Case Study of Information Systems for Animals After Hour Services (AAHS)

This case study discusses the business and system problems faced by Animals After Hour Services (AAHS) and suggests the implementation of various information systems such as Transaction Processing System, Management Information System, Decision Support System, and Expert System for better management of the organization. The study also highlights the information requirements of AAHS and how these information systems can help in fulfilling those requirements.

Running head: CASE STUDY OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Case Study of Information Systems
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Question 1..................................................................................................................................2
Question 2..................................................................................................................................4
Question 3..................................................................................................................................5
Question 4..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Question 1
Animals After Hour Services or AAHS is a specific veterinary hospital, which has
been running for several years in Gold Coast and Brisbane Southside (Laudon and Laudon
2016). This hospital was started by the Dr. Terry King as the smaller practice for helping the
injured animals while the hours when the veterinary practices are closed. All of the practices
eventually work on weekdays from 7am to 6pm and on Saturday, they work on half days.
This helps the animal owners in presenting emergency medical attention to those animals,
who are suffering from diseases or problems. The organization is being spread to various
locations. However, Dr. Terry King is worried regarding the complexities as well as expenses
of the set up of information technology (Bajdor and Grabar 2014). For this complexity, he
should implement various information systems for the betterment of their organization.
IS or an Information system is the organized system to properly collect, organize,
communicate as well as store information or data. It is the collection of various
complementary networks, which organizations and people utilize for performing any type of
data operation. This information system is the group of several components, which help the
users in interacting and producing significant information (Laudon and Laudon 2015). The
internal information is focused in this type of system and the external information is
discarded. This type of system refers to the particular software that is utilized for running any
computerized database or to the computer system. The various types of information systems
that should be used by this organization of AAHS or Animals After Hour Services are given
below:
i) Transaction Processing Systems or TPS
ii) Management Information System or MIS

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iii) Decision Support System or DSS
iv) Expert System or ES
All these above mentioned information systems would be extremely beneficial for the
organization of Animals After Hour Services to attain organizational goals and objectives.
Figure 1: Transaction Processing System
(Source: Google.co.in. 2018)
The above provided image has clearly demonstrated the most important type of
information systems that are required for the organization of Animal After Hour Services or
AAHS.
Since, this particular organization is a small business; the above mentioned four
information system types would be extremely beneficial for them. The future decisions of the
organization could be easily undertaken with the help of these types of information systems
(Gallagher and Sixsmith 2014). These would help them in organizing, evaluation and finally
management of the departments within the business. Moreover, this helps to enhance the

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business. For providing perfect information and data, the management information system
could involve software, which would be helpful in decision making or data resources like
hardware resources of a system, applications of project management, databases, management
of people and the various computerized process for running efficiently.
Question 2
The organization of Animal After Hour Services or AAHS is a veterinary hospital that
was started for a noble cause by Dr. Terry King to serve or treat animals even after the
regular hours so that the owners of the animals does not face any problem in treating their
pets (Arvidsson, Holmström and Lyytinen 2014). They have opened up their business to a
new sector with the mission to help more animals simultaneously. Although, this is exciting,
the complexity as well as the cost of the set up of information technology is worrying him.
There are various business problems as well as system problems that are faced by the
Animal After Hour Services or AAHS organization and these problems are listed as per
priority. The several business problems and system problems according to their priorities are
given below:
i) Complexity of the Information Technology Set up: The first and the foremost
business and system problem that this organization of Animal After Hour Services or AAHS
is facing is with the complexities while setting up the information technology of the
organization (Demir and Krajewski 2013). This type of complexity is extremely dangerous
for the organization as they will not be able to maintain the infrastructure properly. Due to
this type of complexity, AAHS should incorporate a specific information system that would
eventually reduce the complexity to a greater level. The incorporation of management
information system or MIS is the best solution to this type of problem.

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ii) Costs of the Information Technology Set up: The second significant problem that
this organization of Animal After Hour Services or AAHS faces for their business or systems
is the cost of the information technology set up (Ghosh and Guha 2013). Since, this particular
organization is a smaller business, the cost of the IT set up can exceed their budget and limit
and thus they would be in mere problem. Moreover, the maintenance cost of the information
technology set up is much higher than the rest of the technologies and thus should be
mitigated within time.
iii) Making Systems Shareable Across Sites: The third problem that this organization
faces is for making the systems shareable across various websites. Since, it is a small
organization, often they suffer from various problems and thus they should involve a
technical expert in the process (Klukas, Chen and Pape 2014). This technical expert would be
looking for various details of the organizational technology and hence their problems would
be easily solved.
iv) Various Logistics Issues: The fourth significant problem that this organization of
Animal After Hour Services or AAHS faces in their business is the several logistics issues or
challenges (Kadam and Onkar 2015). The various logistics issues or challenges are patient
treatment notes, payroll processing, conduction of regular staff meetings, staff time sheets
and all files related to the staffs.
Question 3
In the beginning, this particular organization of AAHS or Animal After Hour Services
only contained few members like two veterinarians and few nursing staffs. Since, the practice
was small; the management was much easier (Castronova, Goodall and Ercan 2013).
However, with the growth of their business, Dr. Terry King has realized that they need a
better management field and information system to properly manage and note their business.

