Define an information system from both a technical and a business perspective

McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of fast food restaurants, serving nearly 47 million customers daily. McDonald's primarily sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken products, French fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes, and desserts. More recently, it has begun to offer salads, wraps and fruit. Many McDonald's restaurants have included a playground for children and advertising geared toward children, and some have been redesigned in a more 'natural' style, with a particular emphasis on comfort: introducing lounge areas and fireplaces, and eliminating hard plastic chairs and tables.

In addition to its signature restaurant chain, McDonald’s Corporation held a minority interest in Pret A Manger (a UK-based sandwich retailer) until 2008, and owned the Chipotle Mexican Grill until 2006 and the restaurant chain Boston Market until 2007. The company has also expanded the McDonald's menu in recent decades to include alternative meal options, such as salads and snack wraps, in order to capitalize on growing consumer interest in health and wellness. Each McDonald's restaurant is operated by a franchisee, an affiliate, or the corporation itself. The corporations' revenues come from the rent, royalties and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. McDonald's revenues grew 27% over the three years ending in 2007 to $22.8 billion, and 9% growth in operating income to $3.9 billion.

History of McDonalds

The business began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California. Their introduction of the "Speedee Service

System" in 1948 established the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant. The original mascot of McDonald's was a man with a chef's hat on top of a hamburger

shaped head whose name was "Speedee." Speedee was eventually replaced with Ronald McDonald in 1963.

The first McDonald's restaurants opened in the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Japan, Netherlands, Germany, Australia and Sweden in order of openings. The present corporation dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois on April 15, 1955 , the ninth McDonald's restaurant overall. Kroc later purchased the McDonald brothers' equity in the company and led its worldwide expansion and the company became listed on the public stock markets in 1965. Kroc was also noted for aggressive business practices, compelling the McDonald's brothers to leave the fast food industry. The McDonald's brothers and Kroc feuded over control of the business, as documented in both Kroc's autobiography and in the McDonald brothers' autobiography. The site of the McDonald brothers' original restaurant is now a monument with the expansion of McDonald's into many international markets, the company has become a symbol of globalization and the spread of the American way of life. Its prominence has also made it a frequent topic of public debates about obesity, corporate ethics and consumer responsibility

Corporate Overview

Facts and figures

McDonald's restaurants are found in 119 countries and territories around the world and serve nearly 47 million customers each day. McDonald's operates over 31,000 restaurants worldwide, employing more than 1.5 million people. The company also operates other restaurant brands, such as Piles Café, and has a minority stake in Pret a Manger. The company owned a majority stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill until completing its divestment in October 2006. Until December 2003, it also owned Donatos Pizza. On August 27, 2007, McDonald's sold Boston Market to Sun Capital Partners.

BUSINESS MODEL

Franchise Model – Only 15% of the total number of restaurants are owned by the Company. The remaining 85% is operated by franchises. The company follows a comprehensive framework of training and monitoring of its franchises to ensure that they adhere to the Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value propositions offered by the company to its customers.

Product Consistency – By developing a sophisticated supplier networked operation and distribution system, the company has been able to achieve consistent product taste and quality across geographies.

Act like a retailer and think like a brand – McDonald’s focuses not only on delivering sales for the immediate present, but also protecting its long term brand reputation.

McDonald’s in India

McDonald’s entered India in 1996. McDonald’s India has a joint venture with Connaught Plaza Restaurants and Hard Castle Restaurants. Connaught Plaza Restaurants manages operations in North India whereas Hard Castle Restaurants operates restaurants in Western India. Apart from opening outlets in the major metros, the company is now expanding to Tier 2 cities like Pune and Jaipur and surat.http://www.mccalifornia.com/images/operators/1000020422/R.jpg

McDonald's worldwide is well known for the high degree of respect to the local culture. McDonald's has developed a menu especially for India with vegetarian selections like McVeggie™ Burger, Paneer Salsa Wrap™ McAloo Tikki Burger, Pizza McPuff to suit Indian tastes and culture. Keeping in line with this McDonald's does not offer any beef and pork items in India. McDonald's has also re-engineered its operations to address the special requirements of a vegetarian menu. The cheese and cold sauces used in India are 100% vegetarian. Vegetable products are prepared separately, using dedicated equipment and utensils. Also in India, only vegetable oil is used as a cooking medium. This separation of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food products is maintained throughout the various stages of procurement, cooking and serving.

