Strategic Information System Report: Business Effectiveness Analysis

This report analyzes the strategic information system for Arnott's Biscuits, a leading snack food manufacturer. It begins by outlining business processes, including production lines and the role of ERP in resource planning and cost-effectiveness. The report then details business and system requirements, emphasizing the need for market expansion, flavor innovation, factory upgrades, and enhanced advertising. It explores system requirements such as server hardware and high-level accounting features. The report further discusses software and vendor selection, highlighting the importance of choosing the right ERP/AIS software and reliable vendors like MYOB. It identifies ways to develop business effectiveness, including communication, motivation seminars, performance reviews, and monetary benefits. The report examines the level of efficiency of technology implementation, particularly in biscuit production. Finally, it addresses potential security risks and data breaches associated with technology integration and suggests mitigation guidelines. Overall, the report provides a comprehensive overview of strategic information system considerations for business development.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Business processes...........................................................................................................................4
Requirements of business................................................................................................................5
Requirements of System..................................................................................................................6
Software and vendor selection.........................................................................................................7
Ways by which companies can develop business effectiveness......................................................8
Level of efficiency of the technology implementation....................................................................9
Potential security risks and data breaches.....................................................................................10
Guidelines to mitigate the risks.....................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
Reference.......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
In recent times, the conditions for business are changing very quickly due to advancement in
information and technology system. This report is telling the procedure of choosing ERP/AIS to
formulate the decision of investment in information system. To understand it more clearly the
report focuses on various points like process and requirement of business, requirement of system,
and choosing the correct retailer. The company, which is taken for this assignment, is Arnott’s
biscuits. The company deals in biscuits and snacks food and it was founded in 1865. The
company is one of the leading manufacturer of biscuits and second largest provider of snack
food.

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Business processes
Business process for the organizations is set of linked task, which are interrelated to each other
and achieve the objective of the organization by delivering the product or service to the
consumer. The systematic process of business will improve the efficiency and performance of
business and systematic process means less probability of error. ERP helps the organization in
organizing a systematic business process.
There are five production lines at the Huntingwood factory that manufactures the Arnott’s
biscuits:
Line 1 for the production of Jatz and Sao crackers biscuits.
Line 2 comes in use for the other crackers biscuits and for the making of crisp breads.
Line 3 produces plain and semi sweets biscuits like Scotch Finger and Milk Arrowroot.
Line 4 comes in use to shape the varieties of biscuits.
Line 5 produces only chocolate biscuits like Tim Tams and Mint Slice (Oxford, 2014).
With the help of ERP (enterprise resource planning), Company can estimate that in what quantity
raw material will be required for the production of biscuits on daily basis. Enterprise resource
planning explains itself, that it will help the company in planning their resources. It is software,
which help the company in improving their performance by reducing the wastage materials. It
provides almost correct estimation of required raw material. In addition ERP, also assist the
company by providing correct planning of available resources and mentions the production of
units in the available resources (Leon, 2014). It is a cost effective method, which reduces the
extra expenses on production of the company.

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Requirements of business
Business requirements are related to the particular needs of the management, which assist the
company in achieving their objectives and goals in an effectual way. Therefore, the requirement
of the business must be clearly specify to the management by that management will fulfill all the
requirements for the various departments because lack of any required demand can affect the
production of the business. The requirement is not limited to internal factors like finance or
availability of raw material, requirement can be related to external sources also as promotion
activities, transportation etc. all the demands which help in improving the efficiency of workers
and improve the performance of business that can be a requirement for the business (McFarlane,
2012).
There can be several requirements for Arnott’s biscuit to improve their performance that are as
follows:
 Although company is successful in Australia and even in New Zealand, USA, Japan.
However, it is high time where company needs to expand in big markets like China.
 The company always keeps on working on their biscuit taste and on new flavor because
their business is totally depends on the taste and quality of their item.
 Due to high competition in the market, company needs to expand their factory area by
that production of the units will be increased; this will result in constant supply of the
product in the market.
 Company needs to work on their advertising strategies because in fast moving world, it is
hard for everyone to remember the advertisement and then purchase the item. Therefore,
company needs to be more creative and effective with their advertisement by that people
will easily recall the brand (Simatos, et. al., 2012).

