HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS SAMPLE 

Introduction:

Qantas Airways in one of the biggest airline of the world in terms of flights to international destinations and fleet size. Qantas is the 3rd airline of the world which was founded in 1920. Form May 1935, Qantas commenced international flights or passengers. The origin of name ‘QANTAS’ is from ‘Queensland & Northern Territory Aerial Services’. It is also popularly known as ‘the flying kangaroo’. The organization is also the founder of one world airline. Headquarter of Qantas is in Sydney with Sydney Airport as its main hub. The market share of Qantas is around 64 % in domestic flights; and is used by around 14.9 % of travelers moving in and out of country. There are different airlines operating at regional level under the banner of Qantas. For example Jet connect is operating between New Zealand and Australia under the brand Qantas. Company also has Jet star Airways, which is low price airline, providing light services within the New Zealand and Australia. Qantas also has major stake in some other Jet star brand airlines.

Part 1

1.        Organizational structure of Qantas Airways:

The organizational structure of Qantas Airways is a bit complicated and requires better understanding of its various operations and business activities along with its subsidiaries for understanding the structure better. The business of company involves offering flight services to both domestic customers as well as international customers. Qantas Airways is providing fleet services carrying both passengers as well as cargos from one destination to other destination. Qantas Airways also provides services to other airlines which find it hard to manage their routes. Beside this other functions includes ground handling etc. (Joshi, 2013).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

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The organizational structure of Qantas Airways is decentralized one and having a diverse nature. The authority along with the power of decision making is rest with the managers at top level in the organization in Qantas Airways. The structure is kept so, as the business of airlines is risky one and decisions must come from top for compliance with external parties. The fixation of authority also brings smoothness in decision making and provides speed to the process. The top level management has the role of making strategic decisions for the company (Laudon and Laudon, 2010).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS Apart from that, senior level managers as top level executives have the responsibility to take decisions based on situations. To maintain appropriate delegation of authority as well as responsibility along with transparency in the system, managers and executives have to follow the structure of organization for managing each unit. However, due to this structure of organization, sometimes the process of decision making got delay because of multifarious and difficult character of structure (Bigoli, 2004).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

2.    Problems that organization has experienced because of its structure:

Qantas Airways is involved with different types of processes and activities during its operations, hence it is needed that airline must ensure that all operations are carried out efficiently with minimum number of issues. Because of its complicated and multifaceted structure company is faced with various issues while performing different operations. The main cause behind these issues is because of unnecessary delay in the process of decision making (Dekker, 2014).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS The airline industry is dynamic in nature and management is required to make quick decisions as per the demand of situations. For example, if there is any opportunity available to airline for implementing any innovative technology then decision regarding this is delay because of long approval process of organization which will result in inefficiencies in operations of business and losing of opportunities to competitors who might make quick decision of adapting the new technology.

In addition to that, the multifarious organizational structure of Qantas Airways, affect the quality of communication within the organization. There are many cases of miscommunication between management and employees and also among employees themselves which also has caused delay in service or even failure in service. Once, the airline faced difficulty when employee at booking counter was not able to trace how many seats are booked which leads to delay service to customer resulting in losing of customer and also bad publicity of the airline. Because of that situation, the client failed in booking seat in desired flight and booked other flight resulting in wastage of time of client and losing of customer by Qantas Airways.

3. Most likely system acquisition method— commercial software, custom software, or ERP

An airline company required integration of various activities involving services from booking counter to dropping customers to their destination. In such multi-level activities use of ERP software would be more appropriate in comparison to use of customized or commercial software. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software has already proved its worth in various large organizations (Kendall and Kendall, 2011).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS ERP software supports flexibility as well as modernization of prevailing system for making business more efficient. It generates information which might be real time and might be for one or more departments or for whole organization which help in avoiding disturbances along with inefficiencies in the system (Bourgeois, 2014).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS For Qantas Airways ERP software would be very effective for resolving issues prevalent due to its structure. The application of ERP in Qantas Airways would help airline in better coordinating its different activities and provide effective storage options with more safety and security features. ERP would help Qantas Airways in performing various management related functions like inventory management, customer relationship management, data report for product and service improvement etc. Implementation of ERP in airlines would also improve the flow of communication among employees as well as between employees and management and make the communication error free. Beside this, the software also assists in understanding behavior of clients (Davies, 2013).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

