Business Information Systems of Bognor Marine Watercraft - Case Study Example

?Business Information Systems Case Study Report “Bognor Marine Watercraft Bognor Marine Watercraft (BMW) is a manufacturing industry that has been captivating the realm of business since the 1800s. Over the decades the industry has built different types of ancillaries and watercraft for the London market. Additionally, BMW also manufactures huge quantities of ancillaries for the maintenance of their range of craft. One of the factors that put the industry in top position among other enterprises is its development of specialized luxury craft, which it builds with the help of high quality materials derived from various exotic wood. Just because of the luxury element of the brand, some of these products are even purchased by non boat owners. Recently the brand has received significant media attention as several high profile celebrities have bought BMW boats. The owners of BMW desire to exploit this new opportunity and after holding several strategy meetings, they have recognized the potential areas for investment. Prior to creating their development plans, the investors and bank have asked a third party management industry to make a companywide evaluation, so that they can invest in the industry when it is officially deemed viable. One of the features that the bank looks for is the capacity for the organization to make quick progress in a competitive market. BMW basically comprises nine departments, which are: warehousing, manufacturing, human resource, finance, sales, marketing, design team and support departments. Warehousing departments take care of each delivery made by dealers with regard to raw materials and specific equipment that the industry purchases. Manufacturing departments give necessary instructions to suppliers for resources as and when required by the organization. The HR department runs full time and in order to be more effective and efficient the same jobs are assigned among two individuals. The team utilizes skills which are complicated to replace and this thus proves to be the biggest strength of the organization. In order to counter possible loss of skills BMW makes use of the apprentice method. However, the communication among the finance department of BMW and its employees is seen to be poor, this resulting in several mistakes that could be avoided if there were improved sharing of information. In the case of sales department, the manager is based in the major office and has responsibility for mainly two lines of actions. The sales personnel are field based and are dependable for the sale of BMW’s better volume manufactured ancillaries to various national dealers. One sales individual is based at the office and he or she is responsible for the sale of the craft. Due to the price and nature of the luxury craft, customers pay great attention to details and will discuss at length the available features and choices of the craft. Marketing departments of BMW include mainly two people for exhibitions, design and additional marketing tasks containing campaign management. They work widely with third party experts who are trusted partners in the business. The distribution department consists mainly of four people. The important area of responsibility is the delivery of the better volume goods supplied to chandlers, luxury stores. Design team of the BMW includes several boat architects and contract designers. The support staffs of the company include two managers, secretaries, cleaners and drivers. BMW requires modifying and adopting information systems for a quality management. “An information system is a collection of hardware, software, data, people and procedures that are designed to generate information that supports the day-to-day, short-range, and long-range activities of users in an organization” (Types of Information Systems 2000). These are categorized into five types, namely: office information systems, management information systems, transaction processing systems, expert systems and decision support systems. Every organization requires information system for its survival and growth. Such a system provides the companies with a platform where they can offer new and improved products, change the way of conducting business, restructure job and work flows. In the present world, information system gives communication and analytical power to the organization, which helps them in international trade as well as have a better hold on their own business. BMW by adopting information system can achieve benefits in all levels as aforementioned. In order to be a strong competitor in the international market, a firm requires both an efficient and effective communication and information system. Even though information technology reduces human effort and improves methods of communication, the risk in the business grows in terms of corporate theft and the likes. Technical approaches and behavioral approach are techniques to information system. One of the main reasons the information technology is more popular is the reduction in the cost of computer technology. Enterprise information system if adopted in BMW, would help the business to accelerate sales, marketing, distribution without delay, and avoiding wastage. The main goal behind adopting different information systems in any organization is satisfying business customers, gaining competitive advantage by cost reduction and providing improved services. