Evaluating Alternative Methods of Solving the Problem

The provided content highlights the importance of information systems in business operations, particularly for UK-based retailer Asda. The report emphasizes the need for proper management and selection of sources to ensure accuracy and reliability of information. It also suggests that emerging technologies such as Cloud-Computing and Big Data can be used to solve business problems faced by Asda, enabling the company to make strategic, tactical, and operational level decisions. Furthermore, it recommends the use of MIS system and DSS with Cloud-Computing to benefit from the advantages offered by these technologies.

INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN ORGANIZATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1: TASK1......................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Information needs of the different functional areas of an organization.................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Exploring about different types of information systems.......................................................3
2.2 Investigating the current trends in using information systems applications to solve business
problems......................................................................................................................................5
2.3 Evaluating the suitability of information systems for different functional areas.................6
3.1 Use an information system to generate valid, accurate and useful information....................7
3.2 Evaluating alternative methods of solving the problem........................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Information systems used within enterprise.....................................................................4
Figure 2: Order fulfillment process.................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
In the 21st century business environment, cut throat competition is present in the market.
In such kind of situation, it is essential for enterprises to focus on their resources and IT systems
so as to meet expectations of their customers effectively. In order to better understand the roles
of information system and the current IT environment, Asda, which is the UK base retail giant,
has been taken. The present information investigates about the current use of IT and IS within
retail enterprise and their functionalities into different business areas. Furthermore, report
provides recommendations in the regard of improving their use of IT and IS.
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TASK1
1.1 Information needs of the different functional areas of an organization
In order to improve its services to the industry and community, IT department of Asda
are emphasizing on effective use of advance information and communication technologies.
Marketing department of Asda is deploying software from Manhattan Associates for the purpose
of executing e-commerce operation and promoting its products across the country. Besides that,
in order to manage its financial records and enhance transparency and security in transactions,
finance department of enterprise has taken initiatives to install the SAP Business Objects system
which are hosted on a DB2 database and AIX Unix application servers. Earlier, enterprise was
struggling to manage records of inventory, under the retail method of inventory accounting
(Doyle, 2010).
However, after deploying this new system, enterprise was able to perform variety of
functions such as better management of financial information, reduce the complexities around
compliance and improve automation processes at workplace. Despite of that, for managing
internet orders from the Asda direct website, UK base retail giant was deployed the software in
several distribution centres across the country.
The main motto of organization behind implementing information systems and adopting
new technologies are to sell variety of products and services to its customers in more convenient
manner (Saran, 2010). Apart from this, for supporting decision making regarding the marketing
mix, information systems are used by marketing department of Asda. It provides market research
opportunity to enterprise to collect data on the actual customers and the potential customers and
enhance sales and customers base of enterprise in long term perspective. However, along with
the use of different technologies, it is essential for US base firm to effective use of information to
take appropriate decisions (Fayoumi, 2014). Management of firm will require information of
inputs, outputs and processing activities at different levels including strategic, tactical,
operational. For example, at strategic level, information regarding to stakeholders, fund and
human requirement to carry out different functions are needed (Whiteley, 2010).
At this stage, management information system (MIS) and customer relationship
management (CRM) used by Asda can be beneficial for managers and top level executives.
Achieving growth, profitability, improving customer service , current and future trends related
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information are required at strategic level to implement strategic planning process and attaining
long term business plan of enterprise. At tactical level, management of Asda is required to
manage the responsibility and functionality of lower-level departments so as to implement
strategic plan within stipulated time. In order to carry out the routine tasks and operational
activities of the different departments such as creating a monthly budget, scheduling employees
each week and developing promotional advertisement etc. information will be needed by retail
giant (Becker and Vering, 2013).
With help of effective use of Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and Customer
relationship, management of Asda can perform different activities including processing order
activities, identifying and fulfilling distribution requirements and quick delivery of products and
services to its customers at compatible price in a proficient manner. However, without
establishing integration between different departments, management of enterprise would be
unable to grasp business opportunity and enhances its sales and customer base in long term
perspectives. After analyzing different technologies used by Asda, it can be said that technology
advancement, changing needs of customers and demand of quality of products at cheaper rate are
the major factors which affects organizational structures and culture (Shahidehpour and et.al.,
2015). In addition, positive attitude of employees toward new emerging technology adoption
lead firm in the competitive retail market and better perform as compared to other retail giants
such as Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrison etc.
TASK 2
2.1 Exploring about different types of information systems
Representation of facts, concepts or instructions in a structured manner can be described
as data. Information is also considered as data which provides meaning to data. Information can
be collected from primary and secondary sources such as books, journals, online published
articles and annual reports of enterprise. However, for management of information, it is
necessary for management of enterprise to follow basic principles of security, accuracy and
relevancy (Kamel, Lakhder and Ammar, 2012).
