Page 74 - DMGT505_MANAGEMENT_INFORMATION_SYSTEM

Unit 4: Electronic Commerce and the Digital Organization

Finance and Accounting Notes

Many organization have extensive TPS that collect operational data on financial activities, but
their traditional management reporting systems, such as general ledger systems and spreadsheets,
often cannot bring this detailed information together for decision making and performance
measurement. Intranets can be very valuable for financial and accounting information on-line
in an easy-to-use format.

Human Resources

Human resource can use intranets for on-line publishing of corporate policy manuals, job postings
and internal job transfers, company telephone directories, and training classes. Employee can
use an intranet to enroll in healthcare, employee saving, and other benefit plans if it is linked to
the firm’s human resources or benefits system to take on-line competency test.

Sales and Marketing

One of the most popular applications for corporate intranets is to oversee and coordinate the
activities of the sales force. Sales staff can dial in for updates on pricing, promotions, rebates, or
customer or to obtain information about competitors. They can access presentations and sales
documents and customize them for customers.
Manufacturing and Production

In manufacturing, information-management issues are highly complex, involving massive
inventories, capturing and integrating real-time production data flows, changing relationships
with suppliers, and volatile costs. The manufacturing function typically uses multiple types of
data, including graphics as well as text, which are scattered in many disparate systems.
Manufacturing information is often very time sensitive and difficult to retrieve, because files
must be continuously updated.

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Caution Developing intranets that integrate manufacturing data under a uniform user
interface is more complicated than in other functional areas.

4.7.4 Roles of Intranet in Organization

The internet is to the internal system of the organization what the internet is to its external
environment. That is it links internal data networks of the company but prevents access to other
outside the company. It also facilitates data gathering from with the company. For example
surveys can be easily conducted through the intranet to assess employee moral or popularity of
benefit packages. The intranet can be creatively put to use. Cronin remarked that Ford’s intranet
success is so spectacular that the automaker’s in-house website could save billion dollars and
fulfill a cherished dream of building cars on demand. Cronin went on to explain how the
carmaker’s product development system documents thousand of steps that go into manufacturing,
assembling and testing vehicles.

By opening its intranet to major suppliers, Ford customized every car and truck while reducing
cost at the same time. For instance suppliers could provide car seats in the sequence of colors
needed so that blue seats are ready just when the blue cars reach the seat installation station. By
opening up its intranet to suppliers and coordinating the delivery and assembly of thousands of
components some auto companies tried to move closer to manufacturing on demand.

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