Company A is regarded as one of the leading firms in the aerospace industry. Being a merchant supplier and a contractor, Company A specializes in the production and delivery of complex aerospace systems such as aviation, space, and military to a global customer base. Propulsion systems, satellites and components and services, composite aerospace structures, missiles, and space launch vehicles are among our most successful products. The goal of this research project is to discover, communicate, evaluate, explore, and reflect on the logical and efficient application of management information systems in order to give a laborsaving, timesaving, and cost-effective means of doing business. Implementation of an efficient transaction processing system (TPS) is paramount for effective management of operations in almost every aspect of the company. In deliberation and examination of a TPS, we must consider our needs and important aspects of a TPS as a function of our business models. The best TPS for our use will be evaluated by performance, continuous availability, data integrity, simplify of use, and modular growth. The performance of the TPS will be measured regarding total transactions in a given period. Company A is a high volume, a multi-disciplinary company that requires real-time processing to handle the sheer volume of transactions. This is an efficient means of processing due to accurately updating data in real time (Turban, Volonino, Wood, P. 50).
Real-time processing is the most appropriate type of process in the purview of this businesses since it guarantees and appropriate response to a stimulus or request quickly to affect the condition that caused the stimulus (Schuster). An evaluation of continuous availability is required due to the importance of TPSs. An efficient TSP must be available at all times to ensure the business continues to operate as intended. An unexpected shutdown or lack of availability of the TPS will inhibit operations. An escrow system must be used to ensure the integrity of inventory for purchase. This means a sale must accurately hold a product as ‘pending’ and must not sell the same product to multiple end-users. A TPS must have an efficient and simple interface to minimize errors of data entry and allow for corrections. Expanding this system for scalability is a must since this company is poised growth and must work to eliminate the need for a complete replacement of the TPS for scalability issues (Information Resources Management Association, 2016). The overall TPS must perform and manage the following tasks which include but are not limited to: sales, production, inventory, purchasing, shipping, receiving, accounts payable, billing, accounts receivable, payroll, and a general ledger. Working to automate these processes as much as possible will undoubtedly result in giving A Company competitive advantage as well increasing optimal performance and increase operational efficiency.
Database Management System
Database Management System is an organizational system that enables proper organization of data in a database (Rocha, Correia, Adeli, Reis, & Costanzo, 2017). DBMS in A company allows data storage and transformation to information to facilitate the decision-making process. Database Management System is made of three elements namely; physical database, database engine, and database scheme. Physical database is responsible for gathering all the files that have the data. Database engine makes the access and modification of contents of database possible (Schuster, 1981). Database scheme is the specifications of the logical structure of the stored data in a database. Considering the size of A and activities operated by the company, it is evident that database management system is required to keep and transform data for the sake of future analysis and decision making by the A company management.
Database management system is used in various departments within A Company. Marketing Department and Human Resource Departments are among the departments that utilize DBMS considering the data generated by the marketing and human resource (Rocha, Correia, Adeli, Reis, & Costanzo, 2017). Evaluation regarding the use of DBMS in A Company focuses on Marketing Department because marketing is an important department of the organization because it is the department that involves external stakeholders such as customers and society. Data collected from the external environment is essential for A Company because it helps in storing and organizing data to a mode, in which it helps the company to analyze the comments, feedback, and surveys.
A Company handles and produces numerous aerospace activities thus it has a huge number of customers worldwide. Sales analysis is important because it can be simulated to forecast the future sales and market environment (Rocha, Correia, Adeli, Reis, & Costanzo, 2017). The database helps the marketing department to arrange certain data regardless of the size for marketing managers to perform analysis essential for making both operational decisions and strategic decisions. The marketing data analysis puts A Company a competitive advantage due to the reason that the company is operated based on both internal and external market forces.