By collecting information from valid sources and maintaining confidentiality,
organization can enhance accuracy and usefulness of data. The positive outcomes of information
systems and new technologies used by retailers can be seen in forms of ordering, bookings,
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managing personnel records of customers and employees, goods tracking and improved customer
service.
In the modern era, different organizations are emphasizing on using variety of
information systems including business information, decision support and management
information systems. In addition, some enterprises like Tesco and Wal-mart concentrating on
proper use of executive information systems, office information system and expert system to
perform day to day business functions in more flexible way. Transaction processing systems are
used by new start-up‘s to collect, store, retrieve and modify data of customers as well as
employees. Management information system (MIS) is employed by Tesco and other retailers like
Asda in UK in order to maintain historical operational performance data and execute strategic,
tactical and operational planning and operations related decision in a proper manner (Lee, 2008).
For example, marketing department of Asda is used MIS system to illustrates product sales
volume by territory and determine the potential effect on shipping schedules. On the basis of
comparison between TPS and MIS, it can be said that TPS is employed specially for performing
day to day routine transactions which are required to be conducted in the business (Emmanouil
et.al., 2009). On the other hand, MIS is used for evaluating an organization performance through
comparing current outputs with previous outputs. For example, sales department of firm is used
this system to identify past and present decisions so on that basis future decision can be taken in
a proper manner.
On the other side, decision-support system (DSS) is employed by retail giant to evaluate
the possible impact of a decision before it is implemented such as product revenue by quarter
sales report and measures the progress toward meeting a specific goal. From the below figure, it
is clear that management of Asda has used executive information system at strategic level,
management information system at tactical level and transaction processing systems at operation
level to perform day to day business activities in a systematic manner (Chuan and et.al., 2014).
However, DSS system employed by enterprise is unable to deal with internal and external data
sources and offer a customizable to module.
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Figure 1: Information systems used within enterprise
(Source: Chuan and et.al., 2014)
Apart from this, manufacturing unit of UK base enterprise has used DSS to graphical
represent the number of products manufactured on a particular line. Executive support system
(ESS) is employed by retailers to identify long-term trends in support of strategic planning and
understand market trends and buyer preferences to meet expectations of customers in a
significant manner. Furthermore, IT department of Asda is taken initiative to deploy expert
system and neural network to analyze data and produce recommendations (Conde and et.al.,
2014). However, for implementing this system, enterprise will require huge amount of
investment in human capital and appointing expertise people to execute tasks in a significant
manner.
2.2 Investigating the current trends in using information systems applications to solve business
problems
In the recent years, technology advancement and changing demand of techno-savvy
customers have brought new emergent paradigms in retail sector. Besides that, Cloud computing,
internet of things (IoTs) and big data are emerged as latest trends in terms of gaining greater
attention and meeting their requirements in a significant manner (Galliers and Leidner, 2014).
Many enterprises are concentrating on use of Cloud-Computing with distributed information
system to better management of IT resources, applications, platforms and storage medium to
simplify the organization processes and increasing customer flexibility.
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For connecting everything to internet, IoTs is used because it concentrates on supporting
machine-to-machine communication and new insight to serve particular purposes in changing
arena. In the context of getting maximum benefits of the available big data in finance, security,
marketing, product development and manufacturing areas, Big Data Analytics techniques are
used by retailers in UK. In addition, Business-IT alignment and business process modeling
techniques employed by enterprises for both technical and methodological development (Gómez,
Serna and Badenes , 2009). Apart from this, Customer relationship management, Business
Intelligence, Human resource Management and Objected-oriented information are emerged as
recent advances in the information systems. Furthermore, Cloud-Computing, Google Analytics,
M-commerce, Big Data and Web 2.0 techniques are the future trends which focus on new
functionalities or areas and incorporate new functionalities of the present information systems
(Mithas and Sambamurthy, 2011). In the solving business problems such as managing large
amount of records of customers and future predictions, new information systems and technology
adopted by management of Asda would be helpful for it.
2.3 Evaluating the suitability of information systems for different functional areas
After analysis of present information systems employed by retailers and future trends, it
is clear that distributed information system using Cloud-Computing will be beneficial for
enterprise. Scalability, reducing infrastructure and licensing cost and easy deploy compared with
the old IT paradigms and information system will be attained after implementing this
information system at workplace (Van, Turoff and Hiltz, 2014). Earlier, Asda was used MIS and
DSS to perform its daily business operations and needs of customers. However, monetary cost,
overemphasize decision making, unanticipated effects and information overloaded related
constraints are associated with the implementation of these kinds of IS at workplace. In order to
overcome such kinds of issues, management of UK base retail giant integrate supply chain
technology with company’s core systems to attain long term business objectives in a proficient
manner (Saran, 2010).
