Information Handling Report: Recommendations for Improvement

This report examines the information handling practices of Graham's Electricals and Co., a medium-sized retail company selling electronics. The current semi-automated system utilizes barcode scanners and integrated software for inventory and sales tracking, with some data maintained in hard copy and Excel sheets. The report identifies inefficiencies in cross-referencing data between the warehouse and shop systems, recommending a software upgrade to link both systems and automate cross-checking. Installation of closed-circuit cameras is also suggested for security. The report further proposes saving records in PDF and XLS formats, utilizing staff feedback for document improvements, and estimates a $10,000 budget for system overhauling. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of these changes for cost reduction, increased profit, and improved operational efficiency, enabling the company to focus on expansion.

Running head: INFORMATION HANDLING
INFORMATION HANDLING
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary
Collected data has to be maintained, otherwise there is no use of procuring data in the first place.
Previous data provide important insights about how the organisation is operating and what are
the strong sides of its functions. Data can also give ideas about how can the operations of the
company be enhanced so that efficiency can be reached. Making this whole process automatic
can benefit companies in ways that are only beginning to be explored.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Current methods employed..............................................................................................................3
Recommendations............................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
To ensure the optimality in the functions and operations of a company, it is necessary to
organise all of its required information and other documents that facilitate in the functions of the
said organisation (Siano 2014). Without proper maintenance and organisational skills, no
company or organisation can hope to achieve efficiency and, as a result, would fall short of
reaching its desired goals. The traditional methods of gathering data and maintaining documents
have been used in every form of organisation for as long as organisations have been in existence
(Ihme et al.2014). However, with the rise of modern technologies and new ways of executing
tasks, the need to arrange and documenting the information has also evolved and expanded. The
information pool has grown exponentially, especially since digital information has become an
integral part of our lives and the global financial transactions. The methods and techniques to
document this information have also evolved and new ways have been devised, which are
discussed in the current report.
Current methods employed
The company that is under observation on the current report is a medium size retail
company that sells electronic commodities and also provides services post-sales. The company is
named Graham’s Electricals and Co. and is situated in Victoria. The company sales household
electronic products and gives the customers a two-month free servicing period, where any issues
regarding the sold products are resolved by the company without any cost to the customers.
The company has a lot of electronic appliances coming in bulks from suppliers. This
makes it a necessity to keep records of everything so that every item that is brought is tracked.
Currently the shop has a semi-automated system, where both software and human labour is

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employed. The items that come in are stored in a warehouse, that is two blocks away from the
shop. The employees use digital barcode scanners on the items when they arrive and an
integrated software system stores these records. Every detail about the poducts can be retrieved
from the barcodes (Bask, Merisalo-Rantanen and Tuunanen 2014).
The details of the products are stored on a software in the warehouse itself. Some
important overviews regarding date of purchase of a particular shipment or details about the
supplier are kept in hardcopy format. Documents are stored in Excel sheets as well as in Word
document files. These give a comprehensive idea about the shop’s current stock at any point of
time. However, the warehouse does not have any closed circuit cameras.
On the sales counter, when an item is sold, the barcodes are again scanned and another
integrated system in the shop keeps the records in excel sheets. The records of the shop are cross-
checked with the documents of the warehouse to get details regarding the products that came in
and which were sold. Monthly sales are stored on printed excel copies to make it easier to
understand about the sales rate of the shop and evaluate it against previous month’s and also to
predict about future trends.
Recommendations
The shop has two software systems in both the warehouse as well as the shop where
records about the products that are brought in and sold are kept. However, it is a cumbersome
and lengthy process to cross reference the two records as the quantities are not very small in size.
The shop needs to have a software upgradation that would be linked to both of these systems and
automatically cross check the items when they are sold. This will save valuable time and most
certainly will be more reliable as manual mistakes are easy to occur (Vlachos 2014).

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A more sophisticated software needs to be installed in the system of the shop so that the
two existing software can be merged together to get a proper idea about the purchase and sales of
the company. A closed circuit camera system needs to be installed as soon as possible to prevent
any chances of theft or similar events.
The documents of the shop which will be compiled on the new software will have all
records at a single place, making it easier to get an idea about everything. Records should be
saved in PDF and XLS format making it easy to read and gain insights about the sales condition
of the shop. PowerPoints can be extremely helpful in this regard, because this gives a gist of the
most important aspects and notable points.
The staff who work at the shop have expressed their grief from time to time over issues
they have faced like slow mobility of the whole system and the problems regarding readability of
the document. The suggestions of the staff can prove to helpful i9n making critical upgrading
decisions for the shop regarding the layout and format of the documents, making them more
readable to easier to comprehend.
The current system is reliable and is dependable, but it is not optimal or efficient in
nature. The upgrade assures the shop to be more efficient in its operations and functions are to
become smoother. To enhance the software of the shop, Graham’s have also done an estimation
about the expenses that are to be incurred and it seems like a $10,000 budget shall suffice in
overhauling the system of the shop.
Conclusion
It is essential to reform the current operations and management of the shop. The
recommended changes would be ideal for the shop to cut down on extra costs as well as increase

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the profit levels. Making the entire procedure automated would be enabling Graham’s to put its
manpower and focus on other issues and expansion plans can also be taken care of. The software
upgrade shall help the shop to be more efficient and it set to be more efficient that would enable
the shop to grow and expand.

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References
Bask, A., Merisalo-Rantanen, H. and Tuunanen, T., 2014. Developing a modular service
architecture for E-store supply chains: The small-and medium-sized enterprise
perspective. Service science, 6(4), pp.251-273.
Ihme, T., Pikkarainen, M., Teppola, S., Kääriäinen, J. and Biot, O., 2014. Challenges and
industry practices for managing software variability in small and medium sized
enterprises. Empirical Software Engineering, 19(4), pp.1144-1168.
Siano, P., 2014. Demand response and smart grids—A survey. Renewable and Sustainable
Energy Reviews, 30, pp.461-478.
Vlachos, I.P., 2014. A hierarchical model of the impact of RFID practices on retail supply chain
performance. Expert Systems with Applications, 41(1), pp.5-15.