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1、管理信息系统作业与考试要求*必须完成的作业（40分）作业一:案例分析：组作业要求：（1）个人作业（PPT）（2）小组作业：每次上课时一组，报告一个Groupwork（PPT文档）作业二、作业三、作业四的要求见附件个人作业和小组作业，在期末以小组为单位、写明班级，集成打包后一起提交。CASE STUDY 1ProblemA large aircraft manufacturing firm allocates company automobiles to its employees when they are on company business. The following describe
2、s its automobile requisition system. An automobile requisition form is received by the transportation department from the employee needing the car. The data on the form includes the employee name and department, the current date, the date needed, the return date, the requisition number, and the type
3、 of car required. When the requisition is received, a clerk checks the information against department files (on computer disk) to ensure that the employee is eligible to use a company car. If accepted, the requisition information is added to the auto requisition file (on computer disk). If not accep
4、ted, the requisition form is sent back to the employee. The clerk then checks the automobile availability file (on computer disk) to determine if the appropriate type of car is available. If so, an auto confirmation form is sent back to the requesting employee notifying him or her that an automobile
5、 is available. (1) Draw a physical data flow diagram (DFD)数据流图 for this automobile requisition system. (2) Draw a systems flowchart for this automobile requisition system.系统流程图 (3) What controls should be taken in the DFD to guarantee the effectiveness in the allocations.CASE STUDY 2ShopKo and Pamid
6、a: Systems Triumph or Tragedy?ShopKo, a general merchandise retail chain headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin, has about 140 stores in 15 states and had sales of $3.5 billion in 2001. Traditionally companies that sell apparel have four product cycles a year, one for each of the seasons. However suc
7、h companies now face serious competition from companies like Gap that now operate on rapidly changing product cycles, often bringing in new product lines every two to four weeks. One of the growing problems ShopKo had to address was what to do with the excess (or overstocked) merchandise when a cycl
8、e ends.At the end of a season (or cycle), companies have faced two problems. One is the need to empty its shelves in time for the arrival of the new cycle products (bathing suits do not sell well in the winter while fur coats are not in demand in the summer). The other problem is getting rid of the
9、overstocked items at the highest possible price in an attempt to minimize losses in revenue. Traditionally the method ShopKo (and most other clothing retailers) used to determine clearance prices for overstocked items was to set each product price based upon clearance prices of similar products in p
10、ast years. On average it found it needed to lower prices four times to clear the overstock at the end of a cycle, selling as much at each price as possible before lowering the price again. However, it always faced the calendar in addition to the customers willingness to purchase at each price. Mike
11、Martin, ShopKos director of business alignment and planning, explains, “The first few markdowns buyers tend to take are very conservative. So they Shopko end up taking too many markdowns to clear merchandise out.”This markdown strategy proved to be costly as the number of cycles per year increased.
12、The clearance price for each item was the same in every store throughout the entire chain.However, specific items were more popular and sold better in some stores than in others. Also, traditionally markdown timing was always the same for all stores, and yet seasonal changes can differ from store to
13、 store based on local geography and culture. The result was that the company could have set higher markdown prices in stores where the demand was higher or the cycle lasted a little longer.Moreover, a clothing markdown usually means a manual price change on each clothing item, and the staff time req
14、uired to change the prices can be very costly. Four markdowns per item is very expensive.ShopKo had made substantial information systems investments and one was a system to help the company optimize prices during markdowns. ShopKo implemented Markdown Optimizer from Spotlight Solutions in Mason, Ohi
15、o, which helps companies price leftovers so that the products will sell faster and with a better profit at each store. The software enables companies to price a product according to season, geography (specific store location), local tastes, and past demand, by analyzing historical pricing and sales
16、data. It is proving very useful in helping stores get rid of the leftovers in time to make space for incoming products of the next cycle. This type of computer system is similar to the yield management software developed by the airlines. This software determines the best prices for airline seats at
