This report mainly talks about the current systems available in the Lemon Leaves restaurant chain and how these systems can be improved. Firstly, the current status of the existing systems and the weaknesses will be discussed. Secondly, the set objectives of new systems based on some assumptions will be given. Thirdly, the description of the new system with the new features will be given. Next part will discuss how the information will flow across the departments. The following part talks about the benefits of collecting and processing information effectively. After that ways the company could improve the existing systems will be discussed. Lastly, a conclusion with some recommendations will be given.

Introduction

A good information system is very important for every restaurant chain to run the business smoothly. The preparation of this report is asked by the Chief Executive and Operation Director of the company. The main purpose of this report is to prepare strategies for this company on how the company could develop the existing information system which will benefit and assist in gathering information for the decision making.

This report mainly talks about firstly, the description of existing system. Secondly, the objectives of the system in terms of business process, flexibility and adaptation with some assumptions will be described. Thirdly, the description of the new information system and how the information will flow across the departments in this new system will be given in relation with the internal and external functional areas of the company. Fourthly, benefits of collecting and processing information effectively will be discussed by suggesting the ways in which the company could improve the existing system. Finally, a conclusion will be given with some suggestions and recommendations for the development of new system.

Since 2001, Lemon Leaves restaurant chain is operating and selling food stuffs through their restaurants in Maldives. The company is operating in 17 inhabited islands and in 6 tourist resorts with 23 restaurants. The head office is located in Male’ and there are total 411 employees with 203 foreign employees. The company has a tagline of “taste and enjoy”. The average annual sales revenue is 29.5 million rufiyaa. Currently the company has a powerful till system, a purchase Oder system and an administrative system.

The point of sale systems (POS) in this restaurant chain are computer systems that are used to record sales transactions made within the restaurant. In addition to this, the bills and receipts are prepared by these systems. The systems are connected with printers and a barcode reader. The printer helps to print the documents and the barcode reader helps to read the barcodes on the different bottles and cans sold in the restaurant. However, the till systems in each store works independently and the details of the transactions of the day are transmitted to head office during the night after closing of business.

The purchase order system has a computer system which is connected to a printer and fax machine and purchases are made by using internet based application software. This system is mainly used for ordering goods and services from the suppliers. In addition to this, the system is used for delivering the purchased goods to the all restaurants located in different areas in the country. However, all the purchase transactions are not done by this system and some transactions are done by the telephone and fax machine.

Every restaurant has a separate administrative system which is also a computer system containing software application which records the information of employees and finance. The attendances of the employees are taken manually and enter this information in the system to calculate the salary and to provide other incentive. The whole finance records and accounts are entered and prepared by this system using software applications.

The rest of the company’s systems are run at head office. The head office is responsible for hiring and training of the employees. The head office receives the daily transactions of each restaurant after the sales are completed during the night and these transactions are entered in the journals on the next day.

System objectives and assumptions

Business process: The current restaurant process of the company is shown below.

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This process is not so effective and some objectives of new system are set to develop a new system. Currently each restaurant has a warehouse to store purchased foods and the purchase responsibility is taken by each restaurant with the help of head office. So that the holding cost and other expenses are very high. Therefore the first objective is to minimize the cost of storage and other costs related to stock.

Currently the order is taken manually by the waiters and the bills are prepared by the POS system. Hence, the second objective is to minimize the number of waiters and to introduce self services in the new system in order to minimize labour costs and to assist in collect more information about the customers.

Currently the sales are made on cash basis only. The third objective is to introduce other payment modes to assist customers in payments. The introduction of these modes will help to credit the restaurant bank account by debiting the customers’ accounts which will save time and cost of the company.

Flexibility

Currently the company is having different three systems. The till system is available in each restaurant but the transactions are not immediately transferred to head office. The fourth, objective is to create more flexible system by enabling transmission of the daily transactions of each restaurant immediately to the head office.

Currently the three systems available in the company are not integrated and the managers have to go through each system to take final decision. The fifth objective is to integrate the three systems to assist management in decision making.

The executive meetings are held in head office which is very difficult for the employees to attend the meeting. The sixth objective is to create online transactions and other social net works. More internet access will be provided to each and every restaurant.

Adaptation

The company has a traditional structure which is very difficult to adapt the new changes of the system. The seventh objective is to restructure the existing organization structure to adapt the new changes of the systems to the company.

Some employees might not be satisfied to change the existing system. The eighth objective is to adapt the employees to the new change by training and by getting ideas from the employees on how the change could be done to the systems.

Finally, the adaptation of the new system will be done step by step within one year. The objective is to minimize the negative effects of implementation.

