Business Information System in Ark Royal College - Coursework Example

Business Information System Executive Summary This report focuses on recognising and analysing the problems currently experienced by Ark Royal College. Based on the case study provided, it can be apparently observed that the college faced various organisational problems that encompass ineffective communication as well as collaboration between the staff members of Ark Royal’s campuses and loss of campus resources. The design of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), as a new information system, has been proposed to the management of the college accordingly, so that it can be able to address the problems and regain its superior competitive position. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Introduction 4 Task 2 4 a.An Analysis of the Case Study, Identifying and Discussing the Organisational Problems Currently Experienced by Ark Royal College 4 b.Proposal for a New System Addressing Ark Royal’s Problems 7 Conclusion 11 References 12 Introduction An effective Business Information System (BIS) facilitates a modern organisation in managing its activities to gain greater degree of strategic advantages (Gunasekaran & Sandhu, 2010). This report intends to identify and discuss the organisational problems currently experienced by Ark Royal College in relation to its BIS, as depicted in the case study. Subsequently, a new information system will be proposed to the management of the college for addressing such problems and regaining competitive advantages over its rivals. Task 2 a. An Analysis of the Case Study, Identifying and Discussing the Organisational Problems Currently Experienced by Ark Royal College Ark Royal College was founded in the year 1989 with 250 enrolled students. It is a multi-campus private tertiary education college whose headquarter and main campus is positioned on the outskirts of Portsmouth having smaller satellite campuses in the regions of Fareham, Havant and Gosport. The number of students enrolled in this college increased rapidly since the year 1989 from 250 to 2500. As depicted in the case study scenario, the mission of Ark Royal can be apparently observed as offering affordable quality education at a better level to the populaces in Solent region. The courses of this college are mainly noted to be post GCSE ‘O’ level emphasising various vocational programmes in English Language, General Engineering, Business Studies and Accounting & Finance. According to the case scenario studied, the competitive strategy of the college laid in ensuring the maintenance of higher pass rates of its students as compared to its major rivals by incessantly monitoring their progress and taking deliberate actions to address issues with the students falling behind in their academic performances. In precise, it can be affirmed that during the 25 years of existence, the college did not face any problem in the context of attracting the students as can be apparently observed from the case scenario provided. The college administration is mainly supported with the assistance of a traditional computer-based information system, which entails a main server positioned at the Portsmouth campus. The server is linked to individual PCs that are located on the desks of respective senior administrative staff via the Local Area Network (LAN). A majority of the PCs can be found approximately 5 years old that functions under the operating system of Microsoft’s Windows XP. The current administrative resource, namely the “L-Drive”, which is situated on the main server, is regarded as one of the prime information supporting systems of Ark Royal. Identifiably, the “L-Drive” comprises numerous folders along with sub-folders encompassing thousands of PDF, Access, Excel and Word documents. Moreover, typical information that include reports, collaborative projects, departmental financial data and campus directives are contained on the “L-Drive”. According to the provided case study, one of the organisational problems, being currently experienced by Ark Royal, can be apparently identified as ineffective communication along with collaboration prevailing between administrators of its various campuses due to informal nature of the administrative resource i.e. the “L-Drive”. This problem has gradually emerged as a severe issue owing to the increase in the aggregate numbers of staff members, student populaces and the programmes being offered to the students. As depicted in the case study provided, numerous problems have been noted to remain associated with the “L-Drive”. These include unreliable information presentation, difficulties to integrate e-mail in collaborative projects, ineffective utilisation of the valuable resource and absence of search facility, which inhibits efficiency in locating any sort of document. In addition, the existence of numerous copies of similar documents entailing varying amounts of data is also one of the problems, which can be found as linked with the “L-Drive”. Beyond these, it becomes quite difficult to access the “L-Drive”, especially for the new staff members owing to the reason that collaboration through this resource is almost non-existent in the current scenario. After acquiring a brief idea about the different sorts of problems associated with the “L-Drive”, it can