ممكن مساعدة في حل هذا الواجب

The Pine Furniture Company manufactures high-quality, all-wood furniture and distributes it to stores nation-wide. There are several products, including dining sets, living room furniture, bedroom furniture etc. The Pine Furniture Company employs about 50 people and has recently experienced rapid growth. The Company was founded 10 years ago by Michael Forbes who made furniture as a hobby and started the business in his garage.

Managing the data resources at the Pine Furniture Company was relatively simple during the first years of operation. Michael Forbes kept a few records for tax purposes the other information he kept in his head. As the company expanded Forbes could no longer manage the entire operation himself. He organised the company into functional areas of responsibility. Separate departments were established for the following business functions:

NB: There is a Manufacturing Department but this will not be included in the project.

Current Information System

When the Pine Furniture Company organised into functional departments, it changed its approach to managing its data resources. The single set of records that it had used previously was now no longer adequate to run the business.

Instead each department now has its own set of records and informal lines of communication were established to transfer data between departments. Each department has its own separate files to support its operations and answer any managerial questions. Many of these files are still paper-based.

The Accounting Department has a pc-based management accounting package that handles sales and nominal ledgers, VAT returns etc. There is also a payroll system that handles all salary and wage matters. These aspects are not to be included in your proposals.

The following table gives examples of the type of information management may require.

Department

File

Typical Questions

Orders

Product

How many dining chairs (product no CH122) do we hold in stock?

Orders

Order

What was the best selling item last year?

Sales

Customer

What is Ideal Homes invoice address and discount rate?

Manufacturing

Work order

How many six seater pine kitchen tables (product TA009) are on order?

The manual system works, however, there are a number of concerns:

In addition duplicate data exists throughout the organisation, resulting in a lack of consistency and poor communication. For example, information concerning customer orders is maintained in the Sales, Orders and Accounting

The Pine Company is experiencing numerous operating problems, including declining customer service. Competition in furniture manufacturing has intensified and competitors seem to respond more rapidly to new business opportunities. There are a number of reasons for this trend but the Board of Management believes the cumbersome administrative system is a contributing factor. The Board know that their ability to respond to market changes results from a lack of management information and that an information system will provide the information they require to make business decisions and allow them to provide better customer service. A task group was formed to investigate automating some more of the company’s operations which specific interest in Sales Order Processing. They have hired an outside consultant (you) to design and implement such a system. Michael Forbes will act as the client contact.

The staff have a dedicated small network of PCs but want to expand this with a new informal customer browsing facility within the reception area.