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Innovation Plan

By Eamon Mc Kelvey & James Kelly

4BCT Software Engineering

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The Organisation

PayPal is a web based organisation that for a number of years was owned by eBay, which

allows any business or individual with an email address to securely, conveniently and cost-

effectively send and receive payments online. They were founded in 1998 and since they

have created a whole new means of transferring of money online. They use existing

financial areas such as bank accounts and credit cards to make real-time payment

accessibly. They help deliver a service ideally suited for small businesses, online merchants,

individuals. They offer secure payment methods which make online transfer of money easy

and safe.

They are without doubt the leading payment network for online websites such as eBay,

Amazon and iTunes. PayPal is used by millions worldwide when paying for services or actual

physical products online. Offline businesses, including lawyers, contractors and doctors,

have increasingly begun to receive payments online through PayPal. PayPal's service, which

lets users send payments for free, can be used from computers or web-enabled mobile

phones.

As of 2013, PayPal has over 123 million registered users worldwide.

PayPal has its headquarters in the USA but it has a base in Blanchardstown, Dublin, Ireland

as well.

Organisation Column1

Name PayPal

Plan Title Innovation 2015

Mission Build the Web’s most convenient, secure, cost-effective payment solution

Benchmark www.paypal.com

Products/services

Secure online transfer of money to and from an individual or organisation

Secure purchasing

Resolution centre to clear any disputes between two or more people

Allow you to register and see all your transactions

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Individuals

Below are the individuals that work within this company in its base in Dublin. The team

meet once a week to discuss the strategies that they will use to help them reach their goals

and highlight their overall progress of their main projects. The safety and secureness of

online money is always a big talking point for them.

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Hierarchy of PayPal

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Pest analysis

Political

Due to the low corporation tax currently In Ireland, PayPal have recently set up a base here

in Dublin. They can keep working to provide the nation as well as the entire globe with their

brilliant service as long as they don’t take any drastic steps. Grants are also available to

entice companies to come over here and set up offices.

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Economic

We as a nation are still feeling the effects of the 2007 recession. However there has been

an increase in the available jobs out there and there is signs that we are coming out of the

recession.

Social Changes

Paper notes are becoming a thing of the past. This week, our government has brought in a

system where 1c and 2c coins no longer are given back in change. Your change is now

rounded up to the nearest 5c. This saves the hassle of carrying around a heap of 1 and 2

cent coins. PayPal are smart and know that more and more people are paying for products

and services online. Therefore PayPal are becoming more and more attractive to websites

and thus are creating more work and financial benefits to themselves as a whole.

Technological

PayPal have to keep up with the current trend and therefore they must update their

website and their apps accordingly. They can’t allow for the crashing of their system and

their apps as it would be detrimental to their reputation. They employ people in those

areas to make sure they keep up with modern trends.

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SWOT statements

Mission Improve our users experience while using our service

Vision Make PayPal more attractive to use when buying and selling products/services online

Core Value Brilliant company environment

Core Value Cheap ways for people to transfer money

Strengths Market leaders

Strengths Competitors aren’t as established as PayPal

Strengths 123 Million users worldwide

Strengths Have good ethics as prescription drugs or firearms are not allowed to be sold using their service

Weaknesses Website is very plain

Weaknesses Freezing of accounts may frustrate people

Weaknesses Not always immediate access to funds received

Weaknesses Due to lack of competitors we may not be as motivated to do better

Opportunities Create a more engaging website for its users

Opportunities Increase the amount of currencies they deal with

Threats Competitors providing cheaper service

Threats Recession

One of the main weaknesses that annoy users of PayPal is the fact that the actual website

is so plain and dull. Studies have shown brighter colours make people read more and pay

more attention to text.

Another problem is that PayPal can immediately freeze your account and hold your money

as this is a private company and not ruled by any federal banking regulations, there for

have no need for your permission or approval for freezing your account. If they feel that

you have committed a fraud or violated they’re policy your they might freeze your account

and hold your funds till further notice

When your account is frozen it might take a while till PayPal decides to release your funds

and might leave you with very limited options and without proper explanation.

One of the main opportunities for PayPal is to make their website layout more user friendly

and more modern. People get put off by complicated looking websites from time to time.

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Requirements

Group Title Responsible Status

Employees Equality , Respect , Fair pay , leave Joan Collins Happy

Customers Value, expertise, customer care , loyalty Wayne Murray Not Satisfied

Owners Capital to help sustain and improve services provided by us John Smith Neutral

Trade Unions Worker welfare , equality , support Kieran Furey Neutral

Networks Dept. Day to day running of services i.e. website crashing Michael Quinn Happy

Innovation Dept. Coming up with new ways to better experience for Mary O'Sullivan Neutral

Our users

Objectives

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Connections between Requirements and Objectives

Strategic Risks assessment

Strategic Objectives Severity Likelihood Score Progress

Systems crashing 10 2 20 Content

Loss of customers to rivals 8 4 32 Unhappy

System is hacked 10 1 10 Happy

Customer Fraud 6 4 24 Happy

Failure from one party to oblige 5 5 25 Unhappy

to the transaction agreed Credit Risk 7 5 35 Unhappy

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PayPal is mostly a payment service, and the main risk they face is that when one party

involved in a transaction does not fulfil its obligation. On the consumer side the most

typical is a fraud situation, such as identity fraud. In other cases, they are who they claim to

be but do not pay because the bank account is not operating, or they systematically file

claims that they did not get merchandise when they did. On the other side, the seller does

not fulfil his obligation, gets the money but does not ship the goods. Therefore they provide

buyers full protection against fraud and merchants get significant protection to battle this.

