Boots has founded by Mary Boot in 1849, the first store was opened in Nottingham. The company was first offering herbal treatments to the consumers. After many years of given service to the client, they are determined to diversify the business enterprise to opened first departmental store in 1892, at Pelham St, Nottingham. The store was having an comprehensive merchandise runs for the consumers. Today Boots has 63, 000 employees and 1400 stores as well as they are leading UK's health insurance and cosmetics providers. Boots pls. manufacturers and creators of many products and market many worldwide. Health and beauty products will be the leading range in their store. Boots plc is not also offering products but also provides complementary advice and services to the consumers for his or her health insurance and beauty needs.
Moreover, Boots Plc is a retailing business, which contains - Boots the Chemists, Boots Opticians, Boots Dental hygiene, Boots Hearing care and attention and Boots' Health insurance and Beauty Experience Stores. Boots plc has extended their business through globalization. Boots Medical International continues to grow Boots' share of the global self-mediation markets (. http://www. boots. com)
What is information?
Information
Knowledge
Figure 1 ---Information Principles (Mike, 1994)
Information is data which may have been organized so that they have interpretation and value to the receiver. The recipient interprets the meaning and pulls conclusions and implications. Data prepared by a credit card applicatoin program represent a more specific use and an increased value added than simple retrieval from databases. (Mike, 1994. , Avison and Sha. b, 1997))
1. 1 Various Department Functions at Boots
The different efficient areas at Boots
Boots uses ICT atlanta divorce attorneys functional area of the business.
Finance Department
Finance team is the most crucial function of the business because all the incoming and outgoing financial record monitor and record by the division, in which Boots plc can able to determine of the revenue and reduction being made. Financial end result is helping management to produce a decision about the business enterprise, whether business is proceeding right path.
ICT is used for
financial modeling and forecasting using spreadsheet software
presenting accounts and financial documents using expression control and spreadsheet software
producing trial amounts, profit and damage accounts and balance sheets using an accounting package
communicating internally and externally using email and faxes
paying suppliers for goods and services using financial management software.
Purchasing uses ICT to:
produce and trail orders for items they would like to buy
send purchases and repayments to suppliers using EDI
keep details of how long they experienced their machines in order that they know when to displace or service them.
Sales Department:
Sales division is the vital for any group. The division is taking health care and in charge of marketing and advertising boots products. The sales function is making all the income for the Boots plc. Marketing is needed regularly general market trends to diversify and differentitate the busniness.
Sales use ICT to:
Boots must understand how many and which products can be purchased in its stores everyday in order that they never have bare shelves. ICT is employed in Boots stores to track record customer sales. Whenever a customer buys something, details of the sales are documented at the POS terminal. Every product sold has a distinctive barcode. The POS terminal scans the barcode and appears up the price tag on the product. It produces a receipt for the client and documents the sales. Sales information from all the stores POS terminals is stored in the key computer.
Head office also uses the POS system to send information about price changes and deals to the stores. This ensures that prices do not vary from store to store and all Boots stores have the same promotions running at the same time. It also uses the machine to send other important text messages/information to the stores.
Operations
Boots is developing over 8000 different products, such as beauty products, medical, toiletry products and also drugs related to minimal illness which can be purchased in Boots and in other shops such as Sainsbury, Tesco, etc. The manufacturing function of the Boots is able to diversified itself and having lasting business in this route through good profit.
Manufacturing uses ICT in several different ways:
The Lab Information Management System (LIMS) tracks products because they are made. This interfaces with MFG PRO (which really is a real time built-in system for linking funding, purchasing, production, quality control, stock etc).
ICT is employed to consider products and for quality control trials. More than half a million assessments are completed on products, recycleables and packaging every year. ICT makes it easier to ensure that the products made are of the regularly high standard. That is very important being that they are meant to improve health and wellbeing. If the incorrect amounts of component were used by mistake the effect could be horrible.
CAD software is employed to design presentation which is attractive to look at and environmentally friendly.
The warehouse where goods are stored after they are made is computer- governed. Robots store the goods on shelves in the warehouse and fill the lorries making deliveries to the shops.
Human resources MIS
This is generally a very large functional area within the business with so many jobs. This section of the business would maintain charge of the health and safety of all staff and tourists and must provide sufficient working conditions in Boots Plc. Human resources are in charge of recruitment, training, development and campaign. This useful area is associated with numerous others; ICT for example is greatly mixed up in workings of human resources. A lot of the information will be delivered and stored digitally. In HR most of the communication between the departments is performed via email signifying a stronger website link with the ICT department. Gleam strong hyperlink between this and the procedures department. In functions there's a heavy involvement with people, equipment and materials so it is important that HR monitor and control health and safety and provide safe working conditions.
Communication methods
Boots uses ICT in many various ways for communication. The business is communicating to all or any their customers though characters or telephones which will be the best way to contact customers. Boots uses all the information of the customers though their loyalty Advantages greeting card which is can not be access by the outsiders. Thus, Boots has its own interior intranet which can only be used by employees. The web sites of the Boots provide everything such as products, information on job vacancies, professional medical information and lastly about the company itself.
How ICT is employed in Boots stores
Boots has 1400 stores in UK, which is ranging from small neighborhoods to city centre. Boots has optimizing their store activites through IS, that happen to be as follows:
Space Planning: Boots having different size of stores. The biggest some may be 4700m2 and smallest you are 1m2. It is very crucial to display, merchandizing products according to Boot's prepared Planogram, that can be very effective way to display products that customers would want to buy.
