Information Systems in Organization Report - Business Strategies

This report delves into the critical role of information systems within organizations, examining various system types such as transaction processing, management information, and decision support systems. It explores the specific information needs of different functional areas like marketing, human resources, finance, and operations, highlighting how these systems facilitate effective decision-making and enhance operational efficiency. The report discusses current trends in information system applications, including Enterprise Resource Planning and networking, and evaluates the suitability of different systems for diverse organizational functions, using Tesco as a case study. The analysis covers the benefits and drawbacks of a selected information system, providing insights into its crucial aspects and its contribution to solving various business problems. The report emphasizes the importance of accurate and timely information for strategic planning and competitive advantage.

INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN
ORGANIZATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P 1.1 Information for different functional areas of an organisation.......................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P2.1 different types of Information Systems.........................................................................3
P2.2 current trends in using Information Systems applications to solve business problems. 5
P2.3 the suitability of Information Systems for different functional areas of an organisation. .7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P 3.1 information system to generate valid, accurate and useful information for solving
various problem......................................................................................................................9
P3.2 Evaluate alternative methods of solving the problem..................................................11
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................2

INTRODUCTION
Information system in a company plays an important role as it provides assistance for
handling the information at various level that leads to effective decision making by the efficient
use of the information which is present. Also it leads to minimise the time and cost related
factors which is associated with the proper handling of the data in a firm. These are many kinds
of information sources which can be transaction processing system, management information
system, decision support system and executive information system. These systems are used at
various level and are implied in several decision making which is important for every
organisation in order to maintain its effectiveness in the aspect of its functions and operations
that will lead to provide success and accomplishment of their goals (Laudon and Laudon,
2016). This report includes description of various types of information systems which are used in
a company. Along with that the needs of various kind of information which can be used at
certain functional areas for an organisation. Also, current trends has been discussed which is
currently used by various experts in several information system which can be related to certain
aspects. The evaluation of the suitability of various systems of information has been performed
at different functional areas of company. A particular information system has been selected
whose benefits and disadvantages have been discussed in the report which would provide an
idea regarding it crucial aspects.
TASK 1
P 1.1 Information for different functional areas of an organisation
Information is an important aspect of every company because it is considered as the
foundation for every important decision-making which leads to improve various aspects such as
economically, technologically and even socially. To sustain in a market, it is very important to
analyse all factors which requires an accurate facts and figure. There are several departments in a
firm such as finance, human resource, marketing and sales department and operations. Every
department has different requirements of data related to their fields to make effective strategies
which provides company a competitive edge and is necessary to maximise their shares in the
market.
The marketing and sales department of Tesco requires various records of past sales and
all minute information regarding it. The marketing department requires details of a particular
market where they compete to enter; these information can be related to nature of customers,
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demands in market, various demographic data in order to perform segmentation for targeting
specific customers whose needs and expectations will be basis for making company's vision
which provides a direction to carry every activities (Laudon and Laudon, 2015).
The sales department collects data from various areas in order to make sales report which
provides an idea how much the strategy that are formed by marketing executives are successful
in implementation (Liu, Liang and Wang, 2016). In addition, product portfolio is carried out by
procuring all necessary information in order to develop it so that it can cope up with dynamic
changes in expectations of a consumer.
Human Resource Department requires HRIS which means HR Information System which
is very important to acquire information regarding employees. This system helps to maintain
details of workers which can even be used for important decisions such as human resource
auditing, and providing workers according to demands so that there would be no surplus or
scarcity of employees which can be very disadvantageous for an organisation and would affect
the functionality aspect.
In addition, the department requires information related to employee performance so that
they can analyse it and forms several strategies to make it better while finding reasons which are
associated with it. These data help to maintain records and information regarding the
contribution of each employee which leads them to provide equal monetary as well as non-
monetary benefits resulting in development of effective employee relation and creates a suitable
working environment. It increases the capability for creating more effective plan and also
controlling and managing the cost related to HR and also to maximise the efficiency and quality
in decision making and also improving the productivity and making it more effective. It provides
payroll, training, benefits compliance and recruiting solutions.
