MIS report

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Objective

• Identifying the information flows of the company. • Identifying the key business processes of the company. • Identifying the IT infrastructure of the company. • Analysing the current management information system to identify required

improvements. • Providing suggestions and proposals for improvements.

Goals

• Analysing the operations and the IT Infrastructure of the company to provide them with information technology solutions to develop and improve their business operations to perform more efficiently.

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INTRODUCTION

Isuru Travels & Tours (Pvt) Ltd is a fast growing Rent A Car Company in Sri Lanka. They manage their business operations from the office situated in Moratuwa area. They are famous for providing car rental facilities and chauffeur driven vehicles at affordable rates.

The company was first started before 8 years by its current managing director who was working as a driver at the Dialog company. He step by step developed the company where it stands today as a leading travel and tour company in the Moratuwa area. Currently Isuru Travels & Tours (Pvt) Ltd operates with a fleet of Over 400 Vehicles: over 50 4WD Jeeps, 50 Vans, 200 Cars, Double Cabs, Coaches, Lorries etc. They have 30 drivers working for the company and 4 other workers employed at the yard. The main customer of the company is Dialog Axiata and they provide over 230 vehicles for Dialog in their current schedule. They also provide services to other famous companies like star constructions and sierra. They have expectations to develop the company to compete with the leading companies of the country.

This report is about analysing the management information system of Isuru Travels & Tours (Pvt) Ltd. The report will describe the current information flows, business processes, IT infrastructure of the company and also other findings and suggestions to improve the overall performance of the company by developing its system in an IT perspective. Furthermore the report is included with proposals for the suggested improvements and table structures of the proposed database systems.

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BUSINESS PROCESSES

Administration

In this department of the company is managing the company routine cost events and activities. It handles all the documentation and management tasks regarding the company periodical operational cost controlling and handling.

• Tax Processing

• Claims Processing

• Asset Management

• Document Management

Finance & Accounting

This department is handling all the monetary tasks with in the company and also it’s responsible for divide provisions and consider risk factors. This is the backbone department of the company.

• General Accounting

• Risk Accounting

• Financial Reporting

• Financial Management

• Shareholder Services

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Payment Services

Payment System is a subcategory of Finance & Accounting department. Because of the heavy work load this section was divided from the Finance department. This section liable for timely cost handling , such as

• Loan Processing

• Cheque Processing

Vehicle Mangement

• Garage Management

• Customer Order Fulfilment

• Vehicle Controlling

• Vehicle Maintenance

Sales Marketing and Customer Care

• Advertising

• Customer Analysis

• Customer Handling

It is essential to find out company business processes. Also this should be a platform on which developers can build apps/softwares that drive value for organisation by gathering the data ,not just as a means to find bottlenecks in the process flow and trying to refine them. This helps to deliver innovative, agile, interesting IT solutions, which helps the business be competitive and helps the business grow

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INFORMATION FLOWS

Figure A - Rent a car Graphical illustration

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CURRENT IT INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITIES

IT Infrastructure

Isuru Travels & Tours (Pvt) Ltd have achieved more than they expected in a short time by being a fast growing company. They first had a hand written system to record information and according to the company management, employing information technology aspects has made it easier and more efficient to carryout their business operations with a quality performance. They have a semi-automated system for the company and all the system aspects are managed by the administrator they have outsourced.

Currently, Isuru Travels & Tours (Pvt) Ltd is operational with the following IT infrastructure.

• Six laptops

◦ Laptops are used by the managing director and other managers of the company.

• Six personal computers

◦ These computers are used by the office staff of the company for business operation.

• Two telephone connections: Dialog and Sri Lanka Telecom.

• Fingerprint attendance record system.

• Server computer with backup facilities.

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• Portable hard disks for backup purposes.

• Four Internet connections: SLT Broadband connection and three Dialog 4G lines.

◦ Two 4G connections are used at the office and the other one is used in the managing directors room

• CCTV cameras and monitors.

• Printer and a photocopy machine.

• Mobile phones.

◦ Managers are given mobile phones.

• Air conditioned office room.

The management of the company is not satisfied with the currently employed system as they are in need of a fully automated system. So they are expecting to improve their IT infrastructure facilities in near future.

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ISSUES WITH THE CURRENT SYSTEM

The main issue of the current system is that operators and managers cannot collect all the running charts , Invoices and prepare the pay sheets before 24th of each month as dialog company close the financial reports monthly and pay all debts on 24th. Current system do not directly connect with their main customer ( Dialog ). Monthly basis dialog send all the running charts and details of each vehicle and payment sheets. Therefore company operational managers want to feed in to the system all the details after they have received sheets. So this is a time consuming method and most probably company get paid after two or three months later. As an example, dialog pay January travelling invoices on march 24th. Hence company wants to change this current situation. They want a new system which their customers can feed data online , then managers can check the statement online and get paid for their job monthly.