The production in A Company is based on the demand in the market. Demand prediction depending on seasons is possible when DBMS is well configured to capture and arrange sales data for every product, region and season (Information Resources Management Association, 2016). The A Company sales its products worldwide; hence regional sales are always taken into consideration to ensure distribution of products is made based on the demand of every production per region. The aerospace industry has fewer players in the market, but quality production in aerospace is of the essence. Therefore, DBMS plays an essential role in storing, arranging and analyzing sales data.
A Company is a company characterized by specific features regarding processes. Requirements specifications are essential to keep the company operations smooth and reduce major restructuring in departments. Vendors offering data storage and analysis solution give options for customers to order DBMS as per client workflows (Schuster, 1981). Selecting a customized DBMS is a better solution for A Company because there are various types of DBMS namely; Hierarchical Database, Network Database, Relational database and Object-oriented database (Rocha, Correia, Adeli, Reis, & Costanzo, 2017). The final DBMS architecture should be fitting the specific requirements of A Company; hence the project management team should provide the specification to the vendor before making an order of a particular DBMS. For the case of A Company, a recommended DBMS should be a customized Hierarchical database.
Our company is a multinational company, and we recommend network database due to the reason that we have branches and vendors across the world. Branch and vendors data can help our company to collect sufficient data that can enhance analysis and decisions regarding our products. Vendors’ data can help us understand feedback from the customers worldwide; thus survey can frequently be done to keep the company posted regarding the client's preferences (Information Resources Management Association, 2016).
Hieratical DBMS operates in a parent-child and tree-like model. The hierarchical database management system is designed in apparent child relationship because it has the parent database and small databases that are linked to the major database (parent). For example, our company database can be organized in order such as headquarters, followed by branch, department, teams and teams and team members considering that in within our department we have a team assigned to particular duties. Team members have tasks assigned, and they are supposed to report to the team, where the team can integrate all the reports to the respective department, and the department can be able to gather all the information then post the branch, where the branch will update the database and finally send to the headquarters (Information Resources Management Association, 2016). Navigation, local parent pointers and one-to-many and redundancy are the solution framework that Hierarchical DBMS can offer to our company.
Navigation is easy and particular when using the Hierarchical model because the predetermined structures direct the access paths in the hierarchical model (Information Resources Management Association, 2016). A Company has many branches and departments; thus Hierarchical model can provide a solution regarding accessing specific records, query moves right from the segment in the database down via the branches. It will be fine for A Company because the experts in the company are knowledgeable thus tracing the location of the files. It reduces the redundancy because files are arranged in the records based on the categories and codes thus it reduces the duplication of files in headquarters and branches. Our company has many ongoing projects thus the pointers can help in separating the projects database where the project information is stored.
The strengths of the Hierarchical can be realized from the results. The hierarchical database enables the company to organize its employees in an orderly manner that can give the human resource department easy task in tracing performances per employee and departmentally. Isolation of the sections is enhanced by the hierarchical database thus increasing the lack of collaboration among the employees due to the reason that hierarchical database (Rocha, Correia, Adeli, Reis, & Costanzo, 2017). Another weakness is that it makes the departments to prioritize their goals instead of the A Company goals and objectives. The cost of a hierarchical database model is high regarding acquisition and maintenance because it requires expensive hardware, software and the high skills to maintain and update the system due operation.
The hierarchical database can improve the company performances due to the reason that it streamlines the storage and transformation of data helping the strategic management to make both long-term and short-term decision helping the company to win large market share. Technology advancement helps the company to produce high-quality products; hence making A Company gain competitive advantage. Information systems are the source of efficiency because it reduces redundancy of activities and makes work consistent (Rocha, Correia, Adeli, Reis, & Costanzo, 2017).
Customer Relationship Management
A customer relationship management is a term that the management of companies uses to set strategies, practices, and implementation of technologies that is aimed at managing and analyzing customer relations to the company. The main objective of a customer relationship management is to improve the relationship between customers and the company. A well customer relationship retains customers and drives sales growth. The relationship between customers and the company is improved by a well-designed website, direct telephone lines that are responded to immediately, direct emails with instant responses, and advertisements through the social media platform (Kumar, & Reinartz, 2012).
