Evaluation of the Information Needs of the Various Functional Areas of the Organisation

Majorly, organisations are concerned about the effectiveness of information processing so as to ensure that all processes of production are efficient. It is important to note that globalisation and technological development are some of the major factors that are influencing the great changes in business which forces them to ensure reliable and efficient Information Systems (IT) systems. Every organisation hopes to get the best out of their IT systems and therefore, exploiting them fully would help to achieve their goals in every department. Incorporating correctly the IT systems in the organisation’s processes is one of the steps in ensuring better results from the organisation’s activities. This paper addresses the information needs in the various functional areas of Udemy, an organisation that offers online learning platform to students especially the professional adults.

Information is a key component in ensuring that all students’ needs are addressed through the platform. Some of the functions performed by this department include: offering reading materials through the online library, student’s registrations, and students’ enquiries among others. In the contemporary society, most of these are done via the internet and students do need to travel from their homes to school. What a student needs is a computer, a tablet, or a phone and internet connection to enable them to acquire the services offered by the organisation. The organisation has put in place the right infrastructure to handle the storage, retrieval, processing, and dissemination of the information the students and other stakeholders whenever it is needed. The organisation hires such people as computer engineers and technicians to handle the development and maintenance of the servers and ensure its smooth operations.

The organisation has several managers and finance officers who run the various departments within the organisation. The finance officers are bestowed with the authority to handle business transactions. There are procurement officers mandated to carry out all procurement requirements. Interviews and frequent reviews are useful collecting data about various personnel. One of the duties is to conduct campaigns that would help to enrol more students for various programs offered through the site. In this case, the department creates content that goes to advertising sites and other media around the globe. The department also monitors and manages the organisation’s social media platforms in order to ensure that only the right information regarding the organisation goes public. The department also produces internal communications to inform various departments about various issues within the organisation.

The marketing department follows up on potential clients to ensure that they get to enrol for various courses by providing the necessary information to them and clarifying on certain issues. The department uses information technology systems to store, retrieve, process information regarding customer experiences, especially data collected from the customers concerning their experiences with the organisation. Information processed by the department is very useful in decision-making processes in handling problems within the company. Finance This functional area handles all financial work within the organisation. It is one of the most important areas of functionality in organisations and must be given to able hands to run it. Otherwise, it can lead the organisation to bankruptcy. Overall, the department advises the entire management on all financial matters.

Dependencies between Various Functional Areas Finance and all other Functional Areas Finance department is the overall financial adviser to all other departments with the organisation. It monitors and keeps records of all financial operations within the organisation. The department also follows up on the performance of the various departments to determine the success of the organisation. Human Resources and Finance The human resource department of the company is dependent on the finance department to meets its operations costs. 1 Different Types of Information Systems Various people and organisation have been developing information systems to handles various issues and functions in the world especially in organisations. The history of information systems development can be traced to the start of early computing. There have been developed different types of information systems since then and classification of these systems helps in identifying the types of information systems (Kimble, 2017).

Classification is usually a process that creates grouping of similar elements for purposes of easy identification. Usually, the elements classified in the same group have almost the same function and purpose in the organisations. Executive Information Systems (EIS) These are usually at the top level of the pyramid and are considered to be strategic-level systems within the organisation. They are used by the executive officers comprising of the senior managers and departmental heads within the organisation. These systems are used in analysis of the organisation environment, both external and internal, with an aim to identify the trends and help to strategize on how to develop proper course of action to handle the developments. The information in such systems is normally structured in a way that is simple and easy to use and is only meant for the executive officers.

This helps to avoid intermediaries who such as technicians who may land on information meant for the top officers alone. Functions of a DSS in terms of data processing requirements Inputs Processing Outputs Internal Transactions Internal Files External Information? Modelling Simulation Analysis Summarizing Summary reports Forecasts Graphs / Plots The DSS supports semi-structured or ill-structured decisions within the organisation and provide the users with analytical and modelling capabilities. Examples of DSS include financial planning systems, spreadsheet models, logistics systems, and group decision support systems. WebFocus is one of the major DSS software. Management Information Systems (MIS) There are many different kinds of information systems within various organisations which are known as management information systems. However, management information systems in this case refer to the information systems within the management-level area.

These systems are operating by the front-line members of staff such as tutors and content creators (Markgraf, 2016). The systems are mainly providers of key information that support the management of the organisation’s operations. Basic transactions provide data to the systems through automated or semi-automated tracking systems. Some of the examples of TPS include reservation systems, payroll systems, stock control systems, order processing systems, and payment and funds transfer systems. Functions of a TPS in terms of data processing requirements Inputs Processing Outputs Transactions Events Validation Sorting Listing Merging Updating Calculation Lists Detail reports Action reports Summary reports? Task 2. This is facilitated by the changing customers in the market as most of them can access videos for informational purposes. More clients are looking for videos to get information about various products and services which they are planning to purchase from the vendor.

• Narrowing segments People are becoming more inclined to purchasing personalised products and services. Technology has enabled this trend and therefore organisations have sought to engage the new technologies in order to meet new customers (Max, 2017). Udemy offers are more personalised experience to customers as each has the capacity to select the content at their own discretion. In this case, the company can offer services that meet the needs of the customers. The following is a SWOT analysis of the CRM usage at Udemy. Strengths Weaknesses Supports decision making process Enables easy access to information Helps to manage operational costs Useful in information interchange within the organisation Requires costly technologies to run Dependencies in workflow information Opportunities Threats Improvement of customer relationship Increase customer base Improve customer relationship Enhance competitiveness Lack of sufficient knowledge in users Poor user interest in CRM Concerns over privacy of customers Definitely, CRM has been very useful in Udemy over the recent past as it has improved its customer base.

More students have developed confidence in the services offered by the company. Management Information Systems MIS gives an opportunity to the decision-makers using the data acquired through the system. The human resource is a gem that keeps the company growing and therefore, the organisation has focused on improving the productivity of the personnel over the time. Improving productivity of the company’s human resources will definitely improve the capacity of the organisation in handling competition within the industry. Improving employee effectiveness goes hand in hand with improving their satisfaction and Udemy has been keen on this matter. However, many organisations face a challenge in this process for lack of proper information systems. The use of CRM in the organisation has been useful in the process of ensuring employee satisfaction and effectiveness.

The software offers dedicated services in financial management, employee management, marketing management, billing and invoicing, purchasing, time and expense tracking, inventory management, and vendor management. Strengths Weaknesses A variety of features Efficient Does not support all features including point of sale and CRM Opportunities Threats Can be expanded to include more features Can improve the business Competition Alternative Three: WorkStraight WorkStraight is one of the software that can be used to manage business. The features of this software include billing and invoicing, CRM, employee management, inventory management among others. However, the software does not handle purchasing and financial management. Strengths Weaknesses Handle more basic factors in business Is applicable across a variety of businesses Lack the CRM features which is quite important in current business Opportunities Threats Creates chances for business improvement Competition is growing daily Alternative Four: ProDBX The major features of this software include: billing & invoicing, CRM, employee management, financial management, inventory management, marketing management, point of sale (POS), purchasing, time & expense tracking, and vendor management.