Information System Options
Discuss about the Information Systems for Business and organization Professionals.
The “Animal After Hour Services” is a veterinary hospital that is running in Brisbane for quite a few years. The hospital was started by Dr Terry king and the idea behind the establishment of the hospital was to help the injured animals in the afterhours when most of the veterinarian practises closes down as most of the veterinary practises closes in 6PM. AAHS offers help to animals in cases of snake bite, consumption of foreign bodies or consumption of the toxic substances. The AAHS services are expanding to different locations such as Jindalee and Carrara. With the expansion of the services, the amount of data and the associated complexities increases as well. This incurs a need of proper management of the different information that is generated across the hospital, including details of the clients and the employee schedule is needed to be protected as well. With the operations spreading in more than one branch, it is essential to share the data across the branches so that the client’s data can be accessed from every branch. However, sharing of the client’s data should be exchanged in a secure manner. Dr Terry further wants that in the times when an animal is at the hospital, the owners can get continuous update about the patients so that it reduces the constant phone calls from the client’s end. In order to do so, a Smartphone applications can be developed that will provide a regular and timely updates to the clients. The report mainly focuses on the different information system in order to choose a particular system that will be suitable for the organization. The key information requirement of AAHS is further identified in the report along with the identification of the specific business and the system problems that can be faced by AAHS. The process by which AAHS can manage the organizational change is further discussed in the report.
An information system can be defined as an organized system that is used for collection, organization and communication of the information within the organization. A computer information system consists of a series of computer or digital devices that helps in managing the different business operations of the organization. Having an information system is beneficial to the business as it offers operational excellence by easy management of the different operations of the organization. Furthermore, an information system mainly helps in management of the new services that an organization can work on. Furthermore, the use of an information system provides competitive advantage to a business and improves the process of decision making. The use of information system helps in creating a proper communication channel for better information flow. The different operational processes can be easily managed with the help of the information system in the organization. With the help of the information system, the record keeping process of an organization is further enhanced.
Business and System Problems
Therefore, the use of the information system can help in managing the future operations of the AAHS as it will help in streamlining the business operations of the organization. Since AAHS is planning to provide live updates to the client, live tracking of the information is essential. This can be achieved by implementation of the information system in AAHS. The different kinds of information system that will be suitable for AAHS are management information system and decision support systems. The management support system will help the organization in collection and channelizing the internal information sources within the organizational and the different branches of the organization (Laudon & Laudon 2016). In order to manage the increase in the number of staffs and increase in the workload, proper decision making is very essential. The decision support system is therefore recommended for AAHS since it will help the management in taking proper decisions in certain situation (Musen, Middleton & Greenes 2014.). Therefore, in order to manage the existing operations of the hospital along with the future venture, it is recommended for the decision support system and the management information system should be used by the AAHS hospital.
There are certain business and system problems that are faced by the AAHS that are needed to be addressed. The problem mainly arises due with the increase in the number of staffs and opening of the additional branches of the hospital. The employment of the new veterinarians and the support staffs adds to the complexity of the project. The specific business and the system problems that are faced by AAHS according to their order of priority are listed below-
- One of the significant business issues that AAHS might face as a result of information sharing across the different branches of the organization is that the data can be easily breached if proper security of the organization is not kept in mind. The loss of client’s data is a significant business problem that the organization might face as the result of their new venture.
- One of the significant problems with the system is that, with the increase in the number of employees, proper communication among all the employees of the different branches is necessary. The current system does not allow such transparency in the communication process which is a significant problem associated with a system.
- The organization aims at making the information accessible throughout the different branches of the organization so that the veterinarians can access the treatments records of the animal’s regular veterinarian. This is similar to the different health record systems that are used by a number of hospitals across the country (Bowman 2013). However, in order to actually implement this system, the permission of a lot of veterianians has to be fetched which is a complex task. This is therefore a significant issues associated with the business of AAHS.
