Analysis of Chacha Hotel Group - Assignment Example

Running Head: Chacha Hotel Group Chacha Hotel Group Customer’s Name: Customer’s Course Tutor’s Name December 6th, 2012. Executive summary This report sets out to offer an analysis of the casestudy of Chacha hotel group. This will be done by a description of the problem that are currently facing the hotel, this will be followed closely by the identification of the features of the new information system that will be implemented in the hotels and a brief discussion of the issues that will be solved by the implementation of the system. The report recommends the implementation of information so as to solve the following problems: Eradication of multiple copies Privacy of data Lack of collaboration Inconsistent of data Contents Executive summary 1 Introduction 4 Problems associated with Chacha hotel 4 Features of the new system 7 Problems that are addressed by the new information system 9 Conclusion 9 Appendices 12 Appendix 1: Implementation plan 12 Appendix 2: costs 13 Introduction Chacha hotel group has a chain of hotels and the main one is based in London and has other branches in Rome, Paris and in Edinburgh. The chain of hotels aims at offering affordable as well as high quality comfort to all their visitors. Over time, the group has experienced a desirable reputation and this is mainly attributed to the comfort of their rooms and good support services which is attributed to the dedication of their staff members. The prominence of the hotel has over time reduced due to various organizational problems that the hotel is experiencing due to the current information system that is in place. In relation to this, the hotel needs to implement a new information system so as to stay in business and to be able to compete favorable with their competitors in the market. Problems associated with Chacha hotel The first difficulty facing the hotel is the inefficient in inefficiency in its execution of activities. This is because the hotel has no efficient means of booking for example, which have to be done manually or through phone calls. Manual work has a lot of accompanying errors which hinder the outcome which was previously predicted in the hotels planning and projection. Such method of booking is usually accompanied by human errors which hinders the going on of the business activities (Robbins, 2012). There are other problems facing the Chacha hotels which are based on the information systems being applied and include: The situation of the record kept being not organized. Past records are usually used for future workings. Most companies dwell on the past for them to survive in the future. It requires relooking at past areas and techniques and seeing whether they managed to succeed and hence apply it again if it previously had a handsome outcome which funded the other present outcome. This results to the same copies being duplicated in the computer hence misusing the current system storage size. These documents also do waste time in or during retrieval of a certain document. Crowded folder gives one a hard time to get the specific document. The second problem is information from the systems of the hotels being inconsistent. This is brought about by haphazard collection and storage of document. Some of the document may be amiss which contain vital data about running the chain of hotels. Inconsistent data will always result in no comprehensive data. This will result to even the downfall of the chain of hotels due to lack of adequate data to be used in planning activities like projection for the forthcoming trading period. In such a situation some people may take advantage of the chain of hotels and they will thereby steal or pilferage some vital documents and hence some cash may be lost (Griffin, 2012). The third problem is lack of collaboration and coordination between the chains of hotels. It is essential for such group of hotels to communicate between themselves because they share such resources such as finance whereby a hotel can finance the other incase it has the problems related to capital. They can also share human resource in order to cut down the cost of the running the hotels. If they do not communicate some department will be left malfunctioning due to lack of assigned resources. It is an obvious fact that communication is forms the backbone of each and every move. In business it is either communication for success or failure to do so and the organization fails. The next probable problem is that the hotel does not have the required systems to help in the location and retrieving of the information stored in the system. Documents may be piled in the system to be used at a later date. However, when the time comes to use the document they to be retrieved in order for them to put in use (Business organization and management, 1998). Chacha hotels however don’t have the required system to help in this process. This may cause the need for the data to be delayed or to remain dysfunctional. These happen in the case where the document is piled in the computer and the information belongs to different sectors of the same chain. Human beings have the tendency to forget and therefore the one who stored the information ma y not accurately remember where exactly the document was stored. This invites the use of a certain system to help in easier location and also save time. The other difficulty facing the hotel l is lack of the specific soft ware’s which are used in evaluating and determination of the information contained in the computer system (Griffin, 2012). There may be well stored in their system but then again there is no away to determine what is stored and what is not. Failure to know may make the same data is entered so many times in the system as one does not know what is in there and not. Chacha hotel also do not utilize their systems effectively. It is a fact that systems are installed in an organization to help the organization activities be as efficient as possible. In situations where they are not being utilized it means the services are somehow not as efficient as they are supposed to. The systems remain useless or helpless to the rest of the organization. They are idle and may be incurring extra expenses in terms of may be maintenance among other expenses. These and such expenses are withdrawing money meant for other functions of the hotel. The chains of hotels are having delays. These are caused by lack of good communication. These delays may cause the loss of former clients who had trusted the organization for certain services (Cronk, 1999). They are forced to ahead and look for alternative sources of help from other competitors. Most clients do not expect or they do not persevere in such situation. As the hotel loses the client it loses its essence of being there. This makes a step towards its own downfall as the clients are the main reason for their survival of them. A hotel requires customers for its continuation with day to day activities or for its existence. The last but not least is that the hotel financial data is not disclosed to all. It is in some way hidden and hindered for access by some persons. This directly does affect the process of accounting which mainly dwells on the financial data for its calculation. Finance is one of the resources which are basic for the business to remain intact. In the case where prudent accounting has to be done it requires enough statistical data. Hidden information will therefore not be used and therefore proper allocation of capital will not be done. Accounting is what funds all the other resources