Management Information Systems at Walmart: Divisions, Data Forms, and Data Warehousing

This report discusses the Management Information Systems at Walmart, including its different business divisions, forms of data, and the role of data warehousing. It also covers the advantages and disadvantages of information systems. The report recommends focusing on qualitative and quantitative data procedures and using other models such as KMS, ESS, and DSS. The report also suggests a technology strategy to enable big data strategy.

Management
Information System

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
QUESTION 1...................................................................................................................................1
Different business divisions of Walmart are interconnected..................................................1
QUESTION 2...................................................................................................................................6
Different forms of data and the role or responsibility of data warehousing in Walmart........6
QUESTION 3...................................................................................................................................9
Information about Code of Conduct and the new GDPR Data protection of Walmart .........9
Ethical........................................................................................................................10
Legal............................................................................................................................10
Professional ................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
References:.....................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Sum total of all the technical skills which are being used for the purpose of bringing
effectiveness at work place is known as Management Information System. It has been found that
modern businesses are using technology for the purpose of completing all the tasks in an
effective and efficient manner. Along with this, it also result in the development of healthy
employee relation with inter personal relation. MIS is useful for making decision, coordinating
and helps in engaging the human force which leads to the growth of organisation. Walmart Plc.
is chosen organisation for this report. It is an American multinational retail corporation which
operates a chain of discount department store, hypermarkets and grocery stores from the United
States. It was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 having headquarter in Bentonville, Arkansas,
United States. This report deals with the several divisions of Walmart along with the forms of
data and roles and responsibilities of data warehousing in Walmart. Furthermore, it covers the
code of conduct along and new GDPR Data protection legislation.
QUESTION 1
Different business divisions of Walmart are interconnected
Walmart is an international company which is providing a variety of products to theie
customers by convenience shop, hypermarket, superstore, discount store and supermarket. They
are working globally having more than 10000 stores with annual net income of $13.70 billion. It
has been found that almost 2,300,000 employees are currently working with this organisation
and these employees are performing their best which result in the growth and success of
organisation with the achievement of group goals and objectives (Ntouvas 2019). Below
mentioned are the various business division of Walmart:
Walmart US is consider as the biggest division of entire organisation as it generate more
than 65% of the total sales of entire organisation. Neighborhood market, discount stores and
supercentres are the retail business which have been done by the Walmart US. Below mentioned
is the brief description of retail businesses of walmart:
 Walmart Super Centres: This retail business is similar to the supermarket as it provide
the same products such as garden product, dairy products, optical centres, frozen food,
baked goods and many more. In 1988, the first supermarket was opened in the area of
Washington. Now tha Walmart is performing their business operations all over the
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world, having more than 3500 stores only in United states which covers almost all the
areas and states. They are providing a huge variety of products which covers almost all
the general products, groceries and daily use products. These stores not only work
offline, but it also provide products online by the use of mobile application and website. Walmart Discount Store: Such type of stores provide the goods and services at a
discounted prices. The idea of discount store has been raised from the outstanding
performance of Super centres of Walmart (Mayer 2017). First discounted store was
opened in 1990 in Bentonville. The success of that store influence the organisation sales
of products of super centers. Walmart Neighborhood market: This Walmart store is a chain of small grocery store
which started its operations after a period of 10 years from the date of Supercenter. Thw
main focus of Walmart neighborhood is upon three categories that is groceries, pharmacy
and fuel stores (Sigelman 2017). The grocery part of Walmart generates nearly 55% of
the organisational revenue. The main aim of this market is to bridge a gap between its
own supercenters & discount stores. As of now there are approximately or nearly to the
683 stores as Walmart Neighborhood market under which each store use to operate with
90-95 full time as well as part time staff. Technology: Being a multinational supermarket chain the company Walmart operates its
business with highest level of technology most especially in its procurement & supply
chain procedure. So that can have better functioning & utilization of its resources. The
company also operates its international business through indulging technology in it.
