The Work System Methods and Understanding Information Systems - Assignment Example

Managing Information Company Portfolio Creative Cupcakes offers a great variety of bakery items ranging from cupcakes to cookies. The eatables are produced and wrapped in London and then distributed to shops, cafes and restaurants in many regions in Europe. The company recorded great sales in 2005 that amounted to around $10 million. Question # 1 2. Models to Analyze and Identify Requirements After realizing that the company needed changes in the infrastructure and information system, some consultants were invited to review their business processes and procedures so that their prevailing issues could be identified. Some of the models that could be useful in this endeavour are discussed below: The most important thing about an information system is the ‘information’ that is present in it. Laudon and Laudon (2002) defined information as the data that is shaped in a form to provide benefit and convenience to its users. Laudon and Laudon (2002) further defined information systems and stated that an information system is able to collect, store, provide analysis and distribute information which helps in the development of strategies. They highlighted another important requirement of an information system; the information should be able to support the management of the organization. These two definitions provide a clear direction of the information system that is required for Creative Cupcakes. Requirements Authority (n.d.) stated that a common approach to identify requirements is to categorize them into functional and non-functional requirements. 2.1 Non-Functional Requirements Brito, Moreira and Araújo (2002) explained that functional requirements help identify the features and functions that are desired in a specific system, whereas non-functional requirements are the ones that pertain to the quality, reliability, maintainability, flexibility etc of the system. The functional requirements are as important as the non-functional ones since the case study mentioned one of the problems of the previous system as being inflexible. With reference to this criterion, non-functional requirements for Creative Cupcakes system include; Quality; functions can be availed with convenience in an efficient manner. Reliability; all information should be valid and up-to-date. Maintainability; the system should be maintainable to cope with future changes in the business processes. 2.2 Functional Requirements Functional requirements can be identified with the help of UML modeling. Malan and Bredemeyer (1999) explained that UML modeling includes use cases, sequence and class diagrams that help to identify actors, user functions and sequence of the steps that are followed to perform a function etc. One of the most important requirements of Creative Cupcakes information system is the automation of their manufacturing as well as sales records. Manual counting can never be considered reliable in a big scale production process. The automated data can then by analyzed with respect to different requirements for example; monthly sales reports, quarterly revenue reports, monthly manufacturing rate etc. The company will not have to rely on the network’s sales distributor’s data for the evaluation of their sales records. Such reports facilitate the evaluation of the company and identification of their strengths and weaknesses. A useful model was found during the research study that highlights a broad range of aspects related to any organization. The clear identification of these aspects helps to define the requirements that might be expected from the information systems. Alter’s model is given below: Figure 1: Work System (Alter System, 2002) Alter (2002) stated that customers, products, services and business processes bear great importance in the identification of requirements since they are the core elements that define any organization. The information system should be according to the business processes of the organization so that the work can be automated and provide convenience to the employees rather than becoming an overhead. Customer satisfaction is important for any company since otherwise brand shifts are caused. One of the important aspects that were missing in the previous system was that it did not provide timely data about required shipments. Therefore one of the important requirements is to create a casual relation with the booking, manufacturing and shipment data for example the entry by the booking staff will be reflected in real-time at the manufacturing department sections. The booking staff will give a delivery date to the customer which is reflected in real-time at the shipment department section. 2.3 Competitive Advantage Customer records hold great value for any organization since it helps them retain the frequent customers. Creative Cupcakes system should keep a record of their customers so that they can have knowledge about their regular buyers. Great discounts and deals can be offered to those specific customers to keep them loyal to the brand and stay ahead of their competitors. The updated information about the sales of the company will help the company to analyze the buying behavior and market trends. This information can prove to be helpful for the company to understand the customer more than their competitor and cater to the needs of the customers. Effective information systems tend to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the company by careful analysis of the sales and manufacturing records. Updated data can indicate the areas where the company excelled and where more attention is needed. This type of analysis is very useful for the company to gain competitive advantage in the market. Question 2 3. Design Methodology The designing phase of the information system has great relevance in the process of developing a new system or improving an existing one since the final product will depend on the quality of the design. Different methodologies have been proposed by different researchers over the years. The design that seems best for Creative Cupcakes is bottom-up design. According to Degree Directory (2010); the bottom-up design facilitates the development of the foundation of the system in the beginning and then the details/functions keep on adding to the system. According to the bottom-up design, the basic elements and modules are identified for the respective system and their relationships are investigated. Later, further details and features are built on the basic foundation. This design is an iterative process since the design is incremented at intervals and features are not all added in the same phase. This approach will suit Creative Cupcakes because the existing IT department does not have commendable expertise for the