Critical Appraisal of Software Tools in a Commercial Environment - Research Paper Example

Critical Appraisal of Software Tools in a Commercial Environment This particular study has focused towards the implementation of managementsoftware tools in the business process along with understanding the benefits that are derived from the same. The advancement of Information Technology (IT) has therewith helped business organisations to carry out their operational activities easily with efficient results at the same time. There are various software tools those were developed, especially for the purpose of conducting smooth business operations in the domain of decision-making at numerous levels. Contextually, software tools including OLAP, EAS and Digital dashboards can be considered helpful for the management of any company in operational level decision-making. Correspondingly, there are also certain software and tools that can help the management of any company in strategic level decision making, which include Decide IT, D-Sight and Analytica among others. In addition, information management software tools such as Microsoft Project, Excel solver and Microsoft Access are used as effective means to accomplish tasks related to business activities to ensure efficacy and effectiveness in the same. This software also provides opportunity to the management of companies to make effective decisions with regard to business. Subsequently, there also exists commercial linear programming software like CPLEX, Xpress-MP and LPSOL that helps in identifying the best possible solution for the business in order to maximise the amount of profit with lower cost. The decision to choose the most appropriate software however depends completely upon the requirements of the company and the ability of the software to meet those requirements. Hence, all these software management tools are helpful in appropriate decision making, when used in alignment with the goals of business. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Critical Analysis 5 Use of Management Software Tools to Aid Management in Operational Level Decision Making 5 Use of Management Software Tools to Aid Management in Strategic Level Decision Making 7 Implementation of Information Management Software Tools 9 Issues of Implementing the Software Tools 11 Evaluation of Commercial Linear Programming Software 12 Findings and Conclusions 13 References 15 Introduction The development of Information Technology (IT) has helped business to implement various tools and techniques that are necessary for the development of organisational operations. In the current era, business activities have become much easier and effective owing to the advancement of technology, whereby various forms of software have been developed and are used in business sectors for effective strategic decision-making by the managers. Overall, these strategies are further considered as helpful for decision making in both strategic and operational levels (Boehm, 1991). There are certain management software tools such as Excel solver, Microsoft project, and Access that are used by companies for carrying out their day-to-day business operations along with developing effective decisions for the overall operations collectively. By implementing these software tools, organisations can attain a competitive positioning for themselves over the competing firms in terms of quality, efficiency and time management among others. Moreover, keeping accounting records and maintaining various financial activities in a business have also become easier and effective through the implementation of management accounting software. Separate set of software are also available for the purpose of reporting, procurement and data mining that have made business activities much easier and faster (JDA Software Group, Inc, 2014). It has ultimately resulted in the increase of profit margin of the company in the long run. Contextually, it is quite evident that the objectives of management software tools include enhancing the operations of the company at different level by enhancing the efficacy of the business in terms of reduced business costs as well as pacing the business cycle in a considerable manner (Stand By Soft Ltd, 2015). Correspondingly, a few management software tools are also accredited to help top-level managers in any business to take important strategies that are helpful for the organisation collectively. Though the use of software tools has benefited businesses in carrying out activities easily and effectively, issues still prevail that may arise because of using the software, which will be discussed in the later section of the paper (Tyndale, 2002). Thus, the paper focuses on identifying the benefits and issues of using management software tools in business decision making. Critical Analysis Use of Management Software Tools to Aid Management in Operational Level Decision Making Management software tools developed, because of the advancement of IT, has benefited organisations in making their business processes much convenient, effective and controlled, which has further influenced the profit margin as well as productivity of the company in a positive manner. There are various types of business software tools that may be applied by companies to help management in devising proper strategies at operational level. These tools may include Enterprise Application Software (EAS), Digital Dashboards, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), Reporting software, Procurement software, Data mining tools, Document management tools and Employee scheduling software among others. EAS is a customised software tool that is designed according to the needs of the company in the present challenging business environment. This particular software tool can be implemented by business institutions including retailers, schools, clubs and government agencies among others (Gartner, Inc. 2013). The overall processes of business units are integrated in this software tool that has the ability to perform various operational functions including production scheduling, order processing, energy management, procurement, customer information management and accounting. Correspondingly, digital dashboards help in visual interpretation of business data that provide information regarding the current state of any organisation, which are indicated through metrics and performance indicators. Furthermore, OLAP is also one of the commonly used management software by organisations that helps in analysing multidimensional data of a business, performs complex calculations, work towards remodelling of data along with conducting trend analysis among others (Colliat, 1996). Reporting software provides a combined view of the data that helps management of any business to be well informed regarding the situation of the organisation in terms of stability. In this similar regard, procurement software helps business units in controlling purchasing activities of business, which include raising the purchase orders, approving them, selecting the product, receiving the invoice and paying bills among other activities. Correspondingly, data mining is also an important tool that assists companies in extracting information relevant to consumers from the database as well as helps in analysing them with the help of software. Subsequently, the objective of the use of data mining in any business is to figure out the information from a set of data and transform them into a structured and systematic form in order to utilise