Information Systems

Information system is perceived as tools to automate business processes for better performance and productivity. It is viewed as a machine which takes input, possesses processing logic and gives a defined output which is further used to process jobs. It was strictly viewed as a catalyst in bulk processing of tasks and also those that are very difficult for human resources to take care. Primarily the idea of information system was duly followed and businesses could use it often effectively for automating their business processes. Presently, the meaning of information system is quite different from traditional thinking.

It is definitely used for automating tasks; however it is also used for mining of data for finding a new definition of information. The idea is to find the hidden meaning of information, intelligence in the information domain for an organization. The meaning of integration of various isolated business processes into a holistic integrated system is a new meaning of technology. The concept of information system is now exploited to bring out exceptional variants of fetching intelligence out of information and better and stronger connection of resources for better business advantage.

The idea is to encourage better process development which would ensure right judgment of the business advantage. From the transition of simple systems to ERP and intelligent systems, information technology has taken a leap ahead in finding better solutions for business. The transition further would enhance better forms of use and seamlessly integrating with various latest handled devices for control and management of business processes. The combination of technology and communications would bind the technology closely with the needs of the organization and evolve to enable the organization for better prospects in future.

The previous perceptions of information system have evolved with time and have become better to understand the organization and its needs. The information system perception from automated behavioral nature to intelligent devices has come a long way to decide the future rule of information systems over every part of human life and work. References McNurlin B. C. and Sprague R. H. (2009). Information Systems Management in Practice (8th Ed). Prentice Hall.

Parker Overton started Overton’s twenty-five years ago with a simple philosophy of “growth and knowledge. ” Not knowing a great deal about sales or marketing he created his own mail order catalog. Very quickly he became successful and his company and his knowledge began to grow. Since then Overton’s has become the largest mail-order water sports retailer in the world. One of the reasons for Parker Overton’s success is that he discovered a niche market; the market for mail order water sports equipment.

Realizing that there are not numerous outlets for water sports equipment he recognized that many people would be interested in ordering such equipment from catalogs. Also, Overton’s has grown and adapted to meet the ever-changing needs of boaters and water sports enthusiasts everywhere. Today Overton’s sells “everything for your boat except the boat,” as well as clothing and sporting gear. 2. 0 IS Department Last year Overton’s mailed out over twenty-five million catalogs to addresses in over thirty countries.

With their corporate office and main processing center in Greenville, NC, they have managed to become a large international business. However, Parker Overton still remains in charge of his company as the President and owner. The Information Systems department (IS) at Overton’s has the mission statement of supplying its customers with excellent customer service. Their goal is that the customer be fully satisfied, receive excellent service, and a quality product. The IS department considers its customers to be not only buyers but also the employees, suppliers, and anyone that is affiliated with them.

In fact the manager of the IS department, Dan Hardison, claims that 80 percent of the IS department’s customers are internal, meaning employees in other departments within Overton’s. The Information Systems department strives to use technology to continually improve the processes within the company while maintaining high quality and customer service. 2. 1 Organization The Information Systems department within Overton’s is fairly centralized. All of the computers and servers are located in the corporate office except for the computers in the distribution center which are on their own T-1 server.

Overton’s customer service activities, sales and support activities, and marketing applications are all completed in their corporate office. The distribution center however, is connected to the main processing center through a wide area network (WAN). The Information Systems department consists of eight full time employees and four part time employees. These numbers vary slightly depending on the season and the projects at hand. Two of the full-time employees and one of the part-time employees are programmers that design and create new programs and systems to continually improve Overton’s efficiency and usability.

Their programmers write code in COBOL, PHP, Pearl, and a lesser known program called Python that is similar to Pearl in that it allows a program to compile at runtime. Several different databases are used by Overton’s including: MS Access, MS SQL (along with other SQL versions), and Oracle. This is one of the ways that Overton’s diversifies their information systems. By spreading out the number of programs used they become less reliant on a single software package. This is considered by the IS manager to be a great benefit to the functionality of the department.

Objectives As the manager of the Information Systems department Dan Hardison’s duties are to oversee the budget in IS and to advise and manage the IS department. Mr. Hardison is the authority to whom all IS employees report. When new programs or systems are needed for Overton’s Mr. Hardison supervises and authorizes their implementation. Mr. Hardison also sees that the IS department strategy is utilized and correctly incorporated into Overton’s business strategy. The main focus of the IS department is that their goals are in line with the corporate business strategy.

Overton’s business strategy is to continue to grow with the customers and meet their changing needs. 3. 0 Company Website Overton’s currently has three retail showrooms, one in Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greenville. Greenville is also the location for the main distribution center, where all of the orders are shipped across the globe. The website for Overton’s plays a major part in their sales, accounting for 30 percent of their sales last year. That amount has increased 7-9 percent every year since its creation in 1998.

This shows that the Internet is truly the way of the future for Overton’s. The peak season for Overton’s is from April to July; during this time the website can receive 900,000 to a million hits a week. An estimated 90 percent of their business is done in these months. The conversion rate or purchase rate for the hits on their website is between four and eight percent. This is very significant since Overton’s average order is over $100. Not only does the site receive orders but it also provides customers with important information about products.

If customers wish to make purchases they can do so over the web, or by calling the 800 number. Their website, which is hosted by Blast Internet Services, (formerly Emji) runs on Linux. Blast hosts the website out of Cary, NC. Overton’s does most of the web design for the page, but outsources most of the programming and web functions. The web page also has a live feed for customer service. This feature actually allows the customer to chat or ask questions about a product and receive feedback in real time after they type in the questions.

Overton’s has done an excellent job so far of utilizing the Internet; however, in order to remain competitive they must continue to upgrade their web services and their computer systems to handle the large amounts of web traffic and sales data. 4. 0 Personal Computers Before 2001 there were no personal computers in the sales department. Only a few select employees used PCs, such as some managers. All sales transactions were done through dumb terminals. With PCs, the users can type in the order and the terminal relays the information or data directly to the point of sale (POS) server.

The credit card orders are taken from the customers and from the website and processed in batches three times a day. In peak season between April and July there are approximately 118 employees working on order entry. This means that 118 personal computers had to be bought and setup for Overton’s sales department. This was a large change from using dumb terminals. Dan Hardison stated that it cost the company approximately $800,000 to install and manage all of the new personal computers.

Introduction

The growth of e-commerce in the world has led to a remarkable shift from the traditional to the modern and internet-based business operations. The internet and web applications are the major drives for this trend. It is reported that the volume of goods and services traded over the internet since 1995 has more than doubled. The efficiency and reliability that is associated with online marketing can be attributed to the massive implementation of cloud computing systems in the world of business. Since 1995, several companies have dominated the electronic marketplace, including the ‘big four’ group that consists of Amazon, Google, eBay and Yahoo (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.3). Consumer sales are hugely expanding as a result of advancement in the e-commerce technologies. According to the 2005 Forrester Research, the consumer sales had grown by more than 23% from 2000, to approximately $172 billion (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.7). The growth of wireless internet networks, broadband systems and web applications can perhaps be termed as the powerhouses of the modern e-commerce. This paper explores the various unique characteristics of the e-commerce technologies, citing the use of reliable information storage in Amazon as a good example.

Overview of the e-commerce models

The classification of e-commerce takes mainly two dimensions; the market relationship and the underlying technology. With respect to the market relationships, e-commerce exists in three models, namely Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Business-to-Business (B2B) and the Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.17). However, the B2C is the most common model of e-commerce, since it encompasses the business activities as performed by both the online retailers and the potential customers. In the year 2005, the B2C e-commerce was estimated to have a value of approximately $140 billion in the US. However, this volume has since grown to a whooping $170 billion (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.7). The B2C e-commerce comprises of several components, such as web portals, online marketers, content applications, service providers and also online brokers, among others. On the basis of technology, e-commerce is divided into two groups. These include peer-to-peer (P2P) and mobile e-commerce (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.18). The P2P entails the transfer of various multimedia contents through wired and wireless networks, while the mobile e-commerce is mainly conducted by using mobile devices and networks.

Unique features of the e-commerce technologies

The commercial success in e-commerce has been experienced due to advancement in the supportive technologies. It is predicted that these technologies will continue propagating; a trend that will definitely take e-commerce to higher levels (Barnes, 2007, p.118). The rapid growth in the e-commerce technologies can be attributed to the numerous business requirements that have emerged in the Fortune 500 enterprises (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.18). The e-commerce technologies are characterised by various unique features. However, most of these features are also associated with the internet, which is the main driving force of e-commerce. These unique features include ubiquitous computing, information richness, universality in technology standards and also reliable interactivity (Barnes, 2007, p.118). Personalization of the online products, global reach and information density are characteristics of e-commerce technologies as well (Barnes, 2007, p.118). These features are beneficial in the promotion of e-commerce, since they support cost-effective business operations. The internet and the associated web-based applications are immensely important in connecting e-retailers to potential online shoppers.

