BTEC national diploma in business 2013-2014 Essay

|Unit Title: Managing Business Information |Unit Code: 26 | |Lecturer: Gaye Snook | | | |Assignment Title: Managing Business Information | |Assignment: 1 | | | |Principle Objectives Assessed: | |1 Understand the importance of information to organisations | |2 Know how organisations use business information | |3 Be able to maintain an information system | |4 Be able to produce information to support decision making in organisations. | | | |Key Skills Competence: | |N3.1,3.2,3.3 | |C3.1a, 3.1b, 3.2, 3.3 | |ICT3.1, 3.2, 3.3 | |Date Set: September 2013 |Date Due: December 2013 | | | |Scenario – You are responsible for the information management with The Box Company a company manufacturing storage boxes. You are asked to | |firstly write a report about the effective management of information. You are also asked to carry out practical tasks for information | |management and to report and present the findings of you information interrogation. | | | |Task 1 | | | |Write a report following an investigation of The Box Company, covering the following points | | | |Describe the characteristics of the information that The Box Company needs | |(this addresses P1) | | | |Characteristics: types of information (qualitative, quantitative, primary, secondary); quality of information (valid, complete, accurate, | |timely, fit-for-purpose, accessible, cost-effective, intelligible) | | | | Explain the sources of information needed in The Box Company | |(this address P2) | | | |Sources: internal (financial, HR, marketing, purchasing, sales, manufacturing, etc); external (government, trade groupings, commercially | |provided, databases, research, competitor information) | | | |Describe how information is used for three different purposes in The Box Company (this addresses P3) | | | |Purposes: record transactions and activities; monitor, control, co-ordinate and plan activities; analysis (patterns, trends); prediction | |(extrapolation, what if?) | |Describe the legal and ethical issues the organisation must consider in using business information | |(this addresses P4) | | | | Data Protection Act 1998, Computer Misuse Act 1990; ethical issues (privacy, access, organisational IT protocols, codes of practice from the | |Information Commissioner’s Office(ICO) and the British Computer Society (BCS) | | | |Explain why business information is important to the success of an organisation, giving several examples of how it is used to help decision | |making | |(this addresses M1) | | | |Decision making (operational, tactical strategic); administration; promote efficiency; develop competitive advantage; increase market share; | | | | | |Write a report to evaluate how a selected organisation could improve the quality of its business information to support decision-making. | |Prepare a presentation of the information and your recommendations. You will be assessed on the appropriateness of the formats chosen. | |Remember to justify your recommendations in your report. | |(this addresses D1) | | | |Tracking fast and slow moving sales will suggest to a retailer how to adjust its product range. Monitoring staff absence will allow | |absenteeism patterns to be identified and absence reduced. Improving the quality of the information will improve the business. | |A senior manager will be likely to understand information presented in a formal report, a junior assistant may be better able to assimilate | |information in a visual format. A poor choice of format hinders communication of the message. | | | | | | | | | | | |Task 2 | | | | You are required to conduct practical exercises on a data management system. You do not need to create this system; your tutor will provide | |this for you. Undertaking the following tasks, format the given data management system into a professionally presented and useful system by | |completing the following tasks | | | |Format Table | |Add grid lines | |Add formatting to headers | |Format cell type (i.e. text/numbers) | | | | Add validation rules to appropriate cells | | | |Add profit column (use formula) | | | |Update Table | |Add new sales for next three months | |Customer 128 has gone out of business, delete this customer | |Add customer 129 – Boxes R Us, 145 Station Road, Maidenhead, Sl4 9UY, 07788 6589652. Anticipated demand from this customer will be 30 of | |product B each month from July | |Change contact for customer 125 to 07799 8745698 | | | |Following the above, in the presence of your tutor who will observe you, interrogate the system to provide analytical data e.g.: | | | |a. Total sales per product | |b. Total profit per product | |c. Total sales per customer | |d. Total profit per customer | |(this addresses P5) | | | | | |Task 3 | | | |Building upon task 2, produce information that can be used to support the following business decision. Scenario – the company is thinking of| |launching a new product, however, due to the capacity of the production line it can only do this if is stops making one of the existing | |products. Use the above analysis in task 2 and the details on the potential new product use to justify your decision proposal. | | | |A ) Produce information in four suitable formats to support decision making This can include the following: using an electronic organiser | |to arrange a meeting to discuss the information, including an agenda of items/issues to discuss; circulating supporting information, as | |attachment to email; producing a report outlining the key findings of your analytical data and producing tables etc to highlight the main | |findings. | |(this addresses P6) This will be supplemented by observations from the tutor. | | | |B) Compare the features of different types of software in producing information to support business activities, e.g. word processing, | |spreadsheets and databases, commenting on the appropriateness of using each for a given purpose. (This addresses M2) | | | |C) Analyse the information from above and explain the significance to the organisation of the information that has been obtained from the | |system. Propose appropriate actions to respond to the given scenario, which must be supported by the information generated. (This addresses | |M3) | |Tutor Signature: GAYE SNOOK | Date: | |Pre-Verified: |Internally Verified: | | | | |Date: |Date: | Assessment and grading criteria In order to pass this unit, the evidence that the learner presents for assessment needs to demonstrate that they can meet all the learning outcomes for the unit. The assessment criteria for a pass grade describe the level of achievement required to pass this unit. Assessment and grading criteria To achieve a pass grade the evid  |P1 describe the characteristics of the |M1 explain how business information is |D1 recommend how a selected organisation | |information needed in a selected |used for different purposes in a selected|could improve the quality of its business| |organisation |organisation |information to support decision making. | |P2 explain the sources of information | | | |needed in a selected organisation | | | |P3 describe how information is used for | M2 compare the features of different | | |different purposes in a selected |types of software used in producing | | |organisation [RL, CT] |information to support business | | | |activities | | |P4 describe the legal issues an |M3 analyse information produced in | | |organisation must consider in using |different formats to support business | | |business  information |decision making. | | |P5 input and manipulate the data entered | | | |into data management software [CT, TW, | | | |SM] | | | |P6 produce information in suitable | | | |formats to support business decision | | | |making. [IE, CT, SM] | | |