Implementation of Hyperion System and Financial Performance of Qatar Government Ministries

Introduction

Information technology has been rapidly evolving and as a result bringing evolution to other sectors. Every year new improvements are made in the development of software and hardware that improve how operations are carried out in the major sectors of the business world. Accounting has not been left out. The developments in accounting have been made in the accounting systems, the creation of software with more processing power and the data management has been improved. The resultant effect is that the accountants have been required to scale up their computer skills, and this has been a challenge (Nyang'au et al, 2015).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The Hyperion system is an accounting application that enables a user to combine financial information and generate reports, the system is also created with enhanced Web technology. The system has been made suitable to be used and maintained by the financial staff in an organization. Financial managers are able to consolidate and generate reports on financial data in a timely manner, and in a way that is consistent with international regulations. In many organizations, the finance staff struggle to combine the financial information from their organization since they do these using spreadsheets. The spreadsheets are hard to maintain and audit. Some financial staff has to cope using other methods of making financial reports which are not in line with the internationally set standards. With the use of the Hyperion system, the staff is able to improve the report generation process and reduce the chances of errors occurring during such activities.

The use of Hyperion system if implemented successfully comes with a package of benefits to the organization. First, there is an improvement in the time required to consolidate financial information and generating reports. The system reduces the need to check and counter check the financial results of the organization. The system produces complete audit traces, workflows, and certifications to ensure that the numbers that are produced are valid. The organization can also consolidate the financial and non-financial information so that they can get an in-depth view of the organization's performance. The proper use of the Hyperion system, therefore, has great benefits to the organization, in terms of costs and efficiency.

Just like any other financial system, the Hyperion system is supposed to improve how processes are carried out in an organization. The implementation of the system, however, is limited to the computer literacy of the employees who are supposed to use it and may thus not achieve its intended purpose. However, with successful implementation, the system is expected to improve the financial performance of Qatari.

Financial performance refers to up to what level has the financial targets in an organization has been met. In other words, the process measures the financial status of an organization over a given period and may be used to compare one organization to another within an industry. According to Andrabi et al. (2015), ICT systems have enabled organizations to do processes more efficiently, have fast communication, reliable storage, and maximization of productivity (Andrabi et al. 2015). The financial systems that have been made for financial organizations increase service availability and quality, better means of handling problems, reducing of risks, and minimizations of the effects of the risks (Andrabi et al. 2015). Therefore, generally, the financial system is supposed to bring an improvement to financial performance in an organization.

The government of Qatar has implemented the Hyperion system that is used by the finance departments of the existing ministries. This research intends to study the influences that the qualities of the staff in Qatar's government ministries have on the implementation of the Hyperion System and the accompanying effect on financial performance. The researcher intends to find out the how the implementation of the Hyperion system will change the economic status of Qatar. This section of the paper introduces the basic concepts that are on the topic of study. The concepts are briefly described, including their relevance to the implementation of the Hyperion System in Qatar. The section also introduces the problem statement and some background information related to the problem. In addition, the section includes some existing literature that focuses on the subject topic.

General Objectives

a. To determine the effect of implementation of Hyperion System on the financial performance of Qatar's ministries.

Specific Objectives

b. To determine how the economy of Qatar based on different theoretical models will be affected.

Problem Statement

The implementation of the Hyperion system in Qatar will have effects and it is thus critical to understand these effects on the ministries that will be involved.

Research Question

a) To what extent does computer literacy affect financial performance in the Qatar government?

b) Does implementation of Hyperion system lead to improving financial performance in the Qatar government ministries?

c) To what extent top management support affects Hyperion system implementation success.

d) Does BPR have an impact on Hyperion system implementation?

e) To what level does projects management succeed the implementation of Hyperion system.

f) Does user needs have influential effects on succeeding the implementation of Hyperion system?

g) To what extent team competence and composition affects the implementation of Hyperion system.

Basic Research Method

There are several data collection methods that exist for use, the selection is based on which type of data is to be collected and the prevailing conditions in the field. An appropriate method needs to be selected so that the researcher may be able to solve a problem by getting credible data. In this case, quantitative type of data is required, thus polls, questionnaires, and surveys would be considered for such study. This section provides a brief introduction to the chosen research method, the benefits and limitations of the method when used in data collection and the finally gives the justification for the choice of the method.