Ubiquity

Ubiquity is perhaps the most unique feature of e-commerce technologies. Ubiquity refers to the aspect of ready availability of e-commerce models, products and services. Therefore, e-commerce is available all the time and anywhere in the globe (Barnes, 2007, p.118). The internet connection provides a solid medium through which e-marketers can communicate to potential customers and vice versa. The property of ubiquity in e-commerce technologies is important since it eliminates the possible geographical barriers (myweb.ncku.edu, 2010). Business stakeholders can take part in trading from the comfort of their office desktops and mobile devices regardless of their geographical location, without encountering physical restrictions. Ubiquitous computing in e-commerce helps in reducing the transactions costs, since the e-retailers and online shoppers do not have to print catalogues, product specifications or any other trade documents. Such documents can be produced electronically in the cloud computing platform, and the issue of travelling is largely eliminated (myweb.ncku.edu, 2010). The reduction in these transaction costs is beneficial to both the marketers and the consumers. Therefore, the ubiquity of e-commerce technologies eliminates the physical barriers which characterise traditional markets.

Ubiquity in e-commerce technologies also enables the expansion of product markets. This occurs in the sense that it leads to the reduction in the entry and exit barriers (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.12). The time barrier is also eliminated in ubiquitous computing, since the business transactions can be carried out at any time of the day. Internet connectivity and the presence of shopping websites are provided every time, a factor that facilitates an appropriate expansion of the marketplace. In addition to reducing transaction costs, ubiquity also entails reducing the cognitive energy that is required in executing e-commerce activities. According to Laudon and Traver (2004, p.12), the cognitive energy is the mental effort that is applied on a certain task. In the e-commerce technologies, the mental energy required to execute business transactions over the internet is lower than in traditional business practices (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.12). Thus, ubiquity of these technologies has helped in generating desirable efficiencies and differentiation models.

Information density

E-commerce technologies have solved the problem of information overload. These technologies are capable of handling voluminous amounts of data and information, which is an essential process in electronic transactions (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.13). Cloud-based systems can offer virtual storage techniques, which are unlimited in terms of scalability. The use of e-commerce technologies has enabled the improvement in information quality. The information density challenge is adequately addressed by these technologies, since they are characterised by superior storage and data handling mechanisms (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.13). The aspect of information richness in e-commerce technologies helps virtually all the online business stakeholders, ranging from the e-retailers, online shoppers and also the cloud computing service providers. The integration of the various aspects of business information is heavily dependent on this feature of e-commerce technologies. The incorporation of various multimedia contents into marketable products is enabled by the efficiency in the e-commerce technologies (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.13). The large amount of data and information that can be handled by internet databases such as Amazon’s S3 helps in leveraging the aspects of online marketing.

Information richness in e-commerce technologies also entails the reliability in collecting and processing of business data (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.14). The assessment of marketing trends in e-commerce relies on the superiority of the e-commerce technologies. Some e-commerce technologies such as Podcasting and internet broadband have led to improvement in accuracy and process precision in the execution of online transactions. In addition, many online products such as music and video streams are delivered in timely manner (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.14). This is because the customer only needs to subscribe to the relevant e-marketing websites, and then download the respective files. Similarly to ubiquity of e-commerce technologies, the aspect of information richness and density eradicates several forms of transaction costs, such as travelling, printing and communication. Hence, it can be presumed that information density is an immensely important feature of e-marketing technologies in the global electronic marketplace (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.13). There are many online transactions that are carried out every day, and the need for unlimited virtual storage is a necessity in the modern e-commerce.

Open standards

Most of the e-commerce technologies use open standards in order to evade any territorial or regional restrictions that may be imposed by some countries. In the open standards, all the technologies that are involved in e-commerce are allowed to operate under a common platform. These standards include the TCP/IP protocol, XML and HTML (Kraemer, 2006, p.355). These universal standards in e-commerce technologies are supported by public networks, unlike the case of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) systems which mainly depend on private networks. Open standards such as the XML support universal connection in terms of enabling adequate indexing of software products (Kraemer, 2006, p.355). However, the EDI has changed over time, and it is reported that several corporate enterprises have implemented this standard in e-commerce. The Open Buying Internet (OBI) and Open Trading Protocol (OTP) have become reliable standards in the modern e-commerce (SBA.gov, n.d). The OBI standard enables all e-commerce systems to communicate freely, without protocol disparities that may hinder the growth of e-commerce activities. On the other hand, the OTP standard has integrated online payment systems in e-commerce (SBA.gov, n.d). Some of the payment processes that are supported by this universal standard include purchase receipts, trade agreements and also the actual payments.

Netscape’s Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a universal protocol that was founded with an aim of promoting the aspects of online privacy (SBA.gov, n.d). This protocol ensures that e-commerce stakeholders can exchange information and data through secure platforms, by a way of using a public encryption key. The SSL protocol supports the transfer of data from any source point to various destinations in a secure manner. Therefore, the system does not impose any restrictions on the basis of regional presence. The SSL has been implemented in various universal standards, such as the Open Profiling Standard (OPS) (SBA.gov, n.d). The OPS is used by e-commerce organisations such as Microsoft and Firefly, in order to enhance security and privacy of merchants and consumers’ data over the internet. The field of electronic payments has received intense attention from various e-commerce players. Thus, there has been a burning need to develop superior open standards that will govern the integration of electronic payment transactions. The Secure Electronic Transactions (SET) is one of these standards, which was recently founded by the world’s leading credit payment organizations; Visa and MasterCard (SBA.gov, n.d). The SET standard is globally used in the banking sector, an aspect that has hugely improved efficiency in the payment transactions.

Global Reach

As opposed to traditional business platforms, modern e-commerce technologies allow for global reach. The online population has grown tremendously as a result of advancement in e-commerce technologies (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.13). In particular, the global communication technologies such as emailing, video conferencing, instant messaging and chat programs among others have succeeded in connecting a large number of people through the internet. It is reported that in 2005, the online population was approximately 1 billion people (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.13). However, this number has significantly increased in the recent past, to several billions. This has facilitated the expansion of the global e-marketplace, due to the implementation of reliable communication technologies. The technologies, through the properties of ubiquitous computing and global reach, have enabled cross-cultural e-commerce trade to take place in the world (myweb.ncku.edu, 2010). The unique feature of global reach explains the adequate presence of global outlets and sustainable global supply chains. This aspect has improved the sales volumes in e-commerce, with profitability margins equally benefitting. The various business operations can be performed from every place on earth by the use of these global communication technologies which are not restricted by national boundaries.

The business significance of this property lies in the provision of seamless opportunities to both small and large business organisations (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.13). Many merchants and potential customers are connected by the use of this unique feature of e-commerce technologies. Apart from the wide geographic coverage that is offered by e-commerce technologies, the demographic aspects are addressed as well (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.13). The various web contents such as animations, videos, music files and other digital products can be viewed worldwide by people of different ages, financial stability, gender and also preferences. Thus, this global reach characteristic applies across many aspects of consumers and online merchants. Global reach has enabled the entry of more business enterprises into the platform of e-commerce in the world (myweb.ncku.edu, 2010). This is because it attracts a large number of customers and e-marketers alike. The e-commerce technologies have helped in the creation of a global corporate culture, which is an important requirement in developing the human resource models in any business enterprise. Therefore, it can be construed that e-commerce technologies have played a key role in improving global trading activities through the global reach feature.

Personalisation

E-commerce technologies can offer personalised services to consumers and online retailers. This unique feature of e-commerce is implemented through geo-marketing, a practice that involves the provision of slightly modified products to a specific region of individual on the basis of their preferences (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.16). Other e-commerce technologies such as video conferencing enable the delivery of customised products or services to the interested clients. In the USA, the Wall Street Journal allows the selection of news type by the customer through the use of e-commerce communication technologies (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.16). For instance, this American online journal allows the users to subscribe for personalised alerts on certain events. Thus, it can be concluded that e-commerce technologies are efficient in the way of promoting personalisation and customisation of digital products (Laudon & Traver, 2004, p.16). The customisation of consumer’s products in e-commerce is done through constant assessment of the shopping behaviours, which include purchasing patterns.

Information density and richness in Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3)

Started in 2006, the Amazon’s S3 has become a global example of an appropriate e-commerce technology (Velte et al, 2009, p.142). The S3 was created to offer information and data storage solutions to e-commerce stakeholders. The aspect of information richness in online transactions prompted the development of this technological platform, through which people can store voluminous data. In addition, the S3 offers efficient techniques of data retrieval modification and processing (Velte et al, 2009, p.142). It has largely addressed the issue of information density to the online shoppers. The Amazon business corporation, one of the largest e-commerce players in the world, uses the S3 system to store all information concerning its online products, consumer data and marketing trends. The S3 offers scalable in the sense that it charges the customers on the basis of their request rates and data usage models. In addition, the S3 reportedly offers approximately 99.99% of information availability (Velte et al, 2009, p.142). This form of richness eliminates the inconveniences associated with downtime errors. Thus, the feature of information density has worked out to the benefit of Amazon in great measures (Velte et al, 2009, p.142-143).

Information density in the traditional business transactions is associated with low speeds of information processing, storage and also retrieval. However, the Amazon’s S3 system offers a high-performance mechanism of handling information and business data. According to Velte et al (2009, p.143), the S3 system is highly efficient in terms of processing speeds. This is because it uses many supportive nodes which enable the reduction of server-side latency. Therefore, online information that is used in e-commerce activities can be made available without any unnecessary delays or failures (Velte et al, 2009, p.143). The several user applications which are used in the storage and retrieval of information in Amazon’s S3 system are equipped with strong interfaces that enable users to retrieve or update data files and information folders in efficient manner. The storage of information in this internet-based database is cost effective. This is because the company charges less for companies which store voluminous corporate data. Online marketers do not have to prepare separate data files and product specifications sheets, since the system allows for electronic processing of these business documents (Velte et al, 2009, p.142).

