University Assignment: Swifty Unified Management System (SUMS) Report

This report details the development of the Swifty Unified Management System (SUMS), a modern information system designed for the Melbourne-based vehicle rental business, Swifty. The report explores the crucial aspects of information management and system capabilities, including the flow of information across operational, tactical, and strategic management levels. It highlights the perceived business benefits of SUMS, such as increased efficiency, improved decision-making, and enhanced communication, alongside the resources required for its implementation. A stakeholder map, using a Power/Interest Grid, identifies key stakeholders and their interests in the project. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of monitoring the system's progress and addressing any challenges that arise, ensuring the successful integration and operation of SUMS to support Swifty's day-to-day operations and strategic goals. References to relevant literature are also included.

Running head: SWIFTY UNIFIED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SUMS)
The Development of A Modern Information System to Support the Day To Day Operations of A
Case Study Company [Swifty Unified Management System (SUMS)]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1SWIFTY UNIFIED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SUMS)
Table of Contents
Project Introduction.........................................................................................................................2
Important system capabilities..........................................................................................................2
Perceived business benefits.............................................................................................................4
Resources required...........................................................................................................................5
Stakeholder map..............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9

2SWIFTY UNIFIED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SUMS)
Project Introduction
Management of information has been of key importance for modern organizations.
Today, organizations deal with information sharing on a daily basis. The use of information is
not just limited to updating a system, but also making strategic decisions. About this concern, the
storage of necessary data and utilization of the data by the right party has become a necessity
today. This report is also related to the same theme as it intends to develop a new information
system for the Melbourne based vehicle rental business, Swifty. The information management
system to be developed is named as “Swifty Unified Management System (SUMS)”. The client
company, Swifty wants a few things to be embedded into SUMS. These things will be taken into
consideration while developing the modern information systems.
Important system capabilities
The management system will increase the capabilities of the information management
system currently a part of Swifty in many ways. These are explained below:
Flow of Information
In any organization generally, the flow of information happens at many levels such as
Operational management, Tactical management and Strategic management level (Cassidy,
2016).
At the operational management level, people are generally concerned with the technical
side of the story. These people require information mostly every day. In some cases, these people
may be concerned with the total inventory of the raw material or the stock left for each business

3SWIFTY UNIFIED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SUMS)
item. These people are very vital for a company as it deals with the availability of inventory and
stocks (Nemtajela & Mbohwa, 2017). Now, with SUMS in place, cars can be tracked for many
purposes. The mechanical condition of cars can be updated based on the data obtained from any
routine checkup of cars. Any servicing needs of cars can straightway reach to the third-party
service provider with just the exchange of information on SUMS. The third-party service
provider by logging into the system can get updates on any service need. Besides, they can also
place the service invoice on SUMS once the work is done. These things were happening earlier
as well; however, in a very unorganized way. Now, the dealing of cases will happen in an
organized manner. The records of each deal can also be stored safely in the management system.
Admin heads will be there at the tactical level of Swifty. Admin's heads have bigger
responsibilities from checking the mechanical conditions of cars to updating it on the system.
Admin heads will also be dealing with the service provider, which has been the partnered
company for Swifty for many years. Apart from this, Swifty also has a contract with a third-party
provider of location access. Swifty uses their service to track the movement of cars and any
intentional damage done to these. The modern management system for Swifty will enable admin
heads to connect with the third party’s web server to efficiently track the live location of cars
(Eroshkin et al., 2017).
The strategic management level is represented generally by the company’s managers.
Swifty also has managers at its strategic management level who are concerned with management
reports to evaluate the performance of the business (Pearlson, Saunders & Galletta, 2019).
SUMS will enable the managers to access a variety of reports to be of their use such as total
rental earnings weekly or monthly, vehicle utilization reports, per-car rental earnings, repair
history for vehicles, at-risk customers, customer demographics, etc.

4SWIFTY UNIFIED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SUMS)
The flow of information in Swifty will happen from the strategic management level to
tactical management to operational management.
Perceived business benefits
The implementation of SUMS in Swifty should produce many benefits. The perceived
benefits of SUMS are as mentioned below (Karlinsky-Shichor & Zviran, 2016):
 Increased Efficiency – With SUMS in place, the company’s database will have
important data in huge quantities. The huge pieces of data can be accessed easily with
just a click of a few simple steps on the tool. Any technical fault in cars can easily be
identified and reported to the third-party service provider. The service provider can easily
update many details on SUMS like the kinds of faults were detected and amounts to be
paid to the service provider. Besides, these data will be easily stored to SUMS and be
used for future reference.
 Quality Decision Making – The amount of data stored on SUMS can be utilized to make
quality decisions. For example, when a car has grown old and needs a replacement, the
manager will easily get to know about the urgency. The decision to buy a new car can
then be taken. Once the car has been purchased it can be updated straightway into the
system to keep a track of it in many respects like make and model of the car, year,
seating, mechanical specifications, capacity and in-car facilities.
 Improved Communication between Departments – SUMS will effectively improve the
exchange of communication at the organizational level and with the third-party service
providers working with Swifty. Any old or mechanically weak car can be easily tracked.