Advance management information system will be beneficial for UK base retail enterprise
in terms of taking strategic and semi-structured decisions at stipulated time and simplifies the
lengthy business processes effectively. In addition, by using this kind of IS, report mangers
would be able to prepare schedule reports, exception reports, Ad-hoc reports and routine
business decisions in a proper way (Bloom, 2014). On the other side, DSS can be used by
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finance department to prepare budget analysis and predict future sales of company in long term
perspective. For example, ESS can be used by logistic department to execute order fulfillment
process in a systematic manner.
Figure 2: Order fulfillment process
(Source: Galliers and Leidner, 2014)
By using this order process, enterprise will be able to perform variety of functions such as check
credit, approve credit, generate invoice, assemble and ship products within stipulated time.
Besides that, MIS systems used by management integrate sales, accounting and manufacturing
and production departments together to boost deliver of products to its customers effectively.
3.1 Use an information system to generate valid, accurate and useful information
After comparing the benefits and limitations of different types of information systems, it
is found that advance MIS will be beneficial for enterprise in terms of performing variety of
functions such as manage, order, organize and manipulate the gigabytes and masses of
information in a secured way. Relevant information in a timely and cost-effective manner is
required for managing information as a resource and ensures protection of competitive
intelligence (Xu, 2011). In addition, by considering Data Protection Act, 1984 and Information
management systems effectively, enterprise would be able to enhance accuracy and usefulness of
information. However, quality of outputs governed by quality of inputs, constant monitoring and
lack of flexibility to update related constraints are also associated with the use of information
systems in performing retail operations in a systematic manner (Fayoumi, 2014). Despite of that,
for increasing accuracy and reliability of information, proper management of information and
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adequate selection of sources are required (Mithas and Sambamurthy, 2011). In order to enhance
accuracy and validity of data, it is necessary for enterprise to collect records or information from
authentic sources that may be sales report, marketing analysis and government statistics.
3.2 Evaluating alternative methods of solving the problem
In addition, by effective use of this information with new emerging technologies such as
Cloud-Computing and Big Data, enterprise would be able to solve business problem faced by
company in managing its resources and taking appropriate decision at right time. In addition,
Asda installed SAP ERP system to replace Walmart's legacy system to reduce the complexities
around compliance and improved reporting capability to the group head office. However, time,
cost and requirement of expert human capital related constraints are also associated with the
implementation of this new technique (Conde and et.al., 2014). In order to reduce such kinds of
issues, it is necessary for UK base retailer to use Cloud Computing and Big Data emerging
technologies and incorporates them with information systems used within enterprise. In this
regard, Asda can also be used RedEye system to collect data on individual customers and
categorize them by store. On the other side, bespoke store level analysis can be beneficial for
Asda in terms of easily identifying any under-performing stores and get information on the
availability of deliveries within stipulated time (RedEye, n.d.).
CONCLUSION
From the report, it is clear that information systems used by retailer play an important
role in terms of getting business opportunity and increased customer base. On the basis of critical
comparison between different information systems, it can be recommended that MIS system and
DSS with Cloud-Computing would be beneficial for enterprise to solve current problems faced
by enterprise in their day to day business operations. By collecting information from authentic
sources, management of Asda would be able to take strategic, tactical and operation level
decisions in a significant manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Becker, J. and Vering, 2013. Retail Information Systems Based on SAP Products. Springer
Science & Business Media.
Bloom, N., 2014. The distinct effects of information technology and communication technology
on firm organization. Management Science. 60(12). pp.2859-2885.
Catthoor, F., 2013. Custom memory management methodology: Exploration of memory
organisation for embedded multimedia system design. Springer Science & Business
Media.
Conde, M. and et.al., 2014. An evolving Learning Management System for new educational
environments using 2.0 tools. Interactive Learning Environments. 22(2). pp.188-204.
Emmanouil and et.al., 2009. E‐service quality: comparing the perceptions of providers and
customers. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal. 19 ( 4). pp.410 - 430.
Galliers, R. D. and Leidner, D. E., 2014. Strategic information management: challenges and
strategies in managing information systems. Routledge.
Lee, I., 2008. Electronic Business: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications: Concepts,
Methodologies, Tools, and Applications. IGI Global.
Mithas, S. and Sambamurthy, V., 2011. How information management capability influences firm
performance. MIS quarterly. 35(1). pp.237.
Shahidehpour, M., and et.al.,, 2015. Streetlights Are Getting Smarter: Integrating an Intelligent
Communications and Control System to the Current Infrastructure. Power and Energy
Magazine,.IEEE, 13(3). Pp.67-80.
Van, B., Turoff, M. and Hiltz, S. R., 2014. Information systems for emergency management.
Routledge.
Whiteley, D., 2010. An Introduction to Information Systems. Palgrave Macmillan.pp.245-250.
Xu, L. D., 2011. Information architecture for supply chain quality management.International
Journal of Production Research. 49(1). pp.183-198.
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