action and conclude the project. Recommendations Based on the position revealed by the findings of this report the PE team will undertake investigations to identify shortfalls in the VA project. This position is due to the various high-level issues identified in this report. It has already been no ted that poor requirements definition led the project to failure due to the fact that the project did not fully capture the organizations goals. It has been suggested that this may have arisen because the users and the team did not collaborate adequately in the requirements analysis. Another issue with the project can be attributed to poor financial planning which saw the project utilize a large amount of financial resources and produce a faulty product. It would appear that there was an inadequate definition of requirements and milestones that may have guided the project to success. In addition to that it has also been identified that there is a need for improvement in project management within the organization. This comes to light due to the fact that approval for step two testing came from within the organization. As such it is hoped that the information contained in this report can be used as a basis for further investigation in budgeting, planning, requirements analysis, testin g and change management within the organization. Works Cited Dixit, J. B. Structured Systems Analysis and Design. New Delhi: Laxmi Publications (P) Ltd., 2007. Print. ISACA. CGEIT Review Manual 2011. Printed in the USA: ISACA, 2011. Print. Kostojohn, S., Brian Paulen, and Mathew Johnson. CRM Fundamentals. New York: Springer, 2011. Print. Langer, Arthur M. Guide to Software Development: Designing and Managing the Lifecycle. London: Springer, 2012. Print. Lewis, Jeremy. Sdlc 100 success secrets: Software Development Lifecycle (sdlc) 100 most asked questions. Brisbane: Lulu.com, 2008. Print. Rittinghouse, John W. Managing Software Deliverables: a software development management methodology. Burlington: Digital Press, 2004. Print. Tan, Joseph K. H., and Samuel Barry Sheps. Health Decision Support Systems. Maryland: Aspen Publishers Inc., 1998. Print. Tan, Joseph K. H. Adaptive Health Management Information Systems: Concepts, Cases and Practical Applications. Sudbury, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2010. Print. This assessment on Veterans Health Administration System Development Lifecycle was written and submitted by user Isiah D. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Take Home Exam Spring Essay Example

Take Home Exam Spring Essay Example Take Home Exam Spring Essay Take Home Exam Spring Essay The Case of Chris Cunningham Elizabeth Stoves was the president of Stoves Industries, an amalgamation of several small companies in the electrical parts industry. She and her husband had inherited part of the group from her father-in-law, and Stoves, an engineer, elected to run the company while her husband pursued a separate career as a dental surgeon. In addition to the inheritance, Stoves had purchased three other companies to create the present Stoves Industries. Only 31 years old, Stoves was a dynamic individual, full of ideas and drive. In he period of one year, she made Stoves Industries into a profitable organization known for its aggressiveness. Stoves integrated the four companies into a unified organization by merging the individual management groups into one unit. Some individuals in each organization lost their jobs at the time of purchase, and, in other instances, executives of the newly purchased companies resigned because of difficulties in working for such a young and driving boss. The four plants continued as individual man picturing units of the company, and together employed approximately 475 production workers. Problems arose in integrating the sales staffs, because the original companies had competed with each other, and, the sales clerks had overlapping territories. This was gradually being worked out; but the salespeople were permitted to keep their own pre-existing customers, which made it difficult TTT assign exclusive territories to each salesperson. The sales staff included 17 sales representatives and the director, who had been with the original Stoves company as sales manager. He knew Elizabeth Stoves well and was a trusted lieutenant, but served as little more than formal head of the sales force. He voted most of his time and energy to routine direction and coordination o the sales team. Stoves herself provided the active leadership. Stoves herself hired the 18th and newest sales representative, Chris Cunningham, who had been one of Stoves college classmates. Cunningham shared some of Stoves drive and enthusiasm to succeed and soon justified Stoves choice with a sensational sales record. Despite this sales success, Cunningham represented a thorny problem for Stoves. She described the problem in the following fashion: l hired Chris because