Northumbria Country FoodInformation Systems

Question: Discuss about theNorthumbria Country Foodfor Information Systems. Answer: Introduction Northumbria Country Foods (NCF) is a business that has been established and run by family and is rapidly expanding itself in the recent years. It was set up by Dr Beth Walker and has been operating since past ten years and includes the activities of developing and manufacturing of the English food items for the chilled ready meals. The business is expanding with multi-national companies investing in the same. However, there has been a recent downfall in the chilled food sector as a whole with the promotion of health eating. NCF primarily holds two business areas as Business to Business (B2B) in which it produces its own label products for the two supermarkets. It also operates as a Business to Consumer (B2C) business unit in which it retails the products under its own brand name. Current System and Issues The Information Systems that are set up and used in NCF are not in accordance with the latest technological advancements and there are a number of issues that are associated with the same. The accounting system that is used is obsolete and the database systems do not provide the ability analyze the data. Also, paper based system is used in the management of supplier related functions and information. Due to a number of loopholes in the current system, there are a lot many issues that are encountered in terms of processing, data management, employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Benefits of Information Systems for NCF There will be a number of benefits for NCF with the development and deployment of the latest Information Systems in practice. These Information Systems will allow faster processing of the data and information reflecting on the improved services and operations in a speedy manner. There are a lot of human errors that are observed with the use of paper based system and the same will be avoided with the use of automated IS. Also, management and analysis of the data is a serious concern with the current system followed at NCF which would be overcome with the deployment of the improved database system. With reduction in the risks, there will also be optimum utilization of the resources and better communication between the internal and external entities such as employees, customers and suppliers. There would also be enhanced efficiency and productivity displayed by the employees and enhanced levels of customer and employee satisfaction as well with streamlining of all the activities (Basahe l, 2010). Suggested Systems There are primarily three systems that NCF shall deploy in their infrastructure and architecture. E-business system is one of the three systems that shall be deployed in order to handle all of the business operations electronically. It would allow the various operations associated with the customer and suppliers electronically along with data management as well. The next system that is required to be deployed at NCF is the BI system that stands for Business Intelligence systems. The present era is an era of digital innovation and massive amounts of data. NCF currently deals with various categories of data such as internal data, customer data, supplier data, market information and a lot more. BI systems would allow the analysis of this data with much ease to retrieve meaningful information in the form of patterns, statistics and other representations. It would enable Beth and team to develop effective market strategy as it would provide an overview of the customer preferences, supplier patters and likewise (Luhn, 2016). Another system that would be necessary to be implemented at NCF is the social media integration. Social media is a platform that is being used in the present scenario for marketing of the products along with various other purposes such as determination of user preferences, improvement of the e-business system rankings and many others. The integration would enable NCF to reach out to maximum number of customers with much ease. The three systems that are discussed above would be implemented in NCF in a particular order. Implementation of all the systems at once would lead to increased complexities and difficulty in the implementation process as well. The suggested order, in which these systems shall be developed, deployed and implemented at NCF are E-business Systems followed by BI systems and then the social media integration. E-business systems have been placed at top in the order of priority as the business activities and expansion would not be handled effectively without the set up of the same. The next is the BI systems as it would then be necessary to analyze the e-data associated with the business. The current marketing strategies and operations are handled by an extremely skilled team and the social media integration is therefore placed at the end. Steps to Implement New Systems The information systems that have been suggested above would require well defined steps for successful implementation. The same shall be done in a step by step manner with five broad phases as listed and explained below. Initiation: The step shall include the feasibility assessment of the system in terms of the environment at NCF along with technical, operational and economical feasibility. A charter document shall also be submitted by the manager to gain authority to begin with the project activities. Planning: Implementation of any project would not yield successful results without effective planning. The step would therefore include a number of planning activities at NCF such as determination of scope, assessment of risks, selection of team, budgeting and scheduling of the project. Execution: The steps would include the design and development of the selected system along with the other activities such as procurement of the tools and equipment. Control: The step would include the management of the changes, testing activities, review and monitoring activities. Closure: The last step would include the closure activities such as verification of the deliverables, documentation of lessons learned and preparation of the closure report (Rose, 2013). Impact of Improved Systems There will be various impacts on NCF with the improvement and organization of the most recent Information Systems. These Information Systems will permit quicker preparing of the information and data thinking about the enhanced administrations and operations in a fast manner. There is a considerable measure of human mistakes that are seen with the utilization of paper based framework and a similar will be dodged with the utilization of mechanized IS. Likewise, administration and investigation of the information is a genuine worry with the present framework at NCF which would be overcome with the arrangement of the enhanced database framework. With lessening in the dangers, there will likewise be ideal use of the assets and better correspondence between the inner and outer substances, for example, representatives, clients and providers. There would likewise be improved effectiveness and profitability showed by the workers and upgraded levels of client and representative fulfillment als o with streamlining of the considerable number of exercises. There would also be an impact on