A customer relationship management is a term that the management of companies uses to set strategies, practices, and implementation of technologies that is aimed at managing and analyzing customer relations to the company. The main objective of a customer relationship management is to improve the relationship between customers and the company. A good customer relationship retains customers and drives sales growth. The relationship between customers and the company is improved by a well-designed website, direct telephone lines that are responded to immediately, direct emails with instant responses, and advertisements through the social media platform (Kumar, & Reinartz, 2012).
Customer relationship management improves customer service. In a well-managed customer relationship management, customer queries are quick, easily, effectively, and efficiently responded to promptly. For example, it will be easier for a company to track customer complaints to determine why the company is performing poorly.
A customer relation sets a sales strategy through an evaluation of a company’s journal over, say a five-year period. The sales trend will give a guide to the type of customers to target to generate more revenue. Apart from a customer relationship management giving a sales trend, the relationship helps accountants to track the profitability of the company through the customer records (Stolt, 2010). The amount of revenue lists every client, and the shipping costs are considered to avoid earning a low-profit margin. A customer relationship management can be a tool for more visibility into the base of the clients that will gather tactics on how to get long-term profitability from the customers.
Customer relationship management leads to a success of business by organizing data in databases where each party can easily access the information at any time. A well-organized data system helps the marketing team to advertise and sell a company’s products with ease because the required information is organized in one database. As a result, the sales of an entity grow leading to a yield of high profits by a company.
Flow of Information in a CRM System
Inventory
Client
Finalize Order
Confirm With Stock
Received Order
Order Shipment
Create Invoice
Many apps and software are in the market that can be used by A Company in the management of sales. The relationship between customers and A Company can be regulated by the use of a well-defined and easy to use customer relationship management. However, the best Customer relationship management that can be recommended for A Company is either NetSuite CRM+ or Nutshell.
NetSuite CRM+
NetSuite CRM+ is a fully designed front-office customer relationship management solution, which integrates all the customer needs of the company and includes an accounting system. The accounting system is majorly for generating financial reports. Every sale in the system is recorded and customized reports generated whenever the need arises. Apart from the operations of accounting offered by the NetSuite CRM+ software, the e-commerce, shipping, and warehousing applications are supported by the system to aid the whole process of sales. Work performance of department can be done collaboratively to enhance better customer service, increased customer satisfaction, and repeat business and retention rates maintained.
Nutshell
Small businesses are recommended to use Nutshell customer relationship management because it is simple to use and creates solutions for many of the challenges faced by other customer relationship management. Nutshell motivates the sales executive team in embracing the products. The Nutshell is an award-winning customer relationship management that enables the performance of important things quick and an intuitive collaboration and sales process that integrates emailing and out-f-the-box mode of reporting to the management. The emails can be easily synched with Google Apps or Gmail, Outlook or Office, and more other user-friendly interface packages that are affordable in the market. The Nutshell Customer relationship management app can serve well A Company in the sale of aerospace items due to many customers communicating and placing orders via email.
The integration of customer relationship management by the A Company will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of operations in the sales department and the finance section. The use of a customer relationship management motivates employees due to the generation of reports in less time compared to the manual process. When the time spent in the analysis of reports can be a major contributor to delays and late managerial decisions. But, with the use of the Customer relationship management apps in A Company, the sales team and the finance team can prepare and forecast for future sales in less time that can allow other activities to take place. The increased efficiency and steady flow of events in the company will enhance high productivity and increased revenue due to the forecasted sales that are used to set target sales within a financial period.
