Week Three Questions

1.Define TPS & DSS, and explain how an organisation can use these systems to make decisions and gain competitive advantages

Tps is a transaction processing system. It is a system which records each transaction which is made by customers or by the organisation. It could include adding people in payroll, completing the payroll process (and doing the entire process) as well as recording transactions. One example of an industry that would use this would be the airline industry in order to prevent double bookings etc. This is obviously a competitive advantage or the airlines as it would save time as well as increase customer satisfaction.

Decision support system is analytical system which makes strategic business decisions based on the information provided. For example, It can pick up on any common problems which constantly repeat themselves. If a sales region is not performing as it should be, then the system will make this visible so management can make an informed decision about what to do next.

2 Describe the three quantitative models typically used by decision support systems.

• a)      Sensitivity analysis looks at the different inputs in a decision model and tries to work out what input is most sensitive to change.
• b)      What if analysis  looks at the result of changing an input and allows some qualitative data to be present.
• c)      Goal seeking analysis looks at what the organisation wishes to achieves and can work out what inputs are need to achieve this.

3. Describe a business processes and their importance to an organisation.

Business processes are the steps an organisation goes through to produce a product in order to provide a service. In other words it is a set of activities which set out to achieve a specific task. The more efficient these processes are the lower the COGS and higher the profits. One example of a business process is the management information systems business processes. This is important to an organisation as without these processes, if a disaster occurs, the organisation may not be able to recover the information stored on their databases or computers. This is an example of business-facing processes.

4. Compare business process improvement and business process re-engineering

 Business process improvement tried to understand and measure the current process which is currently in place. Improvements will then be made according to what needs fixing and what does not. An example might be that they need to upgrade a system or purchase a particular system to allow them to meet their goals. Re-engineering is when the process they have in place is not useable or dead and they need to replace it.  

5. Describe the importance of business process modelling (or mapping) and business process models.

Business process modelling is when a flow chart is created showing inputs, tasks and activities in a sequence. This is important as IT makes processing visible. For example it could be ordering supplies from a supplier and the supplier ordering their materials from a manufacturer.

On a computer, the process is invisible but a flow chart will show the results of each decision made and the other routes which can be taken. By making it visible you can analyse and redesign the process

Business process models are created for a specific purpose and are a graphic description of a process of tasks. Both these are important for an organisation as managers need to physically see what their options are, how things are done and the results of each decision. This can create a competitive advantage for the organisation also.