Decision Support System Implementation in PwC: A Comprehensive Report

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Managing Information System
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Executive Summary:
The report consists of a description of Decision Support Systems in PwC. It consists of a brief
explanation of the organization’s vision, mission, and processes of the business. It consists of the
external and internal operating environment and provides various problems and opportunities for
Information System and Information Technology. A cost-benefit analysis will be conducted of
the decision support system. A presentation will be formed for the designing of the system and
system analysis. The report will consist of the development and implementation of the system.
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Contents
Executive Summary:........................................................................................................................2
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................4
MC 1: Content – clear understanding of issues...............................................................................5
 Description of organizational context (good brief description of the chosen organization
(e.g., industry, visions, missions, business processes).................................................................5
 The internal and external environment of the Price Waterhouse Coopers...........................6
 Clearly identify the problem/opportunity for IS/IT..............................................................7
 Clearly justify your choice of the proposed system (including cost/benefit analysis plus at
least one other feasibility studies); clearly explain how the information system that you are
proposing will support the strategic goals of the organization....................................................9
How the proposed CRM will support the strategic goals of the organization...........................10
 Present system analysis and system design for the intended system..................................10
 Explain how the system will be developed, tested and implemented.................................12
 Post-Implementation Activities..........................................................................................15
 Project Management, Risk Management, and Change Management.................................17
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................18
References:....................................................................................................................................19
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Introduction:
PwC is the multinational company of Australia, headquartered in London. PwC provides
professional services all over the world and ranked as second largest company after Deloitte.
Price water Coopers was formed in 1998 by the merging of Price Waterhouse with Cooper and
Lybrand. The below report consists of the various discussions in regard to the Decision Support
System of PwC. It presents a system design and analysis for the same. The report discusses the
opportunities, threats, and problems which are related to the information technology and
information system of the company. In this report, it will be discussed how the decision support
system is developed by the management team of the PwC, the process of testing the system and
finally implementing the same. The report will also include various activities that are applied by
the company after the implementation of the system. In the report, the discussion will include the
meaning of project management, management regarding the implementation of the decision
support system and risk management. It will include several features of ERP system, executive
information system, knowledge management system, CRM systems, management information
system, etc. The report will include designing and analyzing the decision support system so that
PwC can make better decisions in the operations of the company. The decision-making process
of the company is important to take all the vital decisions of the company and to improve the
productivity of the company and increase the goodwill of the company. The company aims to
provide quality services and for the same, it is planning to develop a decision support system.
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MC 1: Content – clear understanding of issues.
 Description of organizational context (good brief description of the chosen
organization (e.g., industry, visions, missions, business processes)
Business process:
The business process is an important process which helps in contributing the success of the
company. PwC, Price Waterhouse Coopers, is a multinational company providing several
professional services to its clients all over the world. PwC is ranked at a second largest
organization that provides professional services after Deloitte. PwC is a London based company
deals in 158 countries. It operates in services like advisory, assurance, and tax. The advisory
services as provided by the PwC consist of services in relation to the financial audit. The
advisory service as provided by PwC consists of consultancy departments, Actuarial and
Insurance Management Solutions, and Human Resource Services. Actuarial services include 5
main areas, life insurance, investments, pensions, non- life insurance and health. Tax includes
compliance with local laws, International tax planning, health resource consulting, transfer
pricing, customs, and legal services (Höhenberger, et. al., 2016).
PwC brings the power of various networks in order to provide aid to different Australian
business firms, governments, and non- profit organizations to assess the performance and make
improvements in their working operations.
The purpose of PwC is to solve the various important problems and build trust in society.
The vision of PwC is to attain the highest market share and become one of the leading
companies in order to build trust in society. The Vision 2025 of PwC states that as the business
environment is rapidly changing into digital society, it aims to serve the need of “Trust” by
being the leading organization of the world and by building trust in the digital society by means
of an approach, namely, quality- driven for the purpose of foundation of the business of PwC.
The Vision statement of PwC is “The purpose of PwC is to build trust and solve vital
problems of the society”.