 Infrastructure: The Walmart business use to have effective and efficient infrastructure
in its company with proper arrangement of resources as well as employees within its each
outlet. The company's infrastructure is being connected with all the business and sales
unit of Walmart.
Other than the above mentioned divisional structure, there is a presence of different other
segments within which Walmart indulges its functions such as finance, human resource, accounts
or different other related sectors. Through this the Walmart can be able to share information as
well as different data to generate relevant contribution. They utilizes proper software in context
to have systematic record of its data. As they utilises cloud storage software which acts as a best
tool to maintain records with highest level of security as well as prevention of client's personal
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data, as customer’s puts their trust upon the Walmarts because of which they prefers to make
their investment in Walmart with an aim of expectation with respect to generate some valuable in
return. They utilises different other securities as well as data tools or element like LAN, WAN &
emails through their divisions that are interconnected with each other and influences on every
business function to provide easy services to its customers. Such services furnishes to be the
profitable as well as essential tool for growth. The data been recorded as well as enhanced with
Google cloud for all divisions jointly in recent years for that, the Walmart has chosen to invest
millions of dollars in its establishment (Almarashdeh 2016).
Walmart plc is following the hierarchical organisation structure at their workplace in
which the CEO is at top level management and not answerable to anyone. Each and every
employee is the subordinate to the CEO. The directions are disseminated from the top-level
management to the Middle-level management and further passed on to the employees under
various departments. They had make division of several departments such as production
department, customer relations department, sales department, human resource department,
information technology department and many others. This structure is beneficial for
organisation because of geographical base of company, customer base of company and the
values of the founder.
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Data flow diagrams refers to the diagram which state the directions of flow of data in an
organisation. It is in the hand of organisation to make the data flow diagram for a specific
organisation. It has been found that the proper flow of data result in the effective communication
which helps in achieve the organisational goals and objectives. Below mentioned are the some
data flow diagrams:
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All the business units of Walmart are interconnected on the basis of technology and
infrastructure of organisation. Walmart is a huge brand working in several sectors and at several
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locations. They are interconnected with each other through the use of technology. There
information system help the management in keeping all the important information at a same
place. Along with this, the structure of organisation is according to the hierarchical under which
the heal branch is on the top and all the other business units are under the head. In this way all
business units of Walmart are interrelated.
QUESTION 2
Different forms of data and the role or responsibility of data warehousing in Walmart
Walmart plc is a multinational company which provide general products and groceries
through hypermarket, super markets and discounted stores. They are providing different products
as per their divisional structure. The management of Walmart is facilitating the growth by
performing the well defined structure which also leads to the establishment of interconnection
among all the divisions. Walmart is following several functions for the purpose of smooth
functioning of the organisation such as information technology software, technological
enhancement. These form of technology makes the task and duties easier. Technology plays an
important role in the business organisation as the management is focusing on introducing the
technology as it leads to the maximization of productivity (Tiwari and et. al., 2018). Majorly,
they are using technology in recording warehousing data. It involve the evaluation and research
part of information and research part knowledge and information related to the upcoming
advance technology. By the use if technology, Walmart perform business operation in an
effective and efficient manner. Walmart use several information systems which are given below
as:
Executive Support System (ESS):
It refers to the information system which is used by senior authority for the purpose of
formulating the decisions related to the strategies. This system is useful for the organisation as it
collects the informations related to the day to day working of the organisation by each and every
aspect of the operations. Walmart use this information system for the purpose of gaining the
information regarding the the inventory on the basis of the current sales and financial data. In
order to collecting the data,this system is useful. The technologies involved in Executive Support
System focus only on the expansion of business.
Knowledge Management Systems (KMS):
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This information system leads to the development of information along with the share of
relevant data. This system plays an important role in understanding the employees. This data
leads to the several commercial opportunities such as providing more varieties of products or
covering more categories of products (AthuluruTlrumala and et. al., 2019).