we knew and admired each other in our college days. Chris was always a leader on campus, and we had worked well together in campus affairs. Chris was just the kind of person I wanted in this organizationa lot of drive and originality, combined with tremendous Loyola The way I operate, I need a loyal organization of people who will pitch right IR on the projects we develop. Chris has already been proven a top-notch performer and will probably be our best salesperson in a year or two. Could one ask for anything better than that? Here is where the problem comes in. Chris is the sort of person who has absolutely no respect for organization. A hot order will come in, for example, and Chris will go straight to the plant with it and raise hell until that order is delivered. It does not make any difference that our production schedule has been knocked to pieces. The order is out, and Chris has a satisfied customer. Of course, that sort of thing gets repeat business and does show well on Chris sales record. However, it has made running our plants a constant headache. Production staff are not the only people who felt Cunningham impact on operations. Chris gets mixed up with our engineering department on new designs and as even made the purchasing department furious by pressuring them to hurry supplies on special orders. You can just imagine how the rest of the organization feels about all this. The other salespeople are pretty upset that their orders get pushed aside-?and are probably a bit jealous, too. The production people, the engineers, the purchasing agent, and most of the rest of the staff have constantly complained to me about how Chris irritates them. On a personal level, the staff say they like Chris a lot but that they just cannot work with such a troublemaker in the organization. Eave talked with Chris many times about this. I have tried raising hell over the issue, pleading for change, and patient and rational discussion. For maybe a week after one of these sessions, Chris seems like a reformed character, everyone relaxes a bit, and then bangfew go again in the same old pattern. Suppose that in many ways Chris is just like mel must admit I would probably be inclined to act in much the same way. You see, have a lot of sympathy for Chris point of view. Hank you can see now what my problem is. Should I fire Chris and lose a star salesperson? That does not make too much sense. In fact, Chris is probably the person who should be our sales director, if not immediately at least in a few years. But without the ability to get along with the organization, to understand the meaning of channels and procedures, Chris is not only a valuable and talented addition to the company, but a liability as well. Should I take a chance on things eventually working out and Chris getting educated to the organization? Should put on a lot of pressure and force a change?

Q5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Q5 - Essay Example Poorly planned information systems also increase the costs of operation or else the customer requirements may not been met. This leads to dissatisfaction among clients and hence the organization can not maintain competitiveness in the market. Moreover, poor planning also leads to the existence of information systems in the organization that are not in use, not because they are spoiled but because the organization does not need them (Benaroch, 2002). Poor planning leads to failure especially when the organization does not have effective mechanisms for maintenance and supporting the information systems. Without the appropriate plans, the organization might not be capable of maintaining adequate support for consistent working with the system. It might result in to losses and misunderstanding among the MIS staff and the general organizational managers since blameworthiness is usually placed on those involved in the application of information systems rather than the planners. For example, the employees in charge of the control room are blamed for the poor performance of the information systems especially since they interact directly with the clients whose dissatisfaction is often attributed to incompetence among these staff. Such blames are mistaken and are all as a result of poor planning (Tipon et. Al 2001) The choice of the source of decision support systems in an organization is significant to their effectiveness in enhancing organizational performance. The pros of purchasing the DSS from vendors are many. First, the cost of purchasing the DSS is far much lower than in-house development especially due to the fact that the organization does not have to employ experts to develop the systems. The costs that could otherwise be incurred in the organization for developing the systems can be used for other purposes in the organization. On the other hand, outsourcing presents the organization with a wide range of DSS developers applying various technologies, which