In this study, the basic method of carrying out the research is the questionnaire survey. A questionnaire is a data collection tool that is composed of a sequence of questions and other reminders with the aim of collecting useful information from the participants of the study (Abawi, 2013). Questionnaires can be newly created by the researcher or by modification of already existing ones. Many questionnaires exist which may be applicable in many research areas and a wide range of conditions. Questionnaires existing in two; self-completion questionnaires and those that are filled with the help of the interviewer. Questionnaires that well design can be reliable in allowing the collection of concise and complete data. The researcher should thus follow the proper guidelines in designing the questionnaire so that the research goals and objectives may be answered. The questions can be open-ended; where the questions lack a preset group of answers or closed-ended format which have multiple choices that have been predetermined (Abawi, 2013). Questionnaires ideal in when; the researcher needs to collect information that would be used to classify people in the subject population, in getting a view of the subject population in relation to a certain topic, gathering foundational information that can be followed up with time to analyze changes, and collecting honest information on the subjects' behavior (Abawi, 2013).

Using questionnaires as a method of data collection has several benefits to the researcher. First, researchers have a wide range of pre-existing questionnaires that cover most of the existing fields of study and conditions. Having such questionnaires that have been thoroughly undergone reliability testing, and validation, making them such a useful tool to gathering credible information (Siniscalco & Auriat, 2005). The researcher, therefore, spends fewer resources on trying to come up with new questions; they may either pick up the questions as they are (with the permission of the author since most pre-existing questionnaires are copyright protected) or modify the questions to suit their specific need. Secondly, the researcher is able to collect standardized data from the participants (Siniscalco & Auriat, 2005). The use of formal standardized questionnaire; where each of the respondents are provided with the similar questions and they are expected to answer using the same guidelines. This practice ensures that the results gotten reflect the deviation in the answers provided by the participants and no difference in the means that the answers were produced (Siniscalco & Auriat, 2005). The use of closed format answers solidifiers this aspect of using questionnaires. Third, if the survey is carried out online using the questionnaires the process is relatively cheaper to other methods. For example, comparing interviews to online questionnaires; the online questionnaires lack costs that come up from traveling and the existence expenses that are incurred to carry out interviews (Akbayrak, 2000). Online questionnaires also reduce the cost of printing and posting the printed materials if administered in the proper way (Akbayrak, 2000). In addition, the cost of carrying out research is reduced since the need for an expert to analyze the data is done away with because the results are easy to analyze. Any complicated aspects of the results gathered may be easily analyzed using available software and therefore no need to have knowledge in statistics.

Despite questionnaires having such great benefits to the researcher, it is also packaged with limitations. First, the answers provided by the respondents may be inaccurate, especially due to misinterpretation of the questions or words. Such instances are caused by ambiguity in the meaning of words, unfortunately, language itself is ambiguous, and thus simple terms have several meanings (Martin, 2006). This means that the respondents would provide answers according to their own interpretation of terms which may not be consistent to that of the researcher, thus introducing errors. The use of complex terms that the respondent may not be familiar with introduces similar instances to the results (Martin, 2006). Secondly, the percentage of participants who respond to the questionnaire may be low. A large percentage of the participants may not fill the answers and submit the responses back to the researcher (majorly in online and mailed questionnaires), majorly because they lack the motivation to participate in the activity. Such low responses lead to the research process is longer than initially planned because the researcher has to wait for the responses or send another set of questionnaires with the hope of a response. Third, the data that is gathered is quantitative in nature and may not be sufficient to satisfy the objectives of the research, therefore another method of data collection (which is more in-depth) may be required to enhance the results. In online and mailed questionnaires the researcher has little control over the respondents, thus the respondent may provide inappropriate answers or may have a bias in the answers provided (Martin, 2006). Despite having such limitations questionnaire survey method was appropriate for this case because of being cost-effective, does not require special skills for the analysis of the results, and the respondents provide answers anonymously thus the resp...