McDonald’s In Surat

Surat, December 16th, 2008: Today, the city of Surat gets one more reason to rejoice as McDonald’s India (West & South) opens a new outlet at the Valentine Multiplex. The restaurant is located on the ground floor and is spread over an area of approx 3200 sq. ft. with a capacity to seat 120 people. This is the 2nd McDonald’s restaurant in Surat and the 8th in Gujarat. http://www.anukool.com/img/project/big/0o8wwou3IMG_1598JPG.jpg

Visit of McDonald’s in surat

I visited McDonald’s on 27th April,2013. There I got to know McDonalds business infrastructure and how information Flow and also how they work manually and by computer. More I got to know duties of all employees and management, category of management of McDonald’s.

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION SYSTEM

An information system can be defined technically as a set of interrelated components that collect (or retrieve), process, store, and distribute information to support decision making, coordination and control in an organization. In addition to supporting decision making, coordination, and control, information systems may also help managers and workers analyze problems, visualize complex subjects, and create new products.

Information systems contain information about significant people, places, and things within the organization or in the environment surrounding it. By information we mean data that have been shaped into a form that is meaningful and useful to human beings. Data, in contrast, are streams of raw facts representing events occurring in organizations or the physical environment before they have been organized and arranged into a form that people can understand and use.

A brief example contrasting information to data may prove useful. Supermarket checkout counters ring up millions of pieces of data, such as product identification numbers or the cost of each item sold. Such pieces of data can be totaled and analyzed to provide meaningful information such as the total number of bottles of dish detergent sold at a particular store, which brands of dish detergent were selling the most rapidly at that store or sales territory, or the total amount spent on that brand of dish detergent at that store or sales region.

Three activities in an information system produce the information that organizations need to make decisions, control operations, analyze problems, and create new products or services. These activities are input, processing, and output (see Figure) Input captures or collects raw data from within the organization or from its external environment. Processing converts this raw input into a more meaningful form. Output transfers the processed information to the people who will use it or to the activities for which it will be used. Information systems also require feedback, which is output that is returned to appropriate members of the organization to help them evaluate or correct the input stage.

An information system contains information about an organization and its surrounding environment. Three basic activities—input, processing, and output—produce the information organizations need. Feedback is output returned to appropriate people or activities in the organization to evaluate and refine the input. Environmental factors such as customers, suppliers, competitors, stockholders, and regulatory agencies interact with the organization and its information systems.

A Business Perspective on Information Systems

From a business perspective, an information system is an organizational and management solution, based on information technology, to a challenge posed by the environment. Examine this definition closely because it emphasizes the organizational and managerial nature of information systems: To fully understand information systems, a manager must understand the broader organization, management, and information technology dimensions of systems (see Figure 1-4) and their power to provide solutions to challenges and problems in the business environment. We refer to this broader understanding of information systems, which encompasses an understanding of the management and organizational dimensions of systems as well as the technical dimensions of systems as information systems literacy. Information systems literacy includes a 9 behavioral as well as a technical approach to studying information systems. Computer literacy, in contrast, focuses primarily on knowledge of information technology.

Using information systems effectively requires an understanding of the organization, management, and information technology shaping the systems. All information systems can be described as organizational and management solutions to challenges posed by the environment.

INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

A Management Information System is an integrated user-machine system, for providing information, to support the operations, management, analysis & decision-making functions in an organization.

