Business Systems Planning - MagiCo Corporation - Case Study Example

Introduction In developing an appropriate management system for MagiCo Corporation, the stakeholders involved willneed to investigate the overall required functions of the system together with the specific requirements for each type and level of manager. The investigation concerning functions will revolve around an analysis of its manufacturing component and the sales functions as the main aspects. These are the main components upon which strategic approach and management revolves. Under the above considerations and the general objectives of the organizations, the following three ways will go a long way in ensuring the development of a satisfactory MIS; Business System Planning (BSP), Critical success factor (CSF) and then we have the End/Means (E/M) Analysis (Lotfi & Pegels 1986 pg. 86-102). Business Systems Planning (BSP) This is one and the most vital way of determining the requirements of an MIS in MagiCo operations and in any other multinational organization. This methodology is pre-formulated by IBM itself and therefore it is standard for any form of organization that intends to use its applications. This methodology goes a long way in first establishing and listing down all the priorities in terms of Information System of the organization. One of the ways it does this is by identifying the way data is maintained in the system. To arrive at this important requirement, the relevant parties will use data architecture supporting applications (Lotfi & Pegels 1986 pg. 86-102). This will go a long way in defining the classes of data by employing the use of different matrices. As a result, relationship is established within the organization and its processes as well as the data requirements. Because of this approach, MagiCo will be able to find and establish the requirements of its system in the broad categorical approaches. Critical Success Factor (CSF) The approach as developed by John Rockart takes the dimension of identifying the key business goals and the strategies as are planned to be applied by each manager. These are combined with those of the overall business and a comparison is thereafter made. The business and the management goals are then evaluated and this results into the establishment of the Critical Success Factors that underlie these broad goals and objectives. The identification of the CSFs will mean that the irrelevant factors are eliminated forthwith leaving the analyst with the next step of the CSF analysis (Lotfi & Pegels 1986 pg. 86-102). This is the measure of the effectiveness of CSF an activity which will go ahead in defining the requirements of the Information System for the company. End/ Means (E/M) Analysis Wetherbe and Davis to help in evaluating and choice of an MIS in any contemporary organizational setting developed this approach in Minnesota. This method takes the approach of first determining the effectiveness procedure of all the outputs and efficiency criteria for all the processes that generates outputs in the organization. This it does by first identifying all the possible outputs and services that the said business process is able to provide. Thereafter, it goes on to describe and list down all the actors that make the identified outputs suitable for the user, this will as well help in the determination of the effectiveness of the outputs. The stakeholder will thereafter go on to select the information needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the outputs arraigned (Lotfi & Pegels 1986 pg. 86-102). In this way, an organization like MagiCo will be in the position of identifying a suitable Management Information system for its information needs. According to varied sources, we will find out that managers are required to always approach decision making in organized manner. For example, MagiCo whose top management is made up of the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer; they are endowed with the responsibility of making critical decisions that affect the company and the decisions are skewed towards corporate strategic planning as well as the organizational development of the company. They can therefore decide how to handle major crisis within the organization as well as the types of products to manufacture and launch into the market. Their work also revolves around identification of the competitors, creation of the company’s corporate vision among other crucial decisions. The three methods of analyzing of analyzing information system requirements that is BSP, CSF, and E/M as outlined above are the most appropriate for the following reasons. First, they will help in identifying areas of systems requirements and then identifies the priorities of the organization. In addition, they will be based on the organization’s goals and objectives in which it will integrate them with the strategies of the MagiCo management. This has the advantage of aiding the organization develop and achieve their goals at the same time. Efficiency and effectiveness in terms of operations will also be realized because of suing the above techniques. The handling of the above techniques effectively will aid the organization in achieving its profitability, growth and cost management goals with a lot of ease. Data model for Sales part of the MIS Data model developed or adopted in this case will have the impacts of supporting the development of appropriate management information systems, a system that will help in a great sense in the management of MagiCo operations given its global presence. The provision of the definition and format of data will as well be enhanced greatly and as a result, a compatibility of data is achievable. From the case, relevant information helpful in decision-making is required at each of the levels of management; the Chief Executive and the Board of MagiCo require information for strategic decision-making. This level of management is quite important as it directs where the organization is headed with the strategies and policies formulated. In addition, the regional management as well requires information to enable them guide the lower level management by making tactical decisions. Still we have the local level management who are responsible for the implementation of the operational functions of the organization. They as well require information to help them in making of such critical decisions (Lotfi & Pegels 1986 pg. 135). The data model to be adopted in this form of organization will therefore take the form of the Anthony Triangle model. This model is an organizational model that takes into considerations the management structure in the hierarchical manner. As already observed above, the operational; decisions will be made by the local management as they are the ones responsible for the implementation of the daily operations (Lotfi & Pegels 1986 pg. 154). Within the structure, the tactical decisions will be represented by the middle part while the few but important strategic decisions will be made at the top of the organization structure. After the manufacturing wing of MagiCo is done with production, which we assume will be at the most minimum production cost, for the maximization of profitability, the sales department or segment will now need to take over and ensure they sell as well at minimal operational costs. According to the Anthony’s Structure data model, the strategic level will hold the Global sales director who will formulate the sales policies and make the strategic sales decisions. The middle level will be composed of the Regional Director who coordinates the activities of the local management and hence makes the tactical sales decisions. The lowest level will have the operational sales officers headed by the various branch sales managers. They will be endowed with the responsibility of coordinating the activities of the local sales personnel. Hence, the data model will appear as follows:- As you can observe from the Anthony Triangle Data model, as one moves higher the triangle, the more the scope covered by such items