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The values of PwC consist of integrity, working together, make a difference, and reimagine the
possibility, care.
The mission of PwC consists of providing a level of services to its clients and contributes to the
sustainable growth of the country's economy. This can be possible by the execution of fair,
vigorous, and high- quality audits which can be conducted on the basis of creative teamwork,
and clear and transparent leadership. The mission of the PwC can be achieved with the support
of all the employees of the company.
 The internal and external environment of the Price Waterhouse Coopers involves
the different factors that affect the working of the organization. The management
information system of the organization is affected by the internal and external factors of
the environment (Wang, et, al., 2015). The internal factors that affect the company are:
 Management structure: The internal environment of the business involves the management
changes in the business organization which affects the management information system. The
management changes in the business organization are a daily routine as the organization
involves many changes in the process and performance of the employees. The management
information system affects the management changes as the system will help to transfer the
data from one level to another.
 Employees: The most important element of the internal environment of the company is the
employees which are affected by the choice of the management information system. The
management information system used by the employees of PWC also allows sharing the
information and communication between the different levels of the organization.
 Communication structure: The communication structure of the PWC organization affects
the working and goal accomplishment of the company. The employees using the
management information system to deliver the message and goals of the organization affect
the company. The communication structure should be well operated as this will affect the
company performance.
The external environment factors which affect the management information system are:
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 Changes in the economy: The change in the economy whether it is in the political or
financial environment affects the company performance and working. The external
environment affects the company by influencing the decisions taken by the management.
The changes in the external environment are communicated to all the employees through the
management information system. This system helps in taking the right decisions for the
PWC organisation.
 Threats from the competitors: The competitors of the PWC organisation affect the profit
making and goal accomplishment of the company. The management information system will
help the company to take the decisions according to the competitive strategy and planning.
The company also plans the different strategies for the substitute products and services.
 Environmental factors: The increasing concern for the environment and sustainability also
affects the decision making of the management information system. The management
information system affects the company decisions which should be taken according to the
corporate social responsibility of the company.
 Clearly identify the problem/opportunity for IS/IT
The PricewaterhouseCoopers is deciding to implement the System Decision Support
Systemwithin the system and function of the company. It would help the company to improve
the efficiency of the company in different aspects. It would help the company to execute its
function through the digital technology advancements. Some of the most prominent advantages
or the opportunities of in cooperating the System Decision Support System are as follows:
 Effective Communication:
This would help the company to maintain the effective communication with the
consumers of the company and would help the company to build stronger relationship
with the costumers of the company. The digital technology would help the PwC
Company to enhance its method of communication with the customers of the company.
This would enable the company to improve the decision making process of the company
and also help the company to design the policies of the effectively. It would not only help
the company to improve the communication among the members of the company but also
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among the employees of the company to maintain the effective communication with each
other.
 Improved Efficiency:
Due to the incorporation of the efficient System Decision Support System, The Company
would be able to bring efficiency at the workforce of the company. It would help the
employees of the company to work effectively within the prescribed time limit. It would
help the company to respond to the costumers regarding their queries in the most
effective and efficient manner.
 Competitive Advantage:
The effective and efficient System Decision Support System would help the company to
gain the competitive advantages against the present competitors of the company. It would
help the company to fight through the competition with its efficiency in the quality of its
products and services the company is promising to provide to its customers. It would help
the company to provide the best of its services at the most affordable prices possible
provided by the company. This would help the company to deals with the competition of
the company in the market.
 Financial Efficiency:
The modern information system would help the company and the benefits extracted from
the help would help the company to earn more profit in the market. By gaining the
competitive advantage in the market, the company would be able to excel in the market
which would help the company to strengthen its p[position and reputation in the market
which would eventually help the company to earn more profits in the market than any
other company in the market.
The above four prominent advantages or the opportunities of the System Decision Support
System clearly describe the efficiency that the decision system would bring in the company
and would help the company to earn more profits and would help the company to gain
competitive advent.