17、any given time. The goal is to fill the plane at the best total price possible.ShopKos CIO, Paul Burrows expressed his understanding that “The more you sell during the first markdown, the fewer you have left even if you have to take a second markdown.” ShopKos weekly sales data are stored in a merch
18、andise data repository, and its computer system automatically feeds the data into Markdown Optimizer. Each piece of data contains the specific store, item number, and date for each item sold.Markdown Optimizer automatically stores the previous recommendation for each item in each individual store so
19、 that it can evaluate past results and then produce recommendations for the closeout of the current cycle. In 2001, ShopKo ran a pilot on the new product and the results were excellent. For the leftovers the pilot showed a 25 percent increase in its gross margin from previous years, while its payrol
20、l costs fell by 24 percent and the percentage of unsold goods at the end of each cycle fell from seven percent to two percent. Burrows was most pleased, claiming that a 15 percent increase would mean a $15 million growth in net profit. In 1999, ShopKo purchased Pamida, a general merchandise retail c
21、hain focused on small towns such as Crete, Nebraska, (25 miles southwest of Lincoln, population 6000+) and Belle Fourche, South Dakota (Butte County, population about 4,000). With headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, Pamidas slogan is “Bringing smaller communities what they want.” ShopKos aim in purchas
22、ing Pamida was to increase its presence in the small towns where competition from retailing powerhouses such asWal-Mart and Target was not as strong. Pamida was the only major retail store in most of these small towns, and its strategy was to compete by maintaining a high in-stock rate rather than b
23、y becoming the lowest price competitor. Pamida relies on information systems to execute that strategy, and its SEC filing stated, “Pamidas information technology strategy is aimed at providing the customer with . . . merchandise which is always available as advertised.” When ShopKo purchased Pamida,
24、 the chain had a total of about 180 stores, although that number increased to 229 stores in 16 states when ShopKo purchased the P.M. Place chain of 49 small town Midwestern stores in May 2000 and merged it into Pamida. Despite its strategy, Pamida had too many out-of-stock items. To make matters wor
25、se, many key products were in warehouses even though they were not on store shelves. In addition, the companys gross margin was too low and falling. ShopKo wanted to expand the number of Pamida stores in small towns. Pamidas solution was to consolidate its five warehouses into three and modernize it
26、s inventory management systems to increase stores ability to keep their shelves stocked. The plan execution began early in 2000 with the Lebanon (Indiana) Distribution Center Project to convert the Lebanon distribution center servicing 107 of Pamidas 229 stores, to a full-service warehouse. The conc
27、ept was to transform the warehouse from a flow-through facility (where goods arrive at the warehouse and are immediately shipped to the stores) to a fullservice distribution center (where inventory is stored so that it can be shipped to the stores immediately when needed).The warehouse was expanded
28、from 200,000 square feet to 418,000 square feet, but the warehousing software was neither updated nor replaced. Initially, the new inventory management system created serious bottlenecks in Pamida warehouses, causing Pamidas earnings to decline in the first nine months of 2001 and its corporate pare
29、nt ShopKo to lose $6.7 million in overall revenue. Pamidas old warehouse management information system came from Catalyst International, and the company had never updated the software, which was several versions behind. According to Dan Trew, Catalysts vice president of product strategy, “We have ma
30、de significant enhancements in the configurability of the product, things we couldnt do when Pamida was originally installing its system,” and so the system was out-of-date and inadequate. The software made it difficult to lay out and run a full-service center in the most logical and efficient manne
31、r. “Its not real flexible so the processes at the distribution center had to conform to the system,” said Pamidas CIO Dan Nicklen. Newer versions of warehouse management software can handle full-service distribution centers much more easily.Nicklen said Pamidas warehouse management software was not
32、updated when the rest of the warehouse was modernized because the software had been working fine under the old distribution system. Pamida had the support of ShopKos management in making technology investments to become more effective, but chose to continue using the old warehouse software. Instead,
33、 Pamida focused on a three-year program to replace all of its major large computer systems and software, including new merchandising software from Retek Information Systems.The product supply shortage became even more serious as the 2000 holiday season approached. The estimated loss in sales for the
