Management Information Systems in Corporate Institutions

Introduction to the organization

For any institution to work properly, it needs an information system set up. This is so because the company has to coordinate all the activities at a central point or on a distributed system that can be audited. Management information systems (MIS) are methods of using technology to help organizations manage people and make decisions efficiently.

Management information systems are used by managers to assemble and evaluate information about various aspects of the business such as employees, sales, accounts, production or other pertinent factors.

Every company needs to enumerate its employees. In this regard, it prompts it have a management information system in place. Previously, these companies used to have things like ledger books and books for logging into work. These traditional methods were so much flawed such that, it was difficult to recognize duplicates in the records. Sometimes the company would pay what is commonly known as ‘ghost workers’.

Ghost workers are nonexistent workers in the employees’ payroll but they do not exist physically. This means that the company remits wages or salaries to people who do not actually work in these institutions. The situation was very pathetic because a blacklisting mechanism was difficult to implement.

Another area where there was massive error was in the books of accounts. In most cases, large companies had problems of balancing books of accounts because the work was too much and it was done manually. Sometimes, there was demand for work to be shared among a group of accountants who may not accept responsibility of a mistake for example, in the balance sheet.

With the invention of personal computers and other information technology tools, the companies had to develop a proper information technology system that would handle the work of the organization and reduce the errors that were experienced previously. This paper takes a sample institution and tries to explore the management information system used in the company.

Background

The Microsoft Corporation is a giant Software company that has major market share in the software industry especially in Operating systems and Office applications. The lines below explain the inception Microsoft Corporation in a nutshell. Thirty four years ago, a nineteen year old kid and his twenty-two year old business partner sold their first program to a little computer company in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The program was called BASIC, and it was the start of this company, Microsoft (“The History…”2012). The company and its Chief Executive officer saw a bright future in the software industry.

The management concentrated in the improvement of their products. With that in mind, they also thought of the idea of stealing knowledge and ideas. They raised the issue of piracy and patented the name Microsoft in order to safeguard identity.

Information technology policy, innovative use, IT as an enabler

Having laid down the necessary ground for the growth of the company, Bill gates and his friend hired the first fulltime employee and concentrated on software development. Programming is the study of using defined sets of instructions known as programming software to create other software. Examples of programming languages used by Microsoft are COBOL, FORTRAN and Visual C++.

The business of Microsoft became stronger as they ventured into the operating system software. In fact, “1981 means an entrance into the Operating Systems Business” (Sullivan 77). Microsoft developed its operating system which it called the Microsoft Windows OS.

This is a graphical user interface based operating system designed to enable computer users to use computers with ease. It also concentrated in the gaming and animation activities by collaborating with companies like Dream Works and Apple computers.

Information systems Architecture

Microsoft is also popular in the offices because of three main things. These tools are the Microsoft Windows server, the cloud system and the office automation applications. The office automation packages include Excel, Word, Publisher, PowerPoint and others. Indeed, it is a giant organization because it sells its products to the whole world. It markets its products and services to more than seven billion inhabitants of the world.

Microsoft’s new ventures are the development of smart phones and operating systems of the smart phones. With this in mind, it is clear that Microsoft had to work on a robust management system that enables proper operation of the organization including hiring of staff.

It is clear that Microsoft was started by Bill Gates and his friend as the sole proprietors of the company. They hired casual employees and in 1978, they hired the first fulltime employee to the company. At this point in time, the company did not have departments. As the company grew bigger, there was need to separate the functions to each department.

For example, there was need to hire more talented employees to handle the enormous activities of the company thus, the need for the human resource department. There was a widened area of its market hence, the sales and marketing department was created. The fact that the company had to tussle with people who pirated its product, it led to the inception of the legal wing of Microsoft.

Obviously, all the departments had to report to the company owners who comprise of the top management and the board of directors. The company deals with Information and Technology Tools which in itself had to be used to make its operations automated, validated and licensed to reduce duplication of sold copies.

Findings, analysis and discussion

The company is governed by a board of directors ready to work for the company and take it to greater heights. This is illustrated by the statement on their Microsoft’s site stating that anything they undertake to uphold their success and create value for their stakeholders and customers should be guided by long term thoughts.

“Good corporate governance encourages accountability and transparency, and promotes good decision making to support our business over decades” (IBM Agricultural Symposium 8).In the management of the company, the board of directors is the top decision maker.

The board of directors is elected by the shareholders. However, the decisions of the board of directors are independent of the management and are usually made to the best interest of the company.

The founder of the corporation Bill gates had a vision for all offices in the world and used his best skills in the development of software to automate the business and business transactions. Microsoft indeed has embraced technology in its management. From its model, it has been able to develop software to enable management in companies easier.

They use Office 360, Microsoft accounting essentials and project management tools to accomplish major operations in the company. Office 360 enables the interconnection of the corporation’s offices intertwined with the networking tools (both Local area and wide area networks).

The accounting essentials enable the company process its books of accounts and prepare reports for such transactions, while Microsoft project enables the company to make time tables for its software development activities.

By use of system analysis and design tools such as the Gantt and pert charts, Microsoft’s software development activities are accomplished within a specified time. Other technology tools employed by Microsoft are the use of databases, data encryption and decryption tools. These tools enable Microsoft to protect their work by hiding from potential violators of piracy laws.

Due to the use of the technology and Microsoft’s desire to protect its work, it is fair to look at the management system it uses to minimise piracy. One may ask how Microsoft implements this information management system in this department. The process is simple but first things first. Microsoft thought of a situation whereby, it would protect its customers from software counterfeit.

This idea was great however, implementation was a challenge. After great thinking and pondering about the idea, they came up with the genuine advantage system. Microelectronics in Agriculture – Facts and Trends (17) explains that, “Genuine Windows is published by Microsoft, properly licensed, and supported. With genuine Windows, you get access to support, updates, and downloads to help you get the most from your PC”.

They dubbed it genuine advantage because they need the customers to insist on buying genuine software so that they can be able to enjoy value added services from Microsoft such as free antivirus software.

The system is organised in a series of stages that help the customer to get the best out of Microsoft operating system. The first step is to teach the customers the importance of having genuine software from Microsoft Corporation through authorised dealers. Once the customer installs the software, it pops up an initial message asking him/her to validate the windows to ensure that it is genuine through the internet.

The customer then can be able to access the central database of Microsoft’s genuine copies of the software. The customer will decide to register his/her product so that he/she may get the value added services through the genuine advantage from Microsoft. This information management system is a robust system that can be able to handle data throughout the world without being hacked into and consequently inconveniencing the customer.

This enabled Microsoft to reduce counterfeiting and piracy. In a single line, the architecture could be to learn about Microsoft’s genuine software and its advantages, select the software wanted from an authorised dealer, install the software, and make the software genuine online. The advantage centre validates your software and start enjoying genuine software value added services from Microsoft.

The system employed is good; however, it has various shortcomings like not being able to use the software fully if you don’t have internet connection. There is also malicious corruption of data and the way data transmitted through internet browsers is possible to be classified as counterfeit because of the information browser send to the central database that may not march.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the decision system is not well designed because there are communication barriers between the user and the corporation while the advantage of the system gets out of date so easily, reinstallation of software in the same system after crashing may be considered counterfeit, and customers incurring extra costs in internet connection.

