POS System Implementation for Nursery

This assignment analyzes the benefits of implementing a Point of Sale (POS) system within Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery's network. It highlights how a POS system can improve productivity, manage inventory costs, and provide a competitive advantage. The report also explores the advantages of a wireless WAN network and addresses potential risks associated with POS systems, offering mitigation strategies.

Running head: IT FOR BUSINESS
IT FOR BUSINESS
Name of Student-
Name of University-
Author’s Note-

1IT FOR BUSINESS
1. Introduction
The company of Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery is a small nursery that is located
in Colorado. The company presently use manual registers to keep all the details and track of the
business. The inventory of the nursery is also determined by manual register and the amount of
profit the company was making. By following the manual way of tracking, the nursery was not
gaining anything. Instead, the nursery was facing loss. The employees were unable to manage
the operational data of their business (Galliers and Leidner 2014). To make a proper business
operation, the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery implemented the method of POS (Point-of-
scale) in their business.
This report will give the details of the POS system that will be implemented by the
nursery. The nursery has many operations which they cannot track with the manual process. So,
to mitigate this problem, the nursery implemented the system of POS in their business. There are
many advantages and disadvantages of POS (Point-of-Scale) that are elaborated in this report.
This report also states the way POS system helps the business the gain advantage in the
competitive market. The Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery wants to adopt a central
database which gives many advantages to the company (Kavanagh and Johnson 2017). The POS
system also facilitates the process of decision making which is elaborately discussed in this
report. Recommendations have been given about which POS system works he best. Lastly, the
security of POS is discussed and the ways to mitigate them.

2IT FOR BUSINESS
2. Advantages and disadvantages of POS
Advantages of POS- Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery want to implement the
system of POS for many advantages. The advantages that are associated with the POS system
are:
a. Financial Advantages: The Point-of-Sale (POS) system allows the owner of Four
Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery to keep a track on the business data that are useful from
the sales including the transaction of sale, eliminating the requirement to track the sales
which used to be done manually (Snyder and Diesing 2015). The data that the nursery
will get from the POS will be error free and fast effective data calculations.
b. Accountability: The system of POS has the ability to process the data and store the data
from sales and updates the inventory of the nursery. The POS system also compiles the
sales history. The Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery can eliminate the dependency
of the manual transactions in the operations. The track of the products that are
manufactured in the nursery can be kept in the system of POS. The shipments of the
products can be tracked by the nursery by using the process of POS (Tsang 2014). The
system of POS can also help to keep the record of all the activities of employees and
staffs including their contact number and address. The company is able to investigate the
activities of the staffs. The profit and loss figure of the company can be noticed from the
POS system
c. Increase Efficiency and Speed: The speed of working in the company can also be noticed
by the system of POS. The employees in the nursery can also give service to their
customers in a better way. The process of POS system enables the employees to serve
their customers in a better way.

3IT FOR BUSINESS
d. Stock Management: The POS systems that are used in modern days are mainly used to
manage the stock. The availability of stock can also be checked by the assistance of POS
system that will be used in Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery.
e. Reporting: The system of Point of Scale helps to prepare the report performance of the
business and also the reports that are prepared are very useful so that they can provide the
manual of annual outfits and also provides daily analysis. Four Seasons Greenhouse and
Nursery has to do reporting because reporting helps to find out the item that is sold best.
The system of POS helps to get a structure of the overall performance of the nursery.
There are many disadvantages as well of using the POS system. The disadvantages are as
follows:
a. Cost of using the POS: The system of POS is much costly as compared to all other
systems who do similar work. To implement POS, smaller companies face difficulties
because of the cost. They are not able to configure the POS system in their network of the
office premises. The company of Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery is a small sized
company and might not have such large capital to implement the POS system. The
system software of POS is paid generally on a month or a year basis. The nursery might
not afford such high amount of money.
b. Maintenance: The maintenance process of POS is very difficult. For maintaining the POS
system, a lot of time is involved (Xu and Bélanger 2013). The Four Seasons Greenhouse
and Nursery has to hire some other employee to maintain the system of POS so that their
operations are not disrupted. This gives an extra burden to the company of hiring a new
employee who can maintain the system of POS.

4IT FOR BUSINESS
3. POS helps to gain a competitive advantage
The ability of POS is to get the business information from the transactions that are made
in the sales department. The Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery has to get the track of the
items that are sold from the company which is difficult to maintain manually. It is very difficult
for the employees of the nursery to maintain the track of sales manually (Pearlson, Saunders and
Galletta 2016). The system of POS will store all the information and then process all the
information that are related with the nursery. The inventory of the nursery can also be maintained
by the POS system. The maximum profit that the company can get can also be estimated by the
system of POS. As compared to the traditional register maintaining, POS system is very much
effective. The POS system is known best for all the facilities that is provided and the functions
the system provide to input the data, distribute the data, and track the data so that the business is
maintained properly. Proper decision making is done by the POS system. If all these functions
are maintained properly in a company, it will automatically gain an advantage in the competitive
area. The POS system can helps to increase the competition of the Four Seasons Greenhouse and
Nursery by pricing the products so that it can make more profits. A cost-effective service is
given by POS system to a company. POS helps the manager of the nursery to so that he can give
more responsibility to his team members. And thus the company can get more benefit, earn more
profit, and also produce more productivity.
4. Advantages of having Centralized Database
The storage of Centralized database offers many advantages to small sized company like
Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery. The advantages of the centralized database are:
 The prevention of data mainly comes with the tolerant setup that is fault and also
redundant the storage, prevention of data so that it can be stored or can be preserved if