4.System flowchart of the sales procedures for Qantas Airways

The system flow chart of Qantas Airways regarding sales procedure is commences with offering of services by airlines. In its sale basket, Qantas Airways is having various flights which it operates both domestically as well as internationally. The details of these flights are made available in its software. Apart from that various complementary services attached with the service also provided to the clients. Airline is committed to provide all sorts of travelling solutions to its clients. For that it also has various packages to popular tourists’ destinations around the world and within Australia. Company also offers attractive discounts and promotional offers for filling vacant seats on urgent basis (Morris, 2011).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

The Sale procedure begins when a customer searches or inquires for any flight from one destination to other destination. This enquiry can be made on official website of Qantas Airways or over the booking counter of company or with 3rd party partners like travel booking websites etc. Once the customer made the decision and finalizes the flight then amount is paid through different modes like through credit card, debit card, wallet etc. directly to Qantas Airways or to 3rd parties. The amount paid to 3rdparties is remitted to the company after deduction of commission by partner site. Once the booking is confirmed, then the traveler travels to their destination by availing service of the airline (Fulmer and Gerard, 2014).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

5. Control problems in the system and what sorts of fraud are possible in this system

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Qantas Airways is faced with certain issues in relation to its control system while serving its customers. There is the possibility that employee at booking counter may make wrong commitment regarding complementary services in flights which creates problems during travel and create unrest among travelers. Similarly, the 3rd party parties might also promise extra which is not offered by the airline which again degrade the brand image of the company. Another problem in control system is related with the payment mechanism. The system of online payment is prone to be attacked by hackers around the world which requires extra investment by company for securing the payment gateway (Geert’s, 2016).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS Also, there are chances that 3rd parties might charge extra from customers and would not remit the extra money to company. One more possible area where fraud could be happen is at booking counter. There is possibility that cash received at booking counter might be misrepresented in book of accounts leading to mismanagement of money. In addition to this, in peak season the server of company is overloaded which creates much problem to clients booking tickets. Synchronization of seat status from different channels is also a major issue before the company. Selling of two tickets for the same seat is a big mistake in airline business (Allen, 2011).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Part 2:

1.Development and adoption of the accounting software packages:

The case organization needs to have innovative accounting software in order to record transactions properly. Qantas airlines needs transaction recording with proper authorization in systematic way. The case organization required software which would be user friendly for employees who will use it properly and in effective manner; a software which can be learnt by employees easily. Steps involved in the new software must be less in order to increase effectiveness level of users and to record transactions perfectly. In addition to this, storage of data must be in the way which stores and retrieve in easy way. The design of the accounting software must be in such way that with a single click it will able to give all kinds of figures and reports and all the information can be accessed by an  authorized persons only (Arneson, 2013).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Several kinds of accounting software packages are available in the market place. On the other hand, this software is not giving easy handling but they are complex in use especially for big organization like Qantas airline. Requirements of the organization can be fulfilled by ERP software such as through completing technological requirement the organization will able to avoid and/or reduce probability of errors as well as frauds at the time of accounting. It will also able to secure whole activity from unauthorized practices (Dekker, 2014).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS The airways has lots of complexities in the system, in order to avoid these complexity the organization must have a system which will operate all the other sub system of the organization and will able to synchronize all the other tasks and activities. The system will able in making whole system coordinated eliminating duplication of work and allowing one click entry.

2. The current market size:

Effective accounting system is the requirement in the current cut throat competition each and every organization; whether it is small, medium or large organization. With the enhancement in the information technology and innovations made management systems as well as effective account ting compulsory for all organizations. Some companies which are using this accounting software are MYOB, Xero, Reckon and QuickBooks as well. These organizations are standing against each other in order to protect their market share. In the current market, MYOB has large market share. After MYOB, it’s QuickBooks which is on the second position.

