SYTEMS AND OPERATIONS

Introduction

Operations and Systems

SSM

Recomandations

Management Issues

REPORT THAT ANALYSES THE SYSTEMS AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AT ATOKOWA ORGANISATION (SUPPLIED) WITH RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE THEIR
BUSINESS

To :Jonothan Atokowa

Analysis of Current Systems and Operations

Business process mapping is defining exactly what an organisation does, who is in charge to what standard a process will be completes and how successful the business process can be determined. It will help understand the strengths and weaknesses within the existing process and help improve productivity increase efficiency , reduce errors and stimulate sales revenue.

Process identification at Atokowa

Description of Activity

Atokowa retail outlet -Product scanned into Epos system | | Products are totalled | | Payment is taken | | Written in transaction table | | Decremented in stocks table | | Review of daily reorder report | | Delivery request | | (Melbourne )Warehouse,process ofr delivery request | | Purchase of supplies/ products from China | | Purchase of products from Hong Kong | |
Table 1

The transactions table in the ASIS MS Access database serves almost the same purpose as the Table stocks, combining the two in to one could make the process faster and easier to understand. The system creates unnecessary work. The Stocks table holds a record for each product line offered by the company it should hold record of stock they have in the store. Having records of products the company has but are not available in the store could cause confusion to staff especially if requested by a customer. Filling in a delivery request could be time consuming , it has to be assessed first and the store manager is the only person who is able to request them. Sharing responsibility with trusted staff could save time and make work more efficient. The store manager could focus on other issues the retail outlet has. A system that is directly connected to ASIS and the warehouse should be set up to save managements time . Changing the software the company currently to a more efficient one could prove to cut down employee work load. Stock should be automatically decremented. Having the warehouse in Melbourne is proving not to be efficient enough as most of the retail outlet distances are vast possible change of forms of shipping should be considered if Akotowa find their current form of shipping expensive.
Daily reviews of the Daily Reorder report could be done by any member of staff ro give them some responsibility , this could give the manager some extra time to deal with other issues affecting the store .Checking the reorder report could also be a task that is done at the endof the week when derlivery requests are filled out.
Using EDI avoids tedious activities like writing and signing invoices , transfers and bills. There is no human intervention when using it which could make the process quicker and it eliminates the possibility of data entry error.

9. At the warehouse, the delivery request is processed and checked thoroughly for any unusual requests (to avoid errors).
10. If the warehouse has the available stock then the warehouse operatives pick and pack the delivery and palletise it. In the event that the stock is not
BB215010S Systems and Operations Management
Page 11 of 31 available, it will be ordered and the retail outlet notified that the delivery will be incomplete. 11. The pallets for each outlet are then forwarded to the store using a third party logistics (3PL) within 7 working days of receiving the request (excluding the unavailable items). Bear in mind, the distance between Melbourne and some of the other retail outlets is vast.
Retail outlets located in the Brisbane area and Perth area operate a similar

The process of billing the customer is slow and is possibly causing delays

As Brisbane and Perth area aren’t able to raise a delivery request to the Melbourne warehouse for the replenishment of stocks via EDI (electronic data interchange their stock delivery should be doubled or large orders of their top selling products sent to them . A lot of customers prefer online shopping this would benefit customers in Brisbane and Perth. Developing a website would also cut down work in retail outlets. With the bad customer feedback they have in many areas it would be a positive move for them cutting down customer and staff interaction.Staff require further customer service training, management should also take part in the training. Providing customers with different shopping options could benefit them as this also could be a gateway to introduce new products, stock more products , this cuts out storage issues. small order quantities will cost you more by introducing minimum order restrictions on the website could avoid this. A minimum order restriction could avoid issues of spending Akotowa could employ more staff to work in their warehouse to package orders to customers. As a website will now be available to customers not as many staff will be required to work in retail outlets and the work load will be less.

A system should that seperates public customer sales from business customer sales should be set up inorder for the business to know where most of their sales come from. Doing this could make it easier to focus on low sale issues and come up with solutions.
The WMS system in Melbourne is not linked with the ASIS system.Linking the two could make more efficient. It could give workers at Melbourne warehouse enough time to process orders. This software organises Atokowa’s cash flow and payroll and ensures they adhere to financial and business regulations. However, for the finance team the lack of a system makes their job tiresome. Lack of software is making the finance team's job tiresome , this often leads to lack of motivation and drive to do work. Having unsatisfied employees could affect the company's effeciency.