Financial department deals with the management of budget and various decisions which
are related to resource allocation. It also includes various information which is related to
accounts for paying the bill of several goods and services and collecting appropriate income.
This department deals with financial aspect and requires data related to nation's economy and
factors such as inflation rate, taxes, balance of trade, exchange rate which affects the financial
position of Tesco therefore it is very important to have proper facts and figures which facilitate
in formation of effective financial budget based on these factors (Hashem, 2015).
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In the production and operations department one has to seek and collect details regarding
the inventory and quality management. It helps to acquire adequate amount of inventory and also
leads to make them stored so that the organisation never runs out of resources which is very
essential as it does not create any halt in production of firm (Tarhini, Arachchilage and Abbasi,
2015). All information regarding processes of supply chain management must be recorded so
that every resource can be reached on time and also.
TASK 2
P2.1 different types of Information Systems
There are six major types of Information System which is discussed as below:
Any typical firm can have six types of major information system that are operated at
different level and provide support in various aspects. These systems are transaction processing
system(TPS) which is preferred at an operational level, office automation system(OAS) and
Knowledge Work Systems(KWS) which is implemented at Knowledge level, Management
Information System (MIS) and also Decision Support System (DSS) at Management level along
with executive support system (ESS) at the level where several strategies are made.
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Illustration 1: Various Information System

Transaction Processing System
Every other organisation has a need for processing many transactions in order for
performing the daily operation. It is known as any activity or event which has a tendency to
affect the company. Also depending upon the business of a firm , transaction might differ
according to purposes. For an example in a manufacturing unit transaction can include entry of
an order , receipts related to various goods , shipping etc. on the other hand in all banks, the
transaction might include all withdrawals and deposits along with cashing of related cheques etc.
Also, some transactions can be related to placing of orders, customer billing, employees hiring,
record keeping of employees which can be common to all organisation and for supporting these
activities it uses transaction processing system which facilitates each operations.
Office Automation Systems
It is regarded as the group of various communication technologies, computers and
individuals that together performs all tasks which are official. It provides execution for official
transactions and provides support for all the official events at every level of a firm. These certain
activities can be clerical or managerial activities.
This system has many applications such as word processing, e-mails and electronic filling
which provides integration related to office automation system.
The word processing application ion can be used for preparing many documents such as letters,
memos, reports or any kind of printable material by the means of electronic mediums.
These can be used for transferring messages instantly.
Voice mails are regarded as important services fro calling that allows various features such as
recording and also strong of telephonic messages.
Knowledge Work Systems
It is considered as system which is specially build for promoting the creation of any
knowledge related aspect for making sure that many technical and knowledge skills are properly
used that leads to integrate into the business. It provides assistance to certain knowledge
employees fro creation and propagation of new information and also related knowledge by
giving several graphics, communications, analytical and others for managing documents
(Petrovic and et.al., 2017). The knowledge work system shall have an user friendly interface
which aid them for accessing the required information instantly.
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Some of the knowledge work systems are computer aided designs , financial
workstations and virtualise reality systems.
Management Information System
It is regarded as the software which provides support fro planning , controlling and other
decision making aspects of a manager. These system provides extraction for the transaction of
data that consist of Transaction Processing System and leads to its compilation which results in
the production of products which provides certain information in the form of a report , response
or even a display. The resultants which are given by this system leads to confirm the needs which
are related to decision making process of supervisors as well as managers.
Decision Support system
It is an information system which is interactive computer based information system
which includes MIS and also leads to serve the managing level of an organisation. These leads
to analyse every information which is used for knowledge purpose and then with the
interpolation of the related knowledge and facts these can be used for effective decision making.
These systems has more analytical powers in comparison to other information system. The lead
to the implication of various decision models that are used for analysing or summarising large
data for making comparisons or an important decisions.
Executive Support System
This system is regarded as the extension of Management Information System. It is an
information system which is computer based and also used by the top management level for
decision making process. It provides assistance to monitor the performance and tracking the
activities of competitors , identifying opportunities and forecasting trends. This is mostly used by
senior managers.