The S3 is an Infrastructure-as-a-Service model that also enables the users to build reliable infrastructure on which to store voluminous data (Murty, 2008, p.135). This system offers a virtualised mode of data storage, which is therefore appropriate in handling data operations. The Amazon Corporation has benefitted from the S3 in the sense that it enables the company to share large data files with other business organisations in the B2B model. This sharing of large files has led to reduction in data transmission costs, since large amounts of data can be transmitted cheaply through S3. The system’s Universal Resource Identifier (URI) enables a secure transmission of information, through providing the relevant links to data recipients (Murty, 2008, p.135). Amazon also benefits from the back up services that are provided by this system. This aspect of information richness and density ensures that data loss and leakage are avoided.

Conclusion

E-commerce has rapidly developed in the recent past. This trend can be attributed to the desirable unique features that exist in the e-commerce technologies. The volume of sales that results from e-commerce every single year is estimated to be approximately $170 billion in value. Thus, there is a growing need for the development of better e-commerce technologies that will facilitate significant growth in this platform. There are mainly seven unique features of e-commerce technologies. These include ubiquity, global reach, personalisation, open standards, interactivity, information density and richness. Ubiquitous computing ensures that e-commerce systems can be provided anywhere and at any time. Global reach entails the coverage of all geographic and demographic aspects of e-commerce, and it is solely enabled by the internet, which is the main medium of global communication. Amazon has created one of the most reliable information richness systems; the S3. This system offers speedy storage and retrieval techniques to the clients. In addition, this system provides a reliable backup for the company’s data and information, thereby minimising the likelihood of data loss and leakage.

Bibliography:

Barnes, S. 2007. E-commerce and V-Business: Digital Enterprise in the Twenty-First Century. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Kraemer, K. L. 2006. Global E-commerce: Impacts of National Environment and Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Laudon, K. C. & Traver, C. G. 2004. Introduction to E-commerce. The Revolution is Just Beginning. Retrieved June 3rd 2011 from: http://www.pearsonhighered.com/samplechapter/0131735160.pdf

Murty, J. 2008. Programming Amazon Web Services: S3, EC2, SQS, FPS and SimpleDB. Sebastopol: O’Reilly Media, Inc.

Myweb.ncku.edu, 2010. E-Commerce: Digital Markets, Digital Goods. Retrieved June 3rd 2011 from: http://myweb.ncku.edu.tw/~wtwang/course-MIS/week15.pdf

SBA.gov, n.d. Are There Any Technology Standards For E-CommerceRetrieved June 3rd2011 from: http://www.sba.gov/content/are-there-any-technology-standards-e- commerce

Velte, T. et al, 2009. Cloud Computing: A Practical Approach. New York: McGraw HillProfessional.

Introduction

This report analyses and design solutions for integration of enterprises information systems based on the business case. In addition, it develops the key functions as a part of the enterprise system for the given business case by SAP. This report through the information of case and relevant concepts and approaches, academic interests and practical cases to analyse the issues and the suitable approaches for extended enterprise integration. Next, it explains the system functionalities and necessary illustration to design of solutions to the identified issues with selected enterprise integration approaches. Finally, there is a discussion and conclusion on implementation issues, achievement and limitations of the solutions.

1: A Description of the Business Case

1.1: Background of Business Case

This company is a medium sized manufacturer which supplies car control panels with frames over 2000 different products for five car manufacturers. Based on different models of frames, the company produces various types of car control panels for five contracted car manufacturers. In order to improve the satisfaction of customer and quickly respond to fluctuations in demand for customer, the company aims a relatively lean manufacturer and reduce the delivery lead-time.

In product of the company, it assembles these control panels, inside components and the frames as customers’ required. In addition, it also simply purchases all the parts from a part of suppliers including overseas suppliers. There are six bought-in components which include vents, frame, glove box, meter/gauges, steering and heater& air conditioning control. Besides, in order to safeguard its supply chain, the company may purchase from more than one supplier.

In business model of this company, it through EDI to receive orders from each customer once a week and then it will input the orders into a sales management system automatically. It needs to check its stock when the sales order confirmed by account manager. If there is enough stock, the order will be produced directly. If not, the company is necessary to place a purchase order for the required components to complete the sales order. Next, the company receives the ordered components on a daily basis. When the components arrived, the components will be scanned into a stock management system by the duty purchasing manager. What’s more, it will update the stock record information of component. During the production processing, the production manager will check customer orders first and create a schedule for the assembly line to produce for the orders. There is a spreadsheet; the schedules are recorded in it and to calculate stock values. The process is the same at the end of assembly and then the stock level will be updated accordingly. Finally, it will package and ship the finished products to the customers. In general, the company provides the lead-time for domestic customers is four-week and the lead-time for overseas customers is six-week.

1.2: Issues & Objectives in Business Case

According to the case, there are three main issues. Firstly, it is a long consuming lead time for order processing, production scheduling, stock controlling and purchasing. Secondly, it is high possibility to make a mistake and low effective of update the current system. Finally, the company system is not efficient. Due to the current system is only updated on a weekly basis, it is not always accurate. As enterprise information system, the current company system is frequently delaying the processing information which could slow response to changes and increase of stocks and order lead-time.

Therefore, the objectives of this company are shown as follows, to reduce the lead-time and stock level, have an assembly planning to improve the effect of production, more effective coordination of components supply and to be an efficient production company.

2: Brief Review on Relevant Concepts & Approaches, Academic Interests & Practical Cases

With development of trade globalises, it increases competition and standardisation; strengthen the relationship of strategic partnering; more outsourcing and rises project complexity. Therefore, business and enterprise trends to become e-business and extended enterprise integration gradually. J Gunn (2004) analysed that extended enterprise integration or enterprise integration using American terminology has long been foreseen as the solution to a wide range of problems, enabling companies to reduce time to market, to improve quality, to increase supply chain efficiency and even to understand customers better. In extended enterprises, integrated framework enables sharing of information, services and applications beyond organizational boundary with suppliers and customers. In addition, computer network of internet-enabled system infrastructure acting as a networked service environment for supply chain management. In summary, there are three core meaning of extended enterprises; information integration, organizational relationship linkage and coordination and resource sharing.

This part of project report shows a brief review on relevant concepts and approaches, academic interests and practical cases. In e-business and extended enterprise context, the brief review is related to enterprise system selection and implementation issues and integrations approaches.

Firstly, it is a brief review on relevant concepts and approaches, academic interests for enterprise system selection and implementation issues. Laudon, K.C. (2000) mentioned that ERP- enterprise resources planning is a business management system. It integrates all facts of the business, including planning, manufacturing, sales and finance. That is the reason why ERP could become more effective coordinated by sharing information. In order to the target of integrating information, it through eliminating complex links between computer systems and different areas of the business by ERP software and business automate processes. As small and medium enterprises (SMEs), there are six critical selection factors (Reuther, D. & Chattopadhyay, G., 2004), including system functionality requirements; business drivers; cost drivers; flexibility; scalability and others. The factor of system functionality requirements is the highest critical selection criteria Bemroider, E. & Koch, S. (2000) oberved that the system functionality requirements factor supports the findings of specialty and simplicity required for small or medium enterprise. Business drivers focus on the financial benefit to the company of the selected system. The detail of cost drivers is direct cost of the implementation in terms of outlay and resources. Both factors of flexibility and scalability are significant levels of criticality. What’s more, the response to the flexibility is important as the current wisdom is to match the future (Brown, C., Vessey, I., Powell, A., 2000). Furthermore, the factor of others means specific factors critical to the target business.

Bingi, P., Sharma, M.K., Godla, J.K. (1999) stated that Implementation issues in general have been long explored. However, the complexity of ERP makes it challenging to implement. ERP systems have been widely used by companies in developed countries. Organizations in manufacturing, service and energy industries adopt ERP to automate the deployment and management of material, finance and human resources; streamline processes and achieve process improvement and achieve global competitiveness (Koh, C., et al, 2000).

In addition, there are some important factors affect the implementation of ERP; including economy and economic growth; infrastructure; IT maturity; computer culture; business size; BPR (Business Process Re-engineering) experience; manufacturing strengths; government regulations; management commitment and regional environment (Huang, Z & Palvia, P., 2001).

Next, it is a brief review on relevant concepts and approaches, academic interests for integration approaches. Parr, A.N. & Shanks, G. A. (2000) indicated that ERP implementation approaches have been categorized as comprehensive, vanilla and middle-road. Comprehensive favoured by multinational companies and involving a total effort to implement all modules of the ERP package with business proves reengineering. Vanilla means an approach favoured by less ambitious companies desiring less business process reengineering and requiring ERP functionalities in only one site. The third approach middle-road is an approach that falls between the other two extremes.

In figure 1, it shows the evolution of enterprise integration approaches as follow.

Figure 1: Evolution of Integration Approaches

According to the figure 1, data transport is the plinth of enterprise integration. Both data transport and data integration are the basal enterprise integration. With higher business value of integration and complexity of integration, the enterprise integrations are application integration, process integration, collaboration and ubiquitous integration one by one.