Geography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Geography - Essay Example In 1960S, International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna was formed to control and manage fish harvesting in a more sustainable manner. Unfortunately, many nations are not it member and continue to fish it without regard for conservation to make huge profit. The Grand Banks fishing ground along the coast of Newfoundland was regarded as home of cod. In the 1970s, with advancement of new fishing technology, it was fished to reduction. By 1960s, it had drastically dropped to very low quantities leading to the closure of the Grand Banks fishing industry. Passenger pigeons birds became extinct in 1914 (Bedoya 2011). When the Europeans settled in North America this birds used to migrate in large numbers across the sky. The Europeans destroyed their habitant in the forest and hunted them down for food and sold them in the market. They greatly reduced in number by the time hunting limits were enacted. It was too late to save them and soon they became extinct. The Earthâ€℠¢s atmosphere is a common resource shared and polluted by everyone on the planet. The green house gases from industries, transportation and air pollution damages the atmosphere. International agreement like Kyoto Protocol has been formed in attempt to slow global climate warming and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (Hardin 2011). Multiple nations recognized the importance of taking care of it and agreed to look at the long term benefit at the expense of the short-term gain. Population growth is another tragedy of the common. As the population increases the natural resources are depleted. Every person uses air, land, water, and food resources and dividing those resources to around 7 billion people tends to stretch them thinly. Unregulated logging leads to the depletion of tropical rainforests which benefits everyone in the world. Timber producers remove a lot of it and cheaply damaging acres of land. Some part are protected and governed in a proper way for extraction but still i llegal logging takes place especially boundaries of different countries where their law is different on their border. Groundwater in Los Angeles was drawn by the increased population in Los Angeles to an extent of intrusion of saltwater from the nearby Pacific Ocean. Faced by potential of water shortages and depletion of water resources they depended on, a voluntary organization was formed to conserve and manage the groundwater for future use. The ocean is a commonly shared resource throughout the world. No single nation has the power to pass laws that govern and protect the entire nation. Every nation protects the ocean resources along its coastline. The shared space is left to destruction and pollution. Ocean garbage accumulates of circular current or gyres. Many nations let solid waste from lands and ships flow into the ocean (Margulis 2012). The garbage, especially the plastic pollutant, is harmful to every individual because they form a cycle through the food chain. Traffic con gestion is a major problem on the roads. Individuals use the road for their own self interest, some to get to their places of work as fast as possible. Problem occurs when everyone decides to use the road to meet travelling needs. Jam occurs and there is slow movement of vehicles leading to air pollution from idling cars. When there are many vehicles on the public road,

The Crisis in Darfur

The Crisis in Darfur Maddie Palmer The War in Darfur, a region in Sudan, has been the reason for mass slaughter and rape of Darfur men, women, and children. The U.S. named it The Genocide.Powersearch The war in Darfur has been called the worst humanitarian crisis of the century and its effects are still seen today. The UN wanted to help so the UN Security Council visited the President to try to get approval. The Crisis in Darfur is a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan due to the Sudanese burning villages murdering, raping, and more. The UN Security Council visited the President wanting approval to end human rights violations taking place in Darfur. Muslim festivals are timed to local sightings of various phases of the moon. Revolution day in Sudan is a national holiday, that commemorates the bloodless coup of 1989. Revolution day is on June 30. The African nation in Sudan is a country with strong Islamic and Christian influences. Partially ruled by Islamic law, the type of clothes worn in Sudan is similar to those worn in the surrounding nations of Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia. The climate also usually affects how the dress. The UN has warned that violent attacks on international peacekeepers and civilians in Sudans conflict-torn Darfur region have been increasing, forcing tens of thousands of people out of their homes. Darfur has been turmoil since 2003, when ethnic Africans revolted