used in such an organization. Capital is the genesis of each and every undertaking. It is what determines the next move by the organization (Cronk, 1999). The essence of the data being hidden means no accurate accounting can be done. In the cases where for example the government audits the financial report, and it makes a mistake of getting that its hidden it will automatically closed down the business or fine because it will be seen as a move to evade tax. Features of the new system Based on the above discussion of the problems that are currently been experienced by Chacha hotel group, the group of hotels needs to implement a new information system so as to address this problems. With the eradication of the problems that are currently been experienced due to the information system Chacha hotel group will be able to regain the competitive advantage that it had over it rivals. One of the new features that will be implemented in the new system is telecommunications. Telecommunication is more about hardware, people, software as well as data communicating together. If all this features do not communicate the organization will lose money and the organization will not be able to attain accurate data. With the strides that have been made in telecommunication a lot have changed the whole world immensely. While most individuals were isolated from one another, they now have diverse way to hear and view what is happening on all the other sides of the world and in most instances in real time (Cronk, 1999). This new feature will enable the employees as well as their customers communicate knowledge and communicate the required data between the different information systems. There exist various telecommunications tools such as email, intranet, phone and all of these seem to be essential in the successful management and running of the organization. Since information output in the hospitality industry is obligatory in multiple places in the industry and telecommunication seems to be best forms to communicate efficiently, effectively and quickly between different locations. The other new feature that will be in the new information system will be software and hardware. New and advanced software and hardware will be implemented with the computers so as to integrate all the data of all the four hotels and thus the staff will be able to get all the information they need (Business organization and management, 1998). The software that will be implemented will assist the organization in organizing client’s data and also to enable the conversion of the data in various forms. The new information system will also have a search facility to assist the users in locating the data in a quick and efficient manner. The other feature will be personnel. The personnel will mainly be involved in the inputting, capturing and processing that is related to the hotel. Individuals tend to affect the quality of information system and information since if the data is inputted in an incorrect format it may ultimately led to be information been useless or absolute. The last feature is data. For the outputted data to be correct the source of that data needs to be of good quality. Data is generated from all parts of the organization and other is derived from outside environment. The data will be protected using passwords and it will only be accessed by authorized individuals. The financial data related to the company will also be encrypted so that they are not accessed by individuals who are not authorized (Business organization and management, 1998). Problems that are addressed by the new information system The new information system will solve various problems that exist in the organization. One of the major problems that will be solved is that through the software they will be able to do away with multiple copies and same documents and thus the information that will be stored in the information system will be accurate and concise. Another problem that will be solved is the privacy of data. Currently the information is stored in file and it can be accessed by anyone and it may invade on the privacy of the individual. The other problems that will be solved is the lack of collaboration between the hotels through the use of the telecommunications equipments staff from the hotels will be able to communicate with each other easily and they will also be able to engage in collaborative projects. Also through the personnel they will be able to arrange the data in a consistent manner and thus information will be easily accessible and it will be only be accessed by those individual who have been authorized to do so (Cronk, 1999). Conclusion Based on the above discussion on the various problems that are faced Chacha hotel group it is evident that a lot need to be done for the hotel top remain competitive in the market. The problems range from old computers, inconsistency of data that is stored, and poor storage of files and lack of clear communication between the four hotels. The new information system that will be implemented will solve almost all the problems that are currently been experienced by Chacha. The hotel needs to implement the system so as to ensure that they retain their position in the market and they also attract new customers though the use of the internet. References Business organization and management: senior syllabus. (1998). Spring Hill, Qld: Queensland Board of Senior Secondary School Studies. Cronk, T. (1999). Business organization and management. South Melbourne: Moreton Bay Publishing. Griffin, R. (2012). Management: principles and practices. South-Western: Cengage Learning. Robbins, S. P. (2012). Management. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Australia. Appendices Appendix 1: Implementation plan Activity Responsibility Date 1. Pre-implementation: Developing of the project team Definition of the responsibilities of team members Chacha Hotel group Chacha Hotel group 8/12/2012 8/12/2012 2. Implementation planning: Implementation convention Assignment of tasks to the members of the project team Development of the implementation plan Distribution implementation plan Contractor/ Chacha hotel group Chacha hotel group Agency/ Chacha hotel group Chacha hotel group 30/12/2012 30/12/2012 15/01/2013 01/02/2013 3. Testing Determination of the scope of testing Acquiring of test cases Document the already existing process Document proposed operation Plan for testing Review of test results Agency/ Chacha hotel group Client coordinator Chacha hotel group Agency/ Chacha hotel group Agency/ Chacha hotel group Agency/ Chacha hotel group Agency/ Chacha hotel group Chacha hotel group 15/03/2013 17/03/2012 21/03/2013 27/03/2013 5/04/2013 10/04/2013 4. Education Executive overview Preparation courses Schedule the courses Agency/ Chacha hotel group Agency/ Chacha hotel group Agency/ Chacha hotel group Agency/ Chacha hotel group 20/05/2013 26/05/2013 11/06/2013 5. Parallel run Recognize prospects for the controlled process Campaign on prospects Review of results Chacha hotel group Agency/ Chacha hotel group Agency/ Chacha hotel group 1/07/2013 15/07/2013 30/07/2013 6. Campaign to the employees Categorize the management members and staff Roll to the first lot Review of progress roll out to all employees Agency/ Chacha hotel group Agency/ Chacha hotel group Agency/ Chacha hotel group Agency/ Chacha hotel group 4/09/2013 15/09/2013 27/09/2013 7. Internal controls Internal control procedures Review if the system is implemented properly Chacha hotel group Agency/ Chacha hotel group 01/01/2014 15/01/2014 Appendix 2: costs Read More