As a type of enterprise integration, process integration is to create new process and services to support the actual business needs; ubiquitous integration is anytime, anywhere and through any standard means. Ubiquitous integration is the top enterprise integration approach, which is the highest business value of integration and complexity of integration in figure 1.

Based on the resources of e-business enterprise (2011), there are four enterprise system integration approaches, including network/portal oriented integration, business process oriented integration, application oriented integration and data oriented integration. Firstly, data-oriented integration is a general and basal approach. It targets the purpose of transfer, transform, synchronize, mediate-connect and harmonize. Besides, the handouts of enterprise integration of e-business enterprise (2011) explain that data-oriented integration is a set of technologies that exchange and synchronizing data with transformed format between different applications within and between organizations. Thus the technical components are data connectivity, transformation, communications middleware.

Secondly, application oriented integration (API) is an approach which uses a common interface to integrate enterprise systems by information between applications cross an organisation or cross a network. It is difference from data oriented integration. The data oriented integration interface is created by database. Instead of database, the integration interface of application is created by application. In addition, the application oriented integration allows access data and business logics and application methods; it is more than data oriented integration.

Next, the third approach is business process-oriented integration (BPI). As workflow systems, it connects and automates business process. What’s more, it provides enterprises with process visibility. Integration of business processes across applications and it controls over distributed workflows via an event driven platform. Compared with data oriented integration and API, BPI through business process level integration and management, not database and application. Furthermore, BPI includes process control technology, which includes process control engine, triggers and software agents for task automation. One purpose of BPI is loose coupled architecture – back office application, which is communicated with front end applications indirectly. Therefore, the loose coupled connection with greater adaptability and scalability for business system. However, the integration type of loose coupling also has some problem on security and inefficiency in communication.

Finally, the last approach is portal oriented integration approach. As integrated business portal, it has a consistent web interface for all business information and application in a personalized way and a platform for application integration, component development and workflow coordination. In addition, portal oriented integration approach has four benefits. One is rapidly deploy a complete portal. It also allows for further extension. Next, both applications and data could be created for integration. It could be automated execution of business processes throughout distributed organisations.

3: Analysis of the Issues in the Case to Identify Suitable Approaches for Extended Enterprise Integration

According to the business case, the main three issues are long lead-time, high possibility to make a mistake and lower efficient production and effective coordination. The issue of lead-time should be considered for the area of order processing, production scheduling, stock controlling and purchasing. The company receives orders from five contracted car manufacturers over 2000 different products. On the other side, in order to make sure the safeguard of supply chain, the company also needs to purchase vents, frame, glove box, meter/gauges, steering and heater and air conditioning control from domestic suppliers and overseas suppliers. Next, due to the company receives order once a week and the system only update once a week, the speed of update information is very low effective. It is easy to make a mistake on purchase and stock level and slow response to changes. Furthermore, it increases the stocks and order lead-time. Therefore, it leads to the second and third issues in this situation.

A suitable approach for extended the extended enterprise in this business, it should be able to ameliorate t or solve the issues and more close to the objectives. This business case mentioned that the company is a medium sized manufacturer, which supplies over 2000 different products for five contracted car manufacturers. It receives orders from each customer once a week through EDI (electronic data interchange) and input automatically into a sales management system. The operation process is a long pull process. A suitable business system of this company should be more quick response and effective coordination to reduce the lead time for order processing, production scheduling, stock controlling and purchasing. According to the part 3 of this report-brief review on relevant concepts and approaches, data oriented integration approaches focus on translating data and business documents from formats used by one company into the formats used by another (Lynne, M. et al, 2002). Integration of business processes of data integration approaches across database. However, BPI connects and automates business processes, the interfaces of BPI for data integration, process integration and process communication in process model. Although data integration approaches is an approach of transaction formats and standardize the names of product data, process integration approaches standardize the sequences of transactions and activities that make up a business process. By allowing for the monitoring and management of related transactions, they adapt better to breakdowns and permit higher levels of automation (Lynne, M. et al, 2002). Furthermore, Net R. (2001) observed that process integration requires standardization or modification of source systems or the creation of a supportive IT infrastructure, process integration is costlier to set up than data integration. However, except the factor of cost, process integration provides opportunities for companies to reengineer business processes to achieve additional business benefits more than data integration approach. Besides, portal oriented integration approach is very good approach. The interface of portal integration approach is available across all business information and applications in a personalized way. However, due to the size of company is only a medium manufacturer and the cost of portal integration approach is expensive than others, it is not suitable for the situation currently. Therefore are more risks, challenges and issues if the company adopt portal integration approach. Therefore, business process-oriented integration is the suitable approaches for extended enterprise at present.

3.1: Illustration of Key Information Flows in the Extended Enterprise Which Includes the Supply Chain Partners

Figure 2: Information Flows in the Extended Enterprise

In figure 2, the company receives orders from customer by ERP and then finance department send the order information to BIP system when the sales order is confirmed by account manager. Stock management sends the requirement of parts and components information and t9he information of the quantities of finished products to the business system. The spreadsheet created by BPI for the production schedule and also through BPI to update new information.

3.2: Critical Analysis of the Suitability of SAP as an ERP Tool

There is a professional web site of SAP (2009) expressed that SAP means systems applications and products, it is a completely integrated, enterprise wide information system that replaces legacy systems with a series of software modules that communicate with each other seamlessly, replacing current business processes with best practices. SAP software also has some demerit. In SAP system, although it could changes the business process dramatically, it is a little customizable. However, SAP is also a very outstanding tool for ERP and E- business. In addition, there are a lot of advantages of SAP, such as online integrated graphics; functionality and integration; flexible structure; real-time information; lean implementation; individual solutions, etc (SAP Expertise, 2011). SAP makes the information of company more meaningful. The company can instantly see any change by type of graphics, if the data had any change. Furthermore, the controlled customizing procedures of system allows to create solution for satisfy individual requirements. In SAP of ERP, all business processes of the company are linked by data and functions and it is a software solution to cover all commercial processes and transactions commonly occurring of the company. The real-time information of SAP is a good visibility of distributed data sources and it can automatic data transfer. Therefore, the company could be more quick response to changes and more effective to avoid the mistake by SAP. Then it should be able to reduce the stock level and more effective coordination of customer and supplier.

4: Design of Solutions to the Identified Issues with Selected Enterprise Integration Approaches

Due to the selected suitable enterprise integration approach is BPI, this part explains the system functionalities and design the solutions for the issues. According to the background of the company, the integration design should be considered by application complexity, cost and time; business scale and nature; business relationships; business process dynamics and function distributions; demands on real-time information; technical standards and compatibility, etc.

Firstly, the company should add a materical resource planning (MRP) in BPI. Because safeground the supply chain for the company, the company purchases all parts from other domestic and overseas suppliers when the stock was insufficient. It is too long pull process to increase the delay of information. Consequently, MRP is a good tool to slove this problem and also sfaeground the supply chain of the company. What’s more, it could be ameliorate the long lead time in purchasing.

Next, the company should choose loose coupling and hub connection & spoke intergraiton technology. Types of integration and E-business includes loose coupling and tight coupling. The application of tight coupling are connected with agreed technical details. In contrast, Loose coupling does not need to know details of the ways to deal with interfaces of other applications and processes. Besides, it is an application send or receive to or from other applications. Loose coupling can support non-intrusive (loose) integration, sychronised business transactions; reusing and sharing business data and processes (Papazoglou M. P., 2006). loose coupling is flexibility, scalability and advanced security. It is also nearly real-time agile response to business events. Loose coupling could be avoid the delay of information issue and improve the lead time in order processing and stock controlling. Therefore, it is more suitable for the manufactory company in the business case.

Fingure 3: Features of Common Integration Technologies

In fingure 3, it shows the features of point-point integration, hub connection & spoke for SMEs, web form (extranet interfaces) and XMLmail / messages. It is obvious to analyse that both point-point integration and hub connection & spoke are better in the four common integration technologies. The integration knowledge requirement of hub connection & sopke is lower than point-point integration. Compared to point-point integraion, hub connection & spoke have lower set up and maintenance costs. However, the limitations of point-to-point topology consist of costly for maintain; limited reusability; invasive integration approach requiring modifications of source applications, not scalable, etc. On the other side, Lynne, M., et al (2002) mentioned that hub connection & spoke approaches to external integration represent an important alternative to one-to-one integration approaches. It also approaches come in two flavours – data integration only and process (plus data) integration. Hub connection & spoke intergraiton technology could be reduce the rate of high mistake and lead time in production scheduling. In summary, both loose coupling and hub connection & spoke intergraiton technology are effective solutions for these issues.

In order to become an effective business intelligence, the requirements of business integration are real-time or responsive data access; good quality data from all relevant sources and data of relevant business functions. There are some measures such as transform data into valuable information, identify risks and opportunities, monitor and assess business performance and support decision making for enhancement and optimisation. According to the background, the company receives orders from each customer once a week. It is very low efficient production. So the times of received orders should be increase. All in all, these solutions should solve the long lead time for order processing, production scheduling, stock controlling and purchasing and improve the speed of information processing to avoid the situation of low effective of update the system. All of them are more effective coordination of components supply and assembly planning in e-business.