New systems and applications in the company require orientation and lessons on how to operate and maintain. The need or training and orientation are a major challenge to the staff, as it will need time. The weakness of the new system is the time spent in the training as well as the resources invested in the learning process for employees to be acquainted with the system. However, the extra cost incurred in the installation of the system is transferred to the customers. The setting of product prices and the determination of variable and fixed costs are rested in the management team. When cost analysis is done, the sales volume is determined and ascertained whether it meets the profit target of a company. Despite the need to earn a profit after the transactions are complete, the system of determining the cost is majorly based on the sales volume. When analyzing the cost of items using the cost-volume-profit method, the selling price per unit, variable costs per unit and fixed costs are assumed constant all through. The exercise of ascertaining costs before setting the price on products helps in determining the markup to include the total cost to reach the set profit target.
In the determination of cost, the A Company should not consider a cheap customer relationship management but get a system that can help in solving the challenges faced by the company. Instead of getting a less expensive customer relationship management that will work for a short duration and require re-installation or phase out, the management will need to check the compatibility of the two suggested customer relationship management software and choose wisely.
Computer Integrated Manufacturing
A Company manufactures aerospace products such as the propulsion systems, satellites and components and services, composite aerospace structures, missiles, and space launch vehicles. Considering the types of the products produced by A Company, it is clear that the company needs computerized production processes to avoid manual errors. Manual errors are normal, but with the application Computer Integrated Manufacturing system, errors can be eliminated because every product is designed, prototyped and tested before being executed to the market (Information Resources Management Association, 2016). Computer Integrated Manufacturing system works can work well in A Company because it allows employee’s processes to exchange information with one another and initiate actions.
In manufacturing department Computer Integrated Manufacturing system enhances the computerized designing of aerospace products in three dimensions (3D) (Rocha, Correia, Adeli, Reis, & Costanzo, 2017). Manufacturing is done after proper simulation to avoid errors and wastage. It integrates total enterprise manufacturing via the application of the integrated systems and the data communication in with the help of the management philosophies which advances the personal and organizational efficiency. Tedious problems are solved by the Computer Integrated Manufacturing system because it is capable of controlling all the A Company production processes.
Vendors offering the Computer Integrated Manufacturing system services invite the client customized requirements to make sure all the company problems are solved in a specific approach to avoid problems that are brought by the purchase and installation of the universal CIM (Information Resources Management Association, 2016). Customized Computer Integrated Manufacturing System is beneficial to manufacturing department because it reduces the design cost by 15%-30%, cuts the in-shop time of the part by 30%-60%, it increases the production in the manufacturing department by 40%-70% and improves the quality of the aerospace products produced by A Company and reduces the scrap by 20%-50%.
Solutions provided by Computer Integrated Manufacturing System because it has three distinguishing factors from the conventional manufacturing methods (Information Resources Management Association, 2016). CIM is capable of storing data, retrieving, and manipulating and presentation data based on the predetermined form designed by the A Company experts. It has the mechanism of sensing the state and modifying the process to fit the expectations. It has the algorithms for integrating the data processing component with the modification component. Therefore, CIM is an example of the information and communication technologies in manufacturing department of A Company.
The weakness of the CIM is that it increases the data integrity issues in the company because the higher the automation of the activities in the manufacturing department, the more critical cab be the integrity of the A Company data applied to control the machines in the manufacturing department. Without robots, the CIM finished products need extra human labor ensure the good safeguard for data signals that are applied to control the machines in the manufacturing department. Competent engineers are needed to handle the situations that were not forecasted by the designers of the CIM (Information Resources Management Association, 2016).
Supply Chain Manufacturing
Supply Chain manufacturing aid A Company to integrate its business strategy with supply chain initiatives to propel company towards excellence. Supply Chain Manufacturing encompasses new product development, integrated demand planning, inventory strategy, manufacturing footprint strategy, logistic optimization, sustainability and sourcing and commodity management (Information Resources Management Association, 2016). In A Company we embrace problematic methods and analytic capabilities to lower costs and increase productivity.
