BUS4002 - Information Systems in Walmart: Functional Areas & GDPR

This report provides an analysis of the management information systems (MIS) employed by Walmart, a multinational retail corporation. It explores the various functional areas of the business, including customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management, highlighting the role of information systems in enhancing efficiency and effectiveness. The report discusses Walmart's hierarchical organizational structure and its impact on communication and decision-making. It also delves into different types of data, such as big data, structured/unstructured data, and real-time data, and their relevance to Walmart's operations. Furthermore, the report addresses the legal and ethical implications of data handling and security, with a focus on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and its impact on Walmart's business practices within the European Union. The analysis aims to provide insights into how Walmart leverages information systems to improve performance and maintain a competitive advantage.

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BUS4002

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Question 1 .......................................................................................................................................1
Question 2 .......................................................................................................................................4
Question 3 .......................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Management information system refers to the study of Technology people organisation and
the relationship among all of them. The professionals of the system helps the organisation to
release the maximum advantage from investment in equipment, business processes and
personnel. It is considered as a people oriented field which provides services by the use of
Technology. Any organization which takes interest in technology and has the desire to use
Technology for the purpose of improving the performance of organization, MIS plays an
important role. The Chosen organization for this report is Walmart. It is an American
multinational retail company which ids doing business operations as hypermarkets grocery
stores and discount department stores from US. It was founded by Sam Walton in 1962. The
headquarter of Walmart is in Bentonville, Arkansas, United States. They are serving all over the
world having more than 10,500 stores globally. This restaurant deals with the different functional
areas of organizations with the comparison of information system within the several functional
areas of organization. Furthermore it also cover the legal and ethical implications associated with
information handling and security and the use of information system for producing management
information atom middle and senior management levels of Walmart.
Question 1
In order to perform in the business operations in an effective and efficient manner,
Walmart has divided by Empire business operations within several business functional areas.
They all are interconnected and all of them all require information system as the technology is
becoming a huge issue in the business organisation from the last few times which helps the
management in the expansion of business with the use of Information technology which become
more or less inevitable (Lyu and et. al., 2019). Customer relationship management: By the use of CRM Technology, several of companies
are able to generate the royal customers by selecting the valuable information using the
CRM software. Along with this they also wanted to know about the needs of their customers
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by interacting with them but this technology is consider as the tool which is used to
interpreting the data (Li and et. al., 2017). For the purpose of operating the CRM system
effectively, Walmart is required outline the objectives along with the decription of job peior
to performing the operation of CRM system. Supply Chain: Distribution centre and EDI: Walmart also plays the role of a distributor or
wholesaler along with the retailer. This can be a benefit benefit of setting up the effective
supply chain because of availability of a several opportunities a by adopting information
system to the supply chain. If they are not able to control their supply chain, it result in the
the higher in efficiency of Walmart having the responsibility of supplier and provider.
Walmart has introduced in new paradigm for the purpose of its supply chain. Walmart is
working as a retailer along with a distributor which is consider as the effective business
strategy. For the purpose of gaining benefit of the supply chain and a they are using hub and
spoke system under which goods are centralised in its warehouse which is also known as
distribution Centre or hub. Assembled goods are dispatched to the each shop, commonly
known as spoke. The system also result in the cutting down of transportation cost. Along
with this Walmart is adopting a fast way for delivering their goods to their customers. For
the same purpose they had introduced a system which is known as point of sales (POS). This
system is helpful in making the decisions as it track the inventories. This is possible because
of POS as the data has been recorded at the retail shop.
 Introduction of RFID system in the supply chain: It was not enough for Walmart to deal
with the large number of goods. But now they are providing more than ten thousands of
goods to their customers as EDI system enhance the efficiency of the supplier. Along with
this it has been found important for Walmart to control the out of stock Merchandise in the
shops. For the same purpose they choose a radio frequency identification system to make
sure of their strategy (Jeong, J.S. and Ramírez-Gómez 2018). In order to supporting their
supply chain they had developed a radio frequency identification system (RFID). It directly
result in the expansion of business area of Walmart. The anticipated that reduction of out of
stock would be made possible by the development of RFID system.