Assumptions are as follows;

It is assumed that the Lemon Leaves restaurant chain is a real company operates in Maldives and it is assumed that the information about the company provided are true.
The three systems in the company are not integrated.
The till systems works independently in each store which are unable to transmit the transactions immediately to the head office.
Except the till systems other systems are run at head office.
Personal data and hours worked for payroll are entered at each store directly into the head office system.
The POS is used only to enter the sales transactions and to prepare bills.
The purchase system is used only for ordering goods from the supplier and to deliver goods to outlets. The most of the purchase orders are done by the phone, fax and visiting the suppliers.
Administrative system is used only to record the data of human resource, payroll and finance.
The company has a traditional organizational structure.
The sales are made only on cash basis.
The order is taken manually by the waiters in each restaurant.
Each restaurant has a warehouse to store purchased foods and purchase responsibility is taken by each restaurant with the help of the head office.
The company does not have marketing activities yet.
The company does not have intranet and other social networks.
The company delivers foods to the customers but does not have online transactions system.
The company has limited internet access at the restaurants for the employees.

Description of new information system

The current internal functional areas of the company are human resource, finance, administration, information technology. The current external functional areas include sales, purchases, distribution, and customer service and the marketing function will be introduced in the new system.

The existing Point of sales system can be improved by adding new features and will assist the sales, administration, marketing, finance, customer service, purchase functions in the company. Kashima, Matsumoto & Ishii (2004) has found that the POS system can be developed in the following ways. The new POS system will be a touch screen terminals or wireless handheld devices and will assist businesses to track transactions in real time. The new POS software will be able to print guest checks, print orders to kitchens and bars for preparation, process credit cards and other payment cards and run reports. The picture below shows how the new POS system will operate.

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The sales transactions can be entered into the system by the cashier and there will be fewer waiters because the orders will be taken by the customers through Wi-Fi available at the tables. The purchase order can be forwarded to the head office by this system. The administration department can access the system and will be able to get immediate records from the restaurants. The system can be used to market the company and the individual restaurants through the internet. The finance department can prepare the financial reports by getting information from the POS system. The system will also be able to provide customer services like providing the menus.

Kasavana (2004) has found that the existing purchase order system can be developed by adding important features and will assist the purchase, distribution, finance and administrative functions in the company. It involves automated purchasing using Internet based application software. The web browser can be used to log into an e-procurement site to view vendor offerings and product catalogs, and to place orders. The just in time technology will be introduced into the system and this will help to create good contact to the suppliers. The amount payable to suppliers can be provided to the finance and administrative departments. The distribution of the goods to the outlets can be monitored by this system.

The new administrative system will assist the human resource, finance functions in the company. Etinger (2011) has found that a punch card attendance machine can be installed and connected to the administrative system. The new administrative system will be able to maintain all the records of the employees such as attendance, leaves etc. The recruitment, selection and training of the employees will be done by this system. The system will be able to transfer the salary to the employees by using online banking system. The tax payable to the government will be calculated by the system and the amount will be paid by using online banking system.

The flow of information across the departments

Lindgren (2012) has found the following ways could be used to pass information across the departments. The information can pass between the departments by developing intranet in the company. The intranet will assist the employees to access the information within the organization. The employees will be able to send and receive emails.

The information can flow through internet. The new system will provide Wi-Fi internet access in the company and employees will be able be connected by other social networks such as facebook, twitter.

The telephones are provided to the employees and it will help to contact the each other. The information can be sent between them by using the SMS and by calling.

The fax machines are provided to each restaurant and the employees can fax information between the outlets. It also helps to send and receive information from the suppliers and other external parties.

The meetings can be held in the company in different levels. The meetings can be held by video conferences or audio conferences which help to connect the employees in different areas of the country.

Oral communication can be used to delegate tasks to the employees. Sometimes the customer relation activities can be carried out by the employees using oral communication to the customers.

The development of a company website will allow the employees to be connected between the outlets. The customers will be able to place orders through the website. The marketing and advertisement activities can be carried out through the web site.

The new organizational structure will allow the vertical, horizontal and diagonal communication within the organization as a result the two ways communication will take place.

The vision, mission, core values and organizational structure of the company can be shown in the website and intranet. The employees and other stakeholders will be able to get information about the company.

Benefits of collecting and processing information effectively

Business information systems (n.d.) has found that collecting and processing information effectively helps in decision making, data mining, saves time, saves costs and helps in preparation of budgets.

Decision making: the collecting and processing of information effectively will help the management to make correct decisions. For example, the immediate transmitting of daily transaction to head office will provide update information for the managers to make decisions. If the information is not up dated the managers will find it difficult to take the right decision. For instance the purchase order cannot be made at the right time for the right amount of quantity.