Decision Support system (DSS):
This system plays an important role in the area of making decision at work place in the
situation of complex crises. The analyses of boosting the IT tools and equipment has been done
under this system with the motive to collect the data more accurately. It also involve the spread
sheet of data and databases into every possible result with the purpose of getting orientated
model. Walmart is using decision support system under which they enabled their managers to
work efficiently in difficult time and try to find the solutions to the problems with the set of these
factors.
Big data is the data available in large quantity in the combination of structured and
unstructured form which signal on the life term and life time basis. For the purpose getting
correct data, the Walmart allows the function of gathering the data by the use of internal
performance metrics system (Mee, 2019). This system help the management in in developing the
skills of employees for the purpose of overcoming the capabilities of satisfactory aspects into the
work place.
All of the above systems has an important aspect in decision making process and help the
organisation in taking effective decisions. In the context of Walmart, it is really helpful function
as it help the organisation in removing the weakness of organisation by taking effective decisions
at time. These systems also develop the abilities which make the managers to develop the skills
which are more crucial and important division. Advancement of technology in the organisation
result in the successful completion of operations in an effective and efficient manner. Use of
several new new technical hardware and software provide the new experience to the customers.
Majorly, Walmart earn profit by the customers loyalty which they gain by roviding new and
unforgettable experience to the customers (Aprilianti 2020).
Evaluation of current IS at Walmart:
CAMELS approach is consider as the important approach which is a part of Current
Information system of Walmart. This approach include several of factors such as adequacy,
liquidity, capital and earning. It is also consider as the best indicator in order to maintaining the
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data in a correct manner. APT model playing an important role in accessing the data of large
size. By the use of this information system, Walmart can do processing with the data rather than
keeping in rest. Public cloud install has been improved from the last few years which leads to the
advantage in driving infrastructure.
Recommendations
By the use of accurate information standards, the management of Walmart can understand
the business practices along with the way of satisfying customers and they can operate the
operations in an effective and efficient manner. In addition to this, it also leads to the
identification of new opportunities available in the market. Walmart also have option of using
another models such as KMS, ESS, DSS as they are directly related to the business goals and and
take the organisation at high level (Regan and et. al., 2017). Along with this, it is also
recommanded to the Walmart to do focus on the strategical aspects like qualitative and
quantitative data procedures by the use of information technology and the guidance which they
get from guidance of other global level institutes. These practices leads to reaching at the global
level institution and cover a huge base of customer data.
Technology strategy to enable big data strategy:
The data which is being processed by the technological concept of case, the strategies can
be broadly raise an optimising the systems because of the employees of organisation. Big data is
being effected by the technical change into management along with the economy. These
procedures are also consider as the guidance towards the operational growth along with the
statistical data. The thought should be down of the box which leads to the exposure of
innovation towards the criteria of management and these innovations result in the benefit in
future. It has been clarify that the technology give birth to the opportunities such as expansion
and indulgence of creative strategies, aspects and approaches which are really helpful in making
the right choice of technology (Lee 2016). It is necessary for the organisation that the strategies
should focus in the long term benefit of future as it will result in the higher success so that the
walmart can enjoy the benefit of technology.
Advantages and Disadvantages of the Information System
Advantages of Information System Disadvantages of Information System
 Openness: Informational systems
 Security issues: Companies are
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makes the organisation available
24*7 for their customers and
delivering the the best services as
per the requirement of customers.
It leads to the getting rid of the
concerns and queries of customers
of several countries as per their
convenient timings.
 Correspondence: An effective
information system help the
organization in assisting the
operations which are related to the
enhancing the productivity without
any in correctness which also
result in the completion of task by
taking less time and in a more
effective manner as compared to
manual methods. In simple words,
it can be said that information
system leads to performing the
task in an effective and efficient
manner by saving the time and
cost which enhance the
productivity and profitability.
required to be more careful when
they are performing some
processes with the data as they
have the fear of hackers and
thieves. Hackers always try to
interfere in the operations of
organisation (Junior, I.C. and
Cherobim, A.P.M.S., 2020). The
data of companies include all the
confidential informations
regarding the customers. It is
necessary for the organisation to
save their data from several
hackers and thieves.