- Dr. Terry wants the owners of the animals to get regular online updates of their animals when the animal is admitted to the hospital. This indicates the need of development of a website and Smartphone application which involves a considerable amount of time and monetary investments. Lack of any operational website or Smartphone application is therefore a significant issue associate with the business if AAHS which are needed to be addressed.
- The use of manual registers in order to store the client’s details is another significant business issue associated with the hospital. The business needs the client’s data to be stored in a secured location so that it is easily accessible to the clients as well. Therefore the hospital is in need of an information system that can securely store the data. Absence of any such information system that can securely store the client’s data is another significant business issue associate with hospital.
In order to address the different business and system problems, it is very essential to identify the key information requirement of AAHS. Identification of the information requirement of the organization would help in enhancing the competitive position of AAHS. The identified key information requirement of the organization is discussed in the following paragraphs.
One of the key information requirements of the organization is the knowledge about the expected customer reach of the hospital. There is no doubt in the fact that the hospital is gaining increasing popularity, but it is essential as well to understand the customer’s reach the company is expected to face in the recent years. This will help the organization in gaining a coemptive advantages as the business will be operated in a planned manner.
Key Information Requirement
Another key information requirement of the organization is the information of the different veterinaries who would like to share the necessary information that is essential for making the information sharable across the different branches of AAHS so that the veterinarian of AAHS can access the animal treatment records from its regular veterinarian. This will help the organization in gaining a competitive advantage as the hospital will be able to serve and treat a number of animals.
Furthermore, for securing the data stored in the information system, the information that is needed to consider is the process by which the data can be secured (Malin et al., 2013). Proper security is essential in order to make the details of the system easily accessible to the owners of the animals without risking the privacy and the confidentiality of the data.
The above discussed information requirement is essential for the business of AAHS to gain a competitive advantage. The organization is already providing enhanced services by working in after hours and with the identified reforms, the organization will surely be able to achieve a greater success in future. For that the correct choice of the information system is to be made along with ensuring the securing storage of data and providing secure access of the hospital data to the clients.
The use of a decision support system (DSS) can help the AAHS in proper management of their business problems and will help in making proper business decisions. This is because DSS information system is a knowledge based interactive software that is mainly used by the management team of an organization in efficient decision making (Moja et al. 2014). It is mainly a computer program or software that analyses the available business data and presents it to the business users in such a way that proper decisions can be made by them. The system will therefore provide live data and reports of the current operations of the organization and will further help the management in identifying the problems associated with the business. With the help of a decision support system, the process of decision making becomes quite easier as the live reports that are generated helps in easier identification of the loopholes in the current system and its associated problems. The different attributes of a decision support system, which includes high level of interactivity and adaptability, will help in addressing most of the key information requirements of the organization as well (Demirkan & Delen 2013). A decision support system helps the decision makers in addressing all the structured and the semi structured problems associated with the organization. Furthermore, DSS is adaptive over the time. DSS is a part of the management information system that is earlier proposed for the organization. A DSS further helps in securing all the data generated in the organization in a secured database.
Information system DSS
The use of internet and the different ICT devices can help in enhancing the communication process among the different stakeholders of the organization. Internet can be utilized in proper information flow within the organization. The use of internet can help in interconnecting the digital devices that are used across the organization (Yus 2018). All the official communication among the stakeholders can be done via email which is an extremely popular method of electronic communication that make use of internet. The use of internet can therefore help in timely information flow among the different stakeholders of the organization.
An intranet on the other hand is a private network that is mainly accessible to the staffs of the organization. The intranet of AAHS can act an important focal point for the internal communication and collaboration of the different stakeholders associated with the organization. Since it is a privately secured network, the confidential information can be easily exchanged among the stakeholders of the organization following with the help of intranet (Verida 2018). It will in turn improve the internal communication with the employee directories and which will in turn help in effective management of the different operations of the organization.