To mitigate this, Microsoft should come up with a better information management system that is properly structured to avoid the hitches caused in the genuine advantage system.

Works Cited

IBM Agricultural Symposium. Management Information Systems. Web.

Microelectronics in Agriculture. Facts and Trends Papers from International DLG – Congress for Computer Technology held in Hanover Germany. Web.

Sullivan, Laurie. Heavyweight Retailer Looks Inward to Stay Innovative in Business Technology. Washington, DC: DIANE Publishing, 1998. Print.

Relevant Decision Making: Management Information Systems in Organizations

Introduction

Management information system (MIS) is a computer-based system that focuses on “collecting, processing, storing, and transmitting relevant information to support the management operations in an organization”.

A MIS is relevant to decision support systems since it provides accurate and timely information that enable managers to solve the problems facing their organizations. Ackdff (1967) argues that management information systems often fail because of information overload and managers’ inability to understand how they work. This paper disagrees with this argument.

Information Overload

According to Ackdff (1967), designers of MIS usually assume that providing more information to managers improves their ability to make the right decision. However, the resulting information overload often reduces managers’ ability to make the right decision. In this regard, Ackdff (1967) believes that an effective MIS must have advanced filtration and condensation capabilities.

Indeed, this strategy can help managers to access only the relevant information in order to avoid wasting time in the process of making a decision. However, condensation and filtration does not always improve the effectiveness of the MIS and the outcome of a decision. Organizations often make non-programmed decisions that cannot be made easily using predetermined rules.

In this regard, scenario analysis has to be used to arrive at the optimal solution. Adequate intelligence has to be gathered concerning the problem in order to conduct an effective scenario analysis.

This means that the MIS must be able to provide more information than is ordinarily required to make non-programmed decisions. Managers who are used to condensed information or data are likely to ignore the details about the operations of their organizations, thereby making suboptimal decisions.

Understanding the System

Ackdff (1967) argues that managers will not be able to evaluate the performance of a MIS if they do not understand how it works. In this respect, managers are likely to make wrong decisions, especially, if they are unaware of the inaccuracy of the information provided by the system. Thus, managers have to be trained on how to evaluate the system before it is installed.

However, experience suggests that managers often fail to evaluate their MIS because of their inability to understand the process being managed by the system rather than how the system works. A manager who understands routine processes such as inventory management will have a clear understanding of the output that must be produced by the MIS.

In this case, the manger can easily identify the deficiencies of the MIS if its output deviates from the desired results. In addition, managers will be in a position to recommend effective solutions to the weaknesses of the MIS if they have a good understanding of the process to be managed.

On the other hand, training managers on how the MIS works before they understand the process to be managed will not help them to detect the weaknesses of the system.

Conclusion

A MIS plays a central role in organizations by providing the information required to make relevant decisions. Although information overload has to be avoided, the system should not over emphasize condensation and filtration of information.

This will enable managers to detect errors or problems that are likely to be ignored due to filtration of information. Moreover, the managers should be trained on the process to be managed using the MIS before learning how the system works. This strategy not only enables managers to evaluate the MIS more effectively, but also to improve it.

References

Ackdff, R. (1967). Management misinformation systems. Management Science, 14(4), 147-155.

Asemi, A., Safari, A., & Zavareh, A. (2011). The role of management information system (MIS) and decision support system (DSS) for manager’s decison making process. International Journal of Business and Management, 6(7), 164-167.

Reddy, S., Vuda, R., & Srikanth, R. (2009). Management information system to help managers for providing decision making in an organization. International Journal of Reviews in Computing, 1(1), 1-5.

Fly Dubai Company’s Management Information Systems

Description of Company

Fly Dubai (2014) is a Dubai-based, government-owned, low-cost airline. Since its establishment in 2008, the company has grown to serve more than 60 destinations around the world. The airline flies to different continents around the world, including Africa, Europe, and Asia. At its inception, the airline received technical support from Emirate Airlines (Kemp 2012). However, the company is not part of the Emirates Group. The airline’s main goals are to provide safe, comfortable, and affordable air travel to all its customers (Fly Dubai 2014). Currently, the company operates a fleet of more than 30 aircraft (Boeing 737s) that fly across its multiple destinations (Fly Dubai 2014).

Data Collection Method

This paper mainly relies on two types of information about Fly Dubai (2014) – primary and secondary information. Data from the company’s website (Fly Dubai 2014) and its associated pilot training website (Flydubai Virtual 2014) outline the main sources of primary information. This study relies on such pieces of information because they are credible and reliable. Moreover, they provide a first-hand account of the airline’s activities. Credible and independent academic publications, such as book reports and online business publications, outline the main sources of secondary information used in this paper. This study uses secondary information to verify the data provided in the primary information sources. Moreover, such information sources provide independent accounts of the airline’s activities.

Role of Information Systems in Company Management

Fly Dubai (2014) extensively uses information systems to support its virtual functionalities. Business-to-customer (B2C) relationships and business-to-business (B2B) relationships are the main types of business interactions that appear on the company’s web platform. Fly Dubai (2014) uses information systems in B2C relationships through online booking and flight tracking. For example, “Cleartrip” is a virtual platform that allows the airline’s customers to make online bookings to more than 65 destinations around the world (Cleartrip Private Limited 2014). The platform also allows customers to monitor flight schedules and get the latest information about their travel plans (such as flight cancellations, delays and similar events). The same platform allows customers to make hotel and taxi bookings (Cleartrip Private Limited, 2014).

Comparatively, the company uses information systems in B2B relationships through its virtual training platform (Flydubai Virtual 2014). The company uses the program to train pilots and acquaint new staff with the flight environment. Fly Dubai (2014) established the program in 2012 by introducing Microsoft’s Flight Simulator 2004 and Flight Simulator X to undertake the above-mentioned functions (Flydubai Virtual 2014).

Website Utilisation

A website’s ability to translate visiting customers into paying customers is a key success factor for companies that use virtual business technologies. However, doing so requires an effective website design that could guide customers to get what they want. Fly Dubai (2014) has recognised this fact and supports a simple online platform for users to interact with the company. Key features of the company’s website utility functions include accessibility, navigation, and identity.

Accessibility

Accessibility refers to issues that may prevent a website visitor from gaining access to a website’s contents. Fly Dubai (2014) is relatively accessible to all visitors because few features prevent a visitor from gaining access to the website’s contents. For example, the website loads in a reasonable time have a readable font-size and spacing and have adequate text-to-background contrast (Fly Dubai 2014). These features simplify the retrieval of information from the company’s website.

Navigation

Navigation refers to the identification of clear paths for retrieving desired website contents. Fly Dubai (2014) has a simple information architecture that simplifies website navigation processes. For example, users can easily identify the main navigation features and the company logo. The website also has a reasonable number of buttons and links that do not overwhelm the users.

Identity

Identity refers to the ease that websites explain the nature, history, and values of a company (what the company is about). Fly Dubai (2014) has a “hidden identity” because the home page does not explain the nature, history, or the values of the company. Instead, it appeals to existing customers because it contains information concerning flight search, booking, travel essentials, flight status, and check-ins (Fly Dubai 2014). Users have to search for information regarding the company’s identity in another link.