accusing the Arab domination Sudanese government of discrimination. Hassan Hamid Hassan, Sudans deputy UN ambassador, told the Security Council that the violence and displacements were mainly due to tribal clashes and attacks by rebels, not government forces. In the past twenty years, Darfur has been in a disastrous famine. Darfur is affected by poor rainfall, resulting in sudden market fluctuation, livelihood changes and displacement. The May 2010, West Darfur Food Security Monitoring Survey reported that the cost of a minimum health food basket has increased 14% between February and May of 2011. In recent years, the percent of food insecure households has decreased but it was still a staggering 45% in 2008. Access to clean water in 2007 stood at 76%, while 3 million conflict-affected people had access to basic health services. The Bush administration invested heavily in negotiating an end to the north-south was, and the signing earlier this year to a formal peace agreement-however limited and flawed-must be recognized as a major foreign policy achievement. But precisely because of the administrations investment in a north-south agreement, including the appointment Senator John Danforth as a special envoy to Sudan, there was a widespread reluctant within the State Department to hold Khartoum accountable for the genocide that was clearly unfolding in early 2004, when north-south negotiations had entered their final phase. The thinking by U.S. officials involved in the negotiations, and their British and Norwegian counterparts, was that pressing the National Islamic Front regime too hard on Darfur would undermine the chances of consummating the north-south agreement. But this diplomatic strategy was of course transparent to Khartoum and thus perversely provided an incentive for the regime to extend negotiations as long as possible-always promising a light at the end of the diplomatic tunnel.(People Involved) The last issue of substance between Khartoum and the southern Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement was resolved in a protocol signed by all parties in late May 2004. Two weeks later, following months of terrifying reports from human rights groups, the State Department announced that it would begin an investigation to determine whether Khartoum was guilty of genocide in Darfur. The close sequence of dates was not a coincidence. But a tremendous amount of the violent destruction in Darfur had already been accomplished by June 2004; indeed, this marks the approximate point in the conflict at which deaths from malnutrition and disease began to exceed those from violence. Moreover, Khartoum continued to use the north-south peace agreement as a threat, declaring with brazen confidence that if it were pushed too hard on Darfur, the negotiated agreement might be endangered. The agreements final signing ceremony occurred in Nairobi on January 9, 2005; the inauguration of a new government took place six months later, on July 9, 2005; the killing in Darfur, of course, continues. The AU began to deploy a small number of monitors to Darfur following a ceasefire signed in April 2004 in NDjamena, Chad. A commitment in late summer 2004 to increase the monitoring force to approximately 3,500 went unfulfilled for over half a year, and during this time the AU was unable to secure from Khartoum a mandate for civilian protection-only a mandate to monitor the largely nonexistent ceasefire. Recently, the AU has said it will increase its force to 7,700 by September, and possibly 12,000 by spring 2006.(The AU deployed) As many have recognized, the AU is quite unable to deploy to this force-level with its own resources and NATO, as a consequence, has very recently agreed to provide logistics and transport capacity. The bigger problem, however, is that even with NATOs help, the nascent AU Peace and Security Commission is simply not up to this mission if the goal for Darfur is adequate protection for civilians and humanitarian operations.(NATOs help) Works Cited Darfur Crisis: Death Estimates Demonstrates Severity of Crisis, but Their Accuracy and Credibility Could Be Enhanced: GAO-07-24. GAO Reports (2006): 1. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 7 Feb. 2017. Darfur. Britannica School, Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, 15 Jun. 2015. school.eb.com/levels/high/article/28769. Accessed 6 Feb. 2017. Jumbert, Maria Gabrielsen. Third World Quarterly 35.2 (2014): 284-99. History Reference Center. Web. United Nations Childrens Fund. Funk Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. N.p.: World Book, 2016. 1p. 1. Funk Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 7 Feb. 2017. Van De Walle, Nicolas. Making and Unmaking Nations: War, Leadership, and Genocide in Modern Africa/From War to Genocide: Criminal Politics in Rwanda, 1990-1994. Foreign Affairs 95.3 (2016): 189. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.