5: Discussion and Conclusion

In this part of project, it discusses the implementation issues, achievements, limitation of solutions and conclusion. Based on the background, the company is a medium sized manufacturer and suppliers over 2000 different products for five contracted car manufacturers. The purchase model of the company is that places purchase order for the required components to complete the sales order, if there is out of stock or insufficient stock. In addition, the business processes of the company are receiving orders; purchasing components (out of stock / insufficient); checking customer orders by production manager; created a schedule for the assembly line to produce for the order ; updating the assembly line; packing and shipping finishes products. There are three main issues which mentioned before, including long consuming lead time for order processing, production scheduling, stock controlling and purchasing; low effective of update the current system and high possibility to make a mistake; the company system is not efficient. Through analysis of the issues, BPI is the suitable approaches for extended enterprise integration.

If the manufacturing company attempts to implement the suitable approaches and solutions, it should need a high costs in equipment investment and it is hard to change the old enterprise system and hard to operate the solutions in actuality. Furthermore, there are two limitations for hub & spoke topology when it runs on single serves. One is single points of failure exist in that a failure of one hub propagates throughout the system. The other is limited scalability across the enterprise. Loose coupling also has two disadvantages of security concerns and inefficiency in communication. In summary, the company should be aim to a lean manufacturing with a short lead time and effective communication persistently.

References

Bemroider, E. & Koch, S., 2000, Differences in Characteristics of the ERP Selection Process Between Small or Medium and Large Organisations, Proceedings AMCIS, PP 1022-1028

Bingi, P., Sharma, M.K., Godla, J.K., 1999, Critical Issues Affecting an ERP Implementation, Information Systems Management, Vol.16 NO.3, Boston MA, PP 7-14

Brown, C., Vessey, I., Powell, A., 2000, the ERP Purchase Decision Influential Business & IT Factors, Proceedings AMCIS, PP 1029-1032

Christiaanse, E., Sinnecker, R., Mossinkoff, M., 2001, the Impacts of B2B Exchanges on Brick and Mortar Intermediaries: The Elemica Case, 9th European Conference on Information Systems, Bled, Slovenia

Gunn, J., 2004, BT Technology Journal – Extended Enterprise Integration, Springer Netherlands, P93

Huang, Z. & Palvia, P., 2000, the Impact of ERP on Organizational Performance: Evidence from Case Studies, Proceedings Decision Science Institute Annual Meeting

Huang, Z & Palvia, P., 2001, ERP Implementation Issues in Advanced & Developing Countries, Business Process Management Journal, Vol.7, No. 3, PP 276-284

Koh, C., Soh, C., Markus, M.L., 2000, A Process Theory Approach to Analyzing ERP Implementation & Impacts: the Case of Revel Asia, Journal of Information Technology Cases and Applications, Vol. 2, No. 1, PP 4-23

Kuhn, H., Bayer, F., Junginger, S.; Karagiannis, D., 2003, Enterprise Model Integration, Prague, Czech Republic, LNCS 2738, PP 379-392

Laudon, K.C., 2000, J. P Laudon Management Information Systems, Prentice Hall International, 6th Edition, PP22-23

Lee, Z. & Lee, J., 2000, an ERP Implementation Case Study from a Knowledge Transfer Perspective, J. Information Technology PP 281–288

Lynne, M., Axline, S., Edberg, D., Petrie, D., 2002, the Future of Enterprise Integration: Strategic and Technical Issues in External Systems Integration, Oxford University Press

Papazoglou M. P., 2006, International Journal of Web Engineering & Technology, Inderscience Publishers, Vol. 2, No. 4, PP 320-352

Parr, A.N. & Shanks, G. A., 2000, Taxonomy of ERP implementation approaches. In Proceedings of the 33d Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

Reuther, D. & Chattopadhyay, G., 2004, Critical Factors for Enterprise Resources Planning System Selection & Implementation Projects within Small to Medium Enterprises, Micreo Ltd Press, Australia, P851

Resources of E-business Enterprise, 2011, Enterprise-Integration in Enterprise Information Systems, VITAL, University of Liverpool

Sherlock, J. & Reuvid, J., 2005, Handbook of International Trade: A Guide to the Principles and Practice of Export, PP 353-365

SAP Expertise, 2011, Advantages of SAP R/3, Viewed 7 May 2011, http://sapexpertise.blogspot.com/2009/04/advantages-of-sap-r3-part-2.html

SAP Expertise, 2009, What Can SAP DoViewed 6 May 2011, http://sapexpertise.blogspot.com/2009/04/what-is-sap-r3.html

SAP Techies, 2009, What are the Advantages of SAPViewed 4 May 2011, http://www.saptechies.com/advantages-for-sap/

INTRODUCTION:

Managing information systems (MIS) is a process which provides information to an organization to manage effectively. managing information system(MIS) is a system that combines both the human and computer based resources which can be used to collection of raw data, retrieving data, storing the data, processing the data and converting it in to the information which is able to communicate with all levels of management using the information technology. MIS enables the user/organization to manage things effectively. it provides the base to an organization to make better decisions and to handle critical problems, controlling and coordinating the organization successfully.

Information system is not a option but it is a essential requirement by any organization. it is also the mediator between different levels of management. it plays very important role in organizational level. it also makes easier to communicate each other effectively. it is also updates the information across various levels and gives a chance to rethink of future plans. it gives the external information about other firms to stand in the competitive environment successfully. it is not only a useful tool but it must be included in any organization to run their business. MIS in any organization is supposed to provide information to their customers.

MANAGING INFORMATION SYSTEMS ACROSS VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS IN J.SAINSBURY’S SUPERMARKET:

Information systems is very crucial factor to any organization from top level management to employees, manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, marketing analysts, warehouses, supply chain management.. Etc. Based on the information system, an organization management could include planning, organizing, directing, controlling, evaluating and reporting etc..

An information system is the heart of any organization to assess the companies past review’s and performance and to plan the present and future organizational objectives. Information system uses the database to store large amounts of data, statically analyzing the data, and to produce it in to useful information that can be used by various levels of management. Information system is used by the managers of their own departments to identify the critical issues occurred in the past activities, discussing about the issue with the other team members of the department and planned to solve and overcome the problems.

Managing information systems in Sainsbury’s stores: Sainsbury’s supermarket is the uk’s largest major food retailing chain. It has 525 supermarkets and 303 convenience stores, a Sainsbury’s bank. For the big corporate organization like Sainsbury’s, it is essential requirement to managing information systems in an efficient way. Information systems is used in Sainsbury’s at various levels of management and various departments.

The information systems are used in a supermarket stores at various levels from stock handling & controlling to maintain appropriate temperatures in fridges and freezers. In the supermarket stores uses the several computer systems which can be called LAN (LOCAL AREA NETWORK). These computer systems are aims to operate the stock control and checkout systems. These are one that incorporates the functionality of multiple devices. Every authorised person can access these data base systems. In stores, hand held devices are introduced and allow the administration staff, shop floor colleagues and stock control staff to change the price of products and creating price labels, and for future deliveries. The hand held devices are also called shelf edge computers (SEC). Every individual product has unique code to identify the product details; the item has a unique barcode which can be scan by the hand held scanners. Electronic point of sale (EPOS) is a machine located at every checkout. EPOS contains a digital display to display , a keyboard, a scanner which can read bar codes, a set of scales, a printer, a debit card reader and a till drawer. All of these components are attached to a till. Each and every item should have a unique code number that is independent of all other product. Even the same product of different sizes needs a unique code to identify the product. The unique bar code numbers are printed on the outside of the product packaging or attached label to that product which is shown in the figure (a) below.

Figure (d): hand held system

Barcodes are combined with a set of thick black lines and white lines. Ex: Figure(c).

Figure (e) : EPOS

Information systems in checkouts:

The EPOS reads the product barcodes at the checkouts till machine, and identifies the product and it finds the cost of the product, after scanning the product the machine gives an option to the customer whether they have any nectar card, staff discount card, any voucher card. After all it charges the customer appropriately. Each card mentioned above also has barcode on it, and the machine identifies it uniquely. All till machines are connected together with a branch server system via cables. Each and every product information stored in the branch system, it gives the information to tills when it needed. When scanning an item by the scanner the machine sends the product details to the database. So that the server system can identify that how many remaining items of the same product are available in shelves, it gets the information about that particular product such as how many number of items are sold out, how many are left in the shelves, how many product details are totally sold out. After getting the information about all products it stores the information about that product in the database. It helps to identify the number of product are totally sold out, and in out of stock. So the store can order the delivery of that product. Also the system checks that the product has any special offer and it gives discount where it is needed. Each and every product and service related details are stored in the database and it communicates with all the other systems including tills, it exchanges the information at all the times. When scanning the item it tells the customer that it has been read correctly by giving beep sound. If it not gives any sound one can assume that it has not been read correctly. And there is also an option on the screen that without scanning a product, by entering the code number by using the keyboard can identify the product. For example any reduced items that mean the item has short life and store reduced the cost of an item. After billing the customer receives a paper bill which is made by the printer. The printer is attached with every till and it shares the information and prints on a piece of paper. the customers are allowed to pay by cash or debit card. When the customers use the card, he/she is supposed to put the card on the reader, it also use the information system, whether the card is authorised and it is from authorised bank. The card reader shares the information with all associated banks, and assesses the card information and the debit the amount correctly. The processes of using debit cards are called electronic transfer funds.