Based on the above features, Fly Dubai (2014) has a relatively good usability record. However, its features are firmly within the click-and-mortar framework because they supplement (not substitute) the company’s physical activities. Therefore, the website’s features simplify the company’s physical activities, like check-ins, on-board services, car rentals and similar travel essentials found on the website’s home page.

Interactivity

Fly Dubai (2014) has a good interactivity level because customers can easily customise their search processes through the company’s website. For example, the company website allows customers to track their flights by choosing their destinations, date of travel, and age. Similarly, customers can check their flight status by searching the flight’s route, or number (Fly Dubai 2014). While the website’s interactivity is good, it poses a security risk for the company because anyone can track a flight’s status, or search for other details concerning a flight (the website does not have a security feature to limit such actions) (Fly Dubai 2014).

Nonetheless, despite this security flaw, the website’s interactive platform does not have any privacy concerns because the company does not require users to provide personal details. Instead, the interactive sessions only highlight the technicalities of travel (travel accessories, flight status, flight planning, and the likes) (Fly Dubai 2014). Concerning ethics, Fly Dubai (2014) does not have unethical practices. For example, there are no platforms for customer manipulation, confusing privacy options, or spamming. Most of the details required from customers concern flight booking and flight planning. Comprehensively, the website has a good ethical and privacy record.

Summary: Management Challenges

The greatest challenge emerging from the above case study is the replication of offline customer experiences on the online platform. For example, the airline has replicated its booking services offline and online. Because of the challenges of operating a virtual platform, the online customer service quality fails to meet the quality of similar services offered offline. Consequently, the company’s management needs to develop new strategies for improving the online customer experience to meet the standards of the offline customer experience. Balancing security and interactivity needs is another management problem for the airline.

For example, this paper shows that Fly Dubai (2014) needs to improve the security features of its website. However, this process should not complicate user interactivity because Worldwide Optimize (2014) cautions that website complexity often increases security challenges. Therefore, Fly Dubai (2014) needs to be wary of the need for cross-browser compatibility and security compliance because these challenges characterize its interactivity/security balance. Comprehensively, striking a balance between adequate security and interactivity features and the maintenance of consistent customer experiences (online and offline) outline the company’s main management challenges.

References

Cleartrip Private Limited 2014, FlyDubai Airlines. Web.

Fly Dubai 2014, Company Information. Web.

Flydubai Virtual 2014, Welcome to Fly Dubai Virtual. Web.

Kemp, G 2012, The East Moves West: India, China, and Asia’s Growing Presence in the Middle East, Brookings Institution Press, London. Web.

Worldwide Optimize 2014, Integrating Interactive Features in Your Restaurant Website. Web.

Management Information Systems and Its Impacts

One of the negative fallouts of the advances in information systems is unemployment. The technological world is changing on a daily basis, and any organization has no other alternative other than embracing this modern technology. Failure of doing so, the organization becomes highly vulnerable to being uncompetitive in the marketplace. Despite the fact that advances in technology are increasing the rates of unemployment, companies cannot be held responsible for the same.

The tendency of the world-changing is characteristically irreversible. A big percentage of the clerical workers’ and middle managers’ work is presently being done using these information systems. As thus, it is the obligation of the employees so see to it that they acquire the necessary knowledge and skills; otherwise, they will be washed out of the company system. Changes in information systems can be likened to the theory of evolution.

Moreover, organizations are hardly held responsible to care for their taskforce and the resultant redesigning of the organization structure’s enterprise so as to minimize perceived losses. Nevertheless, it remains to be a moral duty for each and every company to see to it that there are plans in place which will avail assistance to the retrenched or displaced employees. This can be so done by either offering these employees alternative jobs or giving them the support of whatever kind.

In the creation and development of electronic medical documents, there are a number of factors which are quite critical. These factors fall under three categories, namely, management, organization, and technology.

On the management aspect, electronic record keeping is a necessity. This is so because, in the event that records are electronically kept, there is a significant reduction in the costs attached to maintaining health data. Nonetheless, it is notable that the blunt implantation costs are overwhelming, and more especially to those medical practitioners who are obliged with the maintenance of their own practices. Additionally, managers have to see to it that data is not used for purposes of profiling patients or even as a basis for denying the laid down medical procedures. This is simply to point out that it is the responsibility of the management to ensure that data is solely used for the purpose for which it has been intended.

The organization is the second factor of consideration when creating and developing electronic medical data. Undeniably, an electronic system is believed to better organize data and at the same time ease its subsequent retrieval. It is the responsibility of individual medical organizations to ascertain that medical data is not at all used for reporting. This data should also not be used in the technology of data analysis commonly referred to as the non-obvious relationship awareness. Various stakeholders, including the government, the private sector, and other non-governmental organizations, ought to pass laws which offer sufficient protection of the health data of a consumer. Through this, patients will not only be reassured, but they will be compelled to use the system a second time.

Besides, the technological factor ought not to be ignored. A new medical system must be in a position so as to comfortably integrate with older applications of keeping medical records. As a matter of fact, the software of the new system in itself has to be created in such a way that the standards are universal so as to ease its implementation and make work more efficient. Nevertheless, the technology must be crafted in such a way that it will avert security breaches. For purposes of obtaining medical information for those patients needing urgency, systems have to be very accurate. All the above-discussed factors have to work hand in hand for purposes of averting privacy invasions guaranteeing that medical data is not abused and misused.

Imperial Tobacco. Management Information System – Competitive Forces

Information About the Company

Imperial Tobacco is a multinational company whose head office is in the UK, Bristol. When considering the market share, Imperial Tobacco is the fourth-largest cigarette-producing company in the world. This company produces up to 320 billion cigarettes annually which are distributed in more than 160 countries. The greatest competitors to this company include British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco, and Philip morris international. To remain a strong player in the market, there are many strategies that this company has had to adopt. Being a multinational company, the management has to ensure that the market is protected not only at local levels but also at international levels. To do this effectively, they have adopted Porter’s competitive forces model which includes factors such as traditional competitors, new market entrants, substitute products and services, customers, and suppliers.

Anti-Competitor Strategy

The traditional competitors, in this case, include the companies in the same industry which have been in existence for as long as Imperial Tobacco has been. A good example of this is British American Tobacco which has been a competitor since time immemorial. It was once a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco before it separated and took the position of a competitor. The management, therefore, needs to understand the strengths of such companies so that they can plan counter actions, hence ensuring that they are always ahead of them. The other factor is that of new market entrants. This is an important factor in the sense that new entrants in the market mostly start with low prices to attract customers. This means that the management at Imperial Tobacco needs to develop products that can compete with the new products for them to maintain their position in the market.

The third factor in the competitive model as explained in the article Strategy: Porter’s Five Forces Model – analyzing industry structure (2009) is substitute products and services (para. 4). These are products and services that can be used in place of the original products. Imperial Tobacco should ensure that they have products for all people in society. The paper-rolled cigarettes are manufactured for the low and middle-income groups while the refined cigars are for the high-income earners, hence having a substitute product for all users. The fourth factor is about the customers, which includes people from all over the world (para. 6).

