Report: Implementing a New Information Management System at ABC Timber

This report analyzes the proposed implementation of a new information management system (IMS) at ABC Timber, a hardware store company. It begins by outlining the current organizational structure and stakeholder relationships, highlighting the importance of the sales manager. The report details the benefits of the new IMS, including increased staff engagement, information flexibility, and scalability. It then addresses the challenges associated with IMS implementation, such as management, environmental, technical, human, and time constraints. The planning activities involved, including strategic, operational, and resource planning, are discussed, alongside the outcomes of the planning process. The report explores how human resource management and supply chain management can leverage the new IMS to improve business operations, and details the financial benefits. It also highlights the use of emerging technologies like mobile applications, cloud computing, and big data analytics. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of staff training and addresses legal and ethical considerations such as acceptable use policies, copyright, and privacy. This analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the new IMS and its potential impact on ABC Timber.

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ABC Timber

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ABC timber and hardware is a company of hardware stores which operates all over the
country. There are 12 branches of the company and every branch consists of a sales
representative. An annual sales conference is held every year in which all the sales
representatives discuss the work done in that particular year. The end users of the company
are the customers and the management team comprises of the representatives, sales manager
and the administration.
The external stakeholders of the current information system are the customers who have trust
in the company. The internal stakeholders are basically the sales manager and his team. All of
the representatives of the sales manager’s team have to submit monthly reports on their
activities. When the sales manager receives this report he analyses it and then discuss the
issues with the respective representative. The sales manager has an authority to fill the reports
along with his comments in the office filing system. Then the administrative department
prepares a report of the sales manager and his team of each branch. In the end, these reports
are analysed by the board of directors. The company also has an accounting system which is
a database and consists of information of the purchasing information of the customers. The
sales manager is the most important stakeholder of the company. This is because if the sales
manager retires nobody will have access to his information and the data. In short, the sales
manager directly influences the company (Borgeios, 2016).
The new information management system will increase staff engagement, information
flexibility and scalability of the system. As the basic features of the new information
management systems are,
 It will provide all the information of the business to the appropriate individual and the
department
 It will also allow the new sales person to access all the information which the senior
sales staff access.
 It will be used adequately by all the staff members
 It will allow the staff members to work with new technologies like mobile computing
and cloud computing which will make their work flexible
 The scalability of the system will increase as the functions of sales; marketing and
customer services will be automated and consolidated (Segal, 2016).

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There are various types of challenges in successfully implementing a new information
management system into the existing business like,
1. Management challenges- Most of the times, the senior managers do not understand
the purpose of the new IMS and hence they do not approve it.They also have a
problem of budgeting, and personnel management.
2. Environment issues- The organisation’s culture, change and behaviour along with
poor coordination of the team members are also some of the challenges faced in
implementing new IMS.
3. Technical system- The technical systems such as the hardware and the software
requirements are the biggest issue in implementing the new IMS. As the up gradation
of the existing software into new software gets difficult to implement.
4. Human challenges- For implementing a new system proper learning and training have
to be provided to the staff members.Inconsistent and inadequate training leads to
failure of the new information management system. As a result, the system does not
fulfil the expectations and the demands of the customers.
5. Time challenge- Many times implementation of the new information system takes a
lot of time and hence affects the business in a negative way (Mancini, 2010).
The planning activities involved in planning new information systems are:
1. Strategic Planning-The new information system should have strategic organizational
goals.
2. Operational Planning- It comprises of the plans like the annual operating budget and
the information system project plans.
3. Resource Planning- A brief evaluation of the financial and technology resources
which will be needed to develop a new information system (Grevendonk, 2016).
The various outcomes of the planning process will be;
1. Define the conclusion- A brief description of the new information system i.e. how
will it benefit the company and what will be its future scope should be defined
precisely.
2. Formation of team- The various skills which will be needed by the team members and
then the formation of team is done accordingly.
3. Acquisition- The mandatory hardware and software resources have to be collected.

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4. Development of software- Development of the new information system i.e. the
important computer programs.
5. Training- Conduct brief training of all the staff members and the end users to get an
understanding of the new system.
6. Testing- This step is important as proper testing of the new information management
system should be done. If there is any problem then corrections should be made on the
programs and the hardware.
7. Adaptation- Finally, conversion of the old information system into the new
information management system takes place (Anderson, 2016).
The human resource management could be used by the new information management system
to improve business operations as they provide many features to the employees. They allow
independent access of data to the employees and hence it saves time. The automatic tracking
of the staff members helps human resource management to evaluate the performance of the
employees and as a result the staff members will work more effectively. The human resource
management can also provide the training courses through internet so that the employees
learn more easily (Diamond, 2006).
Supply chain management can also be used by the new information system.The various
advantages of using new information system are,
 It provides faster access to the market of new products and services.
 It provides better services to the customers
 The growth of sales is very high
 Eventually it lowers the cost of production and inventory (Osterhaug, 2016).
All these features will improve the business operations of the company and the
productivity will increase.
The financial management can also be used by the new information system to improve the
business operations as the new information system will give all the records of the employees.
The accounts receivable records, accounts payable records, payroll records, inventory control
records and the general ledgers will be recorded in the new information system. As a result, it
will make easy for the financial management to access the records and the business
operations will improve eventually (Rietsema, 2016).
The three emerging technologies which can be used by the new system are:

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1. Mobile application-The system can also be used on the mobile phones with the help
of mobile applications. The use of mobile applications will make easy for the
customers to get the information of the company.
2. Cloud computing-With the usage of cloud computing, the IT infrastructure cost of the
company gets reduced. Cloud computing advertises virtualisation with the help of
which the server and the storage devices can be used across the organisation.
3. Big data analytics-Big data comprises of statistics, operations and computer
programming research. It helps in decision-making processes and also helps the
company understand the customer needs (Rossi, 2015).
For effective use of the new information system, all the staff members should know how to
use it. Hence, proper training and development programs should be organised to make them
understand the system. Few mentors should be assigned to each team so that they can solve
their problems and understand the system more efficiently.
The various legal requirements and ethical issues impacting on the new information
management system and its users are:
 Acceptable Use Policies- This policy gives a brief description of what is allowed and
what is not allowed when someone if using the services of the company.
 Copyright- This gives the company an advantage that their information system is their
copyright and nobody can have access to it other than the company’s members.
 Privacy Act- The privacy of the customer’sshould be authenticated.
 Restrictions on record collecting of the customers.

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References
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