BAC 2083: Accounting Information System 2

School of Management and Business

BAC 2083: Accounting Information System 2

Group Assignment

Assignment 2

Submitted by,

Group 1

Name ID Number Programme

Meenasumani Paramasivam 1207193004 Bachelor of Accounting
Rubaa Siva Kumar 1207193002 Bachelor of Accounting
Darshini Mariappan 1207192011 Bachelor of Accounting
Siva Santhan Mohan 1207211014 Bachelor of Accounting

Submitted on,

11th January 2022

Submitted to,

Ms. Zarith Nurzafirah

Lecturer,

Manipal International University

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BAC 2083: Accounting Information System 2

Table of Content

No. Details Page

A. Case Study 3

B. Introduction 4

C. Content and Analysis 4 - 12

D. Conclusion 12 – 13

E. Reference 13

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BAC 2083: Accounting Information System 2

A. Case Study
Upin Ipin Bhd. is a medium size tool manufacturing company located in the south of Malaysia.
The company produces a variety of hand tools and distributes them under several brand names
to retail outlets. Upin Ipin’s online production support system was developed in-house and was
implemented two months ago. The system runs 24 hours a day in Upin Ipin’s three
manufacturing facilities.

Background
Last Wednesday morning, the production support system developed a problem. When a
report for certain parts was requested to be displayed on the screen, the displayed values were
garbled. When she was alerted to the situation, Yin Yin, Upin Ipin’s IT manager, immediately
assigned a systems analyst to investigate the problem. Yin instructed the analyst, Eric Wu, to
resolve the problem and get the system up and running as soon as possible. Eric previously
worked on two small maintenance projects for the production control system, so he was
somewhat familiar with the application.
Eric worked all day on the problem, and by 6:30 p.m., he developed and implemented a
fix. After verifying that the production support system was capable of producing correct part
displays, Eric went home. Early the following morning, Yin called Eric and two other members
of the applications maintenance group to a meeting in her office, where she briefed them on a
new adaptive maintenance project for another high-priority system. She asked them to begin
work on the new project immediately.
Several nights later, the production control system crashed shortly after midnight. Every
time the system was reactivated, it crashed again. Finally, around 2:30 a.m., all production lines
were shut down and third-shift production workers were sent home. The production support
system finally was corrected and full production was restored the following day, but by that
time, Upin Ipin had incurred thousands of dollars in lost production costs. The cause of the
production support system crash was identified as a side effect of the fix that Eric made to the
system.

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B. Introduction
Upin Ipin Bhd. is a medium-sized tool manufacturing firm in Malaysia's. The company
manufactures a variety of hand tools and sells them to retailers under a variety of brand names.
The online production support system at Upin Ipin was built in-house and launched two
months ago. The system is operational 24 hours a day. The techniques and disciplines of
supporting IT systems/applications that are currently in use by end users are covered by the
production support system. A production system is a collection of people, equipment, and
procedures that are structured to carry out a company's manufacturing operations. There are
two types of categories: • Manufacturing support systems – the set of procedures used by a
company to manage production and solve technical and logistics problems in ordering
materials, moving work through the factory, and ensuring that products meet quality
standards, as well as the way the facility is organized (plant layout). The activity of
monitoring and managing any given production or operation is known as production control.
A dedicated control room or operations room is frequently used for production control.
Production control, along with inventory and quality control, is one of the most important
aspects of operations management. Based on situation gives as it was mention Upin Ipin IT
manager Yin Yin she has assigned Eric Wu system analysis to resolve the problem that Yin
Yin encounter. Unfortunately, when Yin Yin thought those problem will resolve but it didn’t
because she still uncounted more problems after the help of Eric. Not only that, Upin Ipin had
incurred thousands of dollars in lost production costs because of the side effect made by Eric
to the system. In short, we will further discuss on how to overcome the circumstances made
by Eric Wu.