Considering the wide customer base, they are expected to set up operations all over the world hence reducing the problem of logistics. In this way, the products can reach both local and international customers with ease creating a sense of reliability. The result of this is an increase in the market share. Finally are the suppliers who play a big role in the success of any company. Suppliers range from the providers of raw materials to the providers of equipment used in production. These determine the level of production hence the availability of the product to the people. Where the suppliers fail to deliver for example the raw tobacco on time, this will delay the entire production chain and create a notion of unreliability among the customers.

Conclusion

From this discussion, it is clear that the factors presented in Porter’s competitive model are important for the success of this company. The customers are the most important people in any chain but their needs cannot be met if the other actors do not play their role. They, therefore, need to ensure that they adhere to the entire model owing to the interconnectivity of the factors. If for example, they fail to produce substitute products, they will not reach a certain client base and will have created an avenue for their competitors to take over that section of the market. In the same way, if they fail to consider the threat posed by new entrants into the market, they may end up losing some of their customers to the new products which are usually more enticing especially where they come with lower prices.

Reference

(2009). Web.

Management Information Systems: Primis Online System at McGraw Hill

Introduction

McGraw Hill founded in the year 1884 has established itself as one of the most reputable company whose headquarters are in New York. They have a long record of professional publications including books and are currently running major offices on several continents around the globe. McGraw Hill as a publisher has been instrumental in transforming published content to make it available online from the advent of the internet a few decades ago. This company has currently an online facility that supports the viewing and downloading of various published books from their e-bookstore. These e-books can be viewed and downloaded at a fee. Further still portions of such book which may include chapters can be downloaded in portable data formats (PDFs).

This has greatly revolutionized the education and academics fraternity since students, lecturers and other academicians are now able to access e-books online and download portable formats of the same at almost half the price.

Currently McGraw Hill publishers are using the Primis online system to utilize this feted process and the site remains active with prospective researchers, buyers, academicians accessing the resources continuously. Primis online now makes almost all McGraw Hill publications available to prospective customers worldwide

What is more is that this feature is available at almost half the price that one would spend on buying the printed edition of the book. It is highly likely that a need to expand their profits and ensure a competitive edge over other publishing companies, McGraw Hill foresaw an opportunity to make use of the internet infrastructure and integrate e-commerce features to achieve this highly innovative published content management system. In order to cut on shipment and production costs McGraw Hill realized the opportunity to use the digital divide to avail their products to their consumers and at an affordable price. Therefore one could be able to purchase a recent edition of any of McGraw Hill published e-books. The client can then pay through the electronic money transfer system and download the e-book as soft copy or better still print it out as hardcopy. The system is flexible because books can be accessed by the same at some stipulated fee. With this facility a student can download different chapters from different books hence ensuring that they study effectively.

This paper focuses on the analysis, design and system development elements applied by the Primis team in deployment of the online system at McGraw Hill.

Analysis

During system development one of the most important questions that a client asks the developer is to study the viability of a certain concept. This concept initially developed on the backdrop of a number of questions. Some of these questions included:

  • What is the need of the organization currently and in the future? All over organizations exist to make profit, expand and make more profit. McGraw Hill may have asked what value will the use of the Primis online system bring to the company.
  • Reduced costs as publications are reproduced and published electronically and hence the use of traditional paper and print press technology is not dependable. The cost would cut across reduced labour and raw materials as well as storage and shipment. This is based on the understanding that an e-book is less costly to ship or store as compared to a hard copy. This should also be true for the production cost of such products. Therefore McGraw Hill may have asked about the profitability of implementing and integrating the Primis system. Since McGraw Hill brings together diverse publishing content, the other likely question asked would be how usable or adaptable is the proposed system as far as McGraw Hill products are concerned.
  • How can the sales representatives at McGraw Hill utilize Primis system to uniquely identify with the organization and hence give them a competitive edge?
  • How adaptable can the lecturers and students use the e-books available through the Primis online system?
  • What features are supported by the Primis online system making it suitable for the current and future customers of the organization’s products?

Addressing and answering some of these questions gave McGraw Hill and the Primis online system developers a chance to turn the concept into a realistic model that could then work according to their specifications. Book publishing remains a dynamic process and authors normally expand their work by reproducing editions of earlier works. This probably presented itself as the biggest obstacle to the development of the Primis online system’s initial success. The more the newer edition manuscripts produced the more difficult it became to update the e-books.

The developers of the system had to separate the system where the application would run independent of the data. This meant that the underlying data could be changed without changing the operations of the front end operations. The organization had to develop and maintain a database as backend while Primis online system would run at the front end. This enabled the book revisions, newer releases and versions of the publications to be made available to the customer based on this arrangement of front and back end processing.

Initially whole books were available within this database. However, this meant that editions with varied sections of the same book required a total rework which was time and resource intensive. If the team developing the Primis online system identified the importance of breaking down the books into chapters, the rework to upload newer editions of the same book would have been much easier and less resource intensive.

This remains a general practice for the development of many systems today where the design and development of a system is carried out based on small sub system units that when finally integrated make up the whole system. This provides the advantage that less effort is spend on maintenance since only a unit of the system can be addressed. It is pertinent to realize that analysis as part of system development life cycle is one of the most crucial stages. It is at this point that the systems requirements are derived and thoroughly defined in order to clearly address the user needs (Hinton, 2005). Therefore having a broader perspective as far as the current needs are concerned helps the user and the system developer to incorporate futuristic components that can keep the system adaptable to the changing environment.

During system development the user normally certifies that the initial requirements collected are sufficient enough to warrant a change of the system. Having investigated the current system and deriving the user requirements, a developer has a go or no go decision made by the sponsors or owners of the proposed system. It is this decision that leads to project initiation and commencement of the development process. At that time McGraw Hill publishers had a need and information gathered at that particular time may have been inadequate but was sufficient enough to warrant the development of the Primis online system. As such if I were the one in charge of the project at that time and armed with the information that was then, I would proceed with the implementation of the system. It was likely that the system would be able to address the needs of the organization at that particular time. However a change in technology would be tremendous adaptive requirements to the system.

Design

Mc Graw Hill is a business organization and therefore top among its list of requirements for the implementation of the Primis system was the competitive advantage for quality and service. This was most likely the driving force behind the development of the Primis online system. McGraw Hill needed an innovation that would integrate in their processing and enable their books to be accessed and purchased over the internet. This in itself was leading to improved services, speed and quality. In order to effectively compete with other publishing companies, McGraw Hill needed to start this innovative service using the Primis online system.

Process engineering is a system design process that enables the system analyst to closely work with the system user to identify the current business processes and model the proposed system (Boddy, Boonstra, & Kennedy, 2004). There are a number of system design tools that we used within this project at McGraw Hill to illustrate the functional requirements and the technical specification. During system design the developer has various available tools to assist their model at every aspect of the current and proposed system. Typical of the functional requirements is the data flow diagrams which are used to describe the entities and processes of a system. Similarly use cases are another tool mostly used to model functional requirements during the object oriented systems design. The Primis team may have used the deployment diagrams to draw up the technical specification of the system. These diagrams are hardware and software specific. Nodes in this case represent a host and can be a device like a computer connected by communication channels. These nodes would consist of artifacts which represent files and documents present on these nodes.

