British Airports Authority, Terminal 5 - Information System - Case Study Example

Information System Introduction This case study is about the British Airports ity, Terminal 5 disaster which occurred in 2008. It was marked as a disastrous moment for the nation. This report will assess the various problems and issues in the information systems structure of the terminal and how it turned out to be a disaster after being planned and executed. The BAA opened the Terminal 5 at Heathrow after a long preparation and planning of 6 years with a cost of about £4.3 billion. The project was completed on the estimated time and the planned budget yet the terminal turned out to be a hassle for the passengers and were internationally a shame as several flights got cancelled and many international passengers faced troubles due to the mismanaged system. The infrastructure of the terminal had turned out to be very good but in regard to serving the passengers a convenient and comfortable experience, the terminal greatly failed. Some of the major problems with the terminal operations were with the baggage, the security system, the car parking, and the enormous building that had no maps or help-lines. The BAA did not also have the information system in place as it was unreachable by the staff members. Some workers also said that they could not log into the computer system and those who could log into it, did not know how to operate it properly. The information system was installed and for the baggage handling duties to be allocated amongst the staff members, there was a Resource Management System. Thus, the workers did not know their duties when they reached their work areas which affected the baggage handling, and thus delayed flights. The information system was not effective as staff members and workers weren’t able to use it efficiently. Moreover, the security system and the handling of the enormous place were also not managed creating troubles for the passengers. An effective information system could have helped the terminal 5 to avoid the disaster as it would have enabled better management, better security systems, and a better baggage handling system which had been the major cause for the delay and cancellation of flights as well as the difficulties to the passengers. The baggage system had failed which is why most of the problems occurred. A good baggage system would have been efficient in helping the handling of the baggage and it would not have clogged the system. Moreover, the car parking spaces had become an issue as there was no navigation for the huge space so staff members were unable to find parking spaces for a long time. The effective use of an information system for the parking navigation as well as the baggage handling would have avoided the major problems of BAA. It would have made sure that the staff members are guided about their duties and they reach their places on time which would have also reduced the number of visitors on security checkpoints. Through an information system, the staff members would also have been able to contact with one another to sort out the problems by helping one another with the computer system use, the indication to the staff members not to pull out more baggage from the cars unless the current one isn’t cleared, and so on. An information system would be useful as it controls and manages a large part of the terminal operations (Heijden, 2009, p. 43). In every organization today there is a need of an information system. These information systems tend to connect the people of the organization and make it easier for them to communicate and manage the overall system. All sorts of organizations today use information system technology to efficiently handle the operations of the organization as all or most of them are controlled through the information systems (Stahl, 2004, p. 3). Whether the organization is business related where the employee turnover, customer reviews, stock exchange, inventories, and all other major accounts are handled through the information system technology or the healthcare organizations where the medical records, doctor appointments, and other management operations are feed in the computers. In every organization, it has become important for the members to be computer literate as it helps them to know their duties, their supervisors, their targets, and many other aspects that are important for their personal and professional development. Organizations at all levels use the information systems to deal with employees and customers (Stair, 2011, p. 62). In fact, it would not be wrong to say that organizations use information systems for their management and running. Without these systems, the organizations wouldn’t be able to operate successfully or even survive in the competitive world. The information system is beneficial for the businesses in a lot of ways and is used for several reasons. The first reason why it is used is because it increases the productivity levels. There are many operations that can become automated through the help of information systems for example the baggage systems in this case makes baggage handling automated but the system failure tended to create a need for manual handing which was time taking. Hence, the automation of operational tasks tends to reduce the burden of the routine tasks from the staff members and thus the tasks become speedy and productive (Daft, 2010, p. 298). The second reason why information systems are used is that when they automate certain activities and tasks in the business, there is enough time left for the employees to be involved in tasks that are rather more important as they require human thinking and dealing with customers which computers cannot do better than the humans. Information systems give a lot of free time to the management and employees to discuss and introduce new ideas and creative techniques in the business while information systems handle some of the tasks automatically (Anderson, 2006, p. 205). In this case study, if the information systems were able to handle the baggage properly, then staff members or managers would have had more time to deal with the furious passengers and calm them down. The third reason why information systems are used is for better data integrity and less redundancy. Computer systems have the amazing ability to handle data by pointing out inconsistencies, eliminating duplicates, and merging relevant data together at one place. This makes the data become more manageable and easily classified into different categories. Thus accuracy is increased and data becomes more reliable (Sodgrass, 2002, p. 77). In this case study, if baggage systems would have the details of the passengers attached, then there would have been no problem in sorting them out manually which is a time taking task. The fourth reason is the increased efficiency which means that data in information systems can be easily managed, sorted, filed, categorized, and processed. The data is inputted in the system which is highly efficient. The traditional ways of storing data used to be manual filing, documentation, and need for physical storage while in the modern days information systems have enabled the businesses to carry out data storing in a more efficient way (Bagad, 2008, p. 56). The information which is needed doesn’t have to be searched manually through files but it is now just a few clicks away, hence saving time for updating, recoding, and