TESCO uses Management Information system for efficient management of data and
other informative resources. MIS performs the following functions in the organisation :
 It leads to improve the decision of the company by resolving various issues and provide
most accurate as well as fast information.
 It improves the efficiency by helping them managers for conducting every task with an
ease.
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 It provides a greater connection of data from every department that leads to provide a
greater connectivity.
According to the needs of the company as being one of the largest and global organisation tesco
needs to improve the efficiency of data which is required to be handled effectively as it can
provide a great ease for making effective decision in a sufficient and limited time that can bring
impactful results. Also, it requires faster access of data from any of the branch situated across the
world.
P2.2 current trends in using Information Systems applications to solve business problems
There are various trends which are been adopted by many companies for making their
information management more effective and efficient. These trends are discussed as below:
Enterprise Resource Planning
It is a software which is installed in every department of the company and the branches
that leads to provide enhancement in the accessibility to the information of a company. As with
the globalisation in the economy as well as the market place, companies have many sorted eats
which leads to improvise the ability for collecting and reporting various financial data to
management level for effective decision making. ERP leads to fill this respective void by
allowing the firm for using single computer system fro effective recording of every information.
Networking
Another trend which has been adopt for information system is the ability of a firm for
creating network with other subsidiaries for the purpose of business . Manufacturing
organisation can lead to shorten the supply chain with the usage of electronic data interchange
for transferring the necessary data which can be related to ordering of the products. The
networking also allows the easy transfer of money with the help of banks that has leaded to
create a process which is quick fro bill payments and purchase of materials ( Management
Information Systems Trends,2018). Networking has lead to made the interconnectivity of
various organisations in the industry to be very strong which saves time and also cost which was
earlier spent on the transaction of any particular information of financial amount related to any
deal or fulfilling the demand.
Data Mining
It is known to be the important trend which provides an ability for an organisation for
using certain tools for data mining for collecting information that can be related to purchase of
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consumer products and other trends in an economy. This leads for allowing the management for
translating the information into certain goals and along with that in a particular direction for
managing the operations of future business. Also many software has been in trending that allow
the firm for projecting and emerging the consumers for various profitable operations. As there is
a lot of vague and ambiguous data in the surrounding one has to find out the one which is
beneficial for certain decision making therefore the data mining tolls provides the selection of
appropriate data that results in saving time and also the cost which can implemented for mining
the information which is useful.
Data Base Management System
Database management system is used for maintaining various data in the company and
provide several functions which are associated with it such as easy access, retrieving, deletion
and managing data which can be very beneficial. Also, all the large data are managed so
effectively that it leads to avoid many complexities which are associated with it. All the issues
related to these data are efficiently solved because it leads to provide the effective and
systematised structure of all the information which is related to the company.
Big Data Analytics
This software nowadays act as saviour for providing assistance to retrieving out the data
which is important and provide vast source of information. As present scenario is facing the
problem related to big data which means that there is a wide availability of the data in the current
world and can provide the one those important data which can make certain decision more
effective which can be be implemented in future. This software provides source to those
important data which is used for resolution of the particular problem that might create many
disadvantages for the organisation (Gallagher and Sixsmith, 2014). Company hires many big
data analyst that performs all the activities which are related to retrieving the data from such
enormous one and also letting the complete retrieval of every data.
P2.3 the suitability of Information Systems for different functional areas of an organisation
There are many functional areas in a company which uses all the information
system for various purposes in order to take effective decision making which can provide many
benefits and also can help to achieve the desired goals. Not every system software has the
suitability for every department in a firm, therefore every it is important to know the role of
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every system in order to maintain the quality of every factor that facilitates in the process of
decision making.