This company also have a rent a vehicle and cab service as a side business and they want to expand this businesses also. So this business heavily depend on tour distance and drivers details about fuel consumption of the vehicle. But in the current system, drivers provide all information regarding to the service manually or over the phone. Then telephone operator note down all information and forward the note to the managers. Afterwards managers feed this information into the system and prepare relevant statement. This is also not an efficient system and drivers and operators can easily make changes of these types of details and could do fraud activities. So the Isuru travel Management want to implement a new system, that they can easily monitor and track vehicle activities.such as

• Fuel Consumption

• Tour Distance

• Vehicle Idle Time

• Identify Whether AC on or off

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Current system provide computer generated and online invoices only for Dialog company. But they have other customers also.It’s true that Dialog is the key customer, but as a company Isuru Travels want to connect with other customers also. Therefor they want to implement a common invoice template which helps to expand their business activities.

This is a type of business where continues in 24 hours. But the company managers can operate and monitor business activities only in office hours. This is a weak point in traveling business management system. They want to log on in to the company system remotely and manage business activities. Assume a scenario where customer call over the phone and ask for a booking or Management want to track vehicle activities on a Mercantile holiday but managers would not in the office to monitor and manage relevant information. Therefore they want a system which can monitor and manage remotely and also they would like to implement a phone application to monitor activities ( vehicle GPS tracker )

There are lot of competitors in this industry , such as kangaroo cabs, nano taxi… etc. Companies like kangaroo cabs have a text messaging system. In this system as soon as customer ask for a car or taxi, instantly they’ll text back to the customer which include drivers details, vehicle number and charging rate. Isuru Travels also want a that type of system. They would like to implement a messaging system which help to keep connected with their customer and retrieve feedbacks also.

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PROPOSED SYSTEM

• Provide a user interface to upper management providing a high level abstract view of the business activities.

• The new developed system will be able to generate reports/ Invoices of daily, weekly and monthly progress reports, vehicle status reports, employee reports, trip reports and many other so the top level management can easily and accurately monitor the improvements and drawbacks of the company and take necessary actions at the right time to make improvements and deal with future problems.

• Provide interface to employees to engage in day to day business routine.

• The employees will have user-friendly and basic interface so it will be most efficient and accurate to enter the details regarding the vehicle, trip or the customer into the system.

• Provide interface to warehouse where vehicle details can be updated.

• Warehouse employees will be able to enter vehicle conditions to the system so the warehouse managers can observe the current status of all the vehicles within the warehouse and get new vehicles as needed and make repairing arrangements to the broken vehicles. Also the renewing vehicle registration can be done before they are expired.

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• Real time tracking system for vehicles which enables fuel tracking along with the luxury consumption of the vehicle which may lead to consume additional resources. Eg: Air condition on/off state may affect to fuel consumption.By tracking this drivers using air condition even when the vehicle is stopped can be controlled.

• Real time tracking will help to make the trip efficient and most profitable for the company by remotely monitoring unnecessary usage of AC or Fuel. Also vehicle breakdowns can be easily addressed by knowing the exact place of vehicle.

• Web site for clients where they can order a service online.This is also a way to expand the market bounds and can be used for promotional purposes.

• A larger customer base can be established. The customer will find it easy to find and rent a vehicle using their credit or debit card or cash on service methods. It will be able to advertise the company services online to attract more customers.

• A device can be installed to a every vehicle.By using this device Drivers can enter the details(Eg: kilometres travelled) to the system.

• Drivers can provide real time trip details, vehicle breakdown details or send short messages to the company from the vehicle.

• By the using all the information system will generate the pay sheets/financial statements for a particular month automatically.

• System will equip with sms gateway for send bulk sms for customers regarding order confirmations,order details and promotions

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PROPOSED SYSTEM STRUCTURE

Figure B- Tracking System

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Figure C- Old System

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Figure D - New System

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Figure E - Rent a car ( Online ) Use case Diagram

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IMPACT ON ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE DUE TO CHANGES

Growth

Beyond the standard office desktops organisation implement new system , custom software or specialised technology equipment such as GPS system, new user interfaces to keep operations running smoothly. Advancements in technology have the potential to decrease the time needed to complete a task, or in some cases eliminate the need for a business process or job function. Typically, the desire for increased productivity drives upgrades to technology within an organisation, which can significantly influence company operations.

Structure

By implementing proposed system it will help to improve the efficiency of a business. Organisational structure adapts to these changes by restructuring departments, modifying position requirements or adding and removing jobs. Employers often require training on new software programs/System or equipment as a job requirement if it becomes industry standard. Web based paying system add new department or jobs to specialise in new areas of technology. On some occasions, implementing new forms of technology may render certain job duties obsolete in company.

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Operations

For employees, system enhancements often reduce the number of long waiting office tasks or improve efficiency. Changes in day to day operation may come in the form of an upgrade to desktop computers ,to a smart phone, accurate office system or the introduction of a new information system. Managers increasingly utilise software platforms to conduct operations. For example, GPS tracking systems provide a computing system for Business management, assigning tasks and maintaining an accurate log of client & employee communications.

Costs

The decision to purchase or upgrade technology of the system is the key of a company finances operations. To determine the time frame and scale of adding new computers or software, strategic management must weigh the cost of improvements against the aware of added value to the company. Concerns about costs can often lead to delay upgrades and purchases. However, technology that significantly improves operations can surpass, costs through with an increase in profit

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