In order to ensure that the implemented Primis online system is a solution to McGraw Hill’s customers, an analysis had to be carried out and the user requirements that were derived from this exercise were used to establish the objective that guided the design of the Primis system so that it worked as a business solution for the problem the organization was facing then.

During the design of an information system, the developers will always work to have a system that is highly cohesive yet loosely coupled. While this is the case the system can easily be decomposed and the small units managed or maintained before being reassembled into the big system. Because technology keeps changing system developers will always design systems that are easily decomposed so that any of the system component that requires adaptive maintenance can be worked on without affecting other sub components of the system (Valverde, Toleman, & Cater-steel, 2010). Therefore it is likely that the team that developed the Primis online system for McGraw Hill publishers dealt with the inevitable change and uncertainty of the future in this manner. The system was designed in such a way as to allow components of it to be removed, modified and returned depending on the changing needs.

System development

Prototyping is a technique which involves the developer of the system coming up with a model of the proposed system at the onset in order to draw out user reaction and gather user requirements. Generally the prototyping as a technique would consist of a number of general steps. The establishment of the prototype objectives is a very crucial stage in the whole process. It is actually the prototyping plan that leads to an executable model (Sommerville, 2001).

Prototyping has a number of benefits some of which include the following:

  1. Incomplete or inconsistent requirements can be identified as the prototype is developed during the iterations
  2. Any missing user services can be detected.
  3. Any misunderstandings between the users and the developers can be identified as the system functionality is demonstrable
  4. Difficult to use or confusing user services may be identified and refined

Prototyping as a system development approach remains one of the most effective ways of rapid application development. This approach would have been applicable during the development of the Primis online system to help the Primis team and the proposed system user to model the requirements. The use of a model or prototype is what makes prototyping a very effective system development approach. During prototyping the end user of the modeled system will get a chance to work with the model and provide any feedback which then can be incorporated depending on whether the prototype is evolutionary or not. Among the change management techniques used to increase the chances of the Primis system success included:

  • Organizational planning
  • Motivation
  • Instilling belief in the proposed system
  • Exercising honesty.

It was necessary and important to consider the relationship of Primis to the back end systems at McGraw Hill in order to design a suitable and adaptable human computer interface. Considering that I was a project manager within this project, I would have adopted the technologies that allow the user to change their interaction environment.

Giving the user leeway increases usability especially for the advanced users. In this way the system would be adaptable to the different category of users at their respective levels of expertise whether they are students, teachers or researchers.

Illustrations form an important part of any study package and therefore the more representative they are in terms of color and design the better is their effect. Custom textbooks are more illustrative if they have color and therefore as a professor I would prefer a color e-book over the black and white print.

The Primis online system requires a very versatile content management system that can allow content to be added and edited as soon as it is available. It is likely that the database at McGraw Hill remains highly dynamic with additions made to the content therein depending on the launching of newer editions of books and other publications. This database is likely to be increasing in size as these additions are made to it.

Conclusion

The analysis, design and development of the Primis online system at McGraw Hill was one of the most innovative endeavors within the global information and educational content management. The success story is reflected in how the analysis, design, system development and maintenance of the system were carried on.

References

Boddy, D., Boonstra, A., & Kennedy, G. (2004).Management Information systems. Essex: Prentice Hall.

Hinton, M. (2005). Introducing Information Management: the business approach. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Sommerville, I. (2001). Software Engineering (6th ed.). London: Pearson Education.

Valverde, R., Toleman, M., & Cater-steel, A. (2010). A method for comparing traditional and component based models in information system re-engineering. Information systems and e-business management, 9(1), 89-107.

Chalhoub Group: Management Information Systems

Introduction

  • Technology has taken central position in businesses today.
  • Many business people have assert that embracing modern technology has significantly raised their profits.
  • Additionally, those who have not embraced technology have not only made losses, but they have also dried up all together.

Scholars and critics alike have argued that technology is crucial to businesses. This presentation will focus on one organization in UAE, highlighting how its improved IS/IT systems have helped it register massive profits.

Introduction

Organization Profile

  • The company under investigation is Chalhoub Group that has been in existence since 1955.
  • The company has relied for a very long time on pen and paper as a means of recording its activities.
  • Due to expansion, the company decided to invest in the Oracle ERP System as an IS/IT project.
  • The main purpose of the system was to improve the business processing transformation.

Chalhoub Group is a retain luxurious company situated in UAE. The reliance on paper and pen for record keeping limited the company as the staff could not get the right paper when needed. In addition, the company had to allocate a lot of space for the papers and this led to wastage of resources and even money. It is due to this reason that the company invested in the new IS/IT project.

Organization Profile

Business Objectives

  • To be the number one retail company in the region.
  • To design and develop a proactive platform to connect with companies within the group.
  • Empower the employees in analysis and reporting system.
  • Achieve excellence, respect and entrepreneurial attitude among the employees.

The group’s philosophy is ‘committed to excellence’ and it is this philosophy that drives their very existence. They always try to give excellence in their products and services. To do this, they came up with key things they want to do. In the same note, the group urges the staff to be creative and consistent in whatever they do.

Business Objectives

Identifying the Problem

  • The main problem is a weak IS/IT system.
  • The workers do not understand how to use the IS/IT system.
  • The weak IS/IT system has led to gaps in the marketing department and the Human resource department.
  • All other departments have also experience some negative impact of the system.

For example, the long process for an event to be official eats up a lot of time for the company. This has affected the marketing department greatly as many of its activities on brand management are stalled. In similar tone, there is no direct link between the back office and the stores such that there is confusion whenever changes are made on either side.

Identifying the Problem

Is/It Business Solution

  • The Oracle ERP System was the first choice for the company as an IS/IT system.
  • The system was to help bring the company back to its glorious days and seal off some of the gaps in the department.
  • ERP integrates data from all departments of a company into one system.
  • Indeed the application of the system proved beneficial at the beginning.

ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning and it facilitate easy retrieval of data by compiling everything in one place. The system aimed at enhancing the analysis and reporting of all departments but target specifically marketing and HR.

Is/It Business Solution

Is/It Business Solution

How the New System Improved the Business Objectives

  • It increase competitive strength for the entire group.
  • It made the promotion of new products and services easier.
  • Improve operational excellence.
  • Since all work is done online, it becomes easier to manage files.

Since the system incorporates all data from different departments, its much easier for the staff to allocate what they are looking for. In addition, the system does not require as much space as the paper work. Similarly, decision making becomes much easier as all data can be inspected at the same time.

How the New System Improved the Business Objectives

Comparative Analysis With Similar Organization

  • The company can be compared to Etisalat, a telecommunication company also in UAE.
  • Etisalat uses Oracle system to control a major part of their organization, including dealing with their clients.
  • The company has also encourage its associates, like storekeepers, to adopt the system and use it for book keeping.

Etisalat have asserted that the Oracle system has made their business easy. In addition, they have agreed that the system can also be used in all department and they recently introduced it to the training department. For instance, staff can enroll themselves in trainings that have been highlighted by the system.

Comparative Analysis With Similar Organization

Group Analysis & Appraisal on the Solution

  • The company seeks operational excellence through the installed system.
  • It also provides a centralized data management system that is easier to use.
  • The company is also planning on tapping into the ease of changing data as quickly as possible to ensure there is no confusion within the group.