the management policies as it would be required to transform the same. There will also be a number of changes that will be introduced at NCF with the implementation of the new systems in terms of the steps to operate, management of the functions and likewise which would also be required to adapt. Suggested Information Systems Accounting Information System The Information System would include the automated processing, handling and storage of all the accounts and finance related activities. There would be a number of operations that the IS will execute such as processing of salaries of the employees, recording of the financial patters, management of the payments by the suppliers and the customers, automated payment processing, billing activities and many others. The system would also provide the ability to retrieve a number of accounts related reports which may be utilized by the stakeholders at NCF such as managers, financial officers, market analysts and many others. This IS would provide a number of benefits to the employees as well as the accounting department will be able to handle the accounting operations in a quick, error-free and streamlined manner (Munteanu, 2016). Database Management Systems The next information system that is recommended for NCF is the database management system. There are a number of issues that are associated with the current database system as it lacks the ability to analyze the data (Gordon, 2007). The improved database information system shall include the cloud based database management system that would store, manage and handle the database operations over the cloud. It would also include a number of in-built tools for the analysis of the data and information for recognition of patterns and statistics. The tasks associated with the management of the data associated with the customers and suppliers will become easy and the administration of the data along with implementation of policies will also involve reduced effort (Ramakrishnan, 2016). Supply Chain and Inventory Management Information Systems The operations that are associated with the suppliers are still performed by the paper based operations. Therefore the suggested information system is the automated supply chain management and inventory management system (Croxton, 2016). It would also include the integration with the database of the organization. The IS would keep the track of the inventory and would be linked to the order processing systems. The automated system would also generate alerts in case of insufficient inventories, excessive products and likewise. The activities associated with the supply chain life cycle will also be managed in an automated manner. The same would result in easier management and administration of the supplier data along with enhanced organization of the associated operations (Misra, 2010). Order Processing Systems The e-business system that would be implemented at NCF would include the online processing of orders. The new and improved order processing system would ensure automated operations and the same would be linked to the payment processing, transaction management, database systems and others. The order processing system will provide the order status as new as soon as the order would be received. The same will be validated with the supplier and inventory systems to ensure that the items can be made available. The order status would turn to confirm followed by the status as shipped, delivered and completed. The order processing system would also allow the cancellation of the orders and would update the inventories and will also maintain the order history (Rowe, 2012). Further Developments and Conclusion There would be further developments required at NFC after the implementation of the e-business systems. The same would be followed by the implementation of BI systems and the integration with the social media. There would also be a dedicated change management system and team that would be required to be deployment for the management of various entities such as operations, policies and information. The new and improved information systems would also bring along a number of security risks. It would be necessary for NCF to develop and deploy enhanced basic and advanced security mechanisms. These systems would ensure that the data and information are kept protected at all times and there are also no occurrences of security threats and attacks. Another development would be associated with the employee trainings on the newer information systems to allow the employees to execute the operations without any error. Northumbria Country Foods (NCF) is a business that has been established and run by family and is rapidly expanding itself in the recent years. NCF primarily holds two business areas as Business to Business (B2B) in which it produces its own label products for the two supermarkets. It also operates as a Business to Consumer (B2C) business unit in which it retails the products under its own brand name. Due to a number of loopholes in the current system, there are a lot many issues that are encountered in terms of processing, data management, employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. The suggested order, in which these systems shall be developed, deployed and implemented at NCF are E-business Systems followed by BI systems and then the social media integration. There are a number of information systems that are recommended such as accounting information systems, database management systems, supply chain management systems, inventory management systems and order processing systems . References Basahel, A. (2010). Examining the Strategic Benefits of Information Systems: A Global Case Study. Retrieved 17 November 2016, from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/336775.pdf Croxton, K. (2016). The Supply Chain Management Processes. Retrieved 17 November 2016, from https://ecsocman.hse.ru/data/474/089/1217/article4.pdf Gordon, K. (2007). Principles of Data Management Facilitating Information Sharing. Retrieved 17 November 2016, from https://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/data-management-chapter1.pdf Luhn, H. (2016). A Business Intelligence System. Retrieved 17 November 2016, from https://altaplana.com/ibmrd0204H.pdf Misra, V. (2010). Supply Chain Management Systems: Architecture, Design and Vision. Retrieved 17 November 2016, from https://www.na-businesspress.com/JSIS/MisraWeb.pdf Munteanu, V. (2016). The financial accounting information system central base in the managerial activity of an organization. Retrieved 17 November 2016, from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/6552451.pdf Ramakrishnan, R. (2016). Database Management Systems Solutions Manual Third Edition. Retrieved 17 November 2016, from https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~dbbook/openAccess/thirdEdition/solutions/ans3ed-oddonly.pdf Rose, K. (2013). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)-Fifth Edition. Retrieved 17 November 2016, from Rowe, C. (2012). Introducing a sales order processing system: the importance of human, organizational and ergonomic factors: Behaviour Information Technology: Vol 6, No 4. Tandfonline.com. Retrieved 17 November 2016, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01449298708901856?journalCode=tbit20