34、 107 stores served by the Lebanon distribution center was $5 million, lagging 5 percent behind sales for the remaining 122 stores in the chain. Shareholders filed several class-action lawsuits, charging that management had not revealed the seriousness of the distribution center problems, partly to k
35、eep its stock prices up until November 2000, when it could no longer hide the problem. The quarterly report released that month showed gross margins of 20.8 cents in that quarter versus 26.3 cents previously.Pamida partly blamed the problem on the previous owners, “Our resources were stretched thin,
36、” said Nicklen. “Under ourprevious owners we were always under funded.” But there were also other problems. Certainly Pamida management turnover contributed, with the CEO, Steve Fishman, leaving in July 1999, and a new CEO arriving early in 2000. ShopKo also had a major management turnover when CEO
37、William Podany resigned as chairman in May 2001. Moreover, the task of merging P.M. Place with Pamida in the spring of 2000 placed a heavy burden on the company.Pamida eventually turned around its distribution center and it became fully functional by the end of 2001. ShopKo now feels confident enoug
38、h in Pamidas new distribution system that it is closing a smaller warehouse in Missouri to consolidate distribution at its Indiana and Nebraska centers. CASE STUDY QUESTIONS1. Evaluate the role of information systems in the way ShopKo and Pamida run their business. How important are they? 2. Evaluat
39、e the importance of Pamidas distribution center consolidation project for both Pamida and ShopKo. What management, organization and technology factors prevented Pamidas new distribution center from working successfully?3. Are ShopKo and Pamida using information systems effectively? Why or why not? H
40、ow much value do their systems provide to the business?4. If you were the CEO of ShopKo, how would you have addressed the problem? If you were the CEO of Pamida when it was purchased by ShopKo, would you have recognized the problem? Explain. How would you have solved the problem?5. What management c
41、hallenges does this case study illustrate? Explain your answer.6Combined with Chinas real business situations, what are most valuable points we have learnt from the case. =CASE STUDY 3Problem DoverBridge Elevators has started the process of replacing its large elevator maintenance information system
42、. It is just beginning to do a systems analysis on the current system. The current system consists of four subsystems, the Elevator Mechanic subsystem, the Elevator Maintenance Request subsystem, the Elevator Parts subsystem, and the Elevator Follow-up subsystem. The Elevator Mechanic subsystem take
43、s maintenance orders from 2,000 elevator mechanics across Canada and the U.S. The mechanics follow standard operations procedures in filling out a standard form for elevator maintenance calls. The Elevator Maintenance Request subsystem enters the elevator maintenance request data into the mainframe
44、computer. Ten clerks and a supervisor (all at head office) are responsible for this work. A number of clerks have told their supervisor about ideas they have for improving this subsystem. The Elevator Parts subsystem is used to allocate parts for the maintenance calls. This is a complex task because
45、 each elevator is unique to the building it is in. No standard procedures are written for this job. There are ten employees doing this job and all have difficulty explaining how they do their job. The Elevator Follow-up subsystem is a small subsystem but one that requires the handling of many detail
46、s. Four clerks and one supervisor are responsible for this system. The actual work in this subsystem does not seem that complex but it is difficult to determine the strengths and weaknesses of this subsystem by simply watching or speaking with the people doing the job.（1）Would a physical data flow d
47、iagram aid a systems analyst in analyzing this system? Why or why not?（2）For each of the four subsystems, what problem-understanding technique (or fact-gathering technique) is best to study the existing system? Why?CASE STUDY 4Can Information Systems Save U.S. Steel?In capacity U.S. Steel (USS) is t
48、he 10th largest integrated steel manufacturer in the world and the largest in the United States. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it can produce about 14 million tons annually. The worlds largest steel maker, Europes Arcelor, produces more than 40 million tons annually, while South Koreas
49、POSCO, the second largest, produces about 30 million tons. In fiscal 2001 USSs total revenue was $6.38 billion, with a net loss of $218 million. Its information technology budget was about 1.1 percent or $70 million, a very low number for that industry. Its third largest customer is the Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer that requires an immense amount of steel.In 1996, Ford viewed USS as the worst
