System Approach to problem solving

The systems approach to problem solving used a systems orientation to define problems and opportunities and develop solutions.  Studying a problem and formulating a solution involve the following interrelated activities:

1. Recognize and define a problem.
2. Develop and evaluate alternative system solutions.
3. Select the system solution that best meets your requirements.
4. Design selected system solution.
5. Implementation
6. Post Implementation and control

1) Defining problems and opportunities

Problems and opportunities are identified in the first step of the systems approach. A problem can be defined as a basic condition that is causing undesirable results. An opportunity is a basic condition that presents the potential for desirable results.

Example;

Symptom: Sales of a company’s products are declining. Problem: Sales persons are losing orders because they cannot get current information on product prices and availability.

2) Developing and evaluating alternate solutions

There are usually several different ways to solve any problem or pursue any opportunity. Jumping immediately from problem definition to a single solution is not a good idea. It limits your options and robs you of the chance to consider the advantages and disadvantages of several alternatives. You also lose the chance to combine the best points of several alternative solutions.

Where do alternative solutions come from/ experience is good source. The solutions that have worked, or at least been considered in the past, should be considered again. Another good source of solutions is the advice of others, including the recommendations of consultants and the suggestions of expert systems.

3) Selecting the best solution

Once all alternative solutions have been evaluated, you can be the process of selecting the best solution. Alternative solutions can be compared to each other because they have been evaluated using the same criteria.

Example;

Alternatives with a low accuracy evaluation (an accuracy score less than 10), or a low overall evaluation (an overall score less than 70) should be rejected.

Therefore, alternative B for sales data entry is rejected, and alternative A, the use of laptop computers by sales reps, is selected.

4) Designing

Once a solution has been selected, it must be designed and implemented. You may have to depend on other business end users’ technical staff to help you develop design specifications and an implementation plan.

5) Implementing solution

An implementation plan specifies the resources, activities, and timing needed for proper implementation. For example, the following items might be included in the design specifications and implementation plan for a computer-based sales support system:

• Types and sources of computer hardware, and software to be acquired for the sales reps.
• Operating procedures for the new sales support system.
• Training of sales reps and other personnel.
• Conversion procedures and timetable for final implementation.

6) Post implementation and Control

The real world has a way of confounding even the well-designed solutions. Therefore, the results of implementing a solution should be monitored and evaluated. This is called a post-implemented. The focus of this step is to determine if the implemented solution has indeed helped the firm and selected subsystems meet their system objectives. If not, the systems approach assumes you will cycle back to a previous step and make another attempt to find a workable solution.

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Executive Information System

An executive information system (EIS) is a type of management information system intended to facilitate and support the information and decision-making needs of senior executives by providing easy access to both internal and external information relevant to meeting the strategic goals of the organization. It is commonly considered as a specialized form of decision support system (DSS).
The emphasis of EIS is on graphical displays and easy-to-use user interfaces. They offer strong reporting and drill-down capabilities. In general, EIS are enterprise-wide DSS that help top-level executives analyze, compare, and highlight trends in important variables so that they can monitor performance and identify opportunities and problems. EIS and data warehousing technologies are converging in the marketplace.
In recent years, the term EIS has lost popularity in favor of business intelligence (with the sub areas of reporting, analytics, and digital dashboards).

1. Components

The components of an EIS can typically be classified as:

Hardware

The basic hardware needed for a typical EIS includes four components:

1. Input data-entry devices. These devices allow the executive to enter, verify, and update data immediately
2. The central processing unit (CPU), which is the kernel because it controls the other computer system components
3. Data storage files. The executive can use this part to save useful business information, and this part also help the executive to search historical business information easily
4. Output devices, which provide a visual or permanent record for the executive to save or read. This device refers to the visual output device such as monitor or printer

In addition, with the advent of local area networks (LAN), several EIS products for networked workstations became available.

Software

Choosing the appropriate software is vital to design an effective EIS. Therefore, the software components and how they integrate the data into one system are very important. The basic software needed for a typical EIS includes four components:

1. Text base software. The most common form of text are probably documents
2. Database. Heterogeneous databases residing on a range of vendor-specific and open computer platforms help executives access both internal and external data
3. Graphic base. Graphics can turn volumes of text and statistics into visual information for executives. Typical graphic types are: time series charts, scatter diagrams, maps, motion graphics, sequence charts, and comparison-oriented graphs (i.e., bar charts)
4. Model base. The EIS models contain routine and special statistical, financial, and other quantitative analysis

User interface

An EIS needs to be efficient to retrieve relevant data for decision makers, so the user interface is very important. Several types of interfaces can be available to the EIS structure, such as scheduled reports, questions/answers, menu driven, command language, natural language, and input/output.

Telecommunication

As decentralizing is becoming the current trend in companies, telecommunications will play a pivotal role in networked information systems. Transmitting data from one place to another has become crucial for establishing a reliable network. In addition, telecommunications within an EIS can accelerate the need for access to distributed data.

 

 

2. Applications

EIS enables executives to find those data according to user-defined criteria and promote information-based insight and understanding. Unlike a traditional management information system presentation, EIS can distinguish between vital and seldom-used data, and track different key critical activities for executives, both which are helpful in evaluating if the company is meeting its corporate objectives. After realizing its advantages, people have applied EIS in many areas, especially, in manufacturing, marketing, and finance areas.

Manufacturing

Basically, manufacturing is the transformation of raw materials into finished goods for sale, or intermediate processes involving the production or finishing of semi-manufactures. It is a large branch of industry and of secondary production. Manufacturing operational control focuses on day-to-day operations, and the central idea of this process is effectiveness and efficiency.

Marketing

In an organization, marketing executives’ role is to create the future. Their main duty is managing available marketing resources to create a more effective future. For this, they need make judgments about risk and uncertainty of a project and its impact on the company in short term and long term. To assist marketing executives in making effective marketing decisions, an EIS can be applied. EIS provides an approach to sales forecasting, which can allow the market executive to compare sales forecast with past sales. EIS also offers an approach to product price, which is found in venture analysis. The market executive can evaluate pricing as related to competition along with the relationship of product quality with price charged. In summary, EIS software package enables marketing executives to manipulate the data by looking for trends, performing audits of the sales data, and calculating totals, averages, changes, variances, or ratios.

Financial

A financial analysis is one of the most important steps to companies today. The executive needs to use financial ratios and cash flow analysis to estimate the trends and make capital investment decisions. An EIS is a responsibility-oriented approach that integrates planning or budgeting with control of performance reporting, and it can be extremely helpful to finance executives. Basically, EIS focuses on accountability of financial performance and it recognizes the importance of cost standards and flexible budgeting in developing the quality of information provided for all executive levels.

3. Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages of EIS

• Easy for upper-level executives to use, extensive computer experience is not required in operations
• Provides timely delivery of company summary information
• Information that is provided is better understood
• Filters data for management
• Improves tracking information
• Offers efficiency to decision makers

Disadvantages of EIS

• System dependent
• Limited functionality, by design
• Information overload for some managers
• Benefits hard to quantify
• High implementation costs
• System may become slow, large, and hard to manage
• Need good internal processes for data management
• May lead to less reliable and less secure data

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