Information_Systems_Paper

Information Systems Paper Michelle Gonzalez CIS 205 August 15, 2011 Craig Berg Information Systems Paper Information systems allow businesses to run smoothly and be more efficient. These systems support all employees in ways that 40 years ago rarely existed; they can manage company growth, employees, and business relationships with other business; basically anything that needs to be done. There are a variety of systems out in this day and age, every business has one. This paper will explore one of the systems used in my workplace. In my workplace we have a variety of information systems; they range from databases, scheduling, and trackers to online support. PRIMS: Scheduling System is one of the systems used to track all employees scheduling needs throughout the company. This system support the business by letting management know how many employees they need at certain time intervals; tracking down the amount of employees need at specific times of the day the business will save labor wages. PRIMS also schedule employees work shift, lunch, breaks, personal days, vacation, national holidays, trainings, coaching, meetings, and over time (if available). The group that manages this system is called Resource Management Team (RMT); this team works closely and on a daily basis on making sure that the system is accurate and that the employees are treated fairly. Working in RMT I can safely say that the system is not fool proof, it has many weaknesses as it does strengths. For example, we base our staffing by making projections; these projections are put into a “melting pot” and decided upon (it is not an exact science). Once the system have calculated what the staffing for the day we have to decide what employees can be sent home early, the ones that can start their shift late with no penalties. Being able to request to arrive late or leave early in advance is a benefit that this system offers the employee, they can better plan the schedule and produce better. Another benefit that PRIMS offer is to partially trade your shift with other employees; if the request of leaving early or arriving late is not available due to our forecast the employee can simply trade or give away the hours that they don’t need or want (pending RMT approval). PRIMS is not a perfect system, it has many flaws for example, forecasting usually is done by adding the volume of calls in the past (usually the same time frame in recent years), the amount of orders that have been placed, and other factors; forecasting is not an exact equation and most of the time is off, usually aims high and we hit low and vice versa. Forecasting has plenty of room for improvement; it really shouldn’t be base out of past predictions and thin air. In present time, my company is working on changing the way forecasting is done, they are looking to have more realistic information placed into the “melting pot” to be forecasted; one way I see this happening is if they have better communication with the sales team and track down the amount of orders placed in the up-coming days and forecast how much manpower is needed to assist customers. To conclude, there are a variety of ways that PRIMS can be improved and benefit the company, employees, and ultimately our customers. Systems are a need for any business no matter how big or small they are; maintaining and improving systems should be a priority for companies. I had no idea how important they were until I started working closely with PRIMS and how much they impact our professional and personal lives. I am learning as I go and I want to be able to apply my education into managing and improving systems.