Systems and Databases - Essay Example

SYSTEMS AND DATABASES – WORK Answer (i Figure DFD Context Level Figure 2: DFD Level Answer (ii The potential problems for the hospital are noted as under: 1. Record management at the admission registration desk: Problem definition: The records at the admission desk requires to be formatted appropriately and forwarded to the DSS, Placement officer and Local authority for application and approval of the fund. Presently the records are non-manageable and does not have synchronous behavior. Solution: An information system in the form of a website would connect all the three external entities named as DSS, Placement officer and Local authority and would ensure progress of the application, its forwarding process,, approval and final payment. A small ERP solution, SAP Business One or an open source ERP can be used effectively for the purpose to bind and ensure swift data transfer among the various entities. 2. Data store capabilities for the resident register Problem definition: The effective store and management of the resident’s records are quite ineffective at the moment. Solution: A database solution would ensure better storage, addition, modification and deletion of resident records so that bed allocation is handled better. Bed allocation would not only help the care manager but also the placement officer to know the affordable rates for the beds for fund approval process. Databases namely Oracle or MySql server can be used for storing and retrieving the records of beds and residents. 3. Nurse records Problem definition: The nurse records are not well maintained for immediate allocation and is very difficult to know the availability of the nurses for resident allocation and assignment. Even their weekly payment hours are sometimes faulty. Solution: A database system with alerts (triggers) would be largely helpful in knowing the reorder level for nurse’s availability and their filling up with buffers so that patients are taken care and attended at all times. 4. Drug Book records and data exchange with the pharmacist Problem definition: The drug book is often quite late in sharing with the pharmacist for their drug delivery due to lack of efficient record practices. Solution: An information system should be well connected with the pharmacist who would ensure better and timely delivery of drugs for use by the home. Again the proposal for an interconnected system like that of ERP is most useful in such cases. It would not only manage the various elements but would also reduce their operation cycle time in terms of effort and time taken by the various actors like the care manager, nursing manager and others to accomplish a task. As the hospital demands quick and timely action to keep up with the patient’s medical demands, an ERP system would ensure effective data transfer and reduce their lead times (Ballou, 2002). 5. Record of leaving and returning from day centers Problem definition: The various records of leaving and returning of the patients from the day centers are not recorded and that poses a serious problem of bed allocation. Solution: The updation of records are essentially required for fetching the exact state of the patients at all times. The system must reflect that at every point of time as to the status of the patient. A database solution would ensure better management of the home and ensure a reflection of the patients for this period. 6. Photocopy of the residents register Problem definition: The photocopy of the resident’s information and nursing details are often very difficult to spread out. Solution: A photocopier would ensure that the hardcopy of the details are created and circulated for the care manager and the nursing manager to further coordinate the issue. 7. Cooking menus record is not timely and efficient Problem definition: The forwarding of the menus by the owner (Celia) is not timely met and there is always a high cost involved at last to optimize the cooking patterns. Solution: The proposed information system would help in forwarding menus at the system assigned dates with the help of triggers. The detailed one time planning of the menus is enough to ensure a dynamic combination of items to be forwarded to the cook for timely execution of the tasks. The fortnight notice for preparing special dishes can be set out with alerts from the database system so that enough preparation with regard to shopping for ingredients and planning can be made possible. 8. Coordination of the food list with GP suggestion and Residents register Problem definition: The list forwarded to the cook and items shopped for food are often ambiguous and requires to be perfectly placed for timely execution of things. Solution: The information system would be accessible by the cook to fetch the food list, ingredient list, special occasions dates so that enough preparation can be done for meeting up with the obligations. Answer (iii): The Business System Option (BSO) can be stated as follows: 1. Requirement of a photocopier: The demand of a photocopier is very essential to the nurse manager and care manager to exchange information on scheduling nurses to their duty and to also know the care plan for action. Cost of a standard photocopier (Cannon Photocopier iR2010F): £800-£1,000. The major advantage would be to take a quick photocopy of patient’s records for nurse allocation and assignment. The major disadvantage would be the handling of running costs of maintenance, cost of papers, ink and toner. 2. Requirement of a small robust ERP application: The information system in question here would be to integrate all the internal departments like admission cell, nursing, care, food, day care, owner and external entities like DSS, local authority, placement officer and pharmacist. The data transfer from the admission cell is required by the nursing, care, placement officer, and local authority, DSS for fund application, approval, payment, invoicing and other activities. Such amount of complexity in data exchange and data transfer eats up a serious amount of time and effort. A small ERP system connecting all the hospitals elements would ensure better fetching of records and fulfillment (Cooper, 2003). 3. Requirement of a networking solution: The networking for the hospital would ensure better communication and timely action for meeting up with various compliances. The approximate costs for the network solution are as follows: The costs of the solution are as follows: Hardware --Network Server £3519 1 @ $3519 --Network interface cards £140 7 @ £20 --Print Server £1700 2 @ £850 -------------- Total Hardware £5359 Hardware/Software Installation £500 Wiring £200 Database £2000 User Training £250 ====== Total Project Cost (one time) £8309 References/Bibliography Ballou, R. H (2002). Business Logistics Management, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Third Edition. Claudio, U. Ciborra (2006). Teams, Markets and Systems, Cambridge University Press, 2, 78-82. Cooper, M. C., and L. M. Ellram (2003). Characteristics of Supply Chain Management and the Implications for Purchasing and Logistics Strategy. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 4, 2, 13-24. Forouzan, A. Behrouz (2003). TCP/IP Protocol Suite, second edition. Tata McGraw Hill. Hoffer, A. Jeffery (2003). Modern Systems Analysis and Design, Pearson Education. Read More