them according to the need of the organisation. Document management system is a particular tool linked with computer programming that is used by any organisation for tracking and storing various documents. Notably, a few of the document management software developed in the recent years also provides the facility of storing valuable information of business and in keeping a back-up of the same to ensure transparency and assessability of the information stored. Similarly, employee-scheduling software is a particular management tool that helps in tracking employee performances, which include sick time, vacation time and compensation time among others, thereby helping the organisation in taking various decisions regarding time management as well as compensation related reward system (Business Management Systems, Inc., 2014). One of the most common software tools adopted by companies in the early years was the Factory Accounting software with which, different types of ledgers were generated automatically. As a result, the operational cost of companies has reduced significantly, since the software was able to conduct a task equivalent to 20 employees, which further reduced the need for larger workforce. Thus, it is apparent from the discussion that management application tools are primarily used for the purpose of increasing the profit margin and enhancing the effectiveness of the business operations by reducing the cost of business processes to a considerable extent altogether (Avinash Kaushik, 2015; TechTarget, 2015). Use of Management Software Tools to Aid Management in Strategic Level Decision Making Decision-making software tools help managers of companies to take various strategic decisions in the most effective manner. It is thus noted that the concept of decision-making software was established in the year 1973. Notably, prior to the invention of World Wide Web (WWW), spreadsheet served as the most common tool for decision-making in organisations performing in various sectors. However, in the middle of 90’s, the first web based decision-making software was introduced. In the present day scenario, a considerable number of decision-making software is available for use in the operations of the business. These software tools help in supporting the analysis that are related with the decision making process of organisations. However, before the implementation of the software, it is very essential to have a clear understanding of the process to be followed with regard to respond to the problems of decision making in organisation. There are certain features of decision making software including measurement of risk aversion, group evaluation, graphical presentation tools and time optimisation to name a few. Consequently, using these decision-making software tools has helped companies in taking accurate and effective decisions, further ensuring positive results (The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, 2014). It will be worth mentioning in this regard that majority of the strategic decision-making processes supported by the decision-making system are mainly based on Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM). A variety of MCDM methods are being employed by the decision-making system in modern organisations, including “Aggregated Indices Randomization Method”, “Analytic Hierarchy Process”, “Analytic Network Process”, “Elimination and Choice Expressing Reality”, “Multi-Attribute Global Inference of Quality”, “Multi-Attribute Utility Theory”, “Potentially all pair wise rankings of all possible alternatives”, “Preference Ranking Organisation Method for Enrichment Evaluation”, “Simple multi-attribute rating technique” and “Evidential reasoning approach”. The aforementioned methods of decision making further can be executed with the use of various types of decision-making software tools, including Decide IT, D-Sight, Criterium Decision Plus, Analytica, Altova MetaTeam, 1000 Minds, Priest, Logical Decisions, Intelligent Decision System, Hiview3, Expert Choice, and Expert Choice among others (The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, 2014). These software tools, in the recent era, have largely helped the management of modern organisations in the strategic level for better decision-making (D-Sight, 2014). However, with the help of this software it has become easy for the companies to conduct their business activities more effectively. By using the traditional system, companies used to face challenges in storing and obtaining data as per their requirement within a given period of time. Being stored manually, data also had the risks of wear and tear, which further used to inhibit the effectiveness of decision making in organisations also making it a time consuming process. It also used to increase transparency issues when applied at the managerial level, for instance, when developing employee performance appraisal and determining other strategic intents of the organisation in a uniform manner. It is in this context that using software tools has become highly preferred and accredited among entrepreneurs as well as middle and top level managers. It also has benefits in maintaining continuous check of organisational process and apply changes in due course to align with the organisational objectives in the change in environment of 21st century (JDA Software Group, Inc, 2014). Implementation of Information Management Software Tools There are certain IT tools, such as Information Management software tool like Microsoft Project, Excel Solver and Microsoft Access that can be helpful in taking organisational decisions, both at strategic and operational levels. Microsoft Project is one of the most commonly used project management software that benefits in assisting project managers of companies in assuring proper allocation of resources for a particular task and tracks the progress of the work at the same time. The software also helps project managers to develop accurate plans, analyse workloads and manage budgets within a particular project. Microsoft Incorporation owns the software presently, being one of the most dominant players in the field of Project Management software. The software is available in two versions including the standard version and the professional version, which are implemented by companies according to their requirements. Large establishments mostly prefer the professional version, as it comprise of advance features like, connecting with Microsoft Project Server and team coordinating tools among others. Arguably, Microsoft Project helps organisations in creating budgets based on the resource rates and work assigned. However, the software fails in determining the numbers of finished products that may be produced with a particular quantity of raw materials and therefore, companies have to depend on other additional software tools for conducting the same, which can be regarded as a limitation of the software (Techyv, 2014). Excel Solver is also a project management tool found in Microsoft Excel that helps project managers to carry out a given project with utmost effectiveness and efficiency. The tool helps in determining the maximum as well as minimum value of a particular problem that is provided in the Excel spreadsheet. It is quite a powerful tool consisting of a large number of programs, responsible to perform the function of optimising the linear as well as non-linear programs, GUI and integer programs among others. The software can be found under the category of “what if analysis” of excel sheet