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 Clearly justify your choice of the proposed system (including cost/benefit analysis
plus at least one other feasibility studies); clearly explain how the information
system that you are proposing will support the strategic goals of the organization.
The Price water house Coopers Company is expecting to implement the Customer Relationship
Management within its system of workplace. The benefits of the CRM Software would help the
PwC Company in the following manner:
 It would help the company to keep the records of the important clients or the customers
of the company in order to keep the track of them. It would help the company to maintain
prolong relationship with its customers.
 It would help the company to keep the confidential data of the clients intact and securely.
 It would also the company to analyses the actual needs of the customers in the most
desirable manner by the company.
Cost-benefit analysis of CRM:
The Customer Relationship Management technique would help the PwC Company to keep the
much targeted approach by understanding the need of the customers and the market (Rai, 2012).
It would help the company in the most effective and time saving manner. The cost benefit
analysis would help the company to calculate the total the benefit that can be incurred through
the CRM Software (Bansal and Dhawan, 2017). According to cost benefit analysis the company
is able to earn around $65000 through the CRM software (Nas, 2016). As the company spends
around $45000 while implement and launching the system within the company and the profit
company has earned was around $20000.
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How the proposed CRM will support the strategic goals of the organization
The Customer Relationship Management would help the company to maintain a strong bond and
relations with its customer. It would help the company to implement the reviews, opinions and
the demand of the customers in the decisions making process of the company (Salesmantra.com,
2019). It would also help the company to produce consumer centric product which would help
the company to meet with the demand of the customers within the market effectively and
efficiently.
 Present system analysis and system design for the intended system
The decision support system is an application that is used for the evaluation of the data of the
PWC Company to take the decision for the business operations. The business operations of the
company affect the planning and controlling of the business activities of the company. The
information is stored in the company database for the evaluation of company records and
information. The intended system of the management information system helps in taking the
decisions by evaluating different aspects of the business and organisation. The system design is
based on the needs and preference of the employees and management of the company. The
system will help in taking prompt decisions for the emergency situations and problems. The
decision support system will also help in providing information during the problem and
complicated phase in the business (Hu and Sheng, 2014). The design support system of the
company will affect the business goals and objectives of the company. The decision support
system will be follows the following elements:
 The decision support system may have the data storage and evaluation system which affects
the working and performance of the employees. The decision support system may have
artificial intelligence that is used for the data extraction and evaluation. The data and
information system also helps in solving the problems of the company through improved
efficiency.
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 The decision support system also helps in taking the information from the market research
and industry of the company. The system helps in taking the decisions according to the
external factors like the competitors, substitute products and suppliers. The decision support
can be customized according to the industry of the PWC Company.
 The goals and objectives of the company also affect the design of the decision support
system in the PWC organisation. The people who will use the decision support system also
affect the design of the system. The decision support system is mainly used by the top level
management which takes the most of the important decisions in the company for the PWC.
 The decision support system is also affected by the internal management and communication
structure that is followed by the company to deliver the information and data between the
management systems. The management system of the company is affected by performance
of the employees and stakeholders.
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 Explain how the system will be developed, tested and implemented.
A decision support system is basically an information system. This system helps in the decision
making of the organizational and business. The planning levels, operations and the management
of the organization are served by the DSS (Sharma, et. al., 2019).
Development
To serve the above mentioned objectives, the decision support system has to be developed, tested
and then implemented in the organization.
The development methodologies of the decision support system are as follows-
1. Decision driven methodologies- the comprehensive analysis is been focused of the
decision making process. The decision support system also helps in the improvement and
support of the process.
2. Process driven methodologies- the representative of the system capacities which use this
process, is the central component of decision support system development.
3. Data driven methodologies- In this methodology, the concentration is on the design,
management, decision support system database definition and the contrast.
4. System driven methodologies- the system theory helps in the analysis of the DSS’s
internal component.
The series of phases which are to be followed while the development of the decision support
system is mentioned by every methodology, except the system-driven (Sharma, et. al., 2019).
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