Management Information System for Avalon Books - Research Paper Example

Business Computing Acknowledgements My sincere gratitude go to Dr. * for having equipped me with the required information to undertake this project. It is through following experts that we become experts. I would also like to thank my parents for having sacrificed a lot to ensure that I attend my studies in * school. Last but not the least, I would like to give thanks to all my classmates for their great contribution in making this work a success. It is through your encouragements and criticisms that I have managed to undertake this task. Acknowledgements 1 Management Information System for Avalon Books 3 Research Methodology 3 Management Information Systems 3 Recommended MIS 4 Hardware 5 Peripheral Devices 6 Communication Network 7 Application Software 7 Systems Software 7 Internet and E-mail Applications 8 Business Systems and Security 9 Minimizing Risks Associated with Hard Disk Failure 9 Risks to Information Security 10 Measures to Reduce Risks 10 People Issues 11 Importance of Ethics 11 Data Piracy 12 Copyright Issues 14 Health Problems 14 Further Reading 15 References 16 Acknowledgement ii Introduction 1 Research Methodology 1 Management Information Systems 1 Recommendation of MIS 2 Hardware 3 Peripheral Devices 4 Communication Network 4 Application Software 5 Systems Software 5 Web and E-mail Applications 6 Business Systems and Security 6 Minimizing Risk from Disk Crash 6 Types of Risks to Information Security 7 Measures to Reduce Risk 8 People Issues 8 Importance of ethics 9 Data piracy 10 Copyright 11 Health problems 12 Further Reading 13 References 14 Management Information System for Avalon Books Avalon books as an organization has faced challenges in the past in management of information systems. It has been the dream of every company to efficiently and effectively manage information but this has always not resulted to good results - Avalon is no exception. The company has faced challenges in centralizing their operations especially database requests. The company has also faced difficulties in maintaining consistent records as the information management system maintained are independent thus requires intervention of an expert to harmonize the information. The introduction of information technology in processing of business transactions has been of great benefit to the business world. Through the information systems, the transactions are processed within short duration of time. If efficiently implemented and used it may act as form of customer attraction mechanism. Research Methodology The research methodology to be used is quantitative and qualitative. The research will aim at unveiling the current systems under use by Avalon Books and if there is any improvements that can be made to improve the service delivery. There will be use of online surveys, questionnaires, interviews of the employees, management and the investors, and observation. Data collected will be very necessary in arriving at the recommendations. The research will be objective in nature and will aim at removing any subjective conclusions. Management Information Systems Management information system is a system whose aim is to provide the prerequisite information to effective organization management. Any MIS and the information it provides are vital aspects of reasonable and prudent business decision making (Occtreas, 1985). There are varieties of MIS ranging from accounting systems to human resource systems. The existing management information system at Avalon Books is not sufficient for the effective and efficient running of the business. Taking into consideration that Avalon Books is operating in a very competitive field, the business is required to reduce on costs and improve on services offered. This can only be achieved through implementation of information management system that caters for all the parties involved in the running of the business. The information management system maintained by the company comprises of word processing information system, employee salary and attendance management system and inventory system. All these systems are half baked and not capable of processing adequately the transactions pertaining to them. The organizational structure of the company comprises sales personnel, warehouse attendants and the managerial portfolio that comprises of the general manager, warehouse manager, promotions manager, publishing and design manager, supplies and manufacturing manager and the accountant. With such a large employee base, the company has an obligation to keep all the employee categories updated on the running of the business and has to ensure there is sufficient information system. Recommended MIS Avalon management should install implement a stable information management system, real time in nature. The system should be able to handle concurrent requests from the various users and be able to process them within a reasonable time. The system should act as if it is only one user who is making the request as per the user’s view. The MIS should possess all the qualities of a balanced information system. Such attributes include privacy, efficiency, effectiveness, accuracy, scalability, extendibility and security aspect of the system. The information management system should be a networked system or an online system. An online system is always the best option as the management can be able to monitor the users’ activity in whichever location. The request processing is centralized and the requests are queued using either of the queuing techniques. However maintaining an online system is always hectic due to security reasons. A networked system/online system requires a central server that serves all the requests. Online system is always preferred as there is constant backing up of data and the online storage can never be exhausted. Thus the company can hold all the data pertaining to the company for as long as they want without facing any storage hiccup. An online system is also fast especially if the company is operating on broadband network. Any update of the database is reflected in the subsequent business transactions. The MIS should comprise of the following sub modules: employee attendance; payroll system; inventory system; administration system; and cash flow system capable of processing all the cash transactions. The system should be able produce detailed reports for administration purposes. The system as mentioned earlier should allow for integration of other modules which may not have been installed at the initial stages of installation. It should also be