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Any new purchase can be updated for its related details. These pieces of information are
necessary to track the car strength of Swifty and communicate any service needs with the
service provider. Moreover, the data related to car theft can be stored and used in the
future for making strategies to discourage such criminal acts.
 Company’s Competitive Advantage will be Stronger – Today, in a highly competitive
environment, it is necessary to effectively identify the relative movements of the rivals,
changing trends of the market and unpredictable consumer behavior. This awareness re
required to identify new business needs and accordingly devise new strategies. From
devising strategies to executing it appropriately, data is required in every single purpose.
With SUMS in place, Swifty will have access to a huge database utilizing which they can
reach important conclusions and identify new business needs. All these will strengthen
the level of competency of Swifty.
Resources required
The implementation of SUMS will be done using a relevant tool. Major companies use
“MYSQL” to implement the information management system. Some of the big corporations do
also use the advanced version of “MYSQL” (Islam et al., 2017). However, this will not be
suitable for Swifty considering the organizational size. Swifty is still in the growing stage. It is
better to go with “Microsoft Access” as the database tool to implement SUMS in Swifty.
The implementation of SUMS will attract a significant investment to be paid to the
'System Analysts' who will be taking care of this entire project. Any further system failure will
require a visit to the service expert. That will also attract a visit and maintenance cost.

6SWIFTY UNIFIED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SUMS)
Managers in Swifty will guide their admin heads on how to effectively utilize the information
system 'SUMS'. The flow of knowledge from the mangers to admin's heads and other admin staff
will ensure everything is appropriately into place.
Stakeholder map
The stakeholder mapping will be done using the ‘Power/Interest Grid’. Therefore,
Fig 1: Power/Interest Grid
(Source: Slabá, 2016)

7SWIFTY UNIFIED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SUMS)
The above is a presentation of ‘Power/Interest Grid’ for Swifty to map its stakeholders.
This mapping suggests that the managers of the company will have increased interest in the
project. They should be kept informed of any important message or information. This can be
done in various forms of reports such as weekly/monthly total rental earnings, vehicle utilization
reports, per-car rental earnings, repair history for vehicles, at-risk customers, customer
demographics, etc.
The stakeholder mapping was done as above also indicates the needs to monitor the
works of the company's admin heads and its partnered third-party service providers. The
performance of admin's heads can be assessed using various reports like car details of each new
buy, repairing needs of each car, communication exchange between the admin heads and service
providers, etc.
Third-party service providers will be assessed for their performance. Whether there are
giving any input related to the kinds of service offered to a car, the details of cost, etc.
On top of all, customer satisfaction will be the top priority with the change in the
information management system. Their feedback will indicate whether the company has applied
huge pieces of data to good effects. Increased demand for rental car service will also indicate the
after the impact of SUMS on the customer service efficiency of Swifty. The overall customer
satisfaction with the service offered to them will encourage Swifty to make more such decisions
in the future (Afthanorhan et al., 2019). Surely, they can come around many other changes as
well as the workplace culture of the company if there is customer demand for the same.
Conclusion

8SWIFTY UNIFIED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SUMS)
By discussing the development essentials of SUMS in Swifty Company, a few points of
conclusions were obtained. Swifty needs to effectively monitor the work progress on the newly
implemented SUMS to identify the problem areas. The problem areas should be dealt with
accordingly. If it is related to some mechanical failure of the system, the system analyst who has
implemented the system should be called upon. If the problem is related to the admin heads
about their work challenges, it should be dealt with technical action guidelines of the company’s
managers.

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References
Afthanorhan, A., Awang, Z., Rashid, N., Foziah, H., & Ghazali, P. (2019). Assessing the effects
of service quality on customer satisfaction. Management Science Letters, 9(1), 13-24.
Cassidy, A. (2016). A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. CRC press.
Eroshkin, S. Y., Kameneva, N., Kovkov, D., & Sukhorukov, A. (2017). Conceptual system in the
modern information management. Procedia Computer Science, 103(C), 609-612.
Islam, K., Ahsan, K., Bari, S. A. K., Saeed, M., & Ali, S. A. (2017). Huge and Real-Time
Database Systems: A Comparative Study and Review for SQL Server 2016, Oracle 12c
& MySQL 5.7 for Personal Computer. Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 13, 481-
490.
Karlinsky-Shichor, Y., & Zviran, M. (2016). Factors influencing perceived benefits and user
satisfaction in knowledge management systems. Information Systems
Management, 33(1), 55-73.
Nemtajela, N., & Mbohwa, C. (2017). Relationship between inventory management and
uncertain demand for fast moving consumer goods organisations. Procedia
Manufacturing, 8, 699-706.
Pearlson, K. E., Saunders, C. S., & Galletta, D. F. (2019). Managing and using information
systems: A strategic approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Slabá, M. (2016). Stakeholder profile and stakeholder mapping of SMEs. Littera Scripta, 9(1),
123-139.