deployment and implementation of the new system. The incremental increase in the design will help manage and control the design efficiently. Creative Cupcakes will get faster returns on their investments if they adapt the bottom-up design since major functions of the systems are developed in the early phases. IBM (n.d) pointed out that automation of business processes is achieved in the early stages due to which benefits are realized earlier than other methodologies. This can have a good impact on the top management’s support for the whole system because they usually want to see faster and efficient results in every endeavor. Another advantage of the bottom-up design is that the sub-modules and functions can be evaluated for their efficiency and performance in the development processes rather than evaluating the whole system at the end. The major functions of the required Creative Cupcakes systems are the data entries of their booking process since these entries have a direct impact on the manufacturing and shipment entries. Therefore the first functionality that should be implemented in the system should be the booking section. Then, the module of booking orders can be related to the modules of manufacturing and shipment. The end-users of the system (i.e. employees) are not used to working with a highly automated system since their previous system did not cater to this need to a great degree. The bottom-up approach will introduce the functions at an incremental level and hence make it easier for the users to get acquainted with the system. Therefore this approach will make it easier for the employees to accept the system rather than rebel the whole idea of a new system. The earlier system of Creative Cupcakes can be analyzed and judged if some of the previous modules or functions can be retained and incorporated with the new system since bottom-up approach promotes reusability to a great extent. This design methodology will allow the concerned IT professionals to think of the problems in general and abstract terms that will help them to find a solution which will be very near to their real life problems. Question # 3 4. Issues during the Implementation The adaption of a new system has an impact on the infrastructure of the organization but it also has a resulting effect on the employees that are supposed to use the system. The level of acceptance of the new system will decide the fate of the system; if the system is accepted by the majority of the people in the organization then its integration can be expected in the business processes of the organization but if it is not accepted then it will not be utilized to its maximum caliber. According to Bee and Bee (2005); along with the successful implementation and alignment of the system with the business processes of the company, it is very important to make it accepted among the end-users. 4.1 Effect on Employees It is very natural for people to resist a change. Employees feel that the new system might threaten their jobs or make them seem less productive around the workplace. Automation tends to reduce man-hours for any task and reduces the need for greater number of employees. The automation of tasks increases the insecurities among employees. Some employees are not skilled enough to use the systems therefore feel threatened by the usage of the systems. Other employees might just resist the change as a habit and may not want to make any efforts in learning a new system. 4.2 Effect on the Organization The company might have to invest some capital in the implementation of a new system but the return on investment will be received in different forms. The consultants that were hired to analyze their existing systems stated that a new SAP system was most suitable for them due to which their older system had to be discarded. The earlier system was not updated enough to incorporate few changes to make it work for the organization. The new SAP system would have cost the company great amount of money but the top management was determined to make productive changes in the company. The company would be faced with the expense of hiring more experienced IT professionals to implement the system in the company. It was also advised not to make many changes in the existing SAP modules since the IT department was not capable of handling too many customizations. However project management standards were stressed upon to ensure that the project executed smoothly without any issues. 4.3 Technical Issues The existing IT department did not have the required technical knowledge to implement the system on their own therefore it was necessary to bring in some new professionals to bring about the change. The business processes that were addressed by the previous system were not aligned with the vision and direction of the company therefore the business processes were analyzed to make them directed towards the main objective of the company. The business processes were then made the basis of the requirements of the system so that it would provide its users with aligned features. 5. Conclusion Relevant and up-to-date information is important for every organization today because it helps the company to automate their business processes and analyze their performance. Information systems are an effective way to manage information and provide a formal structure to the organization. Creative Cupcakes realized the need of an efficient information system and decided to adapt a new SAP system in place of its existing one. The current IT department was not technically knowledgeable to implement the new system on their own therefore it was advised to the company to hire more IT experts in the department. Another important aspect was to align the business processes with the direction of Creative Cupcakes so that the information system would provide the users with useful features and functions. References Alter, S 2002, ‘The work system method for understanding information systems and information system research’, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 9, 90-104. Brito, I., Moreira, A., Araújo, J 2002, A requirements model for quality attributes, University of Twente, viewed 11 Dec 2010, Bee, F., Bee, R 2005, Managing information and Statistics, 2nd edition, London: CIPD Degree Directory 2010, What Is Design Methodology?, viewed 10 Dec 2010, IBM n.d., Advantages and disadvantages of the top-down and bottom-up implementation approaches, viewed 12 December 2010, Laudon, JC., Laudon, JP 2002, Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, 7th ed. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Malan, R. and Bredemeyer, D 1999, Functional Requirements and Use Cases, viewed 12 December 2010, Requirements Authority n.d., Functional and Non-Functional Requirements, viewed 12 Dec 2010, Read More