Group Analysis & Appraisal on the Solution

Conclusion

  • The company has faced challenges before due to poor recoding of data.
  • This prompted them to embrace technology and adapt the Oracle ERP system.
  • The company has since them cited improvement in all their departments.

Conclusion

Management Information Systems Benefits in Business

Introduction

Technology has transformed the world into a global village, and firms are under pressure to find ways of gaining a competitive advantage over their market rivals in order to achieve success. One of the best ways of gaining this competitive advantage is to develop mechanisms of generating business intelligence that would provide the needed knowledge about the market.

Management information system has widely been seen as the solution to firms for generating this knowledge. Using technology to collect, process, and store data about people, organisations, and processes has been found to be the best way of generating intelligence that can help an organisation gain a competitive edge over its market rivals.

In this study, the researcher will analyze two companies in order to determine how they benefit from the management information system, and to propose changes that can be made to achieve efficiency in their production.

ABC Company

ABC is a leading wholesale and retail company with global market coverage. It offers a variety of products to its customers. The company is focused on providing diverse household products of very high quality at friendly prices.

In order to charge this unbeatable price for its products in the market, this firm has been offering discounts on various products. In order to understand the business focus of this company, it may be necessary to use Porter’s Three Generic Strategies.

Firms are always under pressure to distinguish their products from that of their competitors in the market in order to achieve a competitive advantage (Gupta 56). ABC Company has been using Porters Generic Strategy options in order to achieve competitiveness in the market. The diagram below shows the strategic options that have been available for this firm.

Generic strategy options

Source: (Henry 67).

As mentioned above, ABC Company has been using cost leadership strategy in the market by offering discounted products to its customers. This has helped it in setting fair prices for its products in the market.

This giant wholesale and retail outlet has also been using the differentiation strategy in order to achieve a competitive edge over its market rivals. Most of the products sold at this firm are very similar to those that are sold in similar shops because they are manufactured by the same companies.

In order to distinguish their products from those in other stores, this outlet has embraced unique packaging that gives them the superior image. This helps in creating the impression that products from the firm are of superior quality as compared to those of its competitors.

In order to achieve maximum benefit in the market, ABC Company has also been giving massive focus on the market segments that are least exploited by other market competitors. The firm has been keen to develop unique products that can help it acquire a market niche that is not exploited by other market competitors.

Main Divisions in ABC Company

In order to operate successfully in the retail industry, ABC Company has divisions which are responsible for various tasks. The main divisions in this firm include the marketing division, the finance division, information and communication technology division, logistics and warehousing division. It is important to note that there are a number of subdivisions in each division.

For instance, the marketing division has other subdivisions such as the public relations unit, customer care department, and the corporate social responsibility unit.

Although each of the above divisions operates in an independent manner, they are closely related to one another through an integrated communication system. Using the differentiation strategy in the finance industry has also been the main strategy for this financial institution in attracting more customers to its stores.

The marketing department has developed a customer management strategy that is specifically meant to improve the customer experience while in the facility. In this strategy, the bank has a number of staffs who are specifically meant to address any issues of the customers without necessarily going to the customer care unit.

This is expected to reduce the waiting time before a customer can be served. For those making deposits, the bank has the automated systems that enable customers to make the deposits at a faster rate, as opposed to when they are attended to by cashiers. This also reduces the waiting time for the customers.

XYZ Company

XYZ is one of the leading local banks in Dubai that has been experiencing massive growth over the past years because of its superior marketing strategy. The firm offers various financial services to its clients.

The financial industry in the United Arab Emirates has become competitive as local firms find themselves under pressure from the international financial institutions making entry into the region. This firm specifically offers services to its customers in the United Arab Emirates and other neighbouring countries.

Porter’s Three Generic Strategies can be helpful in understanding how this firm manages the stiff competition in this market. Cost leadership is a very dangerous strategy in any industry, and the marketing unit of this firm has been very careful when incorporating it as one of the main ways of gaining a competitive edge.

However, the low interest rates charged by this bank on its customers are clear indications that it has been using this strategy in the market. Most of the accounts do not attract any transaction fees. Although the bank had a major focus on Islamic Banking, it is currently spreading its focus to the conventional banking system because of the strategic position of Dubai as a global business centre.

Main Divisions in XYZ Company

Just like any other business institution, the XYZ Company has a number of divisions that help it operate successfully in the market. The financial institution has five main divisions operating semi-autonomously under direct supervision of their respective departmental heads.

The divisions include economics department, MIS division, financial department, currency and corporate services, and the financial market department. The departmental heads at these divisions report to the general manager of the institution, who is answerable to the board of directors of the company.

How MIS is helping similar organisations to generate business intelligence and achieve competitive advantage

It is clear from the analysis of the two companies above that the management information system is a key component in any organisation in the current market. As the competition gets stiffer, firms have come to realize that the only way of remaining relevant in the market is to have access to the current market information and to act upon it within the required time. ABC and XYZ operate in two different industries.

ABC has been operating in a business environment where information is vital in achieving success in the market. In some of the leading market competitors of XYZ, it is clear that management information system has helped them to a great extent, in achieving success in this industry.

For example, Carrefour has been using its MIS division to collect and analyse data on the changing trends of consumer’s tastes and preferences. This has helped this firm to achieve competitive advantage in the market because it is always aware of the needs of its customers. This has made it become one of the leading retail stores in this region.

XYZ Company also faces stiff competition in the financial sector because of the market rivals that are currently using their MIS division to generate business intelligence that can help them achieve competitive advantage in the market. According to an interview conducted with a mid-manager at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, it was clear that this financial institution has been seriously using this division to generate intelligence in the market.

This institution has been able to use this department to identify the fact that there are many non-Muslims coming to the region to invest in the oil industry. These new niches of customers prefer conventional banking system other than the Islamic system.

When it gathered this information, its product offering was diversified, making it possible to attract both the Islamic and non-Islamic customers in the region. This has made the National Bank of Abu Dhabi one of the most successful financial institutions in this country.

Comparison of the Two Organisations

ABC and XYZ companies are operating in two different industries. While ABC is in the retail industry, XYZ is operating in the banking sector. However, it is possible to compare the operations of the two firms in order to understand how they use management information system to achieve success in their respective industry. The above discussion has pointed out to the importance of managing information in both sectors.

According to Henry (34), information is a powerful component of a marketing program, especially when developing strategies that are meant to achieve maximum customer satisfaction in the market. Porter’s Value Chain analysis can help in comparing the two firms.

Creation of value for the customers is something that is highly appreciated in both firms. There are five primary activities or stages in value chain creation based on this analysis. The first stage involves inbound logistics. To both firms, these are activities that would ensure that the products needed for sale or in the service delivery to the customers are acquired and delivered safely to the premises of the firm.

This process is more involving in ABC than it is in XYZ because of the bulk of ABC products. At ABC, this entails breaking the bulk into small units and then repackaging them. At XYZ, it involves setting appropriate products (accounts and interest rates) that would be offered to the customers based on the industry dynamics. The outbound logistics stage involves making the products available to the customers.

ABC will need to transport the products to various outlets in the country, ready to be sold to the customers while XYZ will need to make cash available to its customers at various bank branches in the country. The marketing and sales stages entail persuading potential customers to make purchases of the firm’s products. Both firms have been using both the mass and social media to popularise their products in the market.