be apparently noted that the disorganised as well as the complex nature of this resource has eventually resulted in poor resource management. This, in turn, influenced the departments within Ark Royal towards working autonomously of each other. Thus, due to this particular reason, Ark Royal experienced certain organisational problems that include unproductive arrangement of company personnel, loss of campus resources and duplicate buying of equipment. As portrayed in the case study, the access towards the computer systems by the teachers was found to be quite limited. For instance, they do not have PC’s for conducting word processing tasks and thus, have to depend on a single secretary at every campus for fulfilling their respective word processing needs. It is owing to the same reason that the teachers often experience delays in performing the above stated tasks, resulting in affecting the competitive position of Ark Royal by a certain level. This could be duly considered as one of the potential organisational problems, which is currently experienced by the college. The unfavourable impact imposed on the overall morale of the teachers, can be apparently recognised as one of the prime organisational problems being currently experienced by Ark Royal. This was owing to the reason that the teachers have to perform their allocated tasks considering the manual filing system instead of working on PCs, which resulted to be quiet streesful for them and thus, impacted their overall morale at large. Based on the above-identified organisational problems currently experienced by Ark Royal, it can be affirmed that the problems linked with the ineffective “L-Drive” system have eventually emerged as a financial as well as commercial burden on the college. Thus, in order to mitigate the identified problems and to make Ark Royal a functional, effective as well as affordable tertiary educational institute, there lays the requirement of a new information system. This would support all the activities conducted in the college and most vitally, will produce a strategic resource, aiding Ark Royal towards restoring its competitive position and reputation. It would be crucial to mention that other problems might erupt in the process of development within the college other than those depicted in the case study. These problems can be measured in terms of inadequate as well as improper information flow between the departments of Ark Royal’s campuses, lack of coordination along with collaboration amid the staff members and deficiency in making effective decisions among others. b. Proposal for a New System Addressing Ark Royal’s Problems The management of Ark Royal felt the need of designing a new and effective information system as the problems emerging from the inefficient “L-Drive” resource have become a commercial and financial burden on the college. The management of the college strongly believed that the design of a new information system and its proper implementation would support all the activities performed within the college and will certainly aid in restoring its reputation. By taking into concern, this vital aspect, a new information system i.e. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has been proposed, which will address the problems currently experienced by the college and most importantly, will aid it to recuperate a superior competitive position over the rivals persisting within the industry. Theoretically, the notion of ERP is fundamentally described as an incorporated information system, which is built on a unified database and possess a common computing platform that aids in effectual utilisation of organisational resources and enables greater information flow between every business function (Ray, 2011). The functions of ERP can be apparently identified as materials management, production planning along with control, plant maintenance, corporate finance, sales as well as distribution and human resources (Jaiswal & Vanapalli, 2005). In accordance with the case study provided, it can be viewed that Ark Royal experienced several organisational problems that affected the competitive position and the reputation of the college by a considerable extent. These major organisational problems have been recognized because of ineffective collaboration along with communication prevailing between the administrators of various campuses of the college, poor management of valuable resources, greater loss of campus related resources, duplicated equipment purchase and ineffective deployment of company personnel. Apart from these, the unfavourable impacts imposed on the morale of the teachers due to their perception regarding the manual filing system to be quiet stressful, is the other major organisational problem that currently experienced by Ark Royal. It can therefore be affirmed from a broader understanding that the design of a new information system or resource i.e. ERP replacing the inefficient “L-Drive” system would address and mitigate the above identified Ark Royal’s problems. This can be justified with reference to the fact that the ERP system would automate and incorporate core business procedures of the college in terms of performing effective scheduling operations and keeping proper documentation of various records (SYSPRO, 2014). As mentioned in the case study