1. Define TPS & DSS, and explain how an organisation can use these systems to make decisions and gain competitive advantages. (PG 58-9)
A transaction processing system (TPS) is the basic business system that serves the analysis on the operational level in an organisation. Eg: Payroll system order entry system
Organisations use TPS to help support the daily operational tasks, repetitive decisions, and they are able to use this information to support more analytical decision making such as analysing daily sales to determine how much inventory to carry. If the transactional details are in order then this allows the more executive workers in the organisation to concentrate on the whole picture of the organisation to make broader decisions in order to gain a competitive edge or advantage above its competitors.
A TPS will improve productivity by re-engineering some of the core business processes (Avram 1995). This allows for one person to perform the functions once performed by two employees(Avram 1995). This means that with less employees simple tasks will become cheaper.
The identifying features of a transaction processing system are:
- TPSs are low level systems, which collect an organisations operating data and feed that data to the higher level planning systems (or to management); the information is used r to make short term, limited impact and tactical decisions (Avram 1995);
- often operated by data entry operators, customer service staff, and the individual decisions have limited effects. Unlike DSS which are designed to be operated by management decision makers whose decisions are of a more wide ranging nature(Avram 1995).
A decision support system (DSS) models information to support managers and business professionals during the decision making process. This allows them to use technology in a way to gain a competitive edge to gain information which helps provide better services and better customer satisfaction. For example, Wellington Combined Taxis developed a GPS based system which reduced customer waiting times, reduced no jobs (where taxis arrive to find that the customer has taken another form of transportation) amd driver’s dead kilometres (time spent waiting for a job). This company became the largest of 27 cab companies in the region due to this DSS.
Reference:
Avram, C, New paradigms for transaction processing, Available: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~cavram/papers/tp/tr94-02h.html
Acessed 14 September 2010.
2. Describe the three quantitative models typically used by decision support systems. (PG 59)
a. Sensitivity analysis- which is the study of the impact that changes in one or more parts of the model have on other parts of the model. Users can change the value of the variables and observe the changes in results due to the change in variable.
To learn more about Sensitivity Analysis see:
b. What if analysis- which checks the impact of a change in an assumption on the proposed solution. The book gives the example of ‘What will happen to the supply chain if a cyclone off Brisbane reduces holding inventory from 30% to 10%?’. Users will continually repeat analysis until they understand all effects of various situations.
To learn more about a What if Analysis see:
c. Goal-seeking analysis- finds the inputs necessary to achieve a goal such as desired level of output, desired market share, or desired average time to produce item. Instead of observing how changes in a variable affect other variable, this type of quantitative model sets a goal or target value for a variable and repeatedly changes other variables until the target is achieved.
The book gives the example of ‘How many customers are required to purchase a new product to bring profits to $5 million.’
To learn more about Goal Seeking Analysis go to:
3. Describe a business processes and their importance to an organisation. (Pg 69)
A business process is a standardised set of activities that accomplish a specific task such as processing a customer’s order. One business process is the transform of inputs into a set of outputs (goods/services) by using people and tools (customer checkout process). Other business processes include: developing new products, building a new home, ordering clothes online, and administering Centerlink payments. Examining these processes helps businesses stay competitive, anticipate bottlenecks, combine related activities and optimize/automate business processes. An organisation is only as strong as its business processes. Improving a business process can have significant effects on the total distribution process.
4. Compare business process improvement and business process re-engineering. (71-3)
Business process improvement attempts to understand and measure the current process and make performance improvements accordingly.
Business process re-engineering is the analysis and redesign of workflow within and between enterprises. BPR relies on a different school of thought than BPI. BPR assumes that the current process is irrelevant, does not work or is broken and must be overhauled from scratch. BPR provides new opportunities for Information systems and technology and the on going wide spread deployment of data networks provide a challenge to IT (Avram 1995). There are now many new ways to deliver and collect information; old technology or dumb terminals attached to central computer systems are being replaced by personal computers and workstations allowing virtual terminal operation and client server operation (Avram 1995).
Reference:
Avram, C, New paradigms for transaction processing, Available: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~cavram/papers/tp/tr94-02h.html
Acessed 14 September 2010.
5. Describe the importance of business process modelling (or mapping) and business process models.
Business Process modelling or mapping is where you create a detailed flowchart or process map of a work process, showing inputs, tasks and activities in a structured sequence.
A business process model is a graphic description of a process showing the sequence of process tasks, which is developed for a specific purpose and from a selected viewpoint.
The purpose and importance is to:
• Expose process detail gradually and in a controlled manner
• Encourage conciseness and accuracy on describing the process model
• Focus attention on the process model interfaces
• Provide a powerful analysis and consistent design vocabulary.
Below is an example of a model or map:
No comments:
Post a Comment