5IT FOR BUSINESS
there is a hardware failure (Peppard and Ward 2016). The centralized database helps to
function all the hardware failures in a company.
 The centralized database also provides the data security so that the company faces less
security breaches. If the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery uses a central database,
the security of all their data will be secured. There are some data policies that the
company has to follow. Keeping all the policies of data in mind, the database of the
system is to be kept safe.
 If the nursery uses centralized database, the cost of database is less costly as compared to
other services. The centralized system is cost effective. The maintenance of central
database also requires less money in the system. Space requirements are also diminished
by using the centralized database.
5. POS system improves decision making
The nursery is able to maintain the accuracy of the system by all the inventory data that
are done by POS system along with decision making. The Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery
can order the products on assumption and speculation basis. Firstly the company used to manage
their data manually. The procedure that was carried out was totally ineffective and was full of
error (Ifinedo 2014). Using the POS system, the nursery can make proper decisions regarding
their inventory and sale of the products. With the help of POS, the Four Seasons Greenhouse and
Nursery can give a service which is effective and error free. The nursery can take decisions about
what items to purchase, the procedure of purchasing the items, what things are to be sold and
what are the items that are to be not sold. All the business activities can be conducted by the
process of POS on the inventory units. The products that will give maximum profit can also be
acknowledged by the POS system.

6IT FOR BUSINESS
6. Recommended tele-communication for the POS system
There are many types of networks that the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery can
avail to implement the POS system. But the best network that the nursery can implement is the
WAN network (Sabherwal, Hirschheim and Goles 2013). WAN refers to Wide Area Network
that helps to access the file very fast. Because of caching, the employees of the company can get
the data very fast and can also utilize all the files stored in the system very faster. The employees
do not have to reload all the files if they use the WAN network for the POS system. The
telecommunication of WAN can helps the company to reduce the distance between their
business headquarters, mobile workers, and among all the branch offices. The performance of
application is improved by the WAN network. The network of WAN is very reliable and can
also facilitates very easy data backup. Cost of equipment is also lessen by the WAN network.
The type of media that is best suited for Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery is a
wireless WAN network. With the help of wireless network, the company is able to connect all
their employees together at the same time. The employees are able to work from anywhere they
want without losing the internet connection (Cassidy 2016). All the employees of the Four
Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery can work very efficiently. The information access is improved
by wireless connectivity in the system of the nursery so that the employees are connected from
distant places. The wireless network is cost-effective and also provides best customer service.
7. Risk involved in POS system and their mitigation process
Security- There can be insecure network in the company of Four Seasons Greenhouse
and Nursery which is considered as threat to the company. If the network is weak, there may a
chance of getting hacked (Arvidsson, Holmström, and Lyytinen 2014). The network of the
company must be secured so that they can make their database and system vulnerable. Security

7IT FOR BUSINESS
can be provided to the network by installment of anti-virus in the system. The antivirus which
will be installed can get the network protected from malware and potential virus. Unauthorized
access can be prevented by the installation of the firewall in the company of Four Seasons
Greenhouse and Nursery.
Confidentiality- All the data involved with the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery are
to be kept safe in the network. There is always a risk of data confidentiality with any kind of
network that is implemented by the company (Willcocks 2013). There should not be any kind of
data breach in the company, as the loss of financial data and employee data will lead to severe
loss of the company. The data confidentiality can happen because of malware attack. This can be
prevented by installing the anti-virus software.
8. Conclusions
There are many benefits that the company of Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery can
get by installing the POS system in their network. From the above discussion, it can be stated
that the POS system has many benefits to increase the productivity of the company and also
controls unnecessary inventory cost within the company. The POS system can give the nursery a
competitive edge which is elaborately described in this report. This report consists of
recommendation for the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery which may be fruitful for the
company. This report also shed light on the benefits that are imposed while implementing a
wireless WAN network. There are also many risks that are involved while using the POS system.
All those risks are elaborated and the ways to mitigate them are also discussed in this report.

8IT FOR BUSINESS
9. References
Arvidsson, V., Holmström, J. and Lyytinen, K., 2014. Information systems use as strategy
practice: A multi-dimensional view of strategic information system implementation and use. The
Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 23(1), pp.45-61.
Cassidy, A., 2016. A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. CRC press.
Galliers, R.D. and Leidner, D.E. eds., 2014. Strategic information management: challenges and
strategies in managing information systems. Routledge.
Ifinedo, P., 2014. Information systems security policy compliance: An empirical study of the
effects of socialisation, influence, and cognition. Information & Management, 51(1), pp.69-79.
Kavanagh, M.J. and Johnson, R.D. eds., 2017. Human resource information systems: Basics,
applications, and future directions. Sage Publications.
Pearlson, K.E., Saunders, C.S. and Galletta, D.F., 2016. Managing and Using Information
Systems, Binder Ready Version: A Strategic Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Peppard, J. and Ward, J., 2016. The strategic management of information systems: Building a
digital strategy. John Wiley & Sons.
Sabherwal, R., Hirschheim, R. and Goles, T., 2013. 11 Information Systems—Business Strategy
Alignment The dynamics of alignment: insights from a punctuated equilibrium model. Strategic
Information Management, p.311.
Snyder, G.H. and Diesing, P., 2015. Conflict among nations: Bargaining, decision making, and
system structure in international crises. Princeton University Press.

9IT FOR BUSINESS
Tsang, E.W., 2014. Case studies and generalization in information systems research: A critical
realist perspective. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 23(2), pp.174-186.
Willcocks, L., 2013. Information management: the evaluation of information systems
investments. Springer.
Xu, H. and Bélanger, F., 2013. Information systems journal special issue on: Reframing privacy
in a networked world. Information systems journal, 23(4), pp.371-375.