This article highlights the information systems used in a specified organisation (in this case Tesco). Tesco is a large organisation that uses many business/organisational systems in order to deal with supplier, customer and product information, financial recording and planning and communication with customers, shareholders, suppliers, staff & transport companies. Below are some types of information systems that a company like Tesco may use.
Marketing (sales performance)
One of the first areas to use information systems was marketing. It was used to identify business sales fluctuations. How store sales react to promotions and special offers was also processed using these systems before being applied to other stores. The system is also used to analyse product prices, gross margins and how prices compare to those of the competition.
Financial (cost and investment)
The information systems here are used to provide users with easier ways to manage revenue and income. They can also be used to analyse costs and expenditure. Trends and patterns can be identified to help managers more informed, data-driven business decisions and these systems can also help to determined the success or failure of new investments.
Human Resources (professional development and staffing)
Information systems in HR are used to aid in the large amount of analysis that is done as part of their job. They help HR in deciding how many staff are needed at specific times of the day and help identify key skill shortages. These systems also help identify staff training needs, staff holiday scheduling and staff turnover. Decisions makers can also use these systems to help make decisions about promotions, training and career development.
Management Information Systems (decision support)
By using predefined responses to queries, this system helps to make decisions. It is effective in the support of management making repetitive queries or questions by tracking, analysing and making decisions on the running of a business day to day. These systems are systems that are relatively complex behind the scenes but appear simple and intuitive for users to interact with on the display side of things. The analysis and answers can be presented simply as tables and graphs for ease of use but can be exported to other applications. The system can only give support effectively if the data put into it is accurate and consistent.
The Management information system is used to support users where the input query and response is pre-determined, meaning that it is used to respond to questions that are asked repeatedly but about different things. For example a query might be “list the top 10 best selling products across all stores for the past last month”, this then could be compared with previous months which would highlight the best selling products and whether they change over time or depending on seasons. For example sun-cream might sell well in June, but not so well in December.
The effectiveness of a management information system depends of the accuracy of the information, the sustainability and the availability of the system. The system has to provide users with confidence and must be easy for the users to use and understand. The information it outputs has to be accurate and trustworthy.