Millard Clothing Business Report (Term Paper Sample)

1008ICT: Business Informatics
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Institutional Affiliation
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Table of Contents
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Table of Contents  PAGEREF _Toc397571320 \h
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1.0 Introduction  PAGEREF _Toc397571321 \h
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1.1 Aim  PAGEREF _Toc397571322 \h
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1.2 Scope  PAGEREF _Toc397571323 \h
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2.0 Business Overview  PAGEREF _Toc397571324 \h
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3.0 Business Project Analysis  PAGEREF _Toc397571325 \h
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3.1 Business Development Team  PAGEREF _Toc397571326 \h
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3.2 Decision Process Improvements  PAGEREF _Toc397571327 \h
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3.2.1 Supply Chain  PAGEREF _Toc397571328 \h
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3.2.2 Business Process Modelling Notation  PAGEREF _Toc397571329 \h
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3.3 Knowledge Management System  PAGEREF _Toc397571330 \h
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3.4 Project Budget  PAGEREF _Toc397571331 \h
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3.5 Customer Relationship Database Design  PAGEREF _Toc397571332 \h
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3.6 Social Networking Marketing Strategy  PAGEREF _Toc397571333 \h
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3.7 Project Plan  PAGEREF _Toc397571334 \h
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3.8 IT Manager  PAGEREF _Toc397571335 \h
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3.8.1 Lessons Learnt  PAGEREF _Toc397571336 \h
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3.8.2 Characteristics of Successful IT Managers  PAGEREF _Toc397571337 \h
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4.0 Industry Dynamics  PAGEREF _Toc397571338 \h
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5.0 Conclusion  PAGEREF _Toc397571339 \h
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6.0 Recommendation  PAGEREF _Toc397571340 \h
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References  PAGEREF _Toc397571341 \h
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References for Computer Systems Prices  PAGEREF _Toc397571342 \h
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BUSINESS ANALYSIS REPORT: MILLARD CLOTHING
Introduction
Millard Clothing is a medium sized family owned enterprise that has operated in three cities since 1973. The business, established by James Millard, specializes in selling apparel in wholesale to retail outlets. It has been run by the first generation of founders since inception. The second generation of owners is taking over the business and has created a new vision that is fundamentally different from that of the founders. Millard has operated on manual systems. The head office keeps records in files, and notebooks. The fact that the founder has good connections is a plus that has ensured the business succeeds even in the face of stiff competition. The exit of the first generation members necessitates a paradigm shift in how the business operates. To achieve this goal, the business has approached Delphi Bank for a loan of $100,000 to implement a new information management system.
Aim
The aim of this report is to convince Delphi Bank of the viability of the project that Millard Clothing aims to implement. The information system will improve the efficiency of the business by leveraging on the knowledge that management can acquire from the information system. Better information will support better decisions and hence better performance.
Scope
This report will fulfil the requirements for the 1008 ICT course offered at Queensland Institute of Business and Technology ( QIBT). The report quotes from several academic journal, books, and websites to simulate a real business report. To better simulate the real world of business scenario, the author tailored the report using samples of real reports written by business managers in addition to textbook examples.
Business Overview
Millard Clothing, a medium sized, family owned business enterprise started operation in 1973. The enterprise has remained in the family with the founder, James Millard as the CEO. The business supplies clothing and apparel to retailers. The business has experienced steady growth over the years since its inception in Cairns. Millard opened one more store in Warwick (1989), and in Ipswich (2007) to cater for a growing clientele. The business has 15 members of staff, seven of whom are in Cairns, five in Warwick, and four in Ipswich. The business makes a modest net profit of between $50,000 and $80,000. The biggest number of customers is return customers, who are happy to deal with the company due to its favorable prices and quick service. The company keeps the profit margin lows hoping to capitalize on the volume of sales. This has helped to fend off competition. The short-term goal of the company is to increase efficiency of operations while the medium-term goal is to expand the business to ten branches within the next five years. This will increase profitability, as the company will enjoy economies of scale. Implementing an integrated Transaction Processing System (TPS) will improve efficiency in processing transactions and decision-making.
Business Project Analysis
The current system is costly to run with high inventory management costs and high operational costs. Secondly, the current system is inefficient and represents imprudent use of resources. This is in addition to the loss of competitiveness that the business incurs as customers become frustrated with delayed orders. The new system will correct most of these problems and generate specific benefits such as lower maintenance costs, lower operation cost, lesser delayed orders, and low inventory handling costs. The report will review the following areas:
Database design based on daily procedure
Project implementation procedure
The daily trading transactions model
Estimated cost of software, hardware, and other resources
Social network marketing strategy
Business Development Team
Teams comprise of individuals from different backgrounds who work together in achieving a common objective within an organizational set-up (Striphas, 2006). In the case of Millard Clothing, individuals with different experiences and skills will cooperate to manage the input of information, processing of information, and output of information from the TPS. It is important to use teams to ensure coherence within the system and avoid wastage. Division of labor will help to distribute roles across the system. The team will comprise of the following.
The manager: This will be the individual in charge of overall operation in the organization. Their main role will be to coordinate activities within the system.
System administrator: This will be a specialist in system design and maintenance. Their main role will be troubleshooting and anticipating system changes, configurations, and upgrades required. The administrator will work on a part time basis.
Sales clerks: These individuals will interact with customers. They will record sales and orders.
Logistics clerk: The clerk will arrange for transport of orders to customer shops and the transport of stock from manufacturers to Millard stores.
Accounting clerk: the clerk will receive payments from customers and make payments to the manufacturers.
Decision Process Improvements
Supply Chain
A supply chain comprises of three important components, material sourcing, product manufacture, and delivering the finished products. The interaction between these three aspects is what makes up a supply chain. Prater, Biehl & Smith (2011) note that, the level of agility displayed by a supply chain depends on the alignment of physical components within the supply chain to deliver speed and efficiency.
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Business Process Modelling Notation


According to Shim et al. (2002), an information system supports both structured and unstructured decisions. Structured decisions refer to those decisions that are routine and can be broken down into their component parts while unstructured decisions are non-programmable and unpredictable; they require the judgment of the decision-maker. A TPS is most suited for making structured and semi-structured decisions since the information it provides is static (Laudon and Laudon, 2006).

Knowledge Management System
Earl (2001) defines a knowledge management system as one that provides the system’s users with information necessary in making decisions. It processes data put into a system by users to give information useful to the process of decision-making. The system at Millard Clothing will keep data on the following.
Revenue flow
Records of customer contact details
Inventory records
Customer orders
Total sales
A knowledge management system should help the organization acquire relevant information for decision-making. King and Lekse (2006) insist that the viability of a decision is only as good as the information used to support it. If the system gives relevant information, then, the management will make good decision, if the system is weak, then the management will make equally weak decisions. The knowledge management system at Millard Clothing will comprise several components that are integrated through interconnectivity to create one system capable of processing data to give relevant information to all users (Oliver and Kandadi, 2006; Levy and Power, 2005).
Project Budget
The cost of the project is $ 100,000. The money will be spent on acquiring software, hardware and building human resource capacity necessary in operating the system. Major hardware component will include a data center, computers, printers, cables, adapters, routers, and a cash register. Softwa...