During the selection of an ideal Supply Chain manufacturing system, a company expert provides a checklist to ensure the vendor can deliver a system with all the specific requirements of the company to avoid errors and inconvenience during the ordering, manufacturing and supplying the products to the client worldwide. Aerospace products are very delicate products thus errors in production are not supposed to be tolerated in all circumstances because any simple errors can cause huge losses (Rocha, Correia, Adeli, Reis, & Costanzo, 2017).
Supply Chain manufacturing should be characterized by accuracy, timeliness, simplicity, and appropriates. A Company is a system made of other subsystems such as the employees thus employees in the manufacturing department are supposed to be updated regarding the performances of the Supply Chain manufacturing to avoid losses (Rocha, Correia, Adeli, Reis, & Costanzo, 2017). External stakeholder such as the customers and suppliers are supposed to be considered when advancing the supply chain in the manufacturing department. Therefore, the scalability of the Supply Chain manufacturing should take into consideration all the stakeholders and key objectives of A Company in the aerospace production sector.
The benefits of Supply Chain Manufacturing are endless in A Company because it boosts the morale of the employees in the manufacturing department and the entire company. Supply Chain Manufacturing offers the financial benefits to the company because it contributes to the improvement of the brands’ reputation both with the A Company and the aerospace products’ consumers, partners, and the financial backers.
Supply Chain Manufacturing can help A Company to decrease production cost because it manufacturing department will be able to link the supply and the manufacturing thus production will be based on the demand and supply. The material shortage can be minimized by the Supply Chain Manufacturing because all the products manufactured can be supplied to the clients without excess holding cost (Rocha, Correia, Adeli, Reis, & Costanzo, 2017).
Supply Chain Manufacturing improves the financial position because it helps to control and decrease the supply chain costs. Employment of Supply Chain Manufacturing in A Company can dramatically increase the company’s profit (Rocha, Correia, Adeli, Reis, & Costanzo, 2017). Fixed assets cost can decrease due to the reason that it reduces the number of plants, machines, warehouses and the transporting vehicles in the supply chain. The vendors can be advised by the A Company experts to customize the Supply Chain Manufacturing system to set up a network to serve a Company cost-effectively and efficiently. Supply Chain Manufacturing can boost the cash flow in A Company because it decreases the manufacturing processes and increases the supply of the products in the market. The invoicing of the customers can be made sooner because of the reduction in the delivery period. Therefore, due to the benefits and solutions provided by Supply Chain Manufacturing, it is clear that A Company can keep its competitive advantage in the market.
Installation Supply Chain Manufacturing in A company can cause reluctance and lack of creativity among the employees in the manufacturing and procurement department due to the automation of services (Rocha, Correia, Adeli, Reis, & Costanzo, 2017). The cost of maintaining Supply Chain Manufacturing is relatively high as compared to the cost of maintaining the convention supply chain as far as the cost hiring experts, acquiring hardware and software and operational cost is concerned.
In conclusion, information systems are sources of effectiveness and efficiency. Proper designing of the information system in A Company is termed as profitability because the costs of acquiring and maintaining the systems are less as compared to the benefits or profits earned from the information systems. It is the duty of the company experts to provide the specification of all the information systems needed in the company to keep competitive advantage to the company as far as the production of aerospace products are concerned.
References:
Schuster, S. (1981). “In Depth, Relational Data Base Management.” Computer World. Retrieved April 23, 2017
Turban, E. Volonino, L.& Wood, G R. (2015). Information Technology for Management: Digital Strategies for Insight, Action, and Sustainable Performance. (10e) Wiley
ISBN: 978- 111889778-2
Rocha, A., Correia, A. M., Adeli, H., Reis, L. P., & Costanzo, S. (2017). Recent Advances in Information Systems and Technologies: Volume 3. Cham: Springer.
Information Resources Management Association. (2016). Big data: Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.
Kumar, V., & Reinartz, W. (2012). Customer Relationship Management: Concept, Strategy, and Tools. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Stolt, R. (2010). The Importance of Customer Relationship Management in Business Marketing. München: GRIN Verlag GmbH.
