Study In Queensland Answers | Assessment Answer

What are the business requirements of SIQ? Which business processes should SIQ computerise and what benefits would that bring about for SIQ?

 

oftware systems. It is indeed important to offer them an option to centralize all operations and collaborate the efforts of the entire organization to serve to the needs of their students. The introduction of a technically advanced information system would not only help them to cater to the students in a better way but also facilitate an easier, error free and far more efficient operations within the organization. Hui would no longer need to carry out the entire processes in a manual system. She would only need administrative heads to take care of each division and delegate the work to them (Aminer 2012).

She would be having the access to master control of all the processes which are running. This would allow her to keep a tap on what’s happening at each of the locations and give out instant figures and data for every required information. For instance, she would no longer need to keep a hard copy of student forms and store them in files. Moreover, with the system being accessible to all branches, it would no longer need her to carry the files from one place to the other. A common database system would offer access to information from all the centers.

1. Information Systems and its benefits to SIQ

Going by the simple definition of information systems it is a combination of software, hardware, trained professionals and an infrastructure setup which is organized with the objective of facilitating planning, organizing, controlling, and taking decisions within an organization. It acts as a database which is aided by several tools which facilitates the user to access information with ease and process them as and when required. There are several benefits which Information systems come with and would be an ideal solution to SIQ. Some of them have been discussed below:

1. Customer information: SIQ has two kinds of customers. One is the students and the other is the institutions. Information systems are known to provide a database of information for customers and their relevant information. The administrative head who is in search of student applications with respect to their preferred institutes can see the entire data set stored in the system. On the other hand, he has the access to information regarding admission procedures and number of seats left for getting admission to. Accordingly, at that very instant he can get in touch with the student and inform them instantly about the processes. When compared to manual processing this entire process would have taken a few days. But with the Information system in place, they can answer all queries the moment they have enquiries (ProMeng 2008).

2. Custom Formats: The information system which would designed and used by SIQ would be custom software which would function in the very manner it is required to be used within the organization. Thus, operators would just need to input required credentials and the entire processing would be done by the software itself.

3. Offers Real Time Information: Previously, Hui has been reported of being too slow in responding to students and offering adequate information. There have been instances where she found it difficult to find hard copies and appear unprofessional to the students. However, this would not be the case with Information system in place as it would offer real time information to all queries put forward (OULU 2002).

4. Adaptability: Information systems are highly advanced and are very flexible which makes them capable of being reprogrammed for the future needs. It is possible to upgrade individual parts of the system or may be add a new solution to the existing system with ease.

2. Problems faced by SIQ

There are a few issues which has been creating a problem for SIQ to manage and expand its operations across newer centers. The problems have been discussed below from high to low as per the priority:

1. Processing systems: The biggest problem which SIO has been facing is its use of manual processes to record student data and store them in hard copies. Starting from filling out student forms to shortlisting candidates as per college choices to offering required updates and information to the students when required, everything was done manually. All these took time and eventually led loss of time and wastages.

2. Employee Management System and collaboration: Till now, Hui had been manually managing staff leaves, payrolls, timesheets and other activities pertaining to employee management. However, in order to expand and operate, she now faces the need of holding regular meetings with each center and talk with them personally. Also, in order to carry out the activities in a collaborated manner, the current processes would have meant that each files were required to be carried to every location or stored in multiple copies at each (Exciting IP 2010).

3. Absence of a website: Currently, the organization is losing out on a large customer base which comes through online sources. Other companies have been quick to increase their web presence and allow students to communicate and even register from the comfort of their homes. It would need to create a website which is integrated with the Information systems used within the organization. It would ensure that direct information is transferred to relevant departments. To add on to it the company would need to indulge in process of social media promotion as well as Internet Marketing activities.

3. Business requirements of SIQ and computerizing the business processes

The current business requirements of SIQ can be summarized as below:

1. Capture: The first stage of the client contact starts with getting the data and filling out forms with relevant information of the interested students.

2. Store: The next thing which the organization needs is to store data in a centralized database which is accessible to all the centers of the organization.

3. Process: Once, they have collected data, the business needs to make sure that it matches or processes the information collected with the student requirements and the colleges (Ijar CSSE 2014).

4. Results: Lastly, it needs to offer an instant information about the relevant data so that adequate processing and information for student admission could be offered. It includes admission dates, admission procedures, relevant documentations, etc.

5. Transaction Processing: The business needs to have an effective transaction processing mechanism which is directly linked to the enrollment and admissions processed by them. On every successful admission, the relevant authorities need to process the amounts at the university and the admissions could be closed upon transaction fulfillment.

Employee Management: Lastly, Hui cannot carry out manual processing and recording of employee activities such as payroll or attendance. An automated system is required which logs in data with employee attendance and offers instant solutions for payroll processing (UEA 2003).

Therefore, in order to take care of the above issues and business requirements of the company the entire core operations needs to be integrated and computerized to facilitate information processing. The business processes which needs to be computerized are as follows:

1. Transaction Processing Systems
2. Customer Relationship Management Systems
3. Business Intelligence Systems
4. Knowledge Management Systems

Type of Information Systems which can help SIQ

1. Transaction processing: This feature would facilitate data collection, storage, processing and outputting functionalities. It collects relevant data and generates outputs based on the data collected. An example of such system would be addition of a website which would offer the students to select their preferred institutions, preferred courses, and other relevant details for their application online. With such a facility, they would be able to fill the forms online and it would directly be processed to the administrative heads of the organization. It would reduce the overall paperwork which was the basis for work over the years. They would no longer need to devote extra time to reaching students or students reaching them to collect and process information.