Introduction

Central business Solutions Inc is a company involved in the provision of different business solutions to their clients worldwide. The main attribute that informs the diverse products and services that the company offers is their assertion of the fact that technology is one of the attributes that normally underpin all the decisions that an organization performs. Thus, the main business proposition that the company provides is the ability to deliver contemporary technology based solutions to their clients, leveraging their superior capabilities in the technology tools as well as their deep technically skills employee base.

The fact that I am JAVA developer makes it imperative that I can place myself in a position that possible clients can easily access. The e-portfolio will be operating just as a resume that the potential clients can access and make offers relating to the jobs that they would expect me to undertake for them. The fact that I have just left college with JAVA development skills makes it imperative that I find the best way to get a competitive edge over my competition, and the development of the e-portfolio is going to assist me in realizing the objective.

The other service that the company offers is the consultancy whereby they develop a comprehensive approach that assists their clients to move in the direction of productive IT solutions. The company delivers consultancy services with its niche services and products that are coupled with an assortment of a talented team. Regarding their outsourcing, the company lays its main focus on the bringing of technology as well as business software and graphics design as well as development services for their clients.

Situation Overview

In their delivery of services to their clients, CBS Inc has continued to use old programming languages instead of Java. The situation has additionally been made worse by the fact that even though the company has qualified Java developers the management has failed to accommodate the use of Java. The outcome is that the company has been suffering as a result of security issues as the other platforms are prone to security threats such as viruses. The incompatibility of these other platforms on various operating systems is the additional challenge that the company has been languishing as a result of their reliance on the alternative platforms (Tomas, Escalona, & Mejias, 2013).

The decision to adopt the Java platform in the company brings prospects of improving the employees’ productivity as well as ensuring that the company is cost effective in its delivery of services to their clients. The resolution of the various security challenges that the company has been suffering is the other benefit that the company will enjoy as the designing of the Java platform was with the objective of ensuring security. The ability of the Java platform to run on different operating systems will additionally reduce the additionally costs that the company has been incurring as a result of the some application failing to run on certain operating systems (Popović, 2015).

Methodology

Action research is normally a family of research strategies that serve the objective of pursuing both the action as well as research. Action research encompasses an objective assessment as well as investigation of the gathered evidence. The attribute makes it possible for action research to produce practical as well as useful outcomes at its completion (Avison, Baskerville and Myers, 2001). The chief components that define action research include the reliance on participation whereby there is intensive involvement of the clients in the process, who are considered as partners and not just participants. The additional element in action research is the cyclic nature of the research whereby there are similar steps that are recurrent in their execution in addition to the similar sequence that they recur. Action research is reflective which is an element supported by the fact that there is critical reflection on the process as well as outcomes that are considered instrumental parts of every cycle (Iversen, Mathiassen, and Nielsen, 2003).

The Process of Action Research

1. The diagnosis phase is the first step in the action research process. The diagnosis encompasses the identification as well as a definition of the problem. In this case, the identification, as well as definition of the problem, is an essential component of action research as it makes it clear that there is a problem that needs addressing (Willems, 2013).

2. Action planning is the second step in the action research process. The step involves an assessment of the alternative courses of action to implement in resolving the problematic issue. In this case, the definition of the problem makes it possible to clarify the extent of the problems, an attribute that is vital in developing the plans to use in dealing with the problematic issues (Avison, Baskerville and Myers, 2001).

3. The action phase is the third stage in the action research process involving the selection and the consequent executing of the appropriate course of action (Avison, Baskerville and Myers, 2001).

4. Evaluation as the fourth phase of action research plan involves the assessment of the outcomes of the implemented action and assessing the success. Through this assessment, it is possible for the researchers to identify the success or failure of the intervention actions and at the same time, noting the reasons behind the success or failures (Avison, Baskerville and Myers, 2001).

5. Reflection is the last phase of the action research process and involves the identification of the learning issues from the execution of the project. In this step, it is the duty of the researchers to present a summary of all the results that are as a result of the execution of the study and develop a platform that will enhance the sharing of the results to all the stakeholders. In the end, it is imperative that they offer a general summary of the entire project (Avison, Baskerville and Myers, 2001).

Relevance of Action Research

Action research promotes the likelihood of a project succeeding and thus resolving the problematic issue considering that it involves the elucidation of the problem and preceding it with the data gathering for the development of an adequate solution. The chief desire of action research is in the development of toward practical challenges that face individuals or organizations about the resolution of their immediate problems. Adoption if action research makes it possible for the researchers to transcend the boundaries of self-study for the reason that goals, actions, outcomes and presumptions are addressed during the research. It is an ideal tool to apply in the efforts meant to address the underlying problems as it encompasses an assessment of functional process requirements. The implementation of the five steps in iteration improves the results especially as there is the reflection of every phase thus promoting the effectiveness of the solutions (Avison, Baskerville and Myers, 2001). Through the application of the action research iterations, it is going to promote my ability to track the developments of my internship as assessing the success of every step will promote the assessment of the changes I need to make.

References

Avison, D., Baskerville, R. and Myers, M. (2001). "Controlling Action Research Projects," Information Technology & People (14:1), 28-45.

Iversen, J., Mathiassen, L., and Nielsen, P.A. (2003). "Managing Risks in Software Process Improvement: An Action Research Approach," Submitted to MISQ,.

Popović, T. (2015). Getting Iso 9001 Certified For Software Development Using Scrum And Open Source Tools: A Case Study. Tehnicki Vjesnik / Technical Gazette, 22(6), 1633-1640. doi:10.17559/TV-20140704180948

Tomas, P., Escalona, M., & Mejias, M. (2013). Open source tools for measuring the Internal Quality of Java software products. A survey. Computer Standards & Interfaces, 36(1), 244-255. doi:10.1016/j.csi.2013.08.006

Willems, C. (2013). 100% bag tanned: action research generating new insights on design processes. Critical Arts: A South-North Journal Of Cultural & Media Studies, 27(5), 474-489. doi:10.1080/02560046.2013.855515