evaluating. The fifth reason is the streamlining of processes. This means that the information systems allow different aspects of the business to save information on the same system. The systems are streamlined which allows staff members to input the data just once instead of recording it again and again for different purposes. There is a central system where the information is saved and it handles all the activities. The employees and the managers can access the information system to look for their duties and responsibilities through a central system. In this case study, the central system could have allowed the employees to access their duties and know about them from anywhere. The last reason why information systems are used is for better profitability levels and customer satisfaction. The initial investment in the information system structure seems to be a large investment but eventually it turns out to be a proper system which can help the business in its growth and profitability over the long run. This is because the business becomes productive and efficient which increases its strategic value and ensures good services for the customers. The organization must believe that the mission is to implement information systems to overcome the challenges and become productive (Forbes, 2000, p. 29). Thus, with the efficiency, staff management, and a central system, the overall profitability of the business can increase to great levels. An example of a strategic decision that could have been taken is ensuring that all the staff members knew how to operate the computer systems properly. This is an example of a strategic decision as they ensure to achieve some advantage in the long run. Strategic decisions affect the long-term goals and directions of the company. In this case, the employees being computer literate would have greatly affected the company in the long run as most of the business activities at all levels are managed by the information systems. If the staff members are not able to handle the problems, that would be troublesome for the whole organization. The managers must take a strategic decision to recruit only computer literate employees as it is a major requirement for all businesses today especially for airports. An example of a tactical decision that should have been taken by the company is to provide guidelines and maps to the visitors as soon as they enter the premises. Tactical decisions are those which ensure success of the organization. Through this decision, the visitors would be guided and satisfied with the service. Satisfying customers and providing them with a friendly response is one of the major objectives of the organization that ensures its success. In this case study, the visitors were furious and upset because they weren’t provided with the facilities and appropriate services that would give them a good experience. Hence, visitors’ feasibility should have been on top of the priorities to ensure the success of the business in short and long run. An example of the operational decision that should have been taken by the BAA is to fix the baggage system and ensure that it works properly. Operational decisions are those which are related to the short-term and long-term operations of the business. These decisions affect the business both temporarily and permanently. In this case, as the baggage system failed much of the problems started to arise. The operational decision should be taken by the organization to ensure that all the information systems are working before starting to operate in consumer services. This would have helped the business to solve the problems of the passengers and it would have prevented so many flights to be cancelled. For the strategic decision made, the type of information system which will be applied is Knowledge Management System. This type of system organizes and dissects the knowledge and redistributes it to share with the individuals and employees of the organization. This type of information system tends to improve the performance of the employees and bring innovation. Knowledge is retained and integrated within the organization. Through this, the organization would be able to help the employees to learn more about the computer systems and then they will be able to handle the systems efficiently. In this way the organization would retain the knowledge and efficiency would increase as everyone would know the handling of the systems (King, 2009, p. 59). This is how the organization can help the employees and avoid problems such as those that BAA faced. This type of system is more likely for big organizations as they help businesses to maintain consistency and give responses to customers and partners speedily. The tactical decisions can use the Customer Relationship Management Systems which synchronize the marketing and sales efforts. These systems track all the customer activities and respond to customer enquiries. Customers are able to connect and interact with the organizations with the help of this system and it enables a positive and satisfactory feedback (Kamel, 2003, p. 86) . The BAA could use this system to get in touch with the customers and help them with car parking and baggage handling. This system can also help in the collaborative strategies of the business and allow different management people to interact with customers to serve them well. For the operational decision, the organization can use the Business Intelligence Systems which are complex but they identify and analyze the data of various operational activities in the business helping in the decision making process. This system would summarize and predict the future sales and costs of the organization. The data is collected and managed according to the strategies and policies of the business. In this case, the baggage handling would have been an important operational activity which could be handled through the Business Intelligence System. Conclusively, BAA had been into a bog problem because of the fault in their information system. The case study talks about the problems and features of the terminal 5 and how they resulted in bigger problems for the passengers and the nation as a whole. Hence, information systems are effective and efficient in managing the business problems and issues. This report tells about the various information systems that could have been used in this case study. Information systems are a part of all the organizations and they enable the managers and the employees to efficiently manage customers and issues. References Anderson J. 2006. Evaluating the Organizational Impact of Health Care Information Systems. USA: Springer Bagad V. 2008. Management Information Systems. India: Technical Publications Daft R. 2010. Organization Theory and Design. NY: Cengage Learning Forbes D. 2000. Project Management Information Systems. USA: Transportation Science and Business Media Heijden J. 2009. Designing Management Information Systems. NY: Oxford University Press Kamel S. 2003. Managing Globally with Information Technology. USA: Idea Group Publishing Research Board King W. 2009. Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning. USA: Springer Snodgrass C. 2002. Human Factors in Information Systems. USA: Idea Group Publishing Stahl B. 2004. Responsible Management of Information Systems. USA: Idea Group Publishing Stair R. 2011. Principles of Information Systems. NY: Cengage Learning Read More