Claire Hotel Group - Case Study Example

Claire Hotel Group Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecture Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 7th December, 2012. Executive summary The main purpose of this report is to analysis Claire hotel group. This will be done by first offering as brief description of the hotel group, this will later be followed by a clear and concise identification of the problems that the hotel is currently experiencing. The other section will deal with the new features that will be composed in the new information system that the hotel group plans to implement. And lastly a section describing the issue that will ultimately be solved by the implementation of the proposed information system Based on the report the issues that the hotel group is currently experiencing that which will be solved by the implementation of the information system are: Privacy of financial data and client data Multiple copies that exists in the hotel registers Inconsistency of data Lack of collaboration between the hotels though they operate under one name Contents Claire Hotel Group 1 Executive summary 1 Contents 3 Introduction 4 The problems facing the Chacha chain of hotels 4 Features of the new system to be implemented 7 Problems that the new system will solve 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 Appendices 12 Appendix 1: cost of software hardware and implementation 12 Appendix 2: Implementation Plan 12 Introduction Claire hotel group is a group of hotels and it headquarters are in London. It was developed in the year 1962 and has over time expanded and it currently operates in other three locations that are in Rome, Paris and also in Edinburgh. The hotel accommodates nearly 500 customers yearly. The hotel has been experiencing a high rate of booking with 34% of them coming from London. The hotel group aims at offering the best services to the customers from all over the globe. Over the past few years the hotel group has had a lot of reputation based on the comfort of their rooms and good customers care service that is offered by the staff members. In the aim of retaining a competitive position the hotel group needs to implement a new information ration system that will interlink all the hotels so as to retain its position in the market place and to gain a competitive position over its core competitors in the industry. The problems facing the Chacha chain of hotels Claire hotels are having the problem of being in a situation of no smooth running of activities. Some of the problems are the booking which is done manually or through regular phone calls done by their clients. In many cases, if an organization is carrying out their activities there are so many errors which do come by. The second problem is the chain does not have the systems which are used to locate their stored document in the system. They may choose to store their data which will be of much use at a later date. The problem arises when it comes to locate and retrieving documents which are in urgent need. The situation of them not being able to locate the required document does affect the operation of the firm. Piled document which belong to different sectors though in the same group are at random used to help in other operation. The memory of individual mind may not comprehensively be able to store all the location of the document required. This calls for the management to employ the required systems for the assistance. The next difficulty is that their records are not kept in organized manner. In many organizations they do relook at the past records to help in the future planning actions. In the case where previous actions or steps so take n led to fruitful outcome, the management will definitely opt for. If Claire systems do not have the required records for reviewing they are at crossroads being unable to decide what to do (Barrows, Powers & Powers 2009). The hotels also do not have the specific soft ware’s which are essential in the determining what in their systems and what is not. The staffs may enter the data in their systems but when it comes to retrieving them it is a hectic as no means to determine whether they are or not. In the case they do not know what is in their system and what is not there, they may pile up the same document so many times help using the disk space which could be used for other storage. The chain does not also utilize the present systems effectively. During installation the system is expected to assist the organization in the execution of its activities. The system is thus not of any help in such an organization .It means it is that the organization will not be able to execute its functions as expected. The System remain useless and they may make the organization incur extra expenses of may be maintenance and other related costs. These expenses do withdraw money meant for other projects. The chain also has the problem of delays in its functions. These are obviously are caused by lack of communications. These delays may cause the loss of former customers who had entrusted the organization to help or give the services. They may lead to the chain of hotels to fail. The hotel requires the clients in order to survive (Barrows, Powers & Powers 2009). The financial data of the organization is encrypted. This means it is somehow not accessed by the relevant persons as expected. This is somehow affects the accounting in the organization. Finance is a central department that does supply all other sectors with much capital which is backbone of each and every business. In accounting requires that all the necessary information be disclosed to all. This will make accounting process efficient and hence smooth management. Failure to give the required information will hinder proper allocation of funds. The finance department is what funds all the other departments. In the case of under allocation of capital it means some areas will be le ft unattended and if over allocation happens it means that a certain different sector will be denied some money. The audit process will also be affected by the inaccurate and misrepresentation of facts. Audit reports are used by even the government in the taxing process. When the government finds that some information is hidden it may take a legal action against the firm which may have great impact (Barrows, Powers & Powers 2009). The other difficulty is that the data from the system is inconsistent .Inconsistency is brought about by inefficiency in collection of the data in the organization and also they fail to store the data well. Documents may be missing and they have important information for the smoothing of the organization. Inconsistent data hinders planning and also projection. Planning is the first basic step in the commencement of the any form of business. In the planning rule says failure to plan is planning to fail. Some stakeholders may take advantage of the situation in the chain of hotels and may be sneak some funds or other equipments. Claire has also a problem of lack of collaboration between the hotels among themselves. Every organization that shares common origin or ownership must in some way relate in their daily business continuity. Bearing in mind that they operate in the same way that is they are all hotels they may share some resources for example human resource depending on any of them need and also may share same transport means. If they do not collaborate it may means there is no organization that assist the other in case of any problem. Some areas in such a case have problems and they may become a problem to all hotels (Barrows, Powers & Powers 2009). The other challenge facing the organization is that the chain of hotels does not have the required system in the process. In order the organization to overcome some work related challenges, it needs to install the proper systems in progress for all to be said functioning. Every