Stock control: the information systems play an important role in stock control in the super market stores. In the process of billing customers it is known to the server that the number of remaining products is available in the store. in fact, there are also some damaged products or expired products are remained on the shelves. Stock fillers dispose the expired one and use the reduced price labels with new barcodes on it , if the product has short life. Stock control department uses the information system, and it orders the products where it is needed, and stores the information about the number of products are delivered to the store when they get the delivery. The price labels are usually placed on the shelves borders, and the stock controllers scans the price labels where it is empty. Stock control is useful asset in finding the stores profit assessment. The assessment is based on the number of products are delivered to the store and number of products are sold out, the number of the products are damaged, the number of products expired. This is the important information stored in the database by the stock control team.

The each computer in the store is linked with branch server system, which is connected with a head branch of a supermarket computer sever. All the database of an individual store is stored in the head office server system. It maintains the chain of computer systems effectively via extranet sources. Extranet is like a internet but, completely private database network and is connected to internet via satellite. It is because of the process of exchanging information and managing information system of all the stores of the Sainsbury’s stores. Sainsbury’s head office is located in the heart of city of London. It has the database over nearly eight hundred store branches.

Figure (f): branch computer link to headquarters visa satellite.

Inter communication between the branch stores to head branch of the store:

Every day the individual store sends the information about sales of the stores to main branch, the head branch estimates the number of items needs to be delivered to the store. The head branch also gets an overview of the sales of the individual store, and estimates the performance levels and suggests the improvements to the branch stores.

Figure (g) network model

Every individual store sends the daily report to the head quarters.
Based on the store information head branch database system stores the updated information such as stocks, performance levels, etc..
Using the updated information the head quarters estimates need of improvement levels and stock deliveries to the stores.
The information about stock deliveries are communicates with distribution of warehouses via information systems.
The warehouse department which has large chunks of ready to deliver material delivers the stock immediately to the required stores.
The whole Sainsbury’s maintain the same price levels and it updates any change of product prices are communicated to the branch stores.
The product price changes are affects the branch stores immediately and followed work by the overnight workers.

Human resource management information systems: information systems plays very important role in human resource department in any organisation. Maintaining the thousands of employees in a big organisation like Sainsbury’s is not a simple thing. The HR department uses the information system effectively to employ the staff to their needs and providing them training. Sainsbury’s HR department in all stores sends the information about new employees that the store employed, the employee details, employee position, contracted hours, employee salaries. Sainsbury’s HR department uses their website to employ the new staff that they required. The each and every individual store of Sainsbury’s sends the information about the need of staff resources in their store, the hours of work required, which department require the new staff. The head office then receives the information about all stores vacancies and posts on line at their website. It updates the information day to day as required. The hr department of head office sends the information to IT department in the head office about vacancy details and need to be posted on line. The IT department then receives the data and posted on their websites. It works effectively by the IT department. The IT department designed the website in an easy understandable form. When the candidate’s checks that there are any vacancies arise, and found their suitable position, they can apply immediately online. The website asks the candidates to register in the recruitment website. The registration in the recruitment website is very easy by following instructions. After registering in the site, they can progress their application. The website stores the candidates registration details and gives them unique id which is useful for the forth communication, the candidates information submitted on the site is very confidential and not known the third person, because of the successful maintenance of the information and database systems. The Sainsbury’s website allows the number of candidates applying for a given position is set to a limit. So as to reduce the huge applications for the position that they might cause problem to selection department. All these limitations are set by the department by the use of the information systems. The website asks the candidates to attempt an online exam, which is used to tests candidate’s abilities as a preliminary test.

The number of all limited allowed number of candidates attempts the exam and finish their application. The stored database system can get the result of the candidates test details automatically and sends to the HR department. HR department then assesses the candidate’s ability based on their test further forwards application to progress. All successful candidates information is stored once in the database available to head office hr department. The HR department assigns each successful candidate with a unique id to identify the colleague.

Information systems in Accounts department: The HR department maintains the daily report of employees attendance, and their working hours each day and sends the information to accounts department for payrolls. The HR information systems maintains a report of each employees, that the contracted hours of the employees, holiday pay booked by the employees, the salary of the employees, and premium pay of work, bonus of the employees and their eligibility. Every week of the employees details in all individual stores accounts department sends the information to the head office HR department. The head office assesses the information and pays the employees every four weeks based on the information.

Online shopping: Sainsbury’s is also become popular with their internet shopping facility. Sainsbury’s online shopping is responsibility of each store online department. The online department in the Sainsbury’s is called STY(Sainsbury’s to you). Sainsbury’s supermarket online shopping efficiently works with the support of Sainsbury’s IT department.

The information systems use of this department is more compare to other departments of this organisation. Sainsbury’s online shopping is easy way for customers to shop their needs by clicking on the computer instead of walking to store and taking the risk of delivery of the goods to their home. It provides the customers a way of easy shopping online, the company’s website provides the online shopping tool. All and every product that available in the individual store are available in the internet online shopping.

The customers are expected to type in their postcode on the site, to find out which store is available nearly to their home. After typing in their postcode, clicking the access button the website tells the customer that the store is available to their home. The database of all postcodes and addresses are stored and processed by the information systems. Based on the customer information, the information system decides that which store is to be take care of the customer needs. When customer shops online and pays by card, the information first stored on the database of head office, then the assigned store. In the store, STY department automatically gets print out of the shopping list.

The shopping lists are then stored in to the store database, and assigns the work to online shopping workers. The online shoppers in the STY department picks up all the items by the help of handset systems. The handheld systems are designed shortly for the use of wireless information exchange system. The manager of the STY department assigns the work into handheld systems, then the shoppers get order details one by one. The information about product details and in which aisle it is located is displayed on the handsets. So the shoppers are expected to scan the items and followed to delivery room. The information systems is more important in the department because of it is totally depended on the Information Technology.

Decision making at three tiers of management in Sainsbury’s:

There generally three tiers of management in any organisation. (1) top level management, (2) middle level management, (3) low level management. We can understand the management work at different levels by considering one example:

When an organization is supposed to launch a new product, various people’s involvement should be included in the project. For an example, Sainsbury’s supermarket wants to introduce a “ready to eat sandwich” into their stores. This is not a simple thing and cannot be introduced directly into their stores, but various issues should be considered about this product. The sandwich may be a two pieces of bread slices with a cheese and some ingredients on it, it should have different approach than where people can make it on their homes. This should be treated as a advantageous to consumers. Sainsbury’s is a chain of five hundred thirty five supermarkets and a kind of convenience stores included in it. When this big food retailer wants to add this new product to their stores, a detailed research should have made and should communicate with the different parties using the information systems. From it’s product design to sales, a unique code must be assigned to each sandwich to specify the details and allocate value to the product. It is clear that the product designer should specify the required ingredients for the product , and should include right percentage of nutrition values, diets, less fat ..etc. the sandwich design, manufacturer, suppliers through stores requires a shared information system to have a good communication between them. The Sainsbury’s management will create a brief description about the product which the information shared by the manufacturer.

Using of information systems in product life cycle management: product life cycle management is a process of managing a product from its conception through its design, manufacturing, delivering out. Plc gives product details and specifications to companies.

Product design: uses the information systems to assess the features of the product and the requirements for manufacturing of that product, needs of the customers. And it also usable by the product control unit to test the quality control and it again stores the details of the product in to database for further use. The stored data can be accessed by the manufacturing unit and companies to assess whether the design is desirable for company requirements. It gives an overview of the product details i.e the cost of the production, the range of products which can be manufactured and this information available to the all authorised required data bases of the company.

Manufacturing of the product: In recent years, the increasing of information technology in manufacturing increasing rapidly. Information is used to be at every level of an organization. In the competitive environment, there is need to understand the using of information systems and application of information technology in whole the process. In a process, from the raw material to the finished goods and shipping of the goods , information systems must be used to communicate at all levels. The information is important for money flow i.e payments can be paid out when delivery received to the recipient, information is usable by the manufacturer to buy and pay for the material, paying labour charges..etc. invoice can be issued by the manufacturer for right payments when he receives correct payments for the goods.

A majority of manufacturing companies are using multiple computer network systems at their process. It is a challenge for the organizations to integrate the data bases in to their computer systems. Integrating the computer systems and data bases used to be the main priority for these organizations. By integrating these systems, the companies can know the required material, planning , directing and get the knowledge of market position of their system.

Sainsbury’s consists of nearly eight hundred supermarkets and a finance. The head office department is located in the Holborn, the heart of London. It operates the whole Sainsbury’s by the help of middle level management. We can clearly observe the role of decision making of three tiers of management by the above example.

Conclusion:

I conclude that the Managing information systems is important at organisational level, to stand in the corporate competitive environment. It is not an option but essential to run big organisation like Sainsbury’s. However there is no disadvantage of using information systems except system failure, but there is a need to maintain the information system by the effective & efficient team of management. It is clear that the managing information systems give good decision making deal to the managers in any organisation.

References

1) Management Information Systems 9e T. Lucey, bized.co.uk.

2)Bocij, P. & Chaffey, D., (2005) Business Information Systems: Technology, Development and Management in the E-business, Prentice Hall.

3) Chen, S., (2004) Strategic Management of E-business, J Wiley & Sons.

4) Laudon & Laudon, (2007) Management Information Systems, 10th Edition, Prentice Hall.