Big organization prefers big information technology organizations for small software packages such as IFS, ORACLE and SAP (Kendall and Kendall, 2011)http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS In order to enhance operational efficiency, these companies provides accounting solutions by offering ERP for organization in order to assist several functions for reducing risks and increasing productivity as well.

3. Leaders in the market and what gives them the competitive advantage:

In the current scenario, market leaders in the field of ERP packages as well as accounting software are Sap business and Oracle; these provides their services to almost all international enterprises around the globe. Most of the small and medium size organizations prefer QuickBooks and MYOB as well. With respect to giant organizations, NetSuite and Oracle SAP S/4HANA accounting software are very popular and in demand. Big organization like Qantas Airways needs to have such kind of software which can offer flexible as well as user friendly services to the operators due to its complex organizational structure.

Oracle offers NetSuite software which is very popular because of its flexibility feature. With this user can add or remove software fields. It is better than traditional software as NetSuite does not demand expert or administrator in order to change settings of the systems. This offers total solution with respect to requirements of ERP and makes each and every activity automated and synchronizes them in a single one.

4.    Current gaps or challenges encountered by users or customers of accounting software/packages:

Whenever customers book their tickets whether it is through third party web side, direct website or from counter, customers face several kinds of issues. This current software offers nothing but mismanagement of records and difficulties in distribution of tickets with poor communication and coordination among human resource. In distribution of tickets, vacant seat identification is quite tough and physically and online distribution of tickets is also challenging. Delay in refunds and payments failure is some issues for which organization is continuously getting complaints. With these all airline is in huge loss (Kendall and Kendall, 2011).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

5.    Relevant suggestions or recommendations.

The use of ERP accounting software will provide synchronization of all activities and then completion of several activities in synchronized manner. It is very helpful in the organization with respect to decision making process because it provides elimination of work duplication, wastage activity removal, correct accounting for transaction, fast report generation. By different channels, Qantas has to complete several kinds of transaction in one day; so, the case organization requires to have a flexible as well as powerful system like NetSuite in order to attain all the necessity of the organization (Fulmer and Gerard, 2014).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS Small accounting software like MYOB as well as QuickBooks are not able to provide effective services to giant organization as there are complicated environment in the Qantas airways, but these software are just for small as well as medium organizations. Qantas needs to implement such accounting software system which is able to help organization in supporting several functions. This will result in support to organization in order to make decisions which will be based on new software system (Kendall and Kendall, 2011).http://HI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMSHI5019 STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Conclusion:

It can be concluded that the airline should identify exact requirements of the new accounting software system before deciding anything with respect to buy new accounting system software. Implement of new software involves additional infrastructure expenditure, expenditure on training and development of workforce. Organization is facing some issues and the new accounting software system i.e. ERP would be beneficial for the organization. Through it organization can enhance organizational efficiency as well as revenue of the organization. In the same way, new accounting software system will reduce payment related risks and make the whole system more transparent. Requirement of efficiency and synchronization in ticket booking can be completed thorough the proposed accounting software system.

References:

Allen, T. (2011). Improve your business processes for ERP efficiency. Strategic Finance(May): 54-59.

  • Arnesen, S. (2013). Is a cloud ERP solution right for you? Strategic Finance(February): 44-50.
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  • Bourgeois, D. (2014). , Information Systems for Business and Beyond. Sayer Foundation Open Textbook Challenge.
  • Davies, P. (2013). Business information systems. 2nd ed. Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Dekkers, R. (2014), Applied Systems Theory.
  • Fulmer, B. P. and G. J. Gerard. (2014). Selecting an enterprise resource planning system: An active learning simulation. Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting(11): 71-82.
  • Geerts, G. L. (2016). Special section on enterprise ontologies. Journal of Information Systems(Summer): 1-3.
  • Joshi, Girdhar (2013). Management Information Systems. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. p. 328.
  • Kendall and Kendall (2011).SYSTEMS ANALYSIS and DESIGN.
  • Laudon, K.,&Laudon, J. (2010). Management information systems: Managing the digital firm. (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
  • Morris, J. J. (2011). The impact of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems on the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting. Journal of Information Systems(Spring): 129-157.

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