Recording Sales Information: IS is the much convenient and exact way to find out what products needs to be display, which products are fast moving and demand of the customers. IS is supporting management to forecast and make a decision which products will be fit for particular store. the Using ICT to produce store layouts and mark the position of products.
Therefore, it can be summarized that it's very needed for the Boots to incorporate effectively to meet up with the targets and goals. Boots plc is translating into function aims through MIS to optimized, so organization functions are run by a set of goals and targets.
Part 2
Decision Making
Management functions can be grouped into: Motivating, Planning, control which occurs whatsoever levels and management where all involves for decision making (Loudon and Loudon, 1994).
Information is a one of essential methods in any group and every organization is using information systems in some way. Information is involved and support in whole systems of the business enterprise process. Information systems should be managed effectively to get result from which will led though to success. Managers need to understand the value of the information. For most management information systems, the concentrate is on the strategy being supervised and reported upon. In organizational conditions these are not always outputs, but can be divided into three categories:
Inputs: - all the resources uses by the organizations
Processes: - Involving duties performed by employees, computers etc.
Outputs: - The direct services (or products) produced by the organization
In controlling information systems the environment should always be taken into consideration there are limited systems which can be sealed (isolated from its environment) and the majority is open meaning there is some kind of interaction with the surroundings. Opinions is also important part of controlling information. It really is part of the output of a system, which may then become the input of something. The goal of reviews is to help management and other employees to make decisions.
Figure 2 : Porter's Value Chain
(Source: http://www. themanager. org/models/ValueChain-Dateien/image002)
The above diagram implies that The Michael Porter provides a value string structural framework to investigate on the internet applications and strategy and the internet in his 1985 book 'competitive advantages'.
The structure work shown as above is a basic tool to understanding the merchandise or service which creates value to the customers. The value string is frame work for identify and analyzing all activities which effect both cost and its customers (Clarke, 2001). Information system is a build a value of the company. So therefore information system can improve customer romantic relationship, supply string management and venture source planning. Internet technology can do many useful what to the modern world and its has limitation with threat of security (Porter, M. E, 2001)
The value chain begins with:
Firm infrastructure: Online entrepreneur can improve security
Human Source Management: Web based training
Technology Development: Knowledge copy can improve Total Quality management
Procurement: Direct or indirect procurement, buyer-seller relationship
So therefore, the value chain in information systems are able to help management to make a crucial decision in various sectors.
An example of this technique in the Retail industry would be that its inputs would include financial expenditure and time of personnel time did the trick. Its functions could are the variety of customers offered, or number and size of credit business and other services provided. The outputs could be variety of new accounts created and average income per staff.
There are several information systems that a Boots can use to help its management of information, as it is unlikely that a business use one system for a number of functions and levels.
The Boot's management functions -marketing and sales; fund and accounting; human resources; and production and production- are related to IS from a functional perspective, regarding to Laudon and Laudon (2004), If these systems work at different organizational levels -tactical, tactical and operational-, the performance of the business enterprise could improve and, consequently, the business could be successful. The organizational decision-making hierarchy, in conjunction with IS should be present in every the management functions. Therefore, all the decisions made at any level or at the major business functions are interrelated. In this manner, the info could automatically be exchanged and decision-making moves harmoniously within the business.
Information Systems, Value and Risk Assessments
Laudon and Laudon (2004) stated that the value of IS can be established through their contribution in their functions of the organizations. There are three areas: business efficiency, decision making and profitability. Hence, it's been evident that if Information System could in a position to improve these areas, the organization could have the ability to spend money on new and even more modernized Information Systems. Relating to John Willey (1990) pointed out that the value of IS relates to their contribution to the performance of the business enterprise.
The value of the information is generally related to the outcome of the decision-making process based on the information accessed. Regarding to Robson (1994) "the expected value of information is defined by the business gain possible with the information without the business gain possible without the info".
Value for the money produced from IS could be assessed by different methods corresponding to Trevor Bentley (1998). Decision pay back is one of the primary method, which is set up whenever a decision is made by a manager. All the information, related to the descision make should be registered in the decision log. Another method, it is very important and vital of the information to run and begin the business (Robson, 1994). These details is very vital, because business is be based upon this decision, whether to get or not. Boot plc is not really a different from this idea.
The information system performs a major role of decision making for Boots, which can be below:
1) Strategic 2) Tactical 3) Operational Strategic consists of in decision making relating to product development, product, product life cycle and etc, tactical decision involves including discounts, arranging short term prices, promotion campaigns, distributions, advertising, customers service level, products service level, product packaging and etc. Operational decision entails includes competitor monitoring, principle, sales, customers research and marketing budges and sub-budgets e. g advertising/special offers.
Figure: 3 Information for Decision Making
Strategic
Long-Term
Tactical
Short-Term
Operational
Day-to-Day
Operational Data Handling Systems
Information!
Information!
Information?
Data
Information?
Data
Information?
Data
Information!
Data
http://itsy. co. uk/ac/0405/Sem1/44222_ISD/Lec/5_OpsInfo. ppt)
MIS as an enterprise management function are extremely effective, when designed effectively with the organization in mind. So therefore, it can be evident that Boots plc is using Handling Information effectively to make decision because they carried out MIS in their all functions.