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Requirements of System
Requirement of system are different from the requirement of business. The requirements of
system are explained in a means of explaining advanced plan to convey business requirement.
ERP and AIS are the softwares, which helps the company to manage all their resources whether
it is internal or external. AIS (Accounting information software) assists the company in
maintaining the record of every financial related activities like resources of finance, salaries,
details of assets, cash in hand, etc. Whereas, the work of ERP is to plan that how company can
use every single resources, by that wastage can be minimized and production can be maximized.
Every business requires a correct system, which helps the company in smooth running of
operations (Slack, 2015). The requirement of system can be anything; by that, organization will
not face any difficulty in achieving their goals and objectives.
There are various system requirements, which are as follows below:
Server hardware: for successfully installation of the ERP software company needs to upgrade
their system according to the demand of the software because these software does not work on
outdated system. Arnott’s biscuit was created in 1865, and the company knows the affect of up
gradation because they have upgrade with new flavor and taste in their biscuit that is why they
are still running in the market. Likewise, company needs new system with upgraded features,
which help the system to run effectively.
High accounting features: When company is big in size, then it is mandatory for that company
to have high level accounting softwares in their software, which are able to solve any problem
and records, and keeps the data safe. Arnott’s biscuit is very big company, which supplies their
product in various countries like New Zealand, USA, and Japan (Galliers, et. al., 2014).
Therefore, company must have the advanced accounting softwares, which loaded with all the

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features and makes the work easy for the accounting department because there will be high
amount transaction and there is no chance of any mistake in recording that. For that reason, these
softwares assist the company.
Software and vendor selection
It is very important for the organization to have correct software in their systems because all the
information related to the company is stored in the systems. Now, the work of every organization
is depending on the systems. Effective and advanced systems have made the work easy of the
organizations. There are various software, which made the work easy for the companies, but
most popularly software, which every company has, are ERP (Enterprise resource planning) and
AIS (Accounting information system). ERP helps the organization by providing the correct
planning and utilization of resources, whereas AIS software is the accounting softwares, which
helps in calculating all the financial use. Like use of finance, sources of finance, storing the
expenses of company and calculating the salary of the employees can be done with the help of
AIS. Although there are, various accounting softwares are there in the market but most popular
software among the organizations is MYOB (Romney, et. al., 2012).
Along with the correct software company must select the correct vendors which sale their
product in the market. Arnott’s is very old company and still running in the market due to they
have correct vendors in their hand. However, to expand their business company needs to increase
their vendors by that sales and profit of the organization will increase. However, there are many
vendors in the market but finding the correct and viable vendor is necessary for the company
because ultimately vendor is selling the product of the company and if vendor is involve in some
legal issue then it will hamper the sale of the product from the side of that vendor. Therefore, it is
very much essential to choose correct software and correct vendor (Romney, et. al., 2012).

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Ways by which companies can develop business effectiveness
There are several ways, which helps the company to improve their business efficiency. These
methods are as follows:
Communication: Communication plays an important role in achieving their goals and
objectives. Proper communication is very much essential at the workplace and for the Arnott’s
biscuit, it is mandatory to communicate each thing among the employees because company
makes biscuit and lack of communication can hamper the production or taste. In today’s
competitive market communication is not only required at the workplace but also company
should communicate with their customers and must take feedback about the products and try to
know what new their customer wants in the product like design, taste etc (Becker, et. al., 2013).
Motivation seminars: Company must conduct motivation seminars for the employees by which
employees get motivated and increase their working efficiency. Along with this company can
conduct role-play sessions by which employees get opportunity to show their ability.
Periodic review: It is mandatory for the organization to review the performance of the
employees at regular intervals. This will help the company to review the performance of every
employee. This review session is very much beneficial for both company and employee because
if there is any employee who is not meeting up the target or facing any problem at workplace this
session will provide opportunity to talk with their superior and overcome the problem.
Easy processes: It is essential for the organizations to focus on the easy processes of working at
the workplace, by that employee can work easily and does not feel any pressure. The planning
and process must be easily understandable to all the employees by that they can work with more
efficiency and helps in increasing the company profit (Becker, et. al., 2013).