The fifth stage involves the services done by the firm to maintain the value of the product. Both firms have been using management information system to gather and analyse the current data about the customers in order to adjust their products to suite the changing needs.

Porter’s Five Forces analysis can also be useful when comparing these two firms. The figure below shows Porter’s Five Forces Model.

Porters Five Forces Model

Porters Five Forces Model

Source (Gupta 89)

ABC and XYZ have had to deal with the problem of powerful suppliers. The central bank and other large financial institutions that may offer financial help to XYZ such as IMF and the World Bank are very powerful. Similarly, some of the main suppliers of ABC Company such as Samsung, Apple, and Sony are also powerful. To deal with this problem of powerful suppliers, both firms have been trying to diversify their supply sources.

The buyer power has been another major problem to both firms, and ABC has been more successful than XYZ in dealing with this problem. It has developed unique market niches that make it the only supplier in the market. This has helped it eliminate the power of the buyers. The competitive rivalry has been a thorny issue in the quest for the two firms to achieve success.

To manage this threat, ABC has discounted and differentiated its products in the market. On the other hand, XYZ has given more attention to differentiation of its service delivery to the clients. To address the threat of substitutes, both ABC and XYZ have diversified their product offerings in the market.

However, it is unfortunate to note that XYZ, unlike ABC, has been unable to manage the threat of new entrants. While ABC has been penetrating the global market to reduce the impact of new entrants into the local market, XYZ has not been able to take this initiative because it is still operating locally.

Improving Business Effectiveness and Efficiency in the Two Organisations

It is clear from the above analysis that the two firms have been focused on achieving success in their respective industries. However, they must understand that the process of developing a competitive advantage in the market requires an integrated approach to managing the market forces. The following are some of the proposals that the two business entities can use to improve their business effectiveness and efficiency.

  • ABC and XYZ Companies should consider expanding their expenditure on the modern information communication technologies. Although the two firms have functional MIS divisions, it is necessary to incorporate the emerging technologies that would help improve effectiveness and efficiency of the division.
  • ABC and XYZ should redefine their employment strategy because of the dynamics in the market. The firms should ensure that they hire dynamic employees who are able to change with the changes taking place in the market. They should also be technology enthusiasts in order to ensure that they can manage tasks that are technology oriented.
  • The two firms should embrace creativity and innovation when addressing various issues. The information gathered and analysed by the MIS division should form the basis of coming up with new methods of addressing the problems of the companies.
  • XYZ should find a way of expanding its market coverage beyond the local region, just like ABC. An expanded market will increase the income of the firm, making it affordable for it to implement some of the strategies considered expensive because of the infrastructural investment.

Works Cited

Gupta, Hitesh. Management Information System: (an Insight). New Delhi: International Book House, 2011. Print.

Henry, Anthony. Understanding Strategic Management. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.

Management Information System: Cisco Systems

Software applications provide a platform that supports various business practices. Therefore, it is vital for an organization to have efficient software applications. The efficiency of software applications determines the ultimate efficiency and competitiveness of the organization.

Therefore, companies spend huge sums of money in implementing software applications that support their business operations. However, implementing IT projects is one of the most daunting tasks of any organizations. The rate of failure of IT projects is usually higher than for other projects within the company.

This necessitates a company to device an elaborate strategy that would lead to successful implementation of the IT project. Failure of IT projects may have dire consequences on an organization. It may lead to stalling of the operations of the company.

In addition, it may elicit negative publicity, which may damage the reputation of the organization.

Enterprise Resource Planning is one of the major IT projects that a company may implement. ERP helps in streamlining the workflow in an organization. ERP affects virtually all organization’s activities. ERP determines the ultimate efficiency of the organization’s activities.

Therefore, it is vital for an organization to have a suitable ERP vendor. The success or failure of the ERP implementation project would have significant effects on the business. This is because ERP systems provide the backbone of virtually all operations within the company.

ERP systems cost anywhere between hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars. Therefore, failure of an ERP implementation project would make an organization lose vast sums of money. In addition, failure may stall the operations of the organization making the organization lose vast sums of money.

The scope of ERP implementation projects increases the necessity to have elaborate procedures that would ensure the ultimate success of the project. In most instances, companies overlook certain aspects of the implementation process.

This is one of the major factors that contributes to the high rate of failure of IT projects. Successful implementation of ERP system would improve the competitiveness of an organization. Cisco Systems Inc. is one of the few companies that have successfully implemented an ERP system.

The inefficiencies of Cisco’s legacy systems necessitated the company to shift to an ERP system. The shift would provide a system that would support the company’s future growth. Prior to the implementation of the ERP system, the company’s systems were on the brink of failure.

Malfunctions of the systems resulted in shutdown of the company for two days. This made the company lose huge sums of money. The imminent failure of the company’s systems necessitated the company to develop a new system. Therefore, the company implemented the new ERP system out of necessity.

The success or failure of the ERP system would have far-reaching implications on the activities of the organization. The management of the company understood the need for the company to shift to a new ERP system. There was a consensus of the need for change within the organization.

In fact, the legacy systems failed on a day when there was a board meeting. Managerial support was one of the major factors that led to the ultimate success of the implementation ERP system. The management of the company was eager to implement the new system.

Incremental changes in the current system would not be able to solve the problems that the existing system faced. In addition, incremental changes of the legacy system by different departments within the company were not able to recover from the regular system outages.

Having an elaborate plan on how to shift to the new system was one of the critical factors that led to the ultimate success of the ERP implementation process. Cisco undertook an extensive survey of the efficiency of existing ERP systems.

This enabled the company determine the vendors who would be able to offer an efficient ERP system. Spending more time studying the ERP vendor’s capability to understand the issues that the company faces reduces the time that a company takes in fixing problems within the system later. According to the company, Oracle was the only vendor that was able to meet the expectations of the company.

ERP leads to significant changes within an organization. Therefore, it is vital for the company to seek the support of the final users of the system. Resistance to change may lead to the ultimate failure of the system. The final users of the system may not use the ERP system in their daily activities.

This would make the company fail to reap the maximum benefits of the new system. This necessitates a company to have efficient change management. In addition, the company should train its employees on how to use the new system.

Training and efficient change management would enable the users of the system embrace the system. Cisco provided training to its employees on the new ERP system. This helped in reducing resistance to the system.

In addition, a clear understanding of the new system helped the employees provide significant contribution on how to customize the system to fit the needs of the company. This is because employees have intricate knowledge of the company’s activities.

Cisco convinced Oracle to compress a five-day training course into two 16-hour training sessions. This helped in reducing the time that the company spent in training employees. However, this posed a significant risk to the success of the implementation.

This is because two long training sessions are not as efficient as many short training sessions. Therefore, it is pertinent to say that the company lucky in this aspect.

Having knowledgeable, experienced, and dedicated people within the project implementation team is one of the critical factors for to the success of ERP systems implementation projects. Cisco had a team of experienced, knowledgeable, and dedicated staff in the project implementation team.

Cisco chose KPMG as the integration partner. KPMG was one of the most experienced firms in the industry. KPMG provided experienced professionals who helped in the implementation of the project. KPMG was involved in the project from the selection of the right software vendor up to the end of the implementation process.