 Implementation expenses: It has
been found that all the information
systems are too expansive. It is not
an easy task to process the data
with the help of information
system. The organisations have to
perform a lots of expenses in order
to getting the effective and
relevant result in the business
organisation.
QUESTION 3
Information about Code of Conduct and the new GDPR Data protection of Walmart
GDPR stands for General Data protection regulation. It is a set of guidelines which has
been developed by the European Union for the purpose of providing protection to the important
information related to the organisation. Along with this, it also help the business organisation in
protecting their data from any unauthorised users and enhance the privacy of the organisation.
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Ethical
The employees of Walmart have to concentrate on each and every software which is being
used by them at work place. It is related to the tracking the business operations and solving all
the organisational issues in an effective and efficient manner. It is necessary for the organisation
to do inform about the issues which they are facing in the organisation so that the situation
doesn't go worse (Li 2016). If the software is obtained in and ethical way and then this might
create problem. It may also create the deterrent on the overall working performance of the
organisation along with the creation of risk to the security. It is necessary for the organisation to
follow the ethics at work place. It has been found that the organisations following the ethics at
work place result in meeting all the requirements of customers, government and leads to the
enhancing profit.
Legal
GDPR 2016/679 is a rule that is exist in EU laws. This assist in addressing the data that
has been utilised for the purpose of delivering the transaction outside EEA and EU. Walmart
does not take any action without taking the permissions of client. It is necessary to share the
information related to the products to the customers. If there is any issue with the product, it may
negatively impact the performance of organisation (Schönberg 2019). By following the
regulations, it is easier to complete the tasks and it is good to work legally. The laws are
important and need to be followed as the confidential information of the bank needs to be secure
and safe.
Professional
The chief action that is needed by organisations to act in a professional manner. The
walmart keep expertness or professionalism and never shares the information with anyone and
that is also not coveted philosophy. Keeping confidentiality is crucial for employee as the clients
are confiding them and sharing their personal information with them. Walmart plc keep honesty
at the time of working and maintaining the relations with the customer which leads to gaining the
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certainty and build a positive and good brand image in the market. By following all the concept
and rules and practical with professionalism means matching the privacy, secrecy, honesty and
clearness conception of information security. So it is coveted by the employees to adopt the
rules and hold professionalism while working as they are working with rhem.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that the each and every unit of organisation
are interconnected from each other. It leads to the improvement of decision making at work place
along with the completing all the task in an effective and efficient manner. Financial
performance of an organisation can be better with the help of financial institution. This report is
also stating about the flow of information in the organisation. Data warehousing is consider as
the important part in the operations of Walmart as all the functioning informations are keep in
the data which is kept as confidential which leads to the creation and development of effective
relationship with their customers. In order to achieving the competitive advantage and customer
satisfaction which result in the increase in productivity and profitability of organisation. The
informations which are being used by the organisations in making the decisions are derived from
the processing of data under any information system. Each and every organisation want to keep
their information confidential and GDPR help the same. It is helpful for organisation as it leads
to the protection of data privacy.
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References:
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Ntouvas, I., 2019. Exporting personal data to EU-based international organizations under the
GDPR. International Data Privacy Law, 9(4), pp.272-284.
Mayer, D. and Hutton, B., 2017. Global business education for management
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AthuluruTlrumala, G. and Attuluru, A.R., Ytrre Inc, 2019. Real-time customer experience
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Lee, S.Y. and Chung, M., 2016. An exploratory study on construction of electronic government
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Convergence, 14(1), pp.1-11.
Li, J., Liu, M. and Liu, X., 2016. Why do employees resist knowledge management systems? An
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Aprilianti, I., 2020. Protecting People: Promoting Digital Consumer Rights.
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