Information Systems for Coffee Constructions Australia

This report discusses the benefits of implementing information systems in construction companies like Coffee Constructions Australia. It covers best practices, implications, and solution options for the organization. The report also includes details of the information systems that the organization may use and the benefits that may be gained out of the same.

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Coffee Constructions Australia
Business Information Systems
9/18/2018

Coffee Constructions Australia
Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Background & Situational Analysis.......................................................................................................2
Proposed Future State............................................................................................................................2
Best Practices for Construction Companies.......................................................................................2
Implications for Information Systems................................................................................................3
Benefits of Future State.....................................................................................................................3
Solution Options....................................................................................................................................4
Business Value Proposition of CCA..................................................................................................4
Support of IS for Business Functional Areas of CCA........................................................................4
Use of Information Systems..............................................................................................................6
Recommendations & Conclusion..........................................................................................................9
References...........................................................................................................................................11
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Coffee Constructions Australia
Introduction
Coffee Constructions Australia (CCA) is an Australian based organization that was set up in
the year 1973. Automatic robotic/construction technology or business productivity is not yet
included in the company architecture as of now. The company is currently facing issues with
management of its projects and it is having a negative implication on the reputation of the
firm and the associated business opportunities. Jim Coffee is the Chief Construction
Executive of the company and has decided to invest in the information systems to resolve the
current set of issues. The report includes the details of the information systems that the
organization may use and the benefits that may be gained out of the same.
Background & Situational Analysis
The Australian Construction Industry has a total value of AUD 150 Billion annually and the
total GDP associated with the industry is 9%. The industry experienced three-month high in
January, 2018 (Scutt, 2018). Information technology and systems are being widely used in
the construction industry all across the globe.
Coffee Constructions Australia (CCA) is growing at a rapid scale. Automatic
robotic/construction technology or business productivity is not yet included in the company
architecture as of now. The company is currently facing issues with management of its
projects and it is having a negative implication on the reputation of the firm and the
associated business opportunities.
Proposed Future State
Best Practices for Construction Companies
There are certain practices that the construction companies shall follow to make sure that the
maximum productivity, revenues, and efficiency levels are achieved.
 Employees are the primary assets of any industry and company. The employees
engaged with the construction companies shall be managed adequately by allocating
them with the skill sets as per the efficiencies and knowledge. (Novotny, 2017)
 Health and safety of the employees is one of the most significant aspects that shall be
adhered to. It is because the construction workers and resources are exposed to the
risks that may have extremely negative implications. There may be health and safety
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Coffee Constructions Australia
risks that may result in permanent or temporary injuries, loss of life, and likewise.
Risk management must be the strong policy implemented in the company.
 Quality assurance and control is one of the practices that shall be followed by the
construction companies so that the quality of the processes and outcomes are
continuously improved upon.
 Sustainable construction is one of the practices that shall be adhered to. It must be
kept in to consideration the environmental and energy consumptions and impacts,
sustainable utilisation of the resources, and conduction of the activities as per the
quality parameters (Constructionworld, 2018).
Implications for Information Systems
There are implications for the information systems that are associated. The implementation of
the information systems in the organization may lead to introduction of additional risks.
There may be implementation issues, maintenance errors, and security attacks that may come
up. There may be scenarios wherein the implementation of the information system may not
be done adequately. This may lead to increased implementation and setup costs. There will be
maintenance that will be involved with the system that may lead to certain issues and costs.
Security is one of the areas wherein there may be security risks and attacks that may emerge.
The information and data sets may be put at risk. All of such mechanisms may lead to
negative implications on the organization in which the information system is implemented
(Ramiller and Pentland, 2009).
The information systems may have positive implications in terms of cost-savings, increased
collaboration, better accuracy, better flexibility and scalability, easier decision-making, faster
processing speed, and a lot more. The data sets are collaborated and integrated with each
other that may assist in problem-solving and decision-making processes. The organization
will also have positive implications as an outcome (Alter, 2008). The use of information
systems will assist in enhanced productivity and efficiency of the resources, better revenues
and market shares for the organization.
Benefits of Future State
The introduction and use of information systems in CCA will lead to automation of the
business operations which will enhance the business productivity and accuracy. There will
also be benefits in terms of revenues, profits, and market shares.
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Coffee Constructions Australia
Solution Options
Business Value Proposition of CCA
The information systems that will be used at CCA will assist in the decision-making
processes as the data will be combined in a central repository. The real-time and archived
data sets will be available for the enhancement of operational efficiencies and customer
services yielded by CCA. The systems will always remain available which will assist in the
communication processes. The construction processes and activities will also be automatized
and the project management activities will be streamlined. The main problem with CCA
currently is the limited automation in the construction activities and the project management
activities (Lee and Green, 2015). These will be enhanced.