"'MIS' is a planned system of collecting, storing and disseminating data in the

form of information needed to carry out the functions of management."

Management : Management is art of getting things done through and with the people in formally organized groups. The basic functions performed by a manager in an organization are: Planning, controlling, staffing, organizing, and directing.

Information : Information is considered as valuable component of an organization. Information is data that is processed and is presented in a form which assists decision maker.

System : A system is defined as a set of elements which are joined together to achieve a common objective. The elements are interrelated and interdependent. Thus every system is said to be composed of subsystems. A system has one or multiple inputs, these inputs are processed through a transformation process to convert these input( s) to output.

The System utilizes computer hardware & software, manual procedures, models for analysis, planning, control & decision making and a database.

MIS Model :

Both data and information are entered from the environment.

• Database contains the data provided by the subsystem.

• The database contents are used by software that produces

periodic and special reports as well as mathematical models that simulate various aspects of the firm’s operations.

• The software outputs are used by persons who are responsible for solving the firm’s problems.

COMPONENTS OF MIS

OBJECTIVES OF MIS :

Data Capturing : MIS capture data from various internal and external sources of Organization. Data capturing may be manual or through computer terminals.

Processing of Data : The captured data is processed to convert into required information. Processing of data is done by such activities as calculating, sorting, classifying, and summarizing.

Storage of Information : MIS stores the processed or unprocessed data for future use. If any information is not immediately required, it is saved as an organization record, for later use.

Retrieval of Information : MIS retrieves information from its stores as and when required by various users.

Dissemination of Information : Information, which is a finished product of MIS, is disseminated to the users in the organization. It is periodic or online through computer terminal.

Characteristics of MIS :

Systems Approach : The information system follows a systems approach. Systems approach means taking a comprehensive view or a complete look at the interlocking sub-systems that operate within an organization.

Management Oriented : Management oriented characteristic of MIS implies that the management actively directs the system development efforts. For planning of MIS, top-down approach should be followed. Top down approach suggests that the system development starts from the determination of management’s needs and overall business objective. To ensure that the implementation of system’s polices meet the specification of the system, continued review and participation of the manager is necessary.

Need Based : MIS design should be as per the information needs of managers at different levels.

Exception Based : MIS should be developed on the exception based also, which means that in an abnormal situation, there should be immediate reporting about the exceptional situation to the decision –makers at the required level.

Future Oriented : MIS should not merely provide past of historical information rather it should provide information, on the basis of future projections on the actions to be initiated.

Integrated : Integration is significant because of its ability to produce more meaningful information. Integration means taking a comprehensive view or looking at the complete picture of the interlocking subsystems that operate within the company.

Common Data Flow : Common data flow includes avoiding duplication, combining similar functions and simplifying operations wherever possible. The development of common data flow is an economically sound and logical concept, but it must be viewed from a practical angle.

Long Term Planning : MIS is developed over relatively long periods. A heavy element of planning should be involved.

Sub System Concept : The MIS should be viewed as a single entity, but it must be broken down into digestible sub-systems which are more meaningful.

Central database : In the MIS there should be common data base for whole system

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE

McDonald’s Business Infrastructure

Branch Office

Regional

Office

Head Office

Responsibilities and Activity of Branch office

Managers

1. Team Leader -team leader who leads and give order and work to all managers.

2. Crew Chief – crew chief who leads all frontline employees and distributes their duty and set time schedule of them.

3. Floor Manager -'Floor management' includes managing staff who give services to customers and allocate the duties of opening and closing restaurant. The manager is responsible for making sure his or her staff is following the service standards and health and safety regulations. The manager is the most important person in the front-of-the-house environment, since it is up to him or her to motivate the staff and give them job satisfaction. The manager also looks after and guides the personal well-being of the staff, since it makes the work force stronger and more profitable.