and the less precise they become. The reverse is true since as the items trickle down, they become more detailed and they therefore apply more precisely. This is enough proof that the formulation of policies and strategies take place at the top and implementation at the bottom. The strategic decision makers do not have a lot of time hence they need summarized information that they will use in making quick decisions. Through the lower level managers, the organization is able to make closer and stronger links with their customers by gaining more knowledge about them and what they require at the most appropriate moments. Functions to be used by Regional Directors Under the Anthony’s Data model as applied in the Case Study, the regional Director is at the middle of the structure meaning they will be responsible for the tactical decisions that influences the sales of the manufactured electronics and to an extent the manufacturing performance. It is not enough that manufacturing takes place at a lower cost; for such manufacturing to be constant or increase sales must also be high hence turnover. The policies by the regional directors and their implementation will also go a long way in affecting the individual product level since the operational officers would influence what relationship the company has with the consumers. The functions to be used by the Regional Directors of MagiCo will result from their duties and they will include - first, the accomplishment of the regional sales human resource objectives which will result through the objectives of recruitment, selection, orientation, assignment and disciplining of the employees within the assigned regions. Their functions will also involve the communication of job expectations to the branch sales managers to the sales teams. A lot of planning will therefore result together with monitoring, appraisals, and reviews of job contributions. Secondly, the managers will as well be endowed with the responsibility of meeting the regional sales operational goals. This will be possible through their contribution of the regional sales information of MagiCo Corporation as well as their recommendations towards strategic plans by the top managements and reviews. The second function will involve the preparation and completion of the action plans by the regional directors. They will also be implementing the manufacturing of the electronic devices to the desired quality hence an achievement of the desired productivity and the achievement of the desired customer service standards. Under this function, the regional directors must also be in the position to resolve the problems at their levels, accomplish audits as well as trend identification and advising accordingly on the change requirements areas. MagiCo company structure is designed in such a way that the regional director is apportioned the role of ensuring that the company meets the regional sales financial targets. The regional directors will therefore ensure this through forecasting requirements, which will demand that they prepared an annual budget after which they schedule expenditures. In an effort to try meeting the set targets variances will result which needs to be analyzed and hence correction actions be initiated. The achievement of the financial targets will be realized through well-established sales objectives by way of a sound sales plan for each of the branches. The role of managing the smaller branches will be delegated to the local branch managers who are implementers of the sales strategies formulated. To support the company’s sales further, the regional Director will be responsible for the expansion of the customer base through the local branch managers. This will be ensured through the well-built rapport with the major customers as well as the identification of the new customer opportunities. He will in addition need to identify more customer opportunities recommend new product lines in order to aid in the diversification of the company production. Diversification will mean that apart from simply identifying new product opportunities to result into new products, both packaging and service will change through the constant interaction of he consumers and knowing what they really want. Value addition will also demand that the manufacturer is able to closely monitor the operations of its competitors (Turban 2007 pg172-4). The regional director will still have the role of monitoring and controlling trade promotion spending. This he will do by ensuring that he publishes such expenditures, he should also follow them closely and conduct a constant assessment of the same. The most fundamental of his role is the development of the workforce under him. This involves himself attending functions and seminars where he updates his knowledge of the job after which he comes to perfect the same on the employees. He can recommend such programs to the sales force under him as well. Examples of the decisions at each level Decisions will be different at each of the three levels of decision-making that is at strategic level we expect decisions, which have the long-term impact. For example, the Chief executive and the Global sales director seats down to decide on whether to expand its operations to a given region. In making such a crucial decision, the management must have been finished with the full information concerning the region or market in question. Through research of the market, forecasts ought to have been made and several analyses conducted and summarized information provided to the board. The board must also have tools to enable them be in the position of authenticating the information provided. The component of the MIS that will readily provide such authentic information to the management is the Executive Support System (ESS), which is designed to provide the required information by the management in the required form. At the tactical level, the regional directors would as well wish to make decisions at their own capacity. The decisions they make revolve around assisting in the implementation of the formulated strategy. Once a decision to establish the operations of MagiCo in the new region has been finalized, the regional directors will now be left with decisions such as how many branches should be established for manufacturing and how many local branch managers they will need to aid the business of the firm in the new region. The decisions made at this level have the potential of increasing the net worth of the firm through increased customer base and hence bust the sales. They will make such decisions through a consideration of data available of the same for example of the customer numbers and their stratified nature to aid in the differentiation. Such data is available through the Decision Support System component of the MIS. This system has the ability to give a lot of information concerning data, as such, managers require a lot of information to make the decisions they are obliged to make (Turban 2007 pg 188). Lastly, we have the operational levels decisions, which relate to the day-to-day running of the company. In MagiCo Corporation, the local sales managers will make such decisions. Such decisions include those such as when to make more orders hence sustain the operations. These decisions are simple but of quite a number and they rely on the stock or sales data which is provided by the simple component of the management Information System (Turban 2007 pg 222). These decisions are necessary, as they are what are required for the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization’s operations. Information such as the number of the products, the cost of production and the value of sales is available through such a component of the MIS. References Lotfi, V, & Pegels, CC 1986, Decision support systems for production and operations management for use with IBM PC (Instructors ed.), Irwin: Homewood, Ill. Turban, E, 2007, Decision support and business intelligence systems (8th ed.), Pearson Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, N.J. Read More