Information Systems in Organizations: A Case Study of Asda

Information System in
Organization

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................2
P1.1 Evaluate the information needs of the different functional areas of an organisation..........2
LO2..................................................................................................................................................4
P2.1 Describe different types of Information Systems................................................................4
P2.2 Investigate the current trends in using Information Systems applications to solve business
problems......................................................................................................................................7
P2.3 Evaluate the suitability of Information Systems for different functional areas of an
organisation..................................................................................................................................9
M1 Identify and apply strategies to find appropriate solutions.................................................11
M2 Select/ design and apply appropriate methods/ techniques.................................................12
LO 3...............................................................................................................................................14
P 3.1 Use an information system to generate valid, accurate and useful information for a given
problem......................................................................................................................................14
P3.2 Evaluate alternative methods of solving the problem.......................................................16
M3. Present and communicate appropriate findings.................................................................17
sConclusion....................................................................................................................................18
References......................................................................................................................................19

Introduction
To survive in competitive environment, it is important for the organization to implement
information systems to exhibit different features. The report in this context will aim to evaluate
needs of functional areas in Asda. It will compare various information systems to resolve
business issues as well as will identify the current trend of using information systems. It will
focus on using information systems to produce management information in context to Asda. It
operates as a supermarket in Britain which is headquartered in Leeds, United Kingdom. It
provides online shopping facility of groceries, home appliances, clothing and many more.
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LO1
P1.1 Evaluate the information needs of the different functional areas of an organisation
Asda operates as one of the leading supermarkets in UK and has high focus on providing high
level of satisfaction to its consumers. Various departments in the organization have higher focus
on improving its services by implementation of advanced information systems and
communication technologies (Laudon and Laudon, 2016). It has higher emphasizes on
undertaking e commerce operations for marketing and promoting its products and services. The
main objective of implementing information systems in the organization is to offer wide range of
products and services to consumers in an appropriate manner. Information need of various
functional areas in Asda can be described as:
Finance/ Accounting Department: Finance department of Asda focus on budgeting of various
management and operations processes for appropriate allocation and utilisation of resources.
Department is responsible controlling the flow of finances in business system. Major duties of
the department is to look into matters of billing for purchased goods and products, payroll
management of employees, creation of annual reports for tracking the overall performance of the
organization, conducting audit for income generated along with expenditures as well as tracking
of financial systems for various departments. In order to perform all the function in an
appropriate manner, it is important for finance department to track the demands of various
departments for effective allocation and distribution of funds. Distribution of salary is done by
collecting information from human resource department. Accounting department is majorly
responsible for maintaining a record of finances. It co ordinate with sales department for
formulation of annual report.
Human resource Department: Asda deals with large number of employees and therefore it is
responsibility if human resource management department to effectively allocate human capital in
various locations as per the need and demand of the organization. The major focus is on
providing training to new and existing human resources, as well as fulfilling the needs of
resources demanded by other departments (Simon et.al.2017). For fulfilling such type of needs,
HR manager of Asda formulate strategies for recruitment and selection of new talent. To
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minimise the issue of employee retention, HR managers formulate appraisal strategies and they
actively collect performance data of employees from various departments.
Sales: Asda provides wide range of products and services and it is important to keep a eye on
each and every offering of the organization which is easier with the help of various tracking
software and information systems. The main objective of the organization is to boost up the sales
of the products and for that it is important to identify the needs and demands of customers in the
market by conducting research. Department has to identify the locations along with the reason of
poor sales and formulate strategies accordingly. More number of competitors exists in retail
sector and therefore sales team must have to focus on collecting information about strategies
utilised by competitors. Strategies must be developed on the basis of surveys, interviews and
feedbacks of customers in the market.
Administration: The department plays an important role in maintaining appropriate structure and
healthy working environment for all the employees in the Asda. Administration department
collects information about conflicts in the organization, as keep eye on employee to check
whether organizational culture is being followed or not (Terziev and Georgiev, 2017).
Department makes sure that unfair and unethical means are not adopted by any of the employee
in the organization while performing business activities and functions. Brand name in the market
is very crucial for the organization and therefore team involves in monitoring and controlling of
any mishap or misbehaviour of employees that affects the brand name of Asda.
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LO2
P2.1 Describe different types of Information Systems
Information systems and technologies are utilised by retail business such as Asda for enhancing
business activities such as ordering, management of personal records as well as of customers,
bookings, improvising customer services and tracking of products and services. The organization
has higher focus on using information systems such as business information, management
information systems, as well as decision support systems.
Management information system employed by Asda is important for maintaining operational
and performance data as well as for effective management of information. It is very much
supportive in making decision. For an instance, management department is responsible for
collecting overall information in context to finances as well as overall investment (Kerzner and
Kerzner, 2017). The system is beneficial in identifying current abilities to gain the benefits of
current trends in the market. For an instance marketing department of the organization adopt
MIS systems for effective illustration of sales of the product as well as to identify the potential
influence on shipping schedule. With the help of MIS, Asda can effectively evaluate the
performance of by comparing previous outputs with current outputs. MIS is also used by sales
department to determine present as well as past decisions so that future decision making process
can be undertaken with higher efficiency.
Decision-support system (DSS): The system is deployed in the organization for effective
evaluation of possible influence of final decision before its implementation. For an instance the
system is utilised for measuring the progress of revenue by quarter sales report to meet desired
goals and objectives. This is beneficial in taking internal decision making process by evaluating
the performance of various elements in the organization. However one of the major drawbacks
faced while using DSS is that the system is unable to handle internal along with external sources
of data. Production department to some extent utilise DSS for graphical representation of number
of units manufactured in specific segment.
Office automation system: Various activities associated with back office operations such as
client communication, data management, management of documents, report generation and
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