It is well known that the Walmart is not only working in US but all over the world as it has a
wide base. This organization follows the matrix structure having a hybrid of a divisional and
functional structures for stopper for the purpose of managing the waste retail chain the entire
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organisation has divided into several areas such areas as a regional manager who supervise the
stores in that area. Walmart has a hierarchical organizational structure at their organization. This
structure has two characteristics which include hierarchy and function based to definition. The
CEO of organization is at the top level management who is not answerable to anyone. Each and
every other employees in the organization are subordinates to CEO. The information has been
passed from CEO To the Regional Manager after that to the store manager. After reaching the
information to the store manager, they spread the information to the managers of various
departments who will going to pass the same information to the employees. In this structure the
information travels from top to bottom and the reporting of the operations in the opposite
direction. This structure of orgnanisation allow the flow of data upwards to the downwards as the
hierarchycial structre in organization form a chain of command having different levels of
authority.
Reason behind this structure: It create a defined structure for communication: This structure present a clear line of
communication in the Walmart. Direct supervision can also be done under this is
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structure for stopper the supervisor are responsible for integrating orders and this is
structure allows the communication moving upward until it reach to the top individual in
the structure (Gozhyj and et. al., 2017). It is very easy to plan and implement any
business strategy at the organisation because of the good communication system.
 It offers multiple layers of authority within the organisation: Hierarchy structure at the
workplace of Walmart divided authority according to the work and departments. No one
is in the organisation is confused about the boundaries between the departments and job.
Question 2
Data is considered as a thorny subject. Below mentioned are the several types of data: Bug Data: It refers to the data which is very large in the size, fast and complex. It is
really a difficult task to process by the use of traditional methods. In simple words big
data can be defined as the data that include greater variety arriving in increasing volumes
and with more velocity. From these definitions it is analysed at the big data is the
collection of data which is used in volume and it is not an easy task to process with that
data traditionally (Fenech 2019). Structured, Unstructured and Semi Structured Data: Structured data refers to the data
whose elements are address able for effective analysis. It is a data which is presented in
the form of table having columns and rows in the database. SQL programming language
has been used for structured data. Semi structured data refers to the information which do
not live in a relational database but it include some of the properties of organisation
which make it easy to analyse. It is a note in the structured form but still have some
structure to it. It included the several documents held in java script Object Notation.
Unstructured data which is not organised in a proper manner and it do not have any
module which defines better. It is not a good fit for a mainstream relational database. In
simple words it can be said that it is the information which is not organised in a proper
manner. Several of videos audios and binary data files which do not have any specific
structure. Above mentioned definitions explain the difference between the structured,
unstructured and semi structured data.
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 Time stamped Data: It refers to the data which represent multiple versions of the same
source data within one database. It is necessary for source data to include dates which can
be used to knowing about the period for which each record is valid. Machine Data: This is also known as a machine generated data. This data refers to the
Digital information which is created automatically with the activities and operations of
network device which include mobile computer and many more. Machine that also
include the information which is generated by the websites and user applications
(Drobyazko and et. al., 2019). Spatiotemporal Data: This databases post data collected across both space and time that
describe a phenomenon in a particular location and a period of time. Open Data: It refers to the research data which is freely available on the internet so that
anyone can download modify and distribute without any legal or financial restrictions.
The qualities of open data is that it is available, accessible, reusable, redistributable and
unrestricted. This data can be used by any of organisation for the purpose of performing
any task. Dark Data: It can be defined as the data which is acquired by several Computer Network
operations but not used in any manner to derive insights or for decision making. The
potential of an organisation to collected data can exit the throughput of which it can
analyse the data. It is considered as the information assets through which the
organisations collect process and store during the regular business activities.
 Real time data: The information which is delivered just after collection is the real time
data. This data is presented as it is acquired. It is really helpful in delivering up-to-the-
minute information by the use of several applications of mobile.