Saves time: the effective collecting and processing of information will save time and tasks can be completed faster. For example, the integration of systems will allow the managers to get necessary information from one system in a short period of time. As a result the managers will be able to do more works during the working hours.

The costs can be saved by collecting and processing information effectively. For example, the ordering the purchase at the right time will save costs like transportation, storage, spoilage of stock etc. if the information is not processed effectively the order cannot be made at the right time.

The effective information system helps in data mining technology. For example it can integrate information from various resources to develop a detailed data image for every individual such as income, hobby, family and political interest of customers. This will help mangers to make decisions.

The effective information system will help to prepare budgets more accurately. For example, the information of current demand from the customers and the information of customer complaints will help to forecast the future demand hence the sales budget can be prepared more accurately.

Ways the company could improve the existing system

The existing system has more weakness and the system can be improved in different ways. Firstly, an intranet network can be created to function the systems of the company effectively and to provide necessary information to the employees. (Marvin Technology, n.d.).

Secondly, the integration of all the systems can be done by connecting the systems through intranet. After integration each system is linked to other systems and information of other systems can be accessed from one particular system. (Business Information Systems, n.d.)

Thirdly, Kashima, Matsumoto & Ishii (2004) has found that the POS systems can be linked to the head office system which can be done through intranet. The immediate transmission of daily transactions can be made and the systems can be up dated.

Fourthly, Kashima, Matsumoto & Ishii (2004) has found that the improved POS systems can be installed in restaurants. These systems will have new features like touch screen terminals, Wi-Fi connection etc. These additional features will help more functional areas in the company.

Fifthly, MC Donald’s fast food restaurant JIT (n.d.) has found Just-In-Time technology can be used in purchase order system. This system will have online transactions with the suppliers and the purchase will be made at when need. The supplier will help to minimize the storage cost of the company by providing the goods on time.

Sixthly, Kasavana (2004) has found that the centralized purchase and distribution can be done by the head office. This will decrease the work load of to the individual restaurants. The storage space in each restaurant can be used to increase the space of customer area as result sales can be increased.

Finally, Adrian (2010) has found that a company website can be to help in marketing of the company. The internet access to all the restaurants can be provided by using Wi-Fi which will help the different functions in the company. Meantime, an online brochure can tell people about our food, our chef, display our menu and prices if required and also can show nice images.

Conclusion

In conclusion, currently the company has POS, purchase order and administrative systems which are not integrated and the systems are not able to transmit transactions immediately to the head office. In order to develop the systems many different objectives are set and these objectives are set based on certain assumptions. The descriptions of new systems are given by showing the improvements that can be brought to these systems and the ways in which information will flow between the departments are discussed. The benefits of collecting and processing information effectively are mentioned. Finally, the ways in which the company could improve the existing systems are discussed.

At last, I recommend all the mangers to think about these changes that could bring to our company because the management full support is very important for these changes. I also recommend the all the employees to provide your views and suggestions about these changes and your participation will help to come up with a final decision on next month managers’ meeting.

References

Adrian. (2010). Advantages and disadvantages of websites for business. Retrieved June 17, 2012, from http://blog.thecompanywarehouse.co.uk/2010/10/06/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-websites-for-business/

Business information systems. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2012, from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/007078051x/576222/baL8051x_ch03.pdf

Etinger, M. (2011). An attendance system for payroll system. Retrieved June 16, 2012, from http://ezinearticles.com/?An-Attendance-System-for-Payroll-Processing&id=6116395

Kasavana, M. (2004). Procurement: strategic sourcing for restaurants. Retrieved June 15, 2012, from http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/_files/File_Articles/HUspring04Kasavana.pdf

Kashima, T., Matsumoto, S., & Ishii, H. (2010). Recommendation method with rough sets in restaurants point of sale system. Retrieved June 15, 2012, from http://www.iaeng.org/publication/IMECS2010/IMECS2010_pp2018-2023.pdf

Lindgren, P. (2012). Information flow in multicultural work environment: case Amarillo restaurant in Turku. Retrieved June 16, 2012, from http://publications.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/39533/Information%20flow.pdf?sequence=1

Marvin Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved June 18, 2012, from http://marvintechnology.com/information-center/restaurant/intranetextranet/

MC Donald’s Fast food restaurant JIT. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2012, from http://opepiimraipur.blogspot.com/2011/06/mc-donalds-fast-food-restaurant-jit.html

Adam Khaleel

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Module Name: Management Information System

Executive Summary