4. Kitchen Manager - 'Kitchen management' includes the managing staff working in the kitchen. The kitchen is the most important part of the business and the main reason customers patronize the restaurant. Managing the kitchen staff helps to control food quality. As most commercial kitchens are a closed environment, the staff may become bored or tired from the work. Without proper management, this often results in an inconsistent food product.

5. Restaurant Manager- restaurant manager who is the head of floor manager, kitchen manager, crew chief and also employees.

Activity of McDonald’s Employees/ works

In McDonald’s we see Activity of all Employees

Frontline Employee -In McDonald’s there are 4 counters and frontline employees operate that counters and deal with customers and the end of the day they count per product sale amount and total amount of the sale.

Simple format is given below-

Restaurant Manager –restaurant manager take all counters reports from the frontline employees, he checks all the reports and by mail he give this report to the regional office and head office.

Information Flow

TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM FOR IMS STRATEGY

Keeping in view the dynamic nature of business and need of satisfying the requirement of information at any time anywhere, we have suggestion to chooses following technology platform-

Enterprise management System.

Operating system platform: NT4.0, UNIX.

Network: Internet/Internal/Extranet/LAN.

Application Technology: Client/Server, Web Enabled applications.

Application Solution: Oracle 8 I, Oracle Financials, Oracle Application-11 i.

Front End: VB,IIS 4.0

Back End: Database server, Application server, Microsoft transaction server, web server.

Security: Firewall servers and Proxy server.

Use ERP

Enterprise management System

What is Enterprise?

Large business community including all the players and partners in the business. In General term, used for a corporate entity (any thing from Coffee house to Organization like TATA, Bajaj etc.) It is a group of people with common goal, where has certain resources at its disposal to acquire that goal.

What an Enterprise needs?

Management of Data (through EDI – Electronic Data Interchange) for information Communication Management of related systems and sub systems Event monitoring, updating, Control.

There are tools and Techniques available to answer all above needs, i.e. business needs an integrated solution, which is nothing but an EMS.

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EDI (Electronic Data Interchange ) consists of direct computer-to-computer transmission among multiple firms of data in a machine readable, structured format.

AMS (Attendance Monitoring System ) is required for personal planning of the employees in the organization. It also helps in availability and scheduling.

CAD/CAM/CAE (Computer Aided Design/ Computer Aided Manufacturing/ Computer Aided Engineering). This system handles the design, manufacturing and engineering functions in the organization. This provides drawing and design engineering information to ERP in the execution of manufacturing and purchase functions.

DMS (Document Management System ). This system helps in keeping important document for viewing at later times. For the purpose of transaction handling this system some time have a facility of document modification, by giving text editing facility

CMS (Communication Management Systems) . The ERP uses CMS as a tool for all its communication needs of recording an event. This system is used for tracking the important resource for action.

A typical ERP solution has following modules: -

Marketing, Distribution and sales

Manufacturing process

Accounting and finance

Personal management

Planning and control

Purchase and inventory

The modules are designed for following purposes: -

Data capture from transactions

Data transaction validation

Analysis

Updating and reporting of accounting

Reduction of lead-time

The elapsed time between placing an order and receiving is known as the lead-time. In order to reduce lead-times, the organization should have an efficient inventory management system. This inventory system is integrated with the purchase, production planning and production department.

The ERP systems help in automating this task and thus make inventory management more effective and efficient.

Doubled business

Increase of inventory turn to over 30%

Cycle time cut to 80% :

Cycle time is the time between receipt of the order and delivery of the product.

Make –to – order

Make –to – stock

SUGGESTIONS

I will give some suggestions to McDonalds, that are

Provide access to information From anywhere any time.

Head office management and regional office management access to the proposal for status monitoring and tracking.

Create a business management database/data warehouse that is useful to management , sales managers

Besides real time online systems develops data mining application for strategic management of business.

What is information system from both technical and business perspective?

What exactly an information system from a business perspective?

What is an information system and what types of information systems are used in business?

What is information system in a business organization?