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is used as a monitoring function in the business organization. It mainly analyses quality, customer satisfaction, their availability and profitability. Successful implementation of ERP can ensure increased success and growth rate in any organization. By implementing ERP in BMW, insufficient systems can be eliminated, which would in turn help in adopting new and improved work processes, and also lead to standardization in technology as well as other advantages. Supply chain management is another important system to be taken into account. This type of management is used to integrate the flow of products and services from suppliers to the ultimate customer. It has to go through three phases comprised of “strategic, tactical and operational” (Information Systems for Managers n.d.). Under strategic phase, the firm makes decision regarding the location of production site, creating relations with suppliers etc. In tactical phase, measures are adopted in order to reduce cost and then in operational phase, variations in schedules are made and furthermore customer feedbacks are also analysed. Apart from all these benefits, while adopting information system, the firm however faces certain threats. Through this technology, employees may behave inappropriately by accessing and manipulating company’s sensitive property. Corporate theft is another important threat of information technology and it may arise here. However, business can be really strict and adopt a strong ethics as well as yearn to maintain it. BMW manufacturing company has a need to modify and adopt information systems for quality management. At present, it has many defects and improper structuring of work which would result in a negative impact in the future. There are many issues faced by this company including uncertainty of lead time, lack of clarity about recruitment of number of staffs, lack of information about the skill and availability of employees, poor designing of pipelines, unpredictably receiving orders and lack of direction, lack of customer feedbacks and failure of campaigns. In spite of highly qualified employees in HR and finance department, BMW fails to meet their deadlines, which results in vehicles and drivers being hired extensively and longer lease being arranged when they wait for jobs. Issues faced by BMW can be solved by adopting various information systems with respect to their various issues. Different information systems are as follows: • Office Information System This information system enhances work flow through hardware, software and network. Employees are more dependent on electronic devices and computers, which thus significantly reduces manual workload. BMW, by adopting this information system can eliminate the uncertainty of lead time, as this system supports activities like creating graphics, accounting, scheduling etc. Employees in all levels of the organization use as well as reap the benefits of this system. The software used by this information system is “word processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentation graphics, e-mail, Web browsers, Web page authoring, personal information management, and groupware” (Types of Information Systems 2000). • Transaction Processing System Transaction processing is a computerized business process without which recording and dealing out business transactions can cause huge amount of loss in the organization’s resources. It acts as the foundation for the functioning of other systems in the organization. In batch processing, data are collected over a period of time and kept as a group. Now, since the computer is crucial to every business, the transaction processing system is in-built by the developers. For printing purpose and calculating cheques, many organizations still make use of the batch processing technique. Through this system, BMW can easily perform the task of calculation of payment in the business. • Management Information System It is formed out of transaction processing system and it basically generates timely information that helps the users to make decisions in order to tackle and solve their problems. This system focuses on generating information upon which management and users execute their job. It mainly generates detailed, summary and exception information, where detailed information focuses on confirming transaction processed activities, summary information converts data into a format that is easily and quickly understood by individuals and exception information filters data and helps the managers by providing information in a better comprehensive manner. • Decision Support System When a decision making situation arises, this system helps the user to arrive at an appropriate decision. This system gains information from both external and internal sources, and the data required for analysis are managed and stored in data warehouse. It can help BMW by providing information about the skill and abilities of employees and it also helps to make decision when unexpected situations arise. • Expert Systems Under this system, the knowledge of human experts is captured and stored which tries to explain human reasoning and decision making. Even though this system helps in making decisions in any level of organization, it is mainly used by non- management employees for making job related decisions. BMW can use strategic system as a technical device where new business strategies are developed and realized using different information systems. This most definitely helps the business to integrate computer strategy with other strategies of the organisation. However, it is a slow process which requires continuous efforts in the fields of communication and cooperation. If the managers of BMW clearly understand the possibilities of strategic system, the result it can create is excellent. A strong advantage of adopting strategic system is that it helps in gaining competitive advantage. In strategic system there is a need of clear connection between the firm’s strategic plan and business plan. There should be a routine collection of data, equipments and software evaluation and managing project status for an effective strategic system. Flowchart for BMW’s Business Process: Departments and Staff and responsibilities Raw materials and specific equipment Instructions with suppliers for resources Jobs are assigned among two individuals. 