System Design

PEP Case Study

Introduction

Management of an organization requires consideration of several factors to emerge successfully, especially for the case of an organization that requires coordination of several departments. All the departments must be considered in the coordination process in order to ensure that there is easy and effective flow within and outside the premises. However, in this case, the main factor of consideration is information technology. There is a tremendous development in this section that it requires the stakeholders of the company to ensure that the most appropriate system is installed to ensure that it meets its objectives on a timely basis.

Solution to PEP Case

PEP is at a point where the management must accept that change is inevitable. The advancement in the production and increase in demand is just an indicator that the initial systems and process of billing and accounting must be readjusted to meet the demands in the market without much strain on both human and IT resources. There is an immediate change that is required in the ordering and billing department as it’s for the case of the inventory department. The change must be made before the situation becomes too much for the company (Laudon & Traver, 2016).

Regarding the departments, they must initiate changes because these are some of the key departments within the organization that should have been considered for renovation upon introduction of new products and increase in demand. With an increase in the demand, purchases and billing is automatic that the company was likely to face issues with finance department as there was an increase in the workload in terms of processing bills, invoices and the salaries of increased personnel in the company.

However, the solution for the underlying problems at the PEP company is within the company itself. There is a need for minor changes within the departments affected and the creation of a well coordinating plan. The plan has to be such that there is an efficient and effective flow of the main activities of the company without causing much strain to the company`s resources (Laudon & Traver, 2016). Therefore, under the guidance of Chief Information Officer, Mr. Mark Temple and the steering committee should be able to come in agreement with some of the proposals that will ensure these problems are solved amicably.

One of the most critical factors that must be considered is in the form of technology. The world is evolving into a technological hub that everything is being automated to be more effective in meeting organization objectives. As such, Mr. Temple must be willing to accept the fact that it’s better that they install a good technology system that will coordinate all the departments efficiently for a longer duration of service delivery. The other option is to install a system that shall be outdated soon, and the same problems are likely to arise.

The department of finance is one of the most affected department because of the changes that were initiated in the company. Therefore, to make things better, there needs to be a modern technology system that coordinates the billing, invoicing and processing of payments on a timely basis (Wang, Chen & Benitez, 2015). The system must be such that it's automatically connected with the ordering and shipping department. This will ensure that any order made must be through online basis and get directly recorded into the system. This will reduce the workload between the two departments. In event of shipment and sale of the motors, the recording system automatically does its role and the work becomes easier and efficient within the system.

However, due to the urgency of the issue and the need to install a system that can easily interphase with other departments without wasting more resources in terms of finance and time, this requires that the company installs a system that has already been tested and proven to be functional before. As a result, the company is most likely to get a system that can efficiently do the process of billing, invoicing and processing of payment on a timely basis at a pocket-friendly cost. This is the aspect that the system is not likely to be the most updated one, but still very useful in this case.

The change initiated in this department falls in the sector of information and technology. It’s a common knowledge that not all individuals are for the changes that come with the initiation of the use of information technology system in service delivery. For this to be effective, there is a need to ensure that the steering committee are on the same page so that they can implement it fully throughout the departments of the organization. This will ensure that the company improves on its service delivery and there is a likelihood of higher production.

There is also a need to train the employees on the use of the new system so as to ensure that there is coordination of the system and personnel within the company. For instance, the discounts made, and the fee added on the overdue payments can only be done by the employees who understand how the system can be operated. This is a similar case for the services that are not currently being done by the system such as invoicing via email and electronic payments that intend to be initiated within the next months. These are crucial process if the company intends to ensure that there is no overload at the departments offering these services. Therefore, offering training to the employees in these departments will improve service delivery.

Additionally, there is a need for outsourcing or employing new personnel in the affected departments. This is due to the company experiencing an industrial growth in which the demand for its product has increased and the production has skyrocketed. Therefore, to ensure that there is less strain on certain departments, there is a need to employ more staff.

The hiring of more staffs in this department will result in the administration concentrating strictly on its duties. This was a problem that should be avoided at all cost for a company that seeks to develop and increase its market base (Rosemann & vom Brocke, 2015). It’s through specialization of labor and division of labor that the company has been able to attain the heights that it has reached. To continue performing at the top, it should improve on these defaults and the company is likely to have more production and better service delivery that will ensure success flows within the company.

In summary, the success of the company depends on the ability of the management team to keep in touch with the required changes within the facility. This is especially important if there is an expansion in the company.

References

Laudon, K. C., & Traver, C. G. (2016). E-commerce: business, technology, society.

Rosemann, M., & vom Brocke, J. (2015). The six core elements of business process management. In Handbook on business process management 1 (pp. 105-122). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Wang, Y., Chen, Y., & Benitez-Amado, J. (2015). How information technology influences environmental performance: Empirical evidence from China. International Journal of Information Management, 35(2), 160-170.