Therefore, Cisco attributes the success of the ERP implementation process to the support of KPMG. In addition, Cisco benefited greatly from the support of Oracle, the ERP software vendor. Cisco was the first major company to use the new ERP system from Oracle.

The success of the new ERP application in the market was highly dependent on the successful implementation of the system by Cisco. Therefore, Oracle was desperate to ensure that the implementation process was a success. The company provided all the technical support that Cisco needed to ensure that the implementation process was successful.

In addition, Oracle offered Cisco a good deal on the ERP system. This is because Oracle desperately wanted to win the tender for the provision of the ERP system and prove that the new ERP system release was much better than the previous versions. In addition, the hardware vendor contributed to the ultimate success of the ERP system.

Cisco used the hardware capabilities rather than specific hardware configuration in negotiating a deal with the hardware vendor. This necessitated the hardware vendor to ensure that the hardware was capable of meeting the capability that was necessary for efficient operation of the ERP system.

Therefore, the hardware vendor provided technical assistance to enable the ERP system meet the capabilities that were necessary for the efficient running of the ERP system. This led to great financial losses to the vendor.

Teamwork is one the major factor that determines the success of virtually all projects within an organization. Implementation of an ERP system affects all divisions of the organization. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that there is teamwork among various departments within the organization that will be affected by the ERP system.

Teamwork is one of the major factors that resulted in the ultimate success of Cisco’s implementation of a new ERP system. Teamwork helped in making critical decisions that led to the success of the project. In the new ERP system, communication would take place via a data warehouse.

Teamwork was necessary for the creation of the data warehouse. The data warehouse was one of the most important features of the ERP system. Teamwork enabled Cisco to create an efficient data warehouse.

Prior to the implementation of the ERP system, an organisation should undertake extensive tests to determine the efficiency of the syste. Testing helps in detecting red flags in the ERP system before the system goes live.

Therefore, testing helps in fine-tuning the ERP system to enable it cope with the demand of the company activities. Cisco faced several problems in the implementation process. The ERP system was unable to handle to transaction volume in Cisco’s business environment.

Failure to test the system using a big database during the implementation process was the major factor that contributed to this problem. In addition, hardware capability problems amplified this problem. Luckily, the company successfully overcame these problems due to the support of Oracle and the hardware vendor.

A company may use two ERP implementation strategies. A company may for a ‘big bang’ or the sequential phase implementation strategies. In the big bang implementation strategy, a company removes all its existing legacy systems and replaces them with the new ERP system simultaneously.

This strategy is usually resource-intensive. A fault within the system would lead to amplification of the problem. Therefore, the big bang approach is not suitable for large companies as it exposes the company to great risks in case there is failure of the new ERP system.

A company may also use the sequential phase implementation strategy. In the sequential phase implementation strategy, the company implements modules of the ERP system one at a time. Therefore, there is usually integration of the ERP system with the existing legacy systems during the interim period.

This is one of the major problems of this implementation strategy. However, it is easy to manage the implementation strategy.

Cisco used the big bang approach in implementing the new ERP system. The company launched all the modules of the ERP system simultaneously. This exposed the company to great risks in case of failure of the ERP system. However, the company overcame the initial problems that the ERP system faced.

Support from KPMG, Oracle and the hardware vendor is one of the major factors that led to the ultimate success of the ERP system. Oracle was one of the major parties that provided technical support to ensure the ultimate success of the system.

The success of the new ERP system release was highly dependent on the success of the implementation of the system by Cisco. Therefore, the situation would have been different if Cisco was not the first major company to use Oracle’s new ERP system.

Oracle may not have provided the high level of technical assistance if Cisco was the first major company to adopt the system. Therefore, timing of the ERP implementation process played a critical part in the ultimate success of the project.

The successful implementation of Cisco’s ERP implementation project is a clear illustration of some of the factors that are critical for the success of an ERP implementation project.

The success of the project highlights the importance of management support, teamwork, and choosing the right software and hardware vendor in the ultimate success of the ERP system implementation project.

However, in Cisco’s case, luck also played a critical part in the success of the project. Timing of the ERP implementation process was one of the major aspects where luck played a critical part in the success of the project.

Management Information Systems: Effective Decision-Making and Security

Information (both electronic and non-electronic) to an organization is as blood to a human being. There is an outstanding need for any given organization to manage its information well if it is to meet its mission at minimal costs and optimal profits.

Management information systems are the means through which organizations efficiently manage and administer security to their information. Management information systems facilitate effective decision-making and general management in an organization and to do these they utilize technology (computer software and hardware) and varying manual procedures (Shelly et al, 1).

Certain key elements in an organization dictate the design, implementation and administration of its management information systems. These key elements are organization’s people (or personnel), politics and culture, structure and operating procedures.

Sales and Marketing, manufacturing and production, human resources, accounting and finance are the major business functions that are logged by management information systems in an organization.

Through taking into account the different organizational levels within an organization management information systems are classified into four main types, namely, operational level systems, knowledge level systems, management level systems and strategic level systems (Martakos, 8).

Four main types of information systems.
Figure 1: Four main types of information systems.

Operational level systems are designed to function at the operational level of an organization. The importance of management information systems at the operational level is that they track and monitor an organization’s elemental activities and transactions. Queries invoked against management information systems at the operational level provide information pertaining to the organization’s inventory, sales, payments and credit decisions.

Knowledge level systems are designed to function at the knowledge level of an organization, which is characterized by an organization’s knowledge and data workers. The importance of knowledge level systems is that through supporting an organization’s knowledge and data workers they enable it (the organization) to effectively absorb new knowledge.

In addition, knowledge level systems are also important as they help an organization to control the flow of its paperwork. Workstations and office systems are some of the examples of knowledge level systems.

Management level systems are designed to function at the management level of an organization. The importance of management level systems is that through supporting an organization’s middle managers they facilitate effective monitoring and control, decision-making and administration of an organization.

An example of a management level system is one that tracks the monthly sales of an organization. Strategic level systems are designed to function at the strategic level of an organization. The importance of strategic level systems is that through supporting an organization’s senior management they facilitate long-term strategic planning of an organization. An example of a strategic level system is one that forecasts sales for a given period of time e.g. 10 years.

Another 6 main types of information systems are deduced from the above four types of information systems. Transaction processing systems are operational (or TPS) level systems that are built to oversee and record elemental transactions in an organization (Shelly et al, 7). Knowledge worker systems (or KWS) are knowledge level systems built to facilitate the creation and integration of new knowledge in an organization (Shelly et al, 21).

Office systems are knowledge level systems that are built to optimize the performance of data workers (Shelly et al, 2). Management information systems (or MIS) are management level systems built to facilitate effective monitoring and control, decision-making and administration of an organization (Shelly et al, 16).

Decision support systems (or DSS) are management level systems built to facilitate decision-making whether structured or unstructured (Shelly et al, 20). Executive support systems (ESS) are strategic level systems built for an organization’s senior management to facilitate unstructured decision-making (Shelly, 1).

Works Cited

Martakos, Drakoulis. The strategic role of information systems, 1996. Web.

Shelly, Cashman And Vermaat. “Types of information systems”, 2000. Web.