Value Customer Opportunities
Financial Jim Coffee and Business Partners of
CCA
Increased profits and revenues
Technical Employees of CCA Automation of business processes to
increase productivity and efficiency
Operational Operational Staff Members of CCA Faster processing speed and better
accuracy
Social Customers of CCA Better quality of products and
services
Functional Employees of CCA Streamlining of operations and ease
of management
Support of IS for Business Functional Areas of CCA
Information System Support provided to the business functional areas of CCA
Project Portfolio
Management Systems
 Centralized management of projects, methods, portfolios,
and procedures of CCA
 Project selection for determining the return on investment
Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP)
Systems
 Integration of the activities at the back-end and the
associated data sets for streamlining of the managerial and
operational activities at CCA
 Data integration and collaboration
Decision-Making  Problem-solving activities at CCA
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Coffee Constructions Australia
&Decision Support
Systems
 The data sets of the CCA projects and methods will be
integrated that will allow the management to take smart
decisions for the organizations and individual project
activities.
Finance Systems  Budgeting and estimation activities
 Cost-benefit analysis and budget tracking (Sommerville and
Craig, 2006)
Human Resource
Management System
(HRIS)
 Human resources will be automatically allocated and
deallocated to the projects on the basis of their skills sets.
 Performance tracking and measurement of the resources
will be adequately done.
Data Warehouse/BI  Data analysis and warehousing will be done for the data
sets of CCA retrieved from variable sources.
 Automated analytics
Electronic Documents
& Records
Management System
(EDRM)
 There will be contracts, records, and other documents that
will be associated with CCA that will be automatically
handled and managed.
Knowledge
Management System
(KM)
 Identification of the knowledge sources and creation of
knowledge
 Analysis, development, and storage processes will be
automated.
Customer Relationship
Management System
(CRM)
 Customer support services
 Customer interactions and solving of the queries
Sales/Marketing  Sales and marketing activities
 Strategy making & planning along with generation of sales
report
 Management of sales data will be adequately done
Use of Information Systems
There are several information systems that are present and shall be used in CCA. Some of
these information systems are Project Portfolio Management Systems, Enterprise Resource
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Coffee Constructions Australia
Planning (ERP) Systems, Decision-Making & Decision Support Systems, Finance Systems,
Human Resource Management Systems, Data Warehouse/BI, Electronic Documents &
Records Management System (EDRM), Knowledge Management Systems, Customer
Relationship Management System (CRM), and Sales/Marketing System. The automated
modules and components are not yet included in the organization. The business productivity
and automated construction activities are not included (Love, 2004). CCA is currently
expanding at a rapid scale and the continuation of the execution of the business activities with
the current architecture will not be able to cope up with the current procedures.
Information System Use Pros Cons
Project Portfolio
Management Systems
Centralized
management of
all the projects
and methods
carried out at
CCA and to
determine the
return on
investment for
each project at the
time of selection.
 Better decision
making
 Increased
revenues for the
organization
 Value to the
Stakeholders
The
implementation
errors and
operational issues
that may come up.
The staff may also
be resistant towards
the changes.
Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP)
Systems
Integration of the
activities at the
back-end and the
associated data
sets for
streamlining of
the managerial
and operational
activities at CCA
 Cost-Savings
 Integrated
information sets
 Scalability of
operations
 Better
collaboration and
scalability
Enhanced cost of
set-up,
maintenance, and
implementation.
Expert skills may
be needed for
handling the
system.
Decision-Making
&Decision Support
Systems
The data sets of
the CCA projects
and methods will
be integrated that
 Easier decision-
making
 Better
communications
The
implementation
errors and
operational issues
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Coffee Constructions Australia
will allow the
management to
take smart
decisions for the
organizations and
individual project
activities.
and collaborations
 Better planning
that may come up.
The staff may also
be resistant towards
the changes.
Finance Systems The information
system will be
used for
budgeting and
estimation
activities along
with cost-benefit
analysis and
budget tracking.
 Streamlined
allocation of the
funds
 Enhanced tangible
and intangible
benefits
Enhanced cost of
set-up,
maintenance, and
implementation.
Expert skills may
be needed for
handling the
system.
Human Resource
Management System
(HRIS)
Human resources
will be
automatically
allocated and
deallocated to the
projects on the
basis of their
skills sets.
Performance
tracking and
measurement of
the resources will
be adequately
done.
 Better human
resource
satisfaction
 Enhanced
productivity and
efficiency levels
The
implementation
errors and
operational issues
that may come up.
The staff may also
be resistant towards
the changes.