There are main five types of information system which is used by the organisation and
the suitability of these is completely dependent on the characteristic and features of them. The
transaction processing system involves the maintenance of every activities which occurs in the
company and can be related to transaction of information or even related to financial aspects
so ,TPS is mostly used by the lower level employees of every departments that handles the
record keeping of all the events and money related activities which is mostly used in Finance
Department and Production and Operation departments to keep the records of every activity
which is occurring in the field and also providing the complete scenario of what is being
transacted along with its complete decision which is further used to record keeping and adding
into the accounts and is analysed by the financial experts who are there to keep the transaction of
the Financial aspect to be impactful and lead to proper decision making that would lead to
improve the financial status of a company and also would lead to provide solution for various
problems which can be related to market economy and would also results in the effective
solution for all these problems. In the production and operations department there are many
transactions which can be related to ordering the goods, shipping them at given addresses and
also the information related to warehousing and producing them in order to maintain the
adequate amount of goods which is neither less nor more; all these transactions are kept as a
record in the transaction processing system which provides effective solution for any problem
which can arises due to these business activities.
As the human resource department deals with the workers and its important decision
which leads to trainman the productive environment of a company and leads to establish a good
relation which is very important in order to maintain the effectiveness of work in a company. For
this the department has to analyse various aspects which are related to them such as their
performance, leaves, analysis of skills and assessing certain factors that can lead to provide.
Therefore it requires decision support system which can lead to provide the result which is based
on the facts and figures by effectively interpreting them that would generate a certain conclusion
and would lead to determine the strategies which is completely based on these aspect. All the
important decision are taken by concerning all the factors which playing the crucial role for the
organisation.
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Also, the marketing and sales departments holds the decision support system which leads
to provide the analysis of data which are related to past sales. For making several effective
strategies related to market plan can be made by marketers which would lead to increase the
sales of the company's product or services in the market that could be only possible through the
analysis of past sales record and its interpretation which is taken as the base for the modification
in various factors such as the features of offerings in order to create a competitive advantage that
would lead to provide many advantages.
Management Information system is used by the head of every department in order to send
the data which can be regarded as an input for another department. Through this system the
senior manager are able to coordinate every task and their respective activities (Bajdor and
Grabara, 2014). The major benefit which is associated with this task is that the information can
be accessed instantly along with that the transfer can be be done in the quickest manner which
saves the time and also the efforts.
And the most important system is executive information system which is used by the
management panel which includes chief executive officer and other important members which
use this tool for analysing certain aspects which can be external as well as internal factors and
can lead to make the effective strategies which could be beneficial for the organisation and also
for the formation of various policies and important decision making.
TASK 3
P 3.1 information system to generate valid, accurate and useful information for solving various
problem
“As globalisation and the 24-hour economy develop and increase, organisations must
ensure that their Information Systems are reliable, efficient and able to cope with rapid change.
organisations diversify and decentralise, information also needs to be available to many non-
managerial staff in a variety of locations” This was stated in the scenario and the major problems
which were discussed was the reliability, efficiency and the adaptability of a system. There can
be many systems which is useful and can fulfil all these concern of a company therefore the most
suitable and best options can be the Enterprise Resource Planing software that can be the best
choice available for and would lead to provide effective results.
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Enterprise Resource Planning is regarded as an combination of the concept of managing
all the processes which are related to core business in real time scenarios and also which is
facilitated by certain software's and the related technology.
It is referred as business management software which is the amalgam of various
applications which a company utilise for collecting, storage, managing and interpreting the
particular data from the occurrence of activities. It leads to give continuous updated view of
every activities which are performed in a business and leads to give a desired result which is very
important for a company in order to achieve something which is desirable. ERP can effectively
track raw materials, cash, production capacity and also the related status of various commitments
which are related to business, orders related to purchase and the associated payroll. It provides
facilitation in the sharing of the resources within each department and along with that allows the
easy flow of information for every department and also between various functions of business
and provides the connection for other stakeholders which are outside the organisation. ERP
provides an integration of various features such as combining all the functions of a company and
helps for transactions and also production which are error free. This system can be easily
established and provide various assistance (Tahri, Hakdaoui and Maanan, 2015). There are many
characteristics which provides the perfect idea that it is suitable for solving all the related
problems which are faced by mostly every firm while implementing any new information
system. ERP is considered as the system which is completely integrated, it operates in real time,
it is regarded as the database which is common and supports every application, easy setup and
maintenance provides it an advantage over other.
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