Health Disparities

Now a days it is very common that people’s health depends on their income rate, social environment and the area we live in, and now the mortality rate is very remarkable between areas of the community, what does the mortality rate has to do with our location?Here in San Antonio, diabetes mortality rate is very high but it is higher in some places than others, and this is because a person’s income influences their location, according to research data about diabetes mortality rate in Bexar county, areas that are located in the north have a lower mortality rate in the county. To compare the mortality and income rate between zip codes, I choose a zip code from an area of lower diabetes mortality rate and another one from an area with a higher rate.78232 is a zip code located in the north side of the county, here the mortality rate is lower than in other areas, and 78237 which is located in the center, according to data in â€Å"community facts† the income rate in bot h areas changes significantly, people located in 78232 make an average of 65,887 a year and in 78237 drops to an average of 25,703 a year, so according to that information, where the income is higher, the mortality rate is lower, that is what also influences a person’s social group, and living areas, people live in places where they have access to all the accommodations they can afford to live better.According to the article â€Å"Social status has a measurable effect on health† studies show what are the main causes of health disparities, mostly in the united states, even though health care has improved a lot and it is better than years before, not everybody can get it, and that is because some people have a lower income rate and cannot afford it as easy as someone with a higher rate, and that also influences a person’s location in the community which may lead to unhealthy environments such as toxic substances, violent household, dangerous working place and stre ss, so people tend to have more health issues than someone who earns more money.If I was the major of San Antonio I would invest more money on building improved healthcare clinics all over the city no matter what the social status of people in each area is, so that way people can have better access to those facilities to go get checked more often for free, that way they can all prevent a more serious health issues that it is going to cost more money that poor people cannot easily afford.Transportation also becomes an issue for health care access, many people do not go to a doctor because they don not have a way of transportation, so I would invest some more money in public transportation all around the city, that way everybody has easier access to a hospital when they are facing a more serious health problem that needs to be taken to a hospital. Also a doctor’s experience it is very important for patients to have a healthier life, and getting good experienced doctors from bet ter hospitals to other hospitals located in lower income areas, that way everyone in the city are able to get doctors with the same experience level.I think it is fair for everyone to get the same opportunities when it comes to health care regardless of their income or their location, because it is harder to improve a person’s living conditions and influences than improving health care access, it may not completely prevent people from getting sick, but it should reduce the risks for their health getting worse if they can get checked more often than they did before, also considering pre natal care for pregnant woman that need a doctor more often than anybody else, they have to be very healthy during their pregnancy and having a doctor close to their home, it is easier for them to get the required precautions to have a healthy baby, because according to the article â€Å" Health Divides† studies show that the baby mortality rate has remained the same over the years but i t should be lower now that health care has improved so much, but it has not been equally accessible for everybody, that is why woman get little to none pre natal care needed to have a healthy baby.Some woman that did not have a good education have lower job opportunities, and need to work more to barely support themselves and that keeps them from focusing on their baby’s health and their own during pregnancy, also it is more common for low income pregnant woman to smoke or drink alcohol than higher income woman, which it is influenced by their living conditions and social group. In Conclusion, the main problem is not the quality of health care but the access everyone is getting, everywhere is different and in some places is harder to get the medical attention one needs to prevent a serious health problem or improve their family’s health, and most people would want to improve their health but their low level of education is a great disadvantage to get a better job and e arn a higher income. Even though we take good care of ourselves we cannot prevent health issues that is why we all need constant medical attention.