Data Warehouse/BI Data analysis and
warehousing will
be done for the
data sets of CCA
 Better data
security
 Easy
collaboration of
Enhanced cost of
set-up,
maintenance, and
implementation.
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Coffee Constructions Australia
retrieved from
variable sources.
the data sets Expert skills may
be needed for
handling the
system.
Electronic Documents
& Records
Management System
(EDRM)
There will be
contracts, records,
and other
documents that
will be associated
with CCA that
will be
automatically
handled and
managed.
 Better data
security
 Security of
documents and
records
 Easy
collaboration of
the data sets
The
implementation
errors and
operational issues
that may come up.
The staff may also
be resistant towards
the changes.
Knowledge
Management System
(KM)
The knowledge
creation, analysis,
development, and
storage processes
will be automated
(Son et al., 2015).
 Organizational
agility and
scalability
 Better
communication
 Smart decision-
making and
problem-solving
(Yu, Lee and
Kim, 2006)
Enhanced cost of
set-up,
maintenance, and
implementation.
Expert skills may
be needed for
handling the
system.
Customer
Relationship
Management System
(CRM)
The interactions
with the
customers and the
customer support
services will be
automated.
 Enhanced
customer
engagement and
satisfaction levels
 Cost-savings
 Increased
revenues and
profits
The
implementation
errors and
operational issues
that may come up.
The staff may also
be resistant towards
the changes.
Sales/Marketing Sales and
marketing
 Streamlining of Enhanced cost of
set-up,
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Coffee Constructions Australia
activities, strategy
making &
planning along
with generation
of sales report
and management
of sales data will
be adequately
done.
sales data
 Sales tracking and
reporting
 Better data
management
maintenance, and
implementation.
Expert skills may
be needed for
handling the
system.
Recommendations & Conclusion
It is recommended that the information systems that are installed in CCA are done in a
phased approach. There shall be adequate planning and analysis that shall be involved before
selecting the information system to be implemented. The planned values and processes shall
then be applied to carry out the implementation of the information systems. The use of such
an approach will eliminate the probability of implementation errors and will automatically
bring down the implementation costs. The security risks and attacks shall be managed and
handled by integrating the systems with the security protocols and controls. There are
technical security controls that shall be used to avoid the issues of information breaches, data
loss, malware attacks, flooding attacks, and likewise. Administrative controls and policies
shall also be used. Jim Coffee and other managerial resources must take include experts and
consultants at the time of implementation of these systems in the organization.
The real-time and archived data sets will be available for the enhancement of operational
efficiencies and customer services yielded by CCA. The systems will always remain
available which will assist in the communication processes. The construction processes and
activities will also be automatized and the project management activities will be streamlined.
The introduction and use of information systems in CCA will lead to automation of the
business operations which will enhance the business productivity and accuracy. There will
also be benefits in terms of revenues, profits, and market shares.
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Coffee Constructions Australia
References
Alter, S. (2008). Defining information systems as work systems: implications for the IS field.
European Journal of Information Systems, 17(5), pp.448-469.
Constructionworld (2018). 6 Examples of Construction Accounting Best Practices -
Construction World. [online] Construction World. Available at:
http://www.constructionworld.org/construction-accounting-best-practices/ [Accessed 18 Sep.
2018].
Craig, N. and Sommerville, J. (2006). Information management systems on construction
projects: case reviews. Records Management Journal, 16(3), pp.131-148.
Lee, L. and Green, E. (2015). Systems Thinking and its Implications in Enterprise Risk
Management. Journal of Information Systems, 29(2), pp.195-210.
Love, P. (2004). Industry-centric benchmarking of information technology benefits, costs and
risks for small-to-medium sized enterprises in construction. Automation in Construction,
13(4), pp.507-524.
Novotny, R. (2017). 6 Best Practices for Managing Construction Projects - eSUB
Construction Software. [online] eSUB Construction Software. Available at:
https://esub.com/6-best-practices-for-managing-construction-projects/ [Accessed 18 Sep.
2018].
Ramiller, N. and Pentland, B. (2009). Management Implications in Information Systems
Research: The Untold Story. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 10(6),
pp.474-494.
Scutt, D. (2018). Australia's construction sector is booming in early 2018. [online] Business
Insider Australia. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/australia-construction-
boom-2018-2018-3 [Accessed 18 Sep. 2018].
Son, H., Hwang, N., Kim, C. and Cho, Y. (2015). Construction professionals’ perceived
benefits of PMIS: The effects of PMIS quality and computer self-efficacy. KSCE Journal of
Civil Engineering, 20(2), pp.564-570.
Yu, J., Lee, H. and Kim, W. (2006). Evaluation Model for Information Systems Benefits in
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Coffee Constructions Australia
Construction Management Processes. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management,
132(10), pp.1114-1121.
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