provided, Ark Royal currently experienced the organisational problem of duplicated equipment purchases due to the disorganised and composite nature of the “L-Drive” system. The proposed ERP system can also address and solve this organisational problem by automating the business procedure of procurement of the college, making it time efficient as well as less prone towards causing any sort of error. It is worth mentioning that the ERP system incorporates every data and procedures of an enterprise into a structured or unified system through the effective execution of innovative hardware along with software technologies (Glenn, 2008). Thus, it can be affirmed that effective utilisation of various hardware as well as software technologies by the newly designed ERP system would ultimately aid in addressing the above identified problems that currently experienced by Ark Royal. Specially mentioning, despite addressing and mitigating the problems currently experienced by Ark Royal, the proposed ERP system might provide greater technical support to the college, aiding it to regain superior competitive advantage over the rivals. The technical support might be provided by the ERP system through the incorporation of its two key constituents that include a ‘modular software design’ and a ‘common database’. Theoretically, a ‘modular software design’ denotes a wide assortment of programs that can be utilised for enhancing the effectiveness of the businesses. The prime intention of this element of the ERP system i.e. ‘modular software design’ desires to link with the common database for the purpose of making all information accessible between the departments in real-time. On the other hand, the element of the ERP system i.e. a ‘common database’ tends to allow valuable information to become more accessible, reliable as well as easily shared. The element i.e. a ‘common database’ can further facilitates every department of an enterprise to store as well as retrieve valuable information in real-time (Targowski, 2007). After acquiring a brief idea about the different elements of the ERP system, it can be affirmed that these elements of the system would provide greater technical support to the management of Ark Royal in terms of storing as well as retrieving several folders and sub-folders encompassing thousands of PDF, excel, access and word documents. Moreover, the above-discussed elements of the ERP system would also aid the staff members of the college to access data relating to campus directives, collaborative projects, departmental financial information and reports. Additionally, it would be vital to mention in this context that the problems associated with the existing “L-Drive” system in Ark Royal such as difficulty in integrating e-mail in collaborative projects and inconsistent information presentation among others can be addressed and mitigated through the effective utilisation of the two above-discussed elements of the ERP model. This could be in the form of making coherent as well as automatic workflow between one department and the other, implementing a single database for enabling centralised data storage and providing visibility for ensuring better or faster collaboration throughout every department (Targowski, 2007). As portrayed in the case study, the teachers associated with Ark Royal are not provided with PCs and thus they have to rely on a single secretary at each campus for fulfilling their respective word processing needs. This eventually results in making the teachers to consider the manual filing system quite stressful, impacting their overall morale at large. In response, the application of the ERP system along with the execution of ‘common database’ and ‘modular software design’ is most likely to address and solve the organisational problem concerning the decreased morale of the teachers. Thus, it can be affirmed that the design of the ERP system, with its features including better integration, greater efficiency, superior accuracy and cost reduction aspects, would certainly support Ark Royal towards regaining higher competitive advantages over its rivals. Conclusion Based on the above analysis and discussion, it can be affirmed that the ERP system and proper execution of its several facets would eventually aid Ark Royal to address the problems that it is currently experiencing. It shall also help the college to gain a superior competitive position. In this regard, the two elements of the ERP system i.e. a ‘common database’ and a ‘modular software design’, would play a major role in fulfilling the above discussed targets. References Glenn, G. (2008). Enterprise resource planning 100 success secrets - 100 most asked questions: the missing ERP software, systems, solutions, applications and implementations guide. United States: Lulu.com. Gunasekaran, A., & Sandhu, M. (2010). Handbook on business information systems. US: World Scientific. Jaiswal, M., & Vanapalli, G. (2005). Textbook of enterprise resource planning. United Kingdom: Macmillan. Ray, R. (2011). Enterprise resource planning. India: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. SYSPRO. (2014). What is ERP - enterprise resource planning? Retrieved from http://www.syspro.com/product/what-is-erp Targowski, A. (2007). Enterprise systems education in the 21st century. US: Idea Group Inc (IGI). Read More