SCHOOL OF HOSPITALITY, TOURISM AND LEISURE MANAGEMENT EXAMINATION FOR THE BSC in INTERNATIONAL HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT (HONS) / BSC in INTERNATIONAL TOURISM MANAGEMENT (HONS); YEAR 1 ACADEMIC SESSION 2009; SEMESTER 2 & SEMESTER 3 BHB 1101: MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS MARCH 2009 TIME: 3 HOURS INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES This paper consists of 3 parts: Part A (20 marks) FIVE (5) short answer questions. Answer ALL questions in the Part B (50 marks) THREE (3) essay questions. Answer ALL questions in the Answer Booklet(s) provided. Part C (30 marks) Case study. Write your answers in the MARKS ALLOCATION PART MARKS ALLOCATED MARKS OBTAINED A 20 B 50 C 30 TOTAL 100 NAME OF CANDIDATE:... STUDENT NO:... [This paper contains FIVE pages (including the cover page)]
PART A : SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS (20 MARKS) INSTRUCTION(S) : FIVE (5) short answer questions. Answer ALL questions in the 1. Briefly describe four strategies that companies can use to achieve competitive advantage in their industries [4 marks] 2. Describe the components of computer-based information systems. [4 marks] 3. What are the major drivers of mobile computing? [4 marks] 4. How does m-commerce expand the reach of e-business? [4 marks] 5. Why is it important for everyone in business organisations to have a basic understanding of the systems development process? [4 marks] END OF PART A 2
PART B : ESSAY QUESTIONS (50 MARKS) INSTRUCTION(S) : THREE (3) essay questions. Answer ALL questions in the Answer Booklet(s) provided. 1. Describe some of the pressures that characterize the modern global business environment? How these pressures affect the global business environment today? [15 marks] 2. Distinguish between ERP and CRM software. In what ways do they complement each other? Relate them to system integration. [15 marks] 3. Your company is considering opening a new factory in China. Explain several typical activities in each phase of the decision process (intelligence, design, choice, and implementation). [20 marks] END OF PART B 3
PART C : CASE STUDY (30 MARKS) INSTRUCTION(S) : Read the case study and answer the THREE (3) questions in the DOLLAR GENERAL USES INTEGRATED SOFTWARE THE BUSINESS PROBLEM Dollar General (dollargeneral.com) operates more than 6,000 general stores in the United States, fiercely competing with Wal-Mart, Target, and hundreds of small stores in the sale of food, apparel, home-cleaning products, health and beauty aids, and more. The chain doubled in size between 1996 and 2002. Due to its rapid expansion, it has had some problems in addition to the stiff competition. For example, moving into new states means different sales taxes, and these need to be closely monitored for changes. Personnel management also became more difficult with the organization s growth. An increased number of purchasing orders aggravated problems in the accounts payable department, which was using manual matching of purchasing orders, invoices, and what was actually received in the receiving department before bills were paid. The IT department was flooded with requests to generate reports on topics ranging from asset management to general ledgers. It became clear that a better information system was needed. Dollar General started by evaluating information requirements that would be able to solve the various problems that cut into the company s profit. A major factor in deciding which software to buy was the integration requirement among the existing functional information systems, especially the financial applications. This led to the selection of the Financials suite from Lawson Software. THE IT SOLUTION The company started to implement applications one at a time. Before 1998, the company installed the suite s asset management, payroll, and some HR applications (which allow the tens of thousands of employees to monitor and self-update their benefits). After 1998, the accounts payable and general ledger modules of Lawson Software were activated. The accounting modules allow employees to route, extract, and analyze data in the accounting/finance area with little reliance on IT personnel. During 2001 2003, Dollar General added the marketing and operation activities to the integrated system. The original infrastructure was mainframe based (IBM AS 400). In 2001 the system was migrated from the old legacy system to the Unix operating systems, and then to a Web-based infrastructure, mainly in order to add Web-based functionalities and tools. 4
A development tool embedded in Lawson s Financials allowed users to customize applications without touching the computer programming code. For example, an employee-bonus application was not available in Lawson s software but was added to Financial s payroll module to accommodate Dollar General s bonus system. A customized application that allowed additions and changes in dozens of geographical areas also solved the organization s state sales-tax collection and reporting problem. THE RESULTS The system is very scalable, so there is no problem in adding stores, vendors, applications, or functionalities. In 2003, the system was completely converted to Webbased, enabling authorized vendors, for example, to log on the Internet and view the status of their invoices by themselves. The Internet / EDI enables small vendors to use the system. (An EDI is too expensive for small vendors, but the Internet/EDI is affordable.) Also, the employees can update personal data from any Web-enabled desktop in the store or at home. Future plans call adding an e-purchasing (procurement) module using a desktop purchasing model. Source: Compiled from D.M. Amato-McCoy, Dollar General Rings Up Back-Office Efficiencies with Financial Suite, Stores (October 2002). QUESTIONS 1. Explain why the old, nonintegrated functional system created problems for the company. Be specific. 2. The new system cost several million dollars. Why, in your opinion, was it necessary to install it? 3. Another new product of Lawson is Services Automation. Would you recommend it to Dollar General? Why or why not? END OF PART C 5