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Monetary benefit: Company should give monetary benefits to the employees, who do their
work with effectiveness and do fewer mistakes. This will motivate the other employees to work
with more efficiency. If every employee start working with more efficiency and do fewer
mistakes, that will increase the profit margin for the company because less mistakes means less
expenses of the company.
Level of efficiency of the technology implementation
In the modern era of business, it is the significant need of every organization to install new and
advanced technologies at the work place, which will improve the work efficiency of employees
and business. For small-scale organizations, it is necessary to upgrade their machinery to sustain
in the market. Technology not only saves times but also improves the efficiency of the work and
affect the quality of the product. Technology plays an important role in the profit of the
organization because due to modern technology the production of units increases by that there is
enough supply of the product in the market that will result in high sales, which will increase the
profit for the company (Wheelen, et. al., 2011).
Arnott’s company deals in biscuit and snack food. Company produces thousands of biscuit daily
with the help of technology. Technology like oven in which biscuits baked and robots, which
give shape to the biscuits. With the help of technology or heavy machines has made the
production work easy for the Arnott’s biscuit. The only problem occurs while working on
technology is proper knowledge of the machine. Company should conduct a short training
session for all the employees by which employees can learn how machine will be operate. It is
necessary for the organizations because every organization wants to increase the production of
the units and that can only be possible with the help of technology (Wheelen, et. al., 2011).

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Technology not only helps in increasing the production or makes work easy but also creates an
automated work environment at the workplace.
Potential security risks and data breaches
There are several types of security risks and data breaches in the company. In this modern world,
the security risk has increased by various reasons. Now, Companies are investing huge amount
of money to protect their data. These security risks are as follows:
Theft: It is one of the common risks, which every organization face. Theft of any material or data
can damage the status of the company. Like, if any employee of Arnott’s biscuit breaks the trust
of company, and gives the confidential information to the competitors then it will put negative
impact on the business of the company.
Electric item: This security breach arises due to carelessness of the responsible person. This
reason has emerged in the recent times very often that person forgets their belongings like laptop,
phone and pen drive in office, airports, restaurants or any other place by which the chances of
leakage of data increased, which will not good for the company (Chakraborty, et. al., 2011).
Hacking: In the modern world, where everyone is online. Many businesses run online and sell
their product online. The major risks with these businesses are hacking risk. Hackers can hack
the official site of the company and can put wrong details on the site, which will be read by the
consumers or any other user. Wrong details of the company or product will not only damage the
image of the company but also shut down the company. In this advanced technological world, it
is easy for the hacker to hack the site, which is why companies are spending huge amount of
money to protect their systems from hackers

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(Chakraborty, et. al., 2011).
Guidelines to mitigate the risks
It is very much important for the companies to protect their company’s data and other
confidential information. To protect these high-level information or systems, companies must
make a team of skilled and technological friendly people who are goods at technology and are
able to adjust in any situation. Along with this company must install highly advanced anti
hacking software in the system, which will help the company by stooping hackers in accessing
company system. These software not only stops hackers but also save the data in any conditions
like if system damages then these softwares has back up of data by that company can again
access their data by following some steps.

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Conclusion
The report concludes that Arnott’s biscuit company is making biscuit from 1865. The company
is the largest manufacturer of various varieties of biscuits in Australia and second largest supplier
of snack food. The company is the subsidiary company of the United States Campbell Soup
Company. The report focuses on the business process of the company where how they make
biscuit and their production lines are described in brief. Along with this, this report mentions the
requirement of business as well system. Various requirements of both these are mention above.
To be successful in the market it is essential to choose correct vendor and softwares and Arnott’s
biscuits are very much conscious about this. In addition, this report explains the reason by which
company can improve their efficiency (Slack, 2015). The report also concludes the various
security risks and company is spending god amount of money to protect their systems and data.