The role of internal communication in the companies’ strategy

: the case of AdvanceCare

Abstract

The master thesis Project consists of an applied consulting Project in AdvanceCare, with the focus on the internal communication and its influence in the company’s performance. AdvanceCare is responsible for the management of the services of several health insurance companies. The goal of this Project is related to the business rules that are implemented in the IT systems of the company. The project conducted started by the analysis of how the process is done in the present, followed by a detailed analysis of the improvement opportunities that will originate a set of recommendations. The whole process was focused on the importance of the internal communication in the accuracy of the information that flows between functional areas, regarding the business rules, as well as on its influence in the overall performance of the company, regarding the strategy. The first part of the work was the collection of data related to the creation of the business rules, as well as the understanding of the whole process, before, during and after their implementation. This information was collected through meetings in the company with all the areas involved, and the analysis of information provided by the sponsor. The sponsor is the supervisor of the functional area responsible for the configuration of the rules in the main system the company uses. The main challenges of this Project are understanding how information works in the company, what are the processes and how is that reflected in the IT systems, since they are complex. The following work will also focus the risks of the company’s actual situation, which are the unnecessary costs that the company is incurring by having processes and developments that are not used afterwards.

Date of Award	17 Apr 2015
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rute Xavier (Supervisor)