They also provide loans to consumers and businesses and have to be careful that the

required repayments are met each deadline.

They deal with cases of fraud through triangulating. Their fraud detection system is built upon an abundance of data and when they look at a transaction they try to look at all aspects of the transaction. For example, a transaction coming in from Cork, trying to buy something from London, and have it shipped to Dublin. In the traditional world people might think this is suspicious, but with their enterprise system, they can narrow down. I.e. maybe this guy is a student from Dublin buying a present for his parents.

Performance Indicators

Title Unit Current Target Responsible Status

Customer Complaints #/month 250 150 David Shannon Ongoing

Disputes among buyer #/month 190 120

Nial McWeeney Ongoing

and seller Customer Feedback Online 300 250 Lisa Moran Completed

Surveys

Weekly

Failure of Loan Payment #/month 6 0 Leo Walsh Ongoing

Newly Registered Users #/month 20 40 Aoife Cross Ongoing

Fraudulent Cases #/month 15 0 Leo Walsh Ongoing

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Our indicators help us monitor how well our objectives are being met. If we reduce the

amount of customer complaints, we will know that our service is running smoothly and that

it is user friendly for our users.

If the amount of disputes between buyers and sellers is low, we know that our registered

users are obliging to the rules and guidelines of our company. This will also result in more

usage of our service as people will know they are transferring money within a secure

environment.

We need customer feedback, in the form of online surveys, to help us in making the service

more beneficial for them.

The more newly registered users we get monthly will indicate that our service is popular,

and it will also indicate revenue increasing.

We need fraudulent cases to remain low as it causes security issues for our organisation. It

also run the risk of people losing money, within our company or even among our users.

Connections between Objectives and Indicators

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Cause and effect diagram

Problems that arise frequently

Group Title Impact Risk Priority Due Responsible Status

Reactive Under Motivated Staff 10 4 10 Dec-15 Georgina Rose Waiting

Reactive Frequent Disputes opened 6 5 8 Jan-16 David Shanonn Ongoing

Proactive Out Dated Security system 9 3 5 May-16 Leo Walsh Ongoing

Reactive Customer Complaints 7 4 10 May-16 Nial McWeeney Ongoing

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Ideas

Employees are asked monthly to describe ways in which the company could improve the

environment within PayPal, and also to discuss any other personal queries regarding work.

This normally takes the place of a meeting for different departments within the company

and gives them the chance to express their opinions.

Surveys and questionnaires also are sent out via the web to all registered users of PayPal to

find out what changes or improvements the consumers would like to see introduced.

Companies that accept PayPal for payment are also included within these Surveys and

questionnaires.

Group Title Impact Risk Priority Due Responsible Status

Suggestions Only charge companies for our service 7 8 4 TBD W.Murray ongoing

Suggestions Make the website more user friendly 6 0 8 TBD M.O'Sullivan ongoing

Suggestions Encourage our biggest rival to join us 10 5 2 TBD J.Smith ongoing

Problems Stop holding 20% of consumers money in reserve 6 0 6 TBD Dick Hanlon ongoing

Problems Divulge deeper into users history to make sure

Problems they have no criminal past , credit score etc 10 5 10 TBD Leo Walsh ongoing

Suggestions Reward loyal customers with incentives 8 0 4 TBD Aoife Cross ongoing

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Projects

The following table depicts the projects , (on a scale of 1-10), that PayPal are working on to

help increase finances and to help improve the company both for the employees working

within, to the millions of registered users that use our service daily.

Deployment

Optimising Resources

Projects Cost € Benefit Priority Risk Start Date Due Date Responsible%Done Status2

Improve website/app 0 6 4 2 Dec-15 Jan-16 W.Murray 0 Happy

More customer feedback 0 8 9 2 Nov-15 Jan-16 Lisa Moran 50 Neutral

Employ innovative desginers 4000 8 5 6 Jan-16 May-16 M.O'Sullivan 0 Neutral

Train interns/grad students 10000 10 10 6 01/10/2016 Feb-16 Sheila Kelly 33 Happy

Update security systems 40000 10 10 5 Nov-15 Apr-16 Leo Walsh 20 Content

Project Name Start Date End Date W.Murray L.Moran M O'Sullivan S.Kelly L.Walsh Score

Improve website and App Dec-15 Jan-16 1 1 2

More customer feedback Nov-15 Jan-16 2 2

Employ innovative designers Jan-16 May-16 5 2 7

Train interns/grad students Oct-15 Feb-16 1 5 6

Update Security sytems Nov-15 Apr-16 1 5 6

Project Total

Indivdual Score 2 2 7 7 5 21

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Responsibilities for Individuals

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Indicators Customer Complaints

Disputes among buyer

and seller

Customer Feedback

Failure of Loan

Payment

Newly Registered

Users

Fraudulent Cases

Project Risks

Updating security systems

Risks Severity Likelihood Score Progress

Project running out of finance 7 3 21 Happy

Project running out of time 8 6 48 Unhappy

Compromising original security 10 2 20 Happy

Poor employee awareness of it 6 5 30 Content

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Acknowledgements This report is submitted as part of the software engineering module for final year Computer Science students (2015-2016) While the report is based on an existing organisation, PayPal, all figures, statistics and individuals mentioned are fictional.