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The major requirements of information within the organization of Animal After Hour
Services are given below:
i) Storing of Client’s Data: The first and the foremost information requirement within
this organization is to store the client’s data (Boonstra 2013). This should be stored within a
safe and secured location, from where they can easily access the data of their pet animals. Dr.
Terry King strongly wishes to implement this particular system within their business, which
would be helpful for them in mitigating all the issues that are related to information
gathering. The patient owners do not have to run from one end to the other for getting
information about their pet animals. With the help of this information system, all the
necessary information or data would be securely stored and thus the patient owners could
easily get hold of their data (Tarhini, Arachchilage and Abbasi 2015). This would thus
improve or enhance the competitive position of the organization of AAHS.
ii) Online Updates of Well Being of Animals: The second important and significant
requirement of information of the organization of Animal After Hour Services is the online
updates of the well being of their animals. The owners do not have to visit the hospitals for
getting updates of their animals (Li et al. 2014). These online updates would then reduce the
amount of phone calls that come every day in the hospital and thus the overall time of the
organization would be saved. The reduction of constant phone calls is extremely important
within a hospital to enhance the business. Moreover, the owners are getting live updates of
their pet animals and this would make them relaxed to a greater level.
iii) Lodging Pet Insurance Claims: The third important and significant requirement
of information of the organization of Animal After Hour Services is the lodging of pet
insurance claims (Döring et al. 2014). These are extremely important for any individual as

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often the expenses are extremely high and hence it is possible to afford them properly. The
insurance claims would be reducing the expenses of the hospitals to a great level.
iv) Printing or Downloading Consolidated Statements: The fourth important and
significant requirement of information of the organization of AAHS is the ability to print or
download the consolidated documents (Hays et al. 2013). Moreover, the various treatment
notes of the patient animals are required by the owners and hence these are extremely
important for the organization. The competitive position of the organization would be solely
improved in the process.
Question 4
There are various information systems that could easily help the Animal After Hour
Services or AAHS in proper management of their business problems and thus making the
business decisions and fulfilling the requirements of the information that are identified in the
case study. Dr. Terry King is concerned regarding the set up of the information technology or
the growth he is making in his business (Arvidsson, Holmström and Lyytinen 2014). This
type of growth can enhance the organization in obtaining several organizational goals and
objectives within their business. The various information systems that would be helpful for
this organization of Animal After Hour Services or AAHS are given below:
i) Transaction Processing System: The first and the foremost information system that
would be required for the organization of AAHS is transaction processing system or TPS. It
is the simplest method to collect, process, and store, modify or even cancel the transactions
(Laudon and Laudon 2016). All of these information systems eventually allow several
transactions for taking place simultaneously. The information, which this system collects, is
eventually stored within databases that are used for producing various reports.

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ii) Management Information System: The management information system or MIS is
the specific information system, which utilizes the data or information that is collected by the
transaction processing system and utilizes this information for creation of reports in a specific
way, which managers use to make several business decisions (Bajdor and Grabara 2014).
AAHS or Animal After Hour Services should implement this information system for taking
proper managerial decisions within the organization.
iii) Decision Support System: Since Dr. Terry King is concerned about the
information technology set up, a decision support system or DSS is one of the major
requirements for their business. This type of information system is responsible for helping the
organization in making various significant decisions by proper analysis of data. This helps in
generating data models and statistical projections (Demir and Krajewski 2013). It easily
solves problems while utilizing the external data. Moreover, the managers can judge for
properly improving the manager’s decision. Dr. Terry King thus can easily take up this option
to reduce all the complexities or problems that they are facing and take up relevant decisions
within the business.
iv) Expert Systems: Another significant information system that would be helpful for
this particular organization of Animal After Hour Services or AAHS is the expert system
(Laudon and Laudon 2015). This particular system is also referred to as the knowledge based
system and is the computer system that is designed for the analysis of data and hence
producing decisions, diagnosis and recommendations, which are to be properly controlled.
All the above mentioned types of information systems are extremely important and
significant for the organization of Animal After Hour Services or AAHS. These information
systems can help them to manage their business problems.

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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.
Bajdor, P., and Grabara, I. 2014. The Role of Information System Flows in Fulfilling
Customers’ Individual Orders. Journal of Studies in Social Sciences, 7(2).
Boonstra, A., 2013. How do top managers support strategic information system projects and
why do they sometimes withhold this support?. International Journal of Project
Management, 31(4), pp.498-512.
Castronova, A.M., Goodall, J.L. and Ercan, M.B., 2013. Integrated modeling within a
hydrologic information system: an OpenMI based approach. Environmental Modelling &
Software, 39, pp.263-273.
Demir, I. and Krajewski, W.F., 2013. Towards an integrated flood information system:
centralized data access, analysis, and visualization. Environmental Modelling & Software, 50,
pp.77-84.
Döring, A.C., Nota, S.P., Hageman, M.G. and Ring, D.C., 2014. Measurement of upper
extremity disability using the patient-reported outcomes measurement information
system. Journal of Hand Surgery, 39(6), pp.1160-1165.
Gallagher, S., and Sixsmith, A. 2014. Engaging IT undergraduates in non-IT content:
Adopting an eLearning information system in the classroom. Interactive Technology and
Smart Education, 11(2), 99-111.

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Ghosh, D. and Guha, R., 2013. What are we ‘tweeting’about obesity? Mapping tweets with
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https://www.google.co.in/search?q=Transaction+Processing.
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D.A., Riley, W.T., Fries, J.F. and Krishnan, E., 2013. Upper-extremity and mobility
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Kadam, K.S. and Onkar, V.C., 2015. A review paper on student information supervision
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Klukas, C., Chen, D. and Pape, J.M., 2014. Integrated analysis platform: an open-source
information system for high-throughput plant phenotyping. Plant physiology, 165(2), pp.506-
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Laudon, K. C., and Laudon, J. P. 2015. Management Information Systems: Managing the
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Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2016. Management information system. Pearson Education
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Li, J., Li, Q., Liu, C., Khan, S.U. and Ghani, N., 2014. Community-based collaborative
information system for emergency management. Computers & operations research, 42,
pp.116-124.
Tarhini, A., Arachchilage, N.A.G. and Abbasi, M.S., 2015. A critical review of theories and
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