Question 3
GDRP stands for general data protection regulation. Basically it is the core of Europe
digital privacy legislation. It refers to the legal Framework which assets guidelines for the
purpose of collecting and processing of personal information from individuals who live in the
European Union. The GDPR mandates the visitors of European Union be given a number of data
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disclosures. This is a regulation in EU law in data production (Dehnavieh and et. al., 2019). It
leads to the address in the transfer of personal data outside the the European Union. It provides
the more control over the personal detail to the citizens of EU. Its main objective is to simplify
the regulatory environment for business so both citizens and the business is in the European
Union can fully benefit from the digital economy. These reforms are made for the purpose of
reflecting the world in which people are living now and bringing some laws and obligations
week include those around personal data. Fundamentally almost every aspect of the lives of
people of EU has resolves around data, which include social media campaigns, government,
retailers, to bank and many more. All of the above mentioned services are mostly involved in the
collection and analysis of the personal data of people.
GDPR can be used by any organisation which is performing business operations within the
European Union along with the any organisation outside the EU which provide goods and
services to the customers or business working in the European Union (Centobelli 2018). In
simple words it can be said battle almost each and every major company in the world needs a
GDPR compliance strategy. It has been found that they are two types of data handlers that
legislation applies to processes and controllers. The definitions of both laid out is mentioned in
the article 4 of the general data protection regulation. Basically a controller is a person or public
authority or an agency which determines the purposes and means of processing of personal data.
Whereas processor is a person or a public authority or agency which processes personal data on
the behalf of the controller.
It has been found that GDPR focus on very important element of data ethics which protect
the privacy of people. Along with this it also touches upon the some other elements of data ethics
such as accountability and transparency. This data processing is is possible to apply with the help
of application of a machines learnings and many more. As data ethics is becoming an ever more
Complex field it has been found that is several of risk based approach increasingly applied on the
other ethical questions. Ethics of data has a vital role in GDPR compliance and it is necessary not
to be seen whether as a vague and an enforceable requirements or as a burden. This law is a
design to address the ethical concerns regarding the processing of data and requirements of such
activities which are to be ethically reviewed. Hence it is very difficult task to draw a clear
difference between ethics and law in the current data protection landscape as the GDPR tends to
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to blur the lines. Complying with the GDPR are involved in carrying out data protection
operations that meet both the GDPR are legal and ethical requirements (Bak 2020).
Some of key issues related to the GDPR include data protection officer, email marketing,
fines and penalties, personal data, privacy impact assessment processing activties, right to be
informed, consent, right to be forgotten, right to assess and many more.
Below mentioned are the some reasons that why the organisations are so worried about GDPR
compliance:
 New Requirements: It focus on the transparency accountability and governance in order
to minimising the risk of beaches and uphold the personal data protection by imposing
new responsibilities on the organisation. It is not necessary that the organisation carry out
to some charges but it is necessary for them that they should adopt and maintaining some
rules and regulations.
 Specific processes: menu of new requirements are specific processes or organisation sir.
It is necessary for them to adopt the laws with the intent that such measures will help
structure and formula is the certain areas for the purpose of making complaints more
efficient (Afsah 2019).
 Hefty fines and sanctions: Regulators have rights to control on unknown compliance with
the GDP in one of three ways which include by generating a caution or striking a non
permanent or define the prohibit on filtering the personal data, arresting a fine up to the
20 million or 4% of the total worldwide turnover which is totally depend on the situation
of each and every individual case or or both of the above.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that the management information system is
an important aspect in an organisation as it helps the organisation in managing the big data.
Walmart is also using big data to manage and store the informations. There are several types of
data which are explained above in the report. Big data is found as the best data to be followed by
the Walmart warehouses. Furthermore, it has been also analysed that GDPR is a legislation
which is formed by the European Union. It is a law which is used to protect the data of people of
EU. It also have some concerns related to the ethical, legal and professional. This law plays an
important role in handling the security issues. There are several type of data has been analysed in
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this report. Organisational structure helps the organisation in managing and performing the
business operations in an effective and efficient manner.
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