Viral Marketing: Effectiveness and Implementation

Word-Of-Mouth Marketing: Effectiveness and Implementation Submitted by: Spandana Araga Marketing II Term Paper How it works Advertising agencies and marketing experts get paid big money to create ads that are unforgettable. But getting those ads seen and getting people to talk about them are two of the biggest challenges facing any advertiser these days. It is a common misconception that memorable marketing campaigns require big budgets. Somewhere along the line, marketers came up with a brilliant solution: let the customers spread the word themselves.Word-OfMouth Marketing(WOM), also known as Viral Marketing consists of advertising campaigns and messages that depend on peer to peer forwarding. WOM plays on the common sense that when a person likes something, they want to talk about it. They create a potential for exponential growth like a â€Å"virus†, and hence the name. Trusav et al (2009) in a study of WOM versus traditional marketing found that WOM referrals have a strong impact on new customer acquisition. The long-term elasticity of signups with respect to WOM was estimated to be . 3. The elasticity for WOM is approximately 20 times higher than that for marketing events and 30 times that of media appearances Effectiveness of WOM According to the article, â€Å"Word-Of-Mouth Marketing will change your business† by Hedges and Chung word-of-mouth marketing â€Å"gives brands a powerful and influential way to engage their target audience. The article talks about how consumers are very vocal about their views especially when it comes to personal care products like cosmetics.Projections by eMarketer predict 72 million U. S. adults will regularly give WOM advice about products or services in 2011, up from 65 million in 2006. There are 3. 5 billion WOM conversations occurring daily in the U. S. , according to the Keller Fay Group. Though 92% of these conversations are through off line means- face to face or phone- a vast majority of the influencer s depend on the internet to get more information and make decisions.From plain old word of mouth, now with the use of social networking sites such as facebook, youtube and twitter, the effects of viral marketing campaigns can be amplified. For example Barack Obama got the youth to vote, a task many thought impossible, by utilizing social networking sites. He accomplished this by strategically tapping into nearly every major social media outlet. At the time of Obama's inauguration in January 2009, the President had 3 million friends on facebook, 3000 videos on Youtube and several followers on twitter and myspace.Implementation Though most marketers will agree that WOM is an effective marketing tool, surprisingly, not many choose to utilise it. A CMO Council survey found 56% of senior marketers saying their companies have no programs to track or propagate positive WOM. Marketers would benefit by keeping track of what is being said about their product and learning ways to infiltrate, i nfluence and spark conversations about their products. Word of Mouth Marketing Association outlines some positive WOM guidelines. The first is creating communities and connecting people.This can be in the form of creating user groups and fan clubs, supporting independent groups that form around your product, hosting discussions and message boards about your products. Avon hired Communispace to create a private online customer community, where the company can develop and maintain relationships with its brand advocates. Another guideline is motivating brand advocates and evangelists to actively promote a product by providing recognition and tools to active advocates, recruiting new advocates, and teaching new advocates about the benefits of the products and encouraging them to spread the word.For example WOM services such as SheSpeaks and BzzAgent are a great way to recruit new brand advocates and engage them into the brand. The initial conversation starter is product sampling, but lo ng-lasting relationships can be formed. It is of outmost importance to engage in transparent conversation. WOM campaigns work best when the marketer can engage in two-way conversation with consumers. Some simple ways to execute include creating blogs and other tools to share information or participating openly on online blogs and discussions.For a brand to build an impactful WOM online or off -line campaign some touch-points need to be defined. First the marketer needs to identify who the â€Å"Talkers† are-the ideal brand advocates who will tell their friends about the brand. This target group has to be defined and then be wooed to become true advocates for the brand. Next, the â€Å"Tools† have to be identified- the campaign mediums or resources through which the message can travel (online, off-line or integrated).An effective tactic to make the message spread faster is to disguise the message as something which is entertaining and interesting enough that it begs to be passed around. It needs to be remembered that viral marketing is not about the product but about the message. Next it is to be decided how the brand owner will be â€Å"Taking Part†- how the marketer should directly or indirectly join the conversation while being careful not to be heavy-handed and giving thousands or millions of potential customers a platform to interact. An important final step is â€Å"Tracking†.It has to be decided on how the research will be collected, analyzed, disseminated and utilized to best impact the brand. A mistake many marketers do is rushing into a WOM campaign without a clear strategy or vision. There is a dangerous flipside to WOM- in the absence of an authentic, wellconstructed brand message, consumers will unleash their own impressions which could be positive or negative to fill the void, and today’s speed of light communication platforms enable those homemade brand messages to travel at lightening speed.Brands must fiercely protect the brand assets and remain loyal to the core brand identity in order to gain the respect of the masses. Profitable brands can be built on deploying WOM smartly. The online success of the beauty brand e. l. f. Cosmetics is a good example. Joseph Shamah, the brand’s CEO says that WOM has been very effective for them and more than 80% of their customers say they heard about the brand from a friend.