dynamic to accommodate future technological advancement and the effects thereof. Hardware To have in place the proposed information management system, the management should acquire various hardware components to deliver the various functionalities of the system. As passwords are more and more becoming vulnerable to hackers access to the system and the firm’s properties should be through biometric reading either the fingerprints or eye details. Avalon books management should therefore acquire a device capable of reading the biometric data of the employees. To allow access to the property by visitors, there should be a card reader to be used for reading the visitor’s card. Access to the firm by visitors should be only through the visitors’ card issued at the organization’s gate. The technical staff should buy networking hardware devices which include router, internet switch, network cables, network interface cards and clipping tools. A firewall hardware should also be acquired which will be used to prevent the information management system from external intrusion. To locally back up data and information, there should be external hard disk only accessible by responsible persons. To ensure physical security of the firm’s premises, webcams should be installed for employee activities monitoring. The management should also acquire hard disks, sound cards, RAM, storage controllers, power supplies, UPS systems, motherboards, central processing units, firmware and computer fans. For better mobility and flexibility, the company should consider buying laptops for those employees who have to move from one location to another in their work. Peripheral Devices Peripheral devices are classified as either internal or external. A peripheral device is a computer component attached to the host computer but not part of it. The aim of including peripheral devices in a host computer is to extend the capabilities of the computer. The peripheral devices that the Avalon Books management should acquire include printers capable of bulk printing and photocopy, scanners, speakers, digital cameras/webcams, microphones, tape drives, receipt printers, flat panel pole display, credit/bank card reader and POS terminal as recommended by Scheiber (2002). The print quality should be of high standard and the printer should be able to handle large orders and request from the users Communication Network Communication network to be maintained by Avalon Books is wide are network. This is because the company has various branches in different geographical locations that require information sharing (Dorf 2006). The WAN should have high speed as the requests from the users are real time and has to be serviced in the most efficient way. The communication network devices to be acquired are the routers and hubs. The router is for WAN infrastructure while the hub/switch is for the LAN architecture. The communication network is to be implemented through use of a server and clients. If it is possible the management should acquire thin clients thus centralizing all computer functions with the server. This will highly reduce the costs of acquiring application and utility software. Application Software Application software is used to perform the specific user tasks. The recommended application software will be those for word processing, database applications and statistical package for statistical analysis. The management should buy application software from reputable companies. Such include the MS office suite, SPSS, HRM suite, spreadsheet applications, ERP and accounting software. Systems Software The system software is usually designed to operate the hardware. These include the BIOS, operating system and the utility software. In regard to the operating system, the management should install open source/Linux based operating system on the server for security reasons. It is usually hard to hack into Linux based network. On the client machine, either open source or closed operating system may be installed in regard to the convenience of users. The system software may include scandisk, back up software and disk defragmenter software. The programs to run the various peripheral devices and hardware components should be installed for efficient performance of the components. Internet and E-mail Applications The best and most effective form of advertising is online advertising as it is cheaper and one is able to reach most of the people. Nowadays most people are searching for online books therefore making online advertisement to be more effective. The web can be used in information sharing especially for the employees, customers and investors. When the email is used effectively, it will act as a form of online advertisement. The sales agents may use the email systems to share information on new releases with customers. Also the email systems may be used for making orders and customer communication. The management may reach the various categories of employees through email. The management may use web to carry out online surveys aiming at improving their surveys. Through the web, Avalon Books may create a good reputation about the company and also promote themselves. The effective use of the web by Avalon Books management may make the company a reputable company in the publishing industry. Major brand release may be announced through the web and therefore creating awareness to the consumers of the Avalon Books products of the existence of the brand. Through the web, Avalon Books Company can foster solid relationships with the major players in the industry as well as the customers. This will make the company to be recognized and be well informed of the various strides been made by the fellow companies in the publishing industry. Business Systems and Security Business systems development is enhanced by ensuring that a balanced system has been developed. A business is a collection of interrelated factors like investors, strategy, employees, products, processes, customers, rival competitors, entrepreneurs and suppliers. For the best business system to be developed the there has to be constant consultations and continuous decision making in all the levels of the business. The financial, customer, internal business process and innovation, learning and growth perspectives should always be considered. In development of business systems the management should pay special attention to security issues. Minimizing Risks Associated with Hard Disk Failure Data storage is mainly on hard disks and thus a disk failure renders the company to lose data. This may be very fatal to the carrying out of business