Project 3
Systems
Recent Trends of Computer Information
Systems
Introduction
Executive Summary
System Analysis
Goal
Measurable Result
The measurable result of this business system is the amount of revenue
earned off of[TFR7] sales. This
type of result is a direct indication of how well the system is working for the
firm, the boat club. It will be clear
whether or not the system is working in favor or if things need to be tweaked.
Major Views
The three most important and applicable views to the boat club would be
Marketing, Service, and Human Resources.
Marketing is a must in this type of business. Advertising can make or break a service company like this
one. Customers will have no way of
knowing about it if it’s not promoted.
This type of business is a new idea and it must be shown to be a
lucrative endeavor for customers.
Marketing must be pushed and invested in for a sufficient reach to the
target market.
Service is the most important view.
Committed service in this type of business will make a break a
firm. Customers want to be treated
important and congenial for their money. This type of club is a high-end
establishment and people who pay good money want to be treated well.
Human Resources build on service. Without the right people working at
the firm, great service cannot be achieved.
Dedicated employees who understand the business in which they are
working for are the only acceptable candidates for success[TFR8] .
Service View
Service is the core of our business because people come to our business so they do not have to deal with all of the hassle of repair and product maintenance. An example of how service works in our business is shown below.
People Buy Membership Boat is Rented We then clean and fix with us any repairs that need to be done
------> 
-------> 
Now people can go about their business without having to make the things they love a hassle[TFR9] .
The way the service view works in our company is that people come to us to rent our boats so they won’t have to deal with any hassles like the maintenance of the boat. Once they purchase a membership to us they have the ability to rent a boat whenever they would like, and when they are finished we clean and make any necessary repairs, and it is then available again to all of our members.
Obstacles and Complexity
Any service industry is going to run into some common obstacles when trying to provide the best service to your customers. One of the most difficult obstacles for a Boat renting service is convincing customers that our service of renting boats is more sufficient[TFR10] and less costly than purchasing their own. Our boat service will not be able to profit if we do not have any customers to rent them. Another obstacle would be making sure the company has a certain image, which portrays fast and reliable service. This means making sure that all the boats are running well and are not breaking down or getting out of shape. The better the boats look and the faster we get them the service the more customers we can retrieve. According to the relationship model the amount of the elements is 3. The elements consist of the people who purchase the membership, the actual boat that is rented and the repairs and cleaning that may need to be done. The formulas to find the relationships is as follows:
Elements are resembled by “e” which equals 3.
Number of Relationships equals:
R = [(e-1)e] / 2 = [(3-1)3] /2 = 3
Number of States equals:
S=2e = 23 = 8
The complexity of this business is rather low but it does increase along with the amounts of elements, as does any business.
Computer Information Systems
The
computer information system for our boating service that we chose is the
Accounting Information System (AIS). It supports our boating business in many
ways. This aspect of information systems takes into account all revenues,
expenditures, production and human resources and payroll. Specifically, we will
keep track of how many boats we have to be rented and where they are located.
This is part of our assets including the money that they bring in. Computer
records can be kept for efficiency and accountability reasons. Expenses, such
as maintenance and renovations for the boats will be recorded and accounted for
as well. Furthermore, all employees of the company and suppliers will need to
be paid and the AIS will play a roll in keeping track of where that money is
going.
The
Accounting Information System will bring together adding assets and subtracting
liabilities to reach a successive owners’ equity. The system improves the
effectiveness and efficiency of doing our companies accounting. We will need
someone to enter in the journal entries and adjusting entries, but other than
that the computer is always accurate to its program and extremely fast. As a
result, the Accounting Information System will benefit our company greatly by
providing us with the statements we need accurately, instantly, and easily
accessible.
Recent Trends of Computer Information Systems
After researching the history
and typical applications in business a few trends of how Accounting Information
Systems have been found to be changing. For instance, five years ago, all
accounting systems were character-based, possibly server-based and not amenable
to user-driven change. (Banerjee) Whereas today they are graphical, operate in
a distributed processing environment and offer much flexibility. Also,
boundaries are being taken away from being constrained to just finance
functions and are moving more to becoming “the hub of organization-wide
information systems.” (Banerjee)
New trends such as market
concentration, globalization, new technology, and customer solutions are having
major companies evaluate their systems. Today, opportunities such as groupware,
workflow and information processing are readily available for companies to
invest in to help the efficiency of their business.
Most of the accounting systems
vendors are caught up with Windows and client/server. From here it is learned
that the most beneficial and frequently used is SAP. “It has presented a
product for re-engineering.” This tremendous system has taken over for most
large companies who use SAP for more than just an Accounting Information System[TFR11] .
Information Systems Model
Banerjee, Jyoti.
Four Trends Dominate the Accounting Software Market http://www.shu.ac.uk/schools/fsl/fisjnl/vol1996/pvw1996/pv96001.htm
Targowski,
Andrew and Rienzo, Thomas. Enterprise Information Infrastructure, 4th
Ed. Paradox Associates, Inc. 2004.
Evaluations
Sherri’s evaluation:
For my part of the
project I discussed how important service is to a business. However doing this
part of the project was not really something new to me because I have worked in
a family business my whole life and I already knew the importance of service to
a business. Although it did show me different aspects of how your service can
change your business. So I think that it was a good decision for me to do this
part of the assignment because I have had some background on it.
April’s evaluation:
This project has
helped me learn a lot about the obstacles you might run into as an owner of a
service company. There is a lot more
thought then one might think when trying to run a business and earning your own
profit when your own money is at stake.
One day when I am working in the business field I will take the
knowledge I have learned from this project into consideration. The complexity of a business is not always
as easy as everyone may think and that’s an important lesson for everyone to
learn.
Jack’s evaluation:
I liked this project
because it made us have to break information down a bit. It gave us room to
move with creativity and it helped to teach us what a system is. There was also
the aspect of helping us to learn that businesses have much more going into
them than I personally previously though. Good assignment.
Jessica’s
evaluation:
I felt this project
was a great team building exercise. The parts were interrelated with each other
which encouraged us to work together to get the report finished. I would say
that I learned much about systems in regard to their relation with business
firms. I enjoyed also how we were able to choose a business of our own and use
some imagination.
Justin’s evaluation:
This project
reminded me how to use Fireworks. This
program is very useful in making professional looking documents. It is very good to get to know this program
in depth to make sure I will be able to use it in my own career. By getting to use this program this project
was very helpful in making me remember how incredible of a resource Fireworks
is.