The extranet allows certain individuals outside the private network to directly communicate with the members or employees of an organization. The communications are made with the help of a secure and private virtual medium (Verida 2018). Therefore, with the extranet, the owners of the animal, who are an important stakeholder of the organization, can directly communicate with organizational member and can access the important data that is stored in the information system of the organization. The use of extranet will add value to AAHS by helping the organization to effectively communicate with one of the most significant stakeholders of the organization.
With proper definition of the organizational purpose and alignment of the change with the organizational goals, the change that is to be brought in AAHS can be effectively managed. Apart from clear definition of the business goals, it is very essential to determine the impact of the change in the organization. The impacts of the change are essential to be evaluated so that proper precautions can be taken while implementing the change in the organization.
In order to properly manage the change, AAHS should at first understand the current state of the organization including the problems that can be faced by the organization due to the change. Apart from that complete envision of the future state of the organization is needed to be evaluated by the management of AAHS in order to properly manage the change in the organization (Langley et al. 2013). After implementation of the change, proper and effective training is needed to be provided to the employees so that the information systems that are implemented in the organization can be properly managed by the staffs of the organization.
There are certain security and ethical issues associated with introduction of the information system in AAHS. These security and the ethical issues are associated with the stakeholders of the organization. The ethical and security issues are as follows (Von Solms & Van Niekerk 2013)-
- Cyber threat is one of the significant security issues associated with the implementation of information system in AAHS. The client’s data is to be properly secured. The identity theft is one of significant security issue as well.
- Hacking is another ethical security issues associated with the use of information system and the data security essential of the organization. Hacking can result in loss of private and confidential data of the client.
- Unauthorized access is another significant security issue associate with the use of information system in AAHS. This security issue is necessary to be eliminated in order to securely store and share the data generated.
- The use of the previous medical information of the animals without the knowledge of the Veterinary is unethical and should be avoided.
The security risks associated with the use of the information system can be prevented by enforcing proper access control and taking the permission of the different veterinaries for using the medical information of the animals in an ethical manner.
The report gives an overview of the case study of AAHS and recommends the information system that will be suitable for the organization. It is found out that the management information system and a decision support system will help in proper management of the different processes of the organization. The choice of the information system mainly depends on the need of the organization. The different business and the system problems of the organization are evaluated in order to understand the need of the information system. The key requirements of the organization are evaluated as well. The use of internet, intranet and the extranet in proper communication with the stakeholders is further revaluated in the report. The process of change management is discussed in the report and it is recommended that access control is enforced as security requirements of the organization.
References
Bowman, S. 2013. Impact of electronic health record systems on information integrity: quality and safety implications. Perspectives in Health Information Management, 10(Fall).
Demirkan, H., & Delen, D. (2013). Leveraging the capabilities of service-oriented decision support systems: Putting analytics and big data in cloud. Decision Support Systems, 55(1), 412-421.
Langley, A. N. N., Smallman, C., Tsoukas, H., & Van de Ven, A. H. 2013. Process studies of change in organization and management: Unveiling temporality, activity, and flow. Academy of Management Journal, 56(1), 1-13.
Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. 2016. Management information system. Pearson Education India.
Malin, B. A., Emam, K. E., & O’keefe, C. M. 2013. Biomedical data privacy: problems, perspectives, and recent advances.
Moja, L., Kwag, K. H., Lytras, T., Bertizzolo, L., Brandt, L., Pecoraro, V., … & Iorio, A. 2014. Effectiveness of computerized decision support systems linked to electronic health records: a systematic review and meta-analysis. American journal of public health, 104(12), e12-e22.
Musen, M. A., Middleton, B., & Greenes, R. A. 2014. Clinical decision-support systems. In Biomedical informatics (pp. 643-674). Springer, London.
Veriday, M. 2018. Business Uses and Benefits of Intranets & Extranets: Part 2 – Veriday. Retrieved from https://www.veriday.com/blog/business-uses-benefits-intranets-extranets-part-2/
Von Solms, R., & Van Niekerk, J. 2013. From information security to cyber security. computers & security, 38, 97-102.
Yus, F. 2018. Cyberpragmatics: Internet-mediated communication in context. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
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