2 lines of activities Campaign Management Products supplied to chandlers, luxury stores etc Designers and boat architects. Managers, secretaries, drivers and cleaners. Change Management Issues: Change management is a method which involves transitioning persons, organizations and teams to a desired future state. With reference to project management, change management refers to a project management method in which changes to a project are officially established and approved. Due to the fact that changes are difficult to forecast, and tend to happen with rising frequency, it is becoming an increasingly important subject. In spite of how a novel information system is intended and how its implementation is designed, human potential represents a grave issue, that is, adjusting to this change. There are mainly two types of changes with respect to change management. The first type refers to changes required to be implemented as a result of customers need estimation. These changes happen mainly because the conditions were not clear at the starting of the project, due to change of technology, or the change in requirements caused by certain market conditions. The second type refers to changes reasoned by the information system’s growth and the implementation project itself. These changes are frequently referred to as growth changes. This type of change is generally known in advance and it is essential to find a method to monitor and manage the change implementation itself. By adopting change management in BMW various benefits can be achieved. However, on the other hand, it also presents some disadvantages, as changes in information system pose certain issues for organizational change management because of the dynamics and complexities contained with several parts of information technology projects. Information system projects include not only technology, that in itself may be threatening to a number of people, but also elements of business methods, control, workflow and the exposure of information, which seem to create problems for some individuals. This creates organizational changes that include information system to be potentially intimidating to the company’s culture and counter intuitive as they are often primarily seen as invasive, redundant, and not applicable to a person’s particular job. The intensity or complexity of information systems intimidates people in the organization on various levels. It establishes new dealings that interfere with the organizational rules, new technologies that create a sense of fear of the unidentified and new power relations which upset the hierarchy. When changes of technology occur in an organization, the usual response may frequently be negative because of the information that personnel, procedural and process changes will likely coincide with variations in technology, for example, software and hardware systems. Throughout immobilization, a moving response is created which shocks the system and prompts protection mechanisms to be engaged in response to the novel technology risks. Currently, the implementation has turned into reality for employees, as their response is now being solicited with respect to the alterations in technology, and they think that they require to contribute to the method in order to mitigate its possible impact on their position. Finally, individuals start to adjust to the latest system as they test their capacity to adapt to the changes and use positive influences on the method. Lastly, after the procedures of denial, confrontation and negotiation, people will start to accept the change as they start to personally see the advantages connected with the change at an individual level, and they hold the new processes and technology going forward now that they have recognized the premise that the change is enduring. The main function of change management is to compress this cycle in addition to applying positive influence. As long as processes and technology integrate individuals, there will always be some stages of resistance arising out of lack of organization, technical inadequacy, surprise, uncertainty, resentment, competition, job replacement and increased work. These issues may pose serious risks to an organization’s capacity to productively implement technology change, particularly if not managed properly with a well intended and systematic approach. Conclusion: BMW is a manufacturing company that produces watercraft, ancillaries as well as specialized luxury crafts for the UK market. BMW, after conducting strategic meetings, found that there are possible areas for expansion. In the recent years the company has gained media attention through celebrities who have purchased its products. Through the company wide evaluation BMW can take accurate decisions which will help them to expand their business to the maximum possible extent. Adoption of information systems and change management will further enhance the business and lead to its increased growth. Information system is greatly relevant as it renders the company various avenues to reach out to the consumers as well as achieve benefits in all levels. Another advantage here is that it also reduces human effort and improves methods of communication. Enterprise information system is another system if adopted in BMW would significantly help the business to function well in the fields of sales, marketing and distribution without delay and it will further help to avoid wastage. Supply chain management is also used to integrate the flow of products and services from suppliers to the ultimate customer. However, the company needs to modify and adopt information systems for a better quality management. Office Information System, Transaction Processing System, Management Information System, Decision Support System and Expert Systems are different information systems which are beneficial for BMW for its expansion and growth in the future business world. Reference List Information Systems for Managers. n.d. Retrieved July 30, 2013 from Types of Information Systems. 2000. Discovering Computers. Retrieved July 30, 2013 from Read More