C. Content and Analysis

Tasks
1) Is the second production support system failure entirely unexpected?
Answer:
Production support system refers to the procedures and disciplines for maintaining and
supporting IT systems and applications that are currently in use by end users. A production
support person or team is in charge of monitoring production servers, scheduled jobs, incident
management, and receiving incidents and requests from end-users, assessing them, and either
replying to the end user with a solution or escalating the issue to other IT teams. Developers,
system engineers, and database administrators may be part of these groups.

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In this case, the second production support system failure might have been predicted.
Changing a complex system is not an easy task. For that reason, an ideal maintenance
procedure includes a logical progression of investigation, analysis, design, development, and
testing performed prior to implementing a change. Unfortunately, a "firefighting" approach
is sometimes required to temporarily solve a problem without thorough analysis. In software
development, firefighting refers to the emergency allocation of resources required to deal
with an unexpected problem. A firefighting solution should be followed by the careful
investigation, analysis, and documentation required to develop a permanent solution. In this
case, however, the firefighting fix was left in place, and the rest of the maintenance procedure
was skipped. It is not surprising that an unplanned change to a complex information system
would have an unintended side effect.

2) Who is most to blame for the second system failure?

Answer:
Eric is most to blame for the second system failure, particularly because he failed to warn Yin
Yin about the potential dangers of not completing the analysis and testing process. Eric should
not be faulted for not coming up with a perfect solution. He did get the system back up and
running, and expecting his work to be a permanent solution without the benefit of serious
investigation, analysis, design, and testing. Thus, Eric, who lacked detailed investigation,
analysis, design, and testing, caused the production support system to crash.

3) What might Yin have done differently to avoid the situation? What might Eric have
done differently?
Answer:
Yin should have done as per below to avoid such situation from happening: -

• Yin should have positively delegated the task. Do not just throw work at employees and
expect them to deliver when they are not qualified for the job. Maintain an attitude of
questioning every assignment that are given and checking the personnel roster to
determine who else is capable of doing the work as effectively as you are.
• Consider what Yin want to accomplish. Then, rather than simply delegating
responsibilities to whoever is available, allocate that duty to the most competent person
so that Yin can achieve outcomes.

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• Yin should have selected the appropriate individual. Consider who has the most
expertise and skills, as well as who needs to learn how to be more responsible. Take
into account the aspect of time as well as the desire to have such a chance.
• Yin should have obtained feedback from Eric. If necessary, call a meeting. Inquire with
the team about what may be changed, who could be involved, and how results should
be defined. Interact with the sub-teams' specific managers if you oversee a large team
or corporation.
• Yin should have made a deadline. Assign responsibilities and schedule a meeting to
hear progress updates. This is especially true for larger projects that can take weeks,
months, or even years to finish.
• Provide instruction and monitoring. Do the employees require more training before they
are given those responsibilities? Should they be tightly supervised, or can you leave
them to their own devices for the most part? Also, remember to allow individuals space
and time to think and act independently.
• Assign roles and responsibilities. Who else can give a specific amount of power to
besides Yin herself? What kind of and how much electricity do they require?
• Yin should keep track of Eric progress. Maintain command of the issue or project while
paying close attention to the most critical details. Managers must be held accountable,
regardless of how successful or disastrous a project is.
• Yin should provide feedback on the work that have been completed by Eric. It is a two-
way street, so providing both good and negative comments, as well as coaching for the
latter, would be really appreciated and treasured. Never leave anyone behind, and
schedule regular checks and progress updates.
• After the project is completed, evaluate the results. Yin should ask herself on how she,
as a manager, can better assist her team members in achieving their goals. Give
constructive criticism and accept it in return.

Eric should have done as per below when carrying out the task given: -

• Eric should have analytical skills. Computer systems analysts can understand
complicated information from a variety of sources using analytical abilities. This can
assist them in determining the best method to proceed with a project and determining
how modifications may affect the project.