5) Clarke Steve (2007); ‘Information Systems Strategic Management: an integrated approach’. ISBN 978-0-415-38187-1; Routledge Printing, Canada

6) Fattahi. R and Ebrahim Afshar (2006), ‘Added value of information and information systems: a conceptual approach’; Library Review Vol. 55 No. 2

7) www.sainsbury’s.co.uk

8) information age journal

Introduction:

Operations management in the contemporary business environment requires the application of various strategies which enhance reliability, efficiency, and effectiveness in the process of getting goods to the final consumer. An important aspect of operations management includes supply chain management which suggests that it is essential for a firm to be aware of how it will deliver goods to the final consumer and through which channel or mediums. The contemporary business environment requires the use of technology to support operations management and to enable effective communication with various parties in the production and supply chain process (Bonaccorsi & Rossi, 2003).

Accordingly, this report focuses upon a boutique business by the name of Heelz and is based in England. The business has gradually grown over the years and now amounts to seven stores out of which two are located in Spain. Thus, the business is looking to internationally expand and gain market share in the European market. Due to the recent expansion, the owner of the business, Sally has purchased a warehouse in South England. Sally wants to launch an e-commerce arm to her existing business but is not interested in incurring excessive additional expenditure. As Sally’s boutique, Heelz and the three new shops she has bought from Zapatos have completely different technological systems; she needs to integrate the two new parts of the business and must also add“b2c” e-commerce functionality within her business. Sally’s requirements include full integration of these information systems with the retail stores and not only relying upon return/exchange or purchase of goods via courier. Sally requires advice on whether the use of open source software is appropriate for her business as she feels that the use of packaged software would be a highly expensive option.

This report will focus upon the use of open source software and compare it to the use of packaged software. The report will begin with a general analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of using open-source software. The report will then continue with a comparative analysis of using packaged software and apply it to Sally’s situation in order to determine whether the use of open-source software is appropriate for the business. The report will then continue to explain the Strategic Systems Information Planning Process and conclude with a summary of the main points made in the report.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Open-Source Software:

The use of open-source software is a relatively new concept which has become increasingly popular over the years. One of the biggest reasons for this popularity is because the use of open –source software is completely free. However, as the software is developed by a non-profit community, it also suffers from some disadvantages. The first advantage of open-source software is free to use and it is also free to distribute to various consumers (Lerner & Tirole, 2002). Moreover, it is also easy to modify open-source software. The use of open-source software involves very low costs which amount to only a fraction of the costs associated with using other similar packaged software (Dahlander & Magnusson, 2008).

Open-source software is accessed by a large community of people thus bugs are fixed instantly and users do not have to wait for the next release of the software to fix problems. Thus, the use of open source software enables the use of a secure and stable code. The use of open-source software is not dependent upon any particular company or person and the use of the software can continue whether the company or the person exists or not. Open source software uses a format which is easily accessible for everyone and does not have problems of being incompatible with certain formats. Moreover, there is no need for the use of anti-piracy measures and complex licensing models like those used in packaged software (Weber, 2004).

However, there are various disadvantages of using open-source software which include not being straightforward or easy to use. Thus, such software cannot be learnt in a day and require extensive training or the hiring of a professional before they can be properly used. All functions are not easily used on open-source software and there may be some problems in integrating proprietary software with open-source software. Hardware functions may have a problem in being compatible with open-source platforms which makes it vital to use third-party drivers (Lakhani & Von-Hippel, 2003).

Hence, it is highly advisable that adopting open-source platforms should not be a choice based upon the low-cost involved. Thus, firms should appropriately analyze and understand the requirements of open-source platforms before they decide to implement and use them in their business (Crowston, Howison, , & Annabi, 2006).

Advantages and Disadvantages of Packaged Software:

Packaged software include IT solutions which are bought from companies offering a whole solution to IT applications with various functions. Such software includes customer relationship management software, enterprise management software, and other solutions which help companies organize their customer records and operations and provide an efficient flow of information from one party to another. Using packaged software solutions enables a firm to use smaller programs in which applications are all together. As packaged software solutions are offered at an expensive price, the software packages are also easy to use. Moreover, they also offer a number of functions integrated into one package and thus means it is easier for companies to connect all of their outlets or stores with one software solution (Chen & Popovich, 2003).

However, there are also certain disadvantages associated with the use of packaged software which include the fact that once a bug or a defect is discovered in packaged software, it may take substantial time to fix this problem or it may only be corrected when a new version of the software is developed. Moreover, purchasing a packaged software solution may be highly expensive for a firm and may require ample effort in integration with all the IT systems of the firm. Moreover, packaged solutions have limited functions and are thus focused upon certain processes rather than providing unlimited functions which may be available in other open-source software packages. Hence, while packaged solutions do offer substantial advantages to the consumer, they also pose a certain number of disadvantages as well. Accordingly, it is important for a firm to analyze whether it is appropriate for it to use a packaged solution or whether it is appropriate for it to use another IT solution according to its specific requirements (Reinartz, Krafft, & Hoyer, 2003).

Analysis:

Sally’s boutique, Heelz, has expanded to a large extent and is now internationally dispersed in Europe with three outlets. Moreover, as Sally has added a warehouse in South England to her business, there is a need for her to be able to integrate all of her retail outlets, warehouse, and her customers via one system. While Sally does not wish to incur immense overhead costs, she is more interested in using open-source software packages to integrate her e-commerce system. However, as mentioned above, while using open-source software platforms may be low-cost and economical for some firms, it is vital to not only consider the low-cost aspect of using open-source software but a firm should consider its particular circumstances (Xu et al, 2002).

In Sally’s case, using open source software would provide her with an economical solution, a variety of functions, and the ability to make the software compatible with different systems. However, the problems posed with the use of open-source software are that it is less reliable, may not be efficient, and may also be highly confusing to use. It may also be problematic to use open-source software while attempting to integrate it with various hardware systems. As Sally has to integrate various parts of her business with her “b2c” e-commerce solution, she requires a reliable network which would also be customized to suit her needs and appropriately attend to the requirements of the Heelz brand name. Thus, while she does not want to incur excessive cost, using open-source technology may not be appropriate to suit the reliability and efficiency needs of her business. Moreover, she is likely to incur excessive costs by using open-source technology as she would probably have to train workers to use the software that she opts to use and it would be difficult to integrate the software on all the hardware systems in her various stores (Parvatiyar & Sheth, 2001).

Accordingly, as Sally’s operations are dispersed across borders and she needs to integrate the stores, warehouse, and her customers with one another, she needs a reliable and efficient solution which will be easy for her customers to use, easy for her workers to use, and will also best project the Heelz brand name. Hence, it is most appropriate for Sally to use a packaged software solution for her business rather than using an open-source platform (Wilson, Daniel, & McDonald, 2002).

The next section of this report will explain how Sally can go about integrating various parts of her operations including her warehouse, stores, and customers with one packaged software solution.

Customer Relationship Management Software:

As Sally wants to set up a “b2c” e-commerce system and integrate its warehouse and stores through one IT solution, it may be most beneficial for the company to use customer relationship management software. Such software can provide the company with a number of functions which include placing orders and making payments via credit card and other means, communicating with customers, making new offers, and ordering new stock when there is insufficient stock available. Thus, the company will remain in touch with customer demands, be able to forecast future customer preferences, communicate with customers and receive feedback regarding previous stock, and inform customers of new forthcoming stock. Moreover, using such software can make it easier for the company to anticipate future demand trends, keep accurate customer records, and design effective marketing campaigns based upon customer preferences and feedback. It will also enable the company to appropriately manage its supply chain and order stock that is needed instead of piling up unwanted stock (Ryals & Knox, 2001).

In order to integrate CRM software upon all of its systems, the company must ensure that all of its systems are compatible with the software selected and then must install the software upon all of its systems including the company’s warehouse, retail stores including the newly purchased ones from Zapatos, and with its customers. As the software may be relatively easy to use, the company must simply make all of its employees familiar with the use of these systems through one to two training sessions and can then use the systems to their advantage (Mithas, Krishnan, & Fornell, 2005).

Using a packaged software solution can enable the company to make maximum use of the functions it offers and integrate the software effectively within all of its dispersed operational outlets. Moreover, the company can opt for an economical packaged solution and as it may be a one-time investment, it may not incur the company excessive overhead costs. However, considering the fact that reliability and efficiency are very important for the company because of its growing size and needs, the company should not opt for an open-source IT solution (Mendoza et al, 2007).

Conclusion:

Thus, according to the specific requirements of Heelz boutique and its growing size, this report concludes that it is most appropriate for the company to opt for packaged solutions in order to integrate its various operational outlets and its customers. The company cannot opt for open-source technological platforms because of their complex nature and because the company’s needs are likely to change often in the coming years. Moreover, the company requires a highly reliable and stable solution which can help the company grow its operations and effectively communicate with its customers (Jayachandran et al, 2005).

Accordingly, this report recommends that the company opt for a packaged customer relationship management solution to meet its need for “b2c” e-commerce with its customers. The company can optimize its use of a customer relationship management software by choosing a low-cost package which is compatible with the hardware installed on the systems of all its stores and its warehouse. Accordingly, the company will be able to efficiently and effectively communicate with its customers, enable them to place orders and track their shipments, provide feedback and complaints, and be informed of new products amongst many other things. Moreover, the company can keep accurate and up-to-date records regarding customer preferences and future demand forecasts (Jayachandran et al, 2005).

