Information Systems

Information Systems

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CIS/207

April 18, 2014

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Information Systems

Information system entails a system of data, actions, and people that process information that is available in an organization. Business processes refer to the operations that facilitate the day-to-day running of a business such as marketing, production, and accounting. My current place of employment, Jeffrey's Collections, is a shoe-marketing business. The business processes in my organization include marketing and sales of shoes, human resources, and accounting and finance. The main aim of the company is to improve its sales and strengthen relationships among employees and the employer. Information systems of this firm are marketing information system, human resources information system, and accounting and finance information system. This paper will discuss the information systems that are applied in my organization, and the strengths and weaknesses of those systems.

Types of information systems

i. Marketing information system

Marketing always entails planning, selling, and promoting the goods and services of any organization (Brocke & Rosemann, 2010). In my place of work, planning, selling, and promoting shoes is the main activity. The marketing information system relies on various sources for collection of information and data analysis. Firstly, the firm uses marketing research as a source of information. It involves collecting data on customers and potential customers. The main aim of gathering this kind of information is to learn customers' tastes and preferences. This means that the firm will promote and sell shoes that customers have a great taste in. Additionally, it helps to understand the trends in the market.

Moving on, competiveness intelligence is also used as a source of information for the marketing information system (Magal & Word, 2008). It involves gathering information about other firms that are also in shoe-marketing. These other firms are regarded as competitors of the firm. Information about competitors is always gathered from annual reports and media services such as magazines. Such information is always important because it helps in understanding the nature of the market. Therefore, it is always easy for my firm to come up with fashions that have not been exploited in the market.

There are sub-systems that are involved in the marketing information system. The sub-systems include product, place, promotion, and prices sub-systems, and sales forecasting. The product sub-system involves bringing new designs of shoes to the market. This helps the firm to utilize the information gathered about products in the market. For instance, competitiveness intelligence information can be made of use by the product sub-system. Secondly, place sub-system helps the firm to take its products to the customers. Information gathered about the geographical market helps the firm to locate its potential customers. Another sub-system of marketing information system is promotion sub-system (Brocke & Rosemann, 2010). It entails personal selling of the firm's products. Additionally, it also helps in advertisement of the firm's different types of shoes. Information gathered from price sub-system helps in categorizing customers and placing different prices on the products that are offered to them. Finally, sales forecasting is made possible through analyzing data about the environment. For instance, if the firm wants to know how it will fair in its sales for a particular period, the information about the market composition and competitiveness will be used to do so.

ii. Accounting and Financial Information System

The function of the finance department of any organization is to make records of its income and expense, and to ensure that the organization remains in a good financial status (Magal & Word, 2008). In my organization, the financial system is composed of receivable, payable, payroll, and inventory control records, and general ledgers. Financial and accounting information system relies on custom reports and online databases. This kind of information system performs four duties in my firm. The duties include financial control, planning and forecasting, fund management, and internal auditing.

Financial forecasting entails determining inflows and outflows in the firm (Magal & Word, 2008). This means that the firm is able to predict its expenses and revenues. The purpose of financial forecasting in the accounting information system is to prepare the business for contingencies. Moving on, financial control is achieved using budgets. This shows that budgets are the major source of information for financial control. Essentially, it indicates the performance of the firm. Another duty of accounting information system is financial management. This involves managing securities and cash. Finally, internal auditing is an appraisal of the firm's financial and accounting systems, information, and operational measures.

iii. Human resources information system

The function of the human resources information system is to support the HR of the firm using available data (Magal & Word, 2008). The databases used in the human resources information system include applicant, external, and benefit databases, and position and skills inventories.