Paretos Law is a general law to operate in many situations that indicates that 20% of something causes 80% of something else. 20% of the types of problems Atokowa are facing will produce *0% of disruption . Paretos Law can be used to tackle some of these problems being faced and identify areas for improvement. Atokowo should use this to find out what area of the time are more time consuming than others.

techniques of soft systems methodology (richpicture building; root definitions; CATWOE analysis and/or conceptual models) to analyse the current issues in the organisation. Through this analysis summarise the main business requirements of the organisation.
Systems analysis defines the problems to be solved and provides the architecture of the proposed system.

ASIS system records how much stock has been sold so that managemnet can restock .
Systems engineering (SE) methodology is applicable and essential consists of defining the problem , assembling the appropriate techniques , using techniques to derive possible solutions, selecting most cost/effective solutions and implementing the solution. Defining the problem in Atokowa could help eliminate issues analyze problems and their causes to avoid them in the future . This requires dedication from both staff and management. It requires a lot of time.Systematic problem solving takes a sound reasoning, rational approach and can be used when faced with large and complicated problems that may include a lot of risk. One systematic problem-solving method is to adapt a solution from a prior problem and apply it to your current situation. For example, one way to begin solving the problem of low sales at Atokowa is to analyse advertising campaigns that increased sales in the past. Effective decisions have to be made . They has to be alternatives available.
1. SSM Stages (Wilson,2001).1 Researching the current problem.In the analysis ofAtokowa it was found that there are some problems in both the way the purchases are handled and transactions are completetd and the nature of the work of staff. The website could be developed further, this could enable improvements for the way business and public accounts are handled. Business customers are valued more and this leaves the public customers neglected. With only one van and a driver , deliveries could be delayed and the service becomes totally unreliable.
Products pricing could be an issue as research on competition has not been done in most operating areas. Some management still wants to use the old school way of marking product prices with only a few of them willing to try the new system.pricing has become inflexible.
The database systemis not designed for business customers. Increasing the work load store managers have by increasintg the amount of paper work they have to fill in. a fixed rate for discount is not set
1-2. The use of pictures to gain an insight into the proposed system.As we have seen, the flow chart of the current company structure and make up enables us to be provided with a graphical insight and “big picture” of the current system and more easily identify areas for improvement. We can see from the case study that there are numerous areas which are in need of improvement. Like the flow chart, the proposals can also be documented using appropriate graphical description along with suitable textual descriptions of problems.
1-3. Identify Root DefinitionsThe objective of this stage is to provide appropriate views of the systems and these views can be tailored so that they match the potential view+
1-4. Conceptual ModelsFor each root definition in the project, a conceptual model is defined for each root definition identified. This means that an initial diagram (a “concept”) is created showing an ideal view of what the system should look like in relation to the proposals suggested.
1-5. Real World ComparisonThe ultimate objective of the project is to provide a system for the Clothing business which will finally be developed in the real world. Further pictures of the process are developed in more details, using the conceptual models developed earlier. These are then compared with the original conceptual models created.
1-6. Review ChangesAs the process is being reviewed, it is necessary to identify any changes so they are incorporated into the new system. In this way, the conceptual model is used to identify possible improvements to the system.
1-7. Implementation PlanOnce all the changes and feedback from the review process has been provided, the next stage is implementing the changes. This will need to be project managed and a project plan would need to be put in place. Usually, a consultant will be used to ensure that the project is moving along efficiently on technical and business lines.
1-8. RepeatEach stage in the process is repeated until the system is working as expected and a satisfactory state of tasks exists in relation to the system matching the original objectives set out at the outset of the project.
(Wilson, 2001)
RecommendationsAtokowa is an established company and they have a website which apparently works but not efficiently . A systems analyst will have to be employed and need to look at the potential number of choices of methods available. existing processes have to be incorporated into any new systems that have been designed to improve the situation. There is a natural resistance to change, particularly amongst existing staff (Wirth,2004).
Follow-on stages should be able to identify how each aspect of the business report findings will be agreed and developed. the life cycle of a methodology should then be repeated until all aspects of the new system are tested and introduced.
Following on from these early research and conceptual models, developed at the outset the root definitions would be put in place.
* “Improving check out procedures, enabling the creation of business accounts and the payment process.
1. Implementing and ReviewingOnce the project is completed, an analysis in the post-project phase would help identify how the system will be maintained. Continuous development would then be ongoing and based on the new, efficient system. As with any methodology, including SSM identified as being most appropriate here, the strengths and weaknesses of this method can be identified. However, in terms of a methodology, the weaknesses of SSM are not difficult to overcome as a rule. The major advantage of the SSM methodology is that there is a sufficient basis on which to place reliance so that a new, more efficient system can be developed. The processes of Whoz-dat-com Clothing company business are clearly defined and this goes for the website. Inefficiently, they may be but SSM would not be useful as we are not dealing with too many factors/problems which are unrecognized or ambiguous.
As a general rule, these systems analyst or business analyst would not always implement and recommend changes based on a single theory. It is more likely that they would implement procedures and practices from different methodologies and apply them to a specific situation as opposed to a single model for all.
It may be in the final analysis that a “trade off” between a similar methodology such as DSDM methodology and SSM would provide a better solution.
Conclusions Some of these staff would need to be re-trained to take account of the new procedures and practices, including an introduction to the system. The upshot of this is that all these changes would mean additional costs, not often recognised as being a factor at the outset of the project. It may be necessary to introduce change processes on both a technical and business level. The human factor must be taken into account when recommending any changes to current working practices.
Also, in reality there are usually a number of constraints which affect the result. The costs of the system in addition to the costs of running the news system would need to be taken into account. An evaluation of the best providers for both business and technical services would need to be considered. It is important to use a recommended provider for both technical and business services. Past projects and reputation of consultants must be taken into account.
Another factor is to have a timescale for improvements, which should be realistic and will enable the objectives to be reached in a realistic time. It may be necessary to implement changes alongside the existing systems, and therefore provision may need to be taken to ensure the existing ways of working and systems are not interrupted causing major problems for the business.
Finally, the use of a system methodology does not always mean that the principles and operations of a methodology will be strictly used in practice. Projects such as a new IIS system implementation often take different paths, and problems encountered during the project may mean a complete re-evaluation of the methods being used currently.
Therefore, in reality, although there are guiding principles and processes in place to assist a new IIS project along, it does not necessarily mean that any methodology used would be strictly applied and supported in practice.
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CATWOE