undertaking which is in place is made smooth by the present efficiency of the system. In the case at hand there is no system meaning a certain difficulty is being incurred somewhere. The one and only solution to the problem is a system to put in place. If the is not done the organization may come to a standstill as no sector is able to comprehend what to be done where. Relying on the present system can cause even loss or the failure of the organization activities which require what is to be done or specific attention from the company (administration) to be paid. Such things lead to discontinuity the chain of hotels (Barrows, Powers & Powers 2009). Features of the new system to be implemented One of the new features that the new information system will have is data. The personnel form the hotel will be tasked with a duty of inputting data. And for the output to be correct and accurate they will need to input the correct data and the data ought to be checked for consistency so as to matching with the documents that have been filled (Baltzan 2011). The other new feature will be trained personnel. The trained personnel are tasked with the duty of capturing, inputting and processing data in the hotel group. People tend to affect the quality if data as well as the information system since if the data that is inputted in the system is incorrect the information will tend to be useless and therefore will not be used in any meaningful way. The other feature will be hardware components. The hardware that will be implemented in the information system will be flexible so as to cope with strain and stress that will be put on it by all the functions that will be performed on it. The hardware will also be capable of storing large quantities of information (Baltzan 2011). The other component will be software. The software’s that will be implemented must be able to handle data in an efficient and quick manner and it will also need to be easily search for when the users need them. The last new feature that will be implemented together with the new information system will be a telecommunications equipments and facilities. Telecommunication tools such as an intranet, extranet and email are essential in running of the hotel group. Since information and data output will be required in multiple places in the hotels, the telecommunication equipments will be the best in assisting the staff and the customers to communicate effectively though they may be at different locations (Benson 2008). Problems that the new system will solve One of the major problems that will be solved by the implementation of the new information system in the hotels is lack of internet facilities. The new information system will be implemented together with an internet access. Thus the problem related to lack of internet will be solved. Form the casestudy it is evident that the lacks of internet tend to affect the business and thus the implementation of the new information system will assist in solving this problem. The pother problem that will be solved is the poor communication that exists between the hotels. The information system will enable the staff members from all the hotels to relate well as also work together in collaborative projects which will ultimately improve the results as well as the services that are offered to the customers (McDonald 2006). Also through the information system the hotel group will be able to eradicate the problem that is associated to multiple copies of same documents which seems to be a common aspect in the currant system that is in place. Through the use of the information system the administrators will be able to identify documents that are multiple copies and they some will be deleted so as to remain with only one copy. Also based on the current situation in the hotel customer’s information is usually stored in files and it seems tiresome to retrieve information from them. Thus through the use of the information system the data will be retrieved easily and thus customers will not be kept waiting for a long time hence good customers care service. Also through the information system the hotel group will be able to deal with inconsistency that exists when it comes to the presentation of data in the organization. This is manly based on the fact since the system will be interlinked and the software’s that will be used will be the same there will be consistency when it comes to the presentation of data (McDonald 2006). The other problem that will be solved is the lack of software’s to interpret some documents that are in the computers. The information system that will be implemented will come along with some software installed in them and they will enable the users to be able to convert all the documents that will be in their computers. The last problem that will be solved is privacy of information of their clients and also other financial data of the company. Through the system customers information and financial data will be protected and they will only be viewed by the authorized personnel. Conclusion Based on the analysis of Claire hotel group case study it is evident that the hotel group is experiencing number of problems due to the lack of an information system. The new features that the information system will have are telecommunications equipments, data, personnel, hardware and software. The new information system that will be implemented in the organization will be used to solve a number of problem ranging from communication problems, multiple copies of data as well as privacy of the data of the customers and also privacy of financial data that are crucial to the organization. References Baltzan, P 2011, Information systems Paige Baltzan NY: McGraw-Hill: Irwin. Barrows, C. W., Powers, T. F., & Powers, T. F 2009, Introduction to management in the hospitality industry. Hoboken, N.J., John Wiley & Sons. Benson, S 2008, Information system/ a business approach, Qld. John Wiley and Sons Australia. McDonald, Malcolm 2006, "Strategic Marketing Planning: Theory and Practice." Marketing Review 6, no. 4: 375-418. Business Source Complete, EBSCO host (accessed November 24, 2012). Appendices Appendix 1: cost of software hardware and implementation Appendix 2: Implementation Plan Activity Responsibility Date 1. Pre-implementation: Developing of the project team Definition of the task of team members Claire Hotel group Claire Hotel group 14/12/2012 14/12/2012 2. Implementation planning: Implementation convention Assignment of tasks to the members of the project team Development of the implementation plan Distribution implementation plan Contractor/ Claire hotel Claire hotel group Agency/ Claire hotel group Claire hotel group 03/1/2013 03/1/2013 20/01/2013 15/02/2013 3. Testing Determination of the scope of testing Acquiring of test cases Document the already existing process Document proposed operation Testing Review of test results Agency/ Claire hotel group Client coordinator Claire hotel group Agency/ Claire hotel group Agency/ Claire hotel group Agency/ Claire hotel group Agency/ Claire hotel group Claire hotel group 20/03/2013 23/03/2012 23/03/2013 28/03/2013 05/04/2013 11/04/2013 4. Education Executive overview Preparation courses Schedule the courses Agency/ Claire hotel group Agency/ Claire hotel group Agency/ Claire hotel group Agency/ Claire hotel group 23/05/2013 28/05/2013 14/06/2013 5. Parallel run Recognize prospects for the controlled process Campaign on prospects Review of results Claire hotel group Agency/ Claire hotel group Agency/ Claire hotel group 04/07/2013 19/07/2013 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/ Claire hotel group Agency/ Claire hotel group Agency/ Claire hotel group Agency/ Claire hotel group 14/09/2013 17/09/2013 27/09/2013 7. Internal controls Internal control procedures Review of the implemented system Claire hotel group Agency/ Claire hotel group 02/01/2014 15/01/2014 Read More