References
Bonaccorsi, A., & Rossi, C. (2003). “Why open source software can succeed.” Research Policy. Vol. 32(7) pp. 1243-1258.
Chen, I. J., & Popovich, K. (2003). “Understanding customer relationship management (CRM): People, process and technology.”Business Process Management Journal. Vol. 9(5) pp. 672-688.
Crowston, K., Howison, J., & Annabi, H. (2006). “Information systems success in free and open source software development: Theory and measures.”Software Process: Improvement and Practice. Vol.11 (2) pp.123-148.
Dahlander, L., & Magnusson, M. (2008). “How do firms make use of open source communities?.”Long Range Planning. Vol.41 (6) pp.629-649.
Lakhani, K. R., & Von Hippel, E. (2003). “How open source software works:“free” user-to-user assistance.”Research Policy. Vol. 32(6) pp.923-943.
Lerner, J., & Tirole, J. (2002). “Some simple economics of open source.”The Journal of Industrial Economics. Vol.50 (2) pp.197-234.
Parvatiyar, A., & Sheth, J. N. (2001). “Customer relationship management: emerging practice, process, and discipline.”Journal of Economic and Social Research3 (2) pp.1-34.
Reinartz, W., Krafft, M., & Hoyer, W. D. (2004). “The customer relationship management process: its measurement and impact on performance.”Journal of Marketing Research. pp. 293-305.
Ryals, L., & Knox, S. (2001). “Cross-functional issues in the implementation of relationship marketing through customer relationship management.”European Management Journal. Vol.19 (5) pp. 534-542.
Weber, S. (2004).The success of open source 368. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wilson, H., Daniel, E., & McDonald, M. (2002). “Factors for success in customer relationship management (CRM) systems.”Journal of Marketing Management. Vol.18(1-2) pp.193-219.
Xu, Y., Yen, D. C., Lin, B., & Chou, D. C. (2002). “Adopting customer relationship management technology.”Industrial Management & Data Systems. Vol.102 (8) pp. 442-452.
Mithas, S., Krishnan, M. S., & Fornell, C. (2005). “Why do customer relationship management applications affect customer satisfaction?.”Journal of Marketing. pp. 201-209.
Mendoza, L. E., Marius, A., Perez, M., & Griman, A. C. (2007). “Critical success factors for a customer relationship management strategy.”Information and Software Technology. Vol. 49(8), pp.913-945.

Jayachandran, S., Sharma, S., Kaufman, P., & Raman, P. (2005). “The role of relational information processes and technology use in customer relationship management.” Journal of Marketing. pp. 177-192.

Introduction

The interaction between people, processes, data, and technology within an organisation is conceptualised as an information system (Kroenke, 2008). Information systems are ubiquitous in businesses. From speeding up visits to the GP, to enabling online-banking, they enhance performance and efficiency in areas from decision-making to management and enable the formation of strong knowledge bases (Tutor2u). Information systems ensure that data is appropriately processed, stored, and distributed to the relevant individuals. These operations, comprised of inputs, processes and outputs, are accessed by not only employees, but also other individuals in the business environment such as customers, suppliers, stockholders, regulators and competitors.

A crucial foundation component of an information system is information technology. Information technology (IT) refers to the development, implementation, and maintenance of computer hardware, software, networks and communications that are used to manage electronic information (Dictionary.com). Examples of IT in the workplace range from operating systems such as Windows and Linux, to storage devices, CDs, and DVDs. These technological tools are essential for the facilitation of information systems, and provide the infrastructure with which the organisation and people can interact to produce meaningful output.

The overarching component of each information system is the organisation within which it is implemented. Each company has its own business culture, the aspirations and concerns that it has, for example UPS’s onus on placing the customer first, and the protocols that must be followed, such as adherence to the Advertising Standards Agency by any business wishing to promote their profile. Organisations pass information through hierarchies, with each of these contributing to certain aspects of business processes. It is therefore important that information systems reflect these specific tasks at each level and enable relevant processes to be carried out. For example, a medical organisation such as Egton Medical Information Systems Limited (EMIS) provides fast information transfer between different services, integrating data from a variety of sources, online booking facilities to relieve heavy staff workloads, and intuitive interfacing for a variety of user skill sets, suited to large organisations such as the National Health Service.

An information system would be redundant without it’s individual input and interpretation and use of the output. People are integral these systems, building, maintaining and using them to set up organisational strategies, allocate resources, and be creative (Launden & Launden, 2011). The efficacy of an information system is largely dependent on the training of those using the system and usability of the system for each user. For example, each individual must be competent at operating their aspect of the technology and must receive a relevant and interpretable information output.

Whilst information technology is a crucial component of an information system, and effectively its defining aspect, an information system is incomplete without implementation and use by people, in an organisational culture.

A classic information system takes raw data, processes it, and provides an interpretable, meaningful, output that can then be evaluated. One of the first developed information systems is the Transaction Processing System, used to monitor the transactions of an organisation including sales, deposits, payroll, receipts, and materials. These are essential for providing efficient responses to consumer transactions, archiving transaction data, and consolidating data from different sources including the internet, ATMs, cheques, and POS transactions.

Information systems have developed to enable businesses to advantage themselves in relation to six important business objectives. Operational excellence refers to improved efficiency, where organisations gain competitive advantage, becoming more profitable. A case example of operational excellence is the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, which integrate information into a comprehensive source available to the whole organisation, allowing information to propagate easily (Williams, 2004) and facilitating transfer of information to all business functions. Walmart makes use of ERP within their supply chain management, enabling the combination of company and management functions including inventory management, human resources, accounts, and customer relationship management (Walmart). ERP systems’ inventory management allows Walmart to immediately replace stock from their suppliers when products are bought in store, and have contributed to the chain being one of the most successful in the industry.

Information systems also allow intuitive new design of products, services and models. The combination of human creativity and technological development has lead to innovations such as ATMs, online shopping, and digital technologies that now generate vast revenue and are accessible to mass consumer markets. The applications of information systems to innovation have revolutionised the retail industries.

Information systems are particularly advantageous for engaging customers and fostering customer relations. Examples of this include database storage of customer details, previous purchases and preferences. This information allows tailored mailings and offers based on personal information (eg. Birthdays), as well as recommendations based on previous buys when a customer logs in to the retailer website such as with online book retailer Amazon. These techniques target and attract clients, encourage brand loyalty, and increase investment and spending. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a form of information system that uses technology to enhance a business’s customer interaction by organising and synchronising sales, marketing, and customer support. An example of CRM for customer support is automated call centre software that directs people to the appropriate department (Bolte & Fleischman, 2007), lowering staff costs, tailoring to the customers specific needs, and helping them in the most effective way.

From a managerial perspective, information systems are crucial in decision-making. Enabling real-time data to be transferred into information enable better problem solving and allocation of resources. Management information systems are used to monitor performance and predict future outcomes (Launden & Launden, 2011). Particularly efficient decision support systems such as Executive Dashboard allow management to measure each area of the organisation and its contribution to success or failure. This allows businesses to compare performance indicators against goals (Executive Dashboard) in real-time. For example Verizon provides a dashboard that delivers to-the-minute information to network providers regarding network alarms, trouble updates and network availability trends, meaning that problems can be flagged and rectified quickly.

All of the aforementioned capabilities that information systems offer infer a competitive advantage for the organisations employing them. The increased efficiency, lowered costs, and improved responsiveness enabled by certain information systems are illustrated by Toyota’s Toyota-Production System (TPS). The TPS coordinates manufacturing and product delivery including supplier and customer contact, with the philosophies of reducing overburden, inconsistency, and waste, to produce just what is needed, just-in-time (Hampson, 1999). The implementation of TPS lead to improved product quality combined with a reduced production cost and has therefore been hailed as the source of Toyota’s outstanding manufacture performance (Spear & Bowen, 1999).

In times of rapid information technology development, many businesses require information systems to keep up with competitors and survive in their industry. For example, competitors offering online banking facilities and added security will be able to provide for customers more efficiently, frequently and cheaply as well as attracting a greater client base than their competitors. Additionally, legislations and company transparency means that organisations are required to produce vast amounts of information for audits and inspections, meaning that efficient and intuitive data storage information systems are invaluable.

References

Bolte, T. and Fleischman, R. (2007) Still struggling to reduce call centre costs without losing customersSAP insider, Oct 2007.

Dictionary.com (n.d) Information Technology [WWW] Dictionary.com. Available from: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/information+technology [Accessed 09/05/2012].

Kroenke, D. (2008) Experiencing MIS. Prentice-Hall: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Hampson, I. (1999) Lean production and the Toyota Production System or, the case of the forgotten production concepts. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 20(3), pp. 369-391.

Launden, J. and Launden, K. (2011) Essentials of Management Information Systems. Boston, London: Pearson.

Spear, S, and Bowen, H. (1999) Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System. Harvard Business Review, pp. 96-106.

Tutor2u (n.d) Types of Information system [WWW] Tutor2u. Available from: http://tutor2u.net/business/ict/intro_information_system_types.htm [Accessed 09/05/2012].

Walmart (2009) Hardware, software and systems [WWW] Available from: http://warlmart.blogspot.co.uk/ [Accessed 09/05/2012].

Williams, S. (2004) Operational excellence: best practices in manufacturing. AIChE annual meeting.