transactions. In order to prevent data loss, Avalon books should result to online storage. There are very many companies engaging in online storage and thus the management of may consult any of them for their services. However in doing this the management should consider the integrity, confidentiality and privacy of the information. The management should consider the business ethics practiced by the online storage companies. In order to reduce data loss there should be constant data back up and archives. The management should identify the causes of disk failure and try to prevent future occurrences. The management should consider the drive health and be keen on early warning skills. In order to protect the hardware from disk failure, the information systems personnel should take keen interest in drive life cycle by selecting the drive appropriately, routine replacements and burn in operations. There should always back up for software to curb the risk of losing them either through use of a CD or storing them in copies in different hard drives. Virus have contributed to disk failure thus the IT experts have to ensure that the antivirus software is updated regularly. Risks to Information Security The types of risks to information systems security may be behavioral or software. The behavioral risks are those which are social engineered and designed to tempt one install malicious software that may send anonymous information about the company to intruders (albanyedu 2010). Computer virus Trojan horse and worms have been known as the most common type of security risk in information systems. A computer virus is malicious software that is executed when the host program is run. The intent of a virus creator is to destroy system files and data. However the manifestation of virus nowadays has gone down as attackers now target network systems (Johnson, 2008). The other form of security risk is spyware which is a form of malware. Spyware poses threat to a company’s privacy of information. Spyware are on most cases legitimate and legal but are usually used without the knowledge of the user. The intent of the creator is to get access to the company’s information without the knowledge of the user. The last threat to security system to be considered is password hacking. From the fact that access authentication are mostly passwords, the intruders try to crack the users passwords in order to gain access to information systems. Measures to Reduce Risks A system is more exposed if it is a networked system compared to stand alone system. There are various ways to instigate against the above mentioned security risks. The IT department personnel should install virus detector software on the system. To reduce cost of purchase and subsequent maintenance the virus detector software should be the server version allowing for installation on the server machine and the clients machines. The software should be capable of adjusting the clients’ database whenever the server machine software is updated. To ensure that the software is always updated, the maintenance should be carried out by the technical staff. The documentation of use and maintenance should always be maintained for future reference and for use by subsequent technical staff. The software should be registered with the vendor or the creator to keep the company updated on software updates. Handling of hardware components of computer system should be done by the technical staff. The technical staff should ensure that they protect the systems from power surges through use of power regulator mechanisms and fused devices. People Issues In order for all the above recommendations and research to materialize, the personnel in the company have to be taken into consideration. The human capital resources in most businesses are usually ignored with the management emphasizing more on other capital resources. The human capital resources are the ones to implement the recommendations of the research thus all the issues relating to human resources are vital in achieving the objectives of this research work. Importance of Ethics Ethics is all about what we should or should not perform. It comprises of identification of basic business principles like proprietary rights, intellectual rights and respect of business practices. Business ethics is a category of applied ethics examining ethical morals, principles and problems arising from a business environment. Ethics are vital in any business setting and the management should ensure strict observance of the ethics and guidelines of the company (Kidwell & Parrino 2009). Ethics are not only important in efficient running of the business but also vital in protecting the investors’ and the shareholders’ wealth. Ethics are an important aspect in relation to a customer and determine how the customers view the company according to Ferrell, Fraedrich and Ferrell (2006). It is the practice of most consumers to desist from purchasing their goods and services from dishonest companies. Through the practice of ethics the company is able to attract more customers and maintain the already existing customers. It is through honoring of business promises that the customers will gain confidence in the products of the company and therefore become a stable customer base. The particular ethics practiced by the management and employees of a company act as the image factor. The customers may range from individuals to big multinational companies therefore destroying the reputation of a company by acting in a dishonest way or lack of fulfilling the business promises is detrimental in the carrying out of the business transactions in the business world (Posters, 2003). The practice of ethics in business reduces the conflicts in the business world. A company that adheres to the rules and guidelines as stipulated by the professional organizations will rarely find themselves in the corridors of justice especially due to violation of intellectual property rights violation. Ethics will usually restrict businesses from carrying out transactions that are harmful to the business reputation as a whole. Ethics will usually help in resolving of conflicts of interest especially between the managerial and the employees (Paclii, 2010) Data Piracy Data piracy can be considered as one of the biggest threat in the business world today and is mostly referred to as threat from within. Companies are facing threats of database theft, applications theft thus exposing the customers’ particulars to criminals (Avery, 2008). Most of the companies are very interested in protection against intrusion from malicious people outside the company