that helps in determining the outcome of a particular problem if a parameter is altered. By using this tool, a project manager can find the optimal value of a formula in the target cell of a spreadsheet. Thus, with the help of Excel solver, it becomes possible for project managers to find out the effects on the projected amount of profit by altering the projected budget for any particular component (Microsoft Corporation, 2015). Similar to that of the aforementioned tools, Microsoft Access is a database management tool that helps project managers to manage various database related with a particular project. The software helps in storing information in large quantities that can be viewed, edited, modified, manipulated and printed according to the requirements. It provides an easy access to the database and thus, operational database can be created conveniently. Microsoft Access also provides the facility of accessing the database by more than one user at a time and subsequently, helps the beginners’ in easy creation of the database with the help of database wizard. The database application also provides error free work and prevents duplication of data, which can again be regarded as an important feature. Moreover, the software is provided with sample editable database templates that allow users to add the required data into the given template. The software further assists project managers in simplifying the data and provides a multiple view of the database that can be stored in a single file in the computer instead of creating multiple files (Bright Hub Inc, 2012). Issues of Implementing the Software Tools The implementation of the management software tools has further helped the business to perform more effectively as well as has helped the management in taking essential decisions for both strategic and operational levels. However, there are certain issues associated with the use of this software that the organisations should consider before implementing them into their business process. Notably, though Microsoft Project large number of features can be availed that can help project managers to plan and budget effectively but at the same time, proper training and experience is necessary for the user to utilise this particular software, which can be regarded as a major issue associated with its implementation in business. Similarly, Excel Solver though considered effective for organising data and can be presented in tabular grid in a simplistic manner, there arises complexities in solving non-linear problems and computational performance by using this tool, which can be considered as solver potential issue. Correspondingly, Microsoft Access is effective in integrating data and processes into other developing software programs conveniently. However, it must be highlighted that since the use of Microsoft Access involves storing all the information of the database into a single file, difficulty arises for the user while retrieving the information. This can also be observed as an issue of using this particular software in the present day business (Bright Hub Inc, 2012; Rangaswamy & Lilien, 1997). Evaluation of Commercial Linear Programming Software Linear programming is referred as a mathematical technique that helps in finding out the best possible solution for maximising the amount of profit with the minimal utilisation of resources. However, various linear programming software has been developed that have helped organisations to optimise the utilisation of resources and planning for the strategic level. The most common linear programming software used by the company includes CPLEX, Xpress-MP and LPSOL among others. CPLEX is one of the most commonly used linear programming software that is implemented by majority of the organisations. It supports various types of mathematical optimisations and provides an easy user interface. IBM presently owns the software, which was first implemented for the commercial purpose in the year 1988. The software helps in solving large linear programming problems, integer programming problems with the help of various methodologies and techniques (IBM, 2015). CPLEX is based on the interface of C, C++ and Java languages and can be easily connected to Microsoft Excel. Similarly, Xpress-MP is also one of the most commonly used linear programming software used by the business establishments. The software is used in various industrial sectors including finance sectors and supply chain optimisation in the cement industry among others. The software is capable of solving problems related to LP, QP, MIP and MIQP with the help various methods. The software uses Primal and dual simplex methods of optimisation for solving the critical problems whereby the user has complete control over the optimisation process and the re-solve time is also less in this process, when compared to other software. Moreover, the software also supports parallel computing, which is beneficial for the company as it increases the scope of accessibility from its different workstations. Correspondingly, LPSOL is linear programming software that helps company to solve large-scale linear programming and mixed integer-programming problems. It utilises methods of linear programming as well as revised simplex method for optimising different types of problems. This software does not provide the facility of parallel computing, which is a noteworthy disadvantage for the company. Therefore, all these commercial linear programming software tools helped the business organisations in solving various problems and help the management to take decisions for increasing the profit margin with the proper utilisation of resources (Linderoth & Ralphs, 2004). Findings and Conclusions Thus, from the above discussion, it can be asserted that management software tools help companies in carrying out their business activities efficiently. As the study reveals, the set of software helps management decision making of companies in both strategic as well as operational levels. Diverse range of software including OLAP, EAS and Digital dashboards helps management in operational level decision-making. There are also certain other software tools, such as Decide IT, D-Sight and Analytica, which are beneficial for companies in conducting various activities conveniently and effectively, as well as help management in strategic level decision-making. There are some common information management software tools that are implemented in the operational process of the business that performs a multi dimensional analysis of various data and thus, helps management in making strategic decisions. These software tools include Microsoft Project, Excel Solver and Microsoft Access. Moreover, the commercial linear programming software including CPLEX, Xpress-MP and LPSOL, may also help business units in maximising the amount of profit with the proper utilisation of resources. Contextually, it can be suggested to the companies that most of the tools mentioned within the analysis of the study, acts as effective means for ensuring proper decision making of company in both strategic as well as operational levels and hence, they should implement the same accordingly within their business activities. However, there are certain advantages and disadvantages of the software tools, which the business should take into consideration before implementing in business process. The selection of the software tools completely depends upon the requirement of the company. 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