67 of the customers that come in store have said they have been waiting for long periods of time in the store. This could leave customers frustrated and Akotowa could lose some of their customers. Loss of customers could lead to a decline in sales. A new check out system should be introduced to minimize the amount of time a customer has to wait. Staff should be made more readily available to serve customers making sure they do not have to wait for long periods of time for assistance. Employees should develop their product knowledge, could save time looking for products. Training programmes should be made available to employees. Customers also felt like employees were being rude to them. Customer service training should be compulsory for all employees . Mainly because a large number of customers aren’t satisfied with the service they have received for Akotowa showing from the figures produced from the survey.

Recommmendation
Directors , management and lower level staff should be given the opportunity to give suggestions on what changes should be made to the systems. A lot of ideas may be brought forward and everyone is involved. Rather than reducing the complexity of the ‘mess’ so that it can be modelled mathematically (hard systems), soft systems strive to learn from the different perceptions that exist in the minds of the different people involved in the situation (Andrews, 2000)
Reducing the time, effort, and costs associated with having to accommodate many different formats serving the same or similar functions. These redundancies are encountered as a consequence of (l) the uncontrolled proliferation of redundant formats, (2) the software development associated with the support of redundant formats, and (3) the required conversions to new computers as a function time.

Employees and management should take part in the training process. Employees should be asked for any ideas or solutions they have. Ideas on what they think will make their work easier and what changes they think should be made. Job satisfaction could be a cause of the bad attitudes the staff have towards their work. Management should be more hands on .Transformation is the changes that the system or changes brings about . Inputs and the nature of the change inputs undergo need to be listed. Atokowa buys its products from China and Japan

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