forgetting the risk exposed by information availability to various levels of employee groups. Piracy of databases and other application has been a major challenge for most of the companies, not excluding Avalon books. Data piracy is mostly practiced by the responsible groups of employees and the least suspecting. To protect Avalon database from piracy it is advisable for the management to install applications that will usually ask for authorization when copying information from the company’s computer systems. The USB ports should be deactivated and writing of CD and DVD using the company’s machines prohibited unless with special permission. But this has a major disadvantage when the network has failed and there is need for the employees to exchange information. The best way is to centralize all the requests so that the employees will be accessing applications and databases from the server. The administrator should install administrator software that is capable of detecting when the users of the various client machines attempt to copy information to a removable storage device. The transfer of information from or to a removable storage device should only take place after the authorization by the administrator. He/she should be able to view the information to be transferred prior to the actual transfer so as to either grant or deny the transfer. The software CDs should be kept in safe places and only authorized persons should be able to access them. Any other person should receive authorization from the person responsible. To ensure physical security of the CD’s, they should be kept under lock and key and access be restricted to authorized persons only (Garfinkel, Schwartz & Spafford, 2003). The administration may also enforce security measures by keeping the server in a lockable room where only the authorized persons access. Plugging of removable storage devices should be avoided at all costs as this may prompt the installation of malicious software that sends anonymous data to the creator or developers of the software. Data piracy is detrimental to the company’s reputation. It is the responsibility of Avalon books management to ensure that the customers’ details are secure and they are not exposed to privacy risk. The management should ensure that bank details, credit card number and other details in respect to customers do not get into hands of criminals. The management should ensure multilayer security systems and firewalls have been installed to check against data piracy. The management should ensure that there is a system audit capable of unveiling possible security risks in the system especially who, what, when, where, how, exception reporting and result issues of the database. Copyright Issues Copyright is the exclusive rights granted to the creator of any original work. These rights include the right to distribute, adapt and copy the work. Copyright can be transferred, licensed and assigned and only lasts for certain duration of time. Avalon should ensure that they have patented all the applications developed in-house or have commissioned a third party to develop. The management should also ensure they obtain the license to use any of the purchased software. It is unethical for any business entity to use any software for which they do not have the license to use. Such activities may land the business entity into legal battles. Health Problems In embracing technological advancements, it is always good for the management to consider the health implications thereof. Use of computer systems sometimes may be detrimental to one’s health and therefore all the necessary precautions should be taken into consideration. Use of CRT displays may affect one’s eyesight. The emissions from the CRT may cause itching of the eye. Too much sitting in front of a CRT display will cause one’s eyes to itch and can make them get blind. Long use of computers is linked to glaucoma especially to short sighted people. When users stop blinking and stare consistently at the screen, it makes the eyes dry and strain. This can be corrected by looking away from the screen or closing the eyes a few seconds for short durations. Bad posture while using computers causes the physical strain of the body especially the back. Bad body posture causes lower back pain and neck pain. The corrective measure for this is use of a document holder to restrict one’s neck movement. The screen height should be at the same height level as the eyes to limit strain or bending of the back. A chain with a mechanism to lower or raise the backrest height is necessary to in order to counter the strains of the back. Overuse of computer systems may make one’s hands to ache. After working for a whole day with a computer the fingers start feeling numb. Use of the keyboard may render the wrist to ache. To avoid this, the user should ensure that the keyboard and the position of the wrist are at the same level to prevent the wrists from bending too low or high. The user should also ensure that they do not work on the keyboard all day; instead regular breaks should be taken to relax the body. Further Reading Top 100 Network Security Tools from http://sectools.org/ References Albanyedu (2010), Security Threats viewed on 8th august 2010 from http://www.albany.edu/its/security_threats.htm. Avery P. (2008), The Economic Impact of Counterfeiting and Piracy (illustrated), Paris, OECD Publishing. Dorf R. C. (2006), Broadcasting and optical communication technology (3rd edition, illustrated), New York, CRC/Taylor & Francis. Ferrell O. C., Fraedrich J. & Ferrell L. (2006), Business ethics: ethical decision making and cases (7th edition, illustrated), Stamford , Cengage Learning. Garfinkel S., Schwartz A. & Spafford G. (2003), Practical UNIX and Internet Security (3rd edition illustrated), New York, O'Reilly Media, Inc. Johnson A. (2008), Managing Risk from Information Systems: An Organizational Perspective, retrieved on 8th August 2010 from http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/drafts/800-39/SP800-39-spd-sz.pdf. Kidwell D. & Parrino R. (2009), Fundamentals of Corporate Finance, New York, John Wiley and Sons. Occ.treas.gov (1985), Management Information Systems viewed on 8th August 2010 from http://www.occ.treas.gov/handbook/mis.pdf. Paclii.org (2010), Conflicts of interest viewed on 7th August 2010 from http://www.paclii.org/journals/fJSPL/vol06/8.shtml. Posters H. (2003), Importance of ethics in business viewed on 7th August 2010 from http://www.asqsandiego.org/articles/ethics1.htm. Scheiber A. (2002), The Human Computer: Get the Most Out of Yours!, Bloomington, iUniverse. Read More