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• Communication skill is also important when carrying out the task. Computer systems
analysts require this skill set in order to successfully interact with the numerous
businesses and clients for which they work, as a result, they act as a liaison between IT
and management. This will enable them to communicate complicated concerns in a
straightforward manner.
• Eric should understand the task given to him. Computer systems analysts must be able
to recognize issues and evaluate potential solutions. They must be able to detect the
system's influence on employees and comprehend any issues that may arise. They must
also be aware of how IT processes and computer components such as networks,
software, and hardware work together to achieve business goals.
• Computer systems analysts must gain the abilities necessary to teach other people how
to use computers. They should be able to market their ideas in order to encourage the
development of new computer-assisted problem-solving techniques.
• Systems analysts must be able to recognize complicated issues and investigate relevant
data in order to implement solutions. They must coordinate team activities, manage
expenses and accounts, overcome setbacks, and remedy errors that might lead to failure.
• In both current and future employment situations, systems analysts must comprehend
the implications of new information needed for addressing issues and making choices.
• Eric should be able to complete the work with the help of systems evaluation. Systems
analysts with this talent may identify measurements or indications of system
performance, as well as the activities required to improve performance. This must be in
relation to the system's objectives.
• Active listening is a skill that may be learned. When paying complete attention to what
others are saying, computer systems analysts should carefully select up points
expressed by others. This will enable them to ask inquiries at the proper moment
without being interrupted.
• Eric should have a good skill in critical thinking which is the ability to think critically.
Systems analysts with this talent may utilize logic and reasoning to discover potential
solutions to issues. They can use their critical thinking skills to swiftly figure out the
best approach to complicated problems.
• Systems analysts must be competent to assess computer systems' capabilities and devise
strategies for increasing IT efficiency. They should figure out how a system works and
how conditions, activities, and the environment impact the results.

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• Computer systems analysts can detect minor errors in code by paying close attention to
the details and taking action to correct them. The act of describing aids in the formation
of sound judgments.
4) Describe the process for controlling maintenance requests, should all request have been
handled in same ways. Discuss
Answer:

Figure 1
Figure 1 depicted a flowchart for controlling maintenance requests. According to the chart
above, we must first determine the type of request. If, for example, the request is an error that
is, a corrective maintenance request then the flowchart shows that a question must be asked
related to the error's severity. If the error is “very” severe, then the request has top priority
and is placed at the top of a queue of tasks waiting to be performed on the system. If, however,
the error is considered not very severe, then the change request can be categorized and
prioritized based upon its type and relative importance. If the request does not involve an
error, we must determine whether the request is to adapt the system to technological changes
or business requirements, or to enhance the system so that it will provide new business
functionality. Adaptation requests must also be evaluated, categorized, prioritized, and
queued. Enhancement requests must first be evaluated to see if they are aligned with future
business and information systems plans. If not, the request will be rejected, and the requester

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will be informed. If the enhancement appears to be aligned with business and information
system plans, it is prioritized and placed to the queue of future tasks.

The method for reviewing maintenance requests strongly suggests that not all requests should
not be handled in the same way. The process also suggests what should be done with different
types of requests. In the event of a catastrophic system failure, time may be of the essence,
and a formal review of a request will take too long. In such a situation, the formal evaluation
process is avoided.

5) Outline a new set of maintenance procedures that will help Upin Ipin avoid such
problems in the future.
Answer:
Upin Ipin can follow the new set of maintenance as below to avoid such problems in the
future: -
• Lists of tools, parts, supplies, and experts should all be included.
A precise inventory of all the components, tools, and supplies required for each activity
should be included in the set of maintenance. It should be highly detailed, down to the quantity
and grade of nuts used, so that no one can blame someone else if something goes wrong.
Make sure to specify whether anyone else has to be present except the person conducting the
work. Is there a firm, consultant, manufacturing representative, or other employee that needs
to be a part of the project?
• Routine Tasks Should Be Included
The collection of maintenance instructions should include instructions on how to do all of the
most common maintenance jobs in your facility. Some of these responsibilities might include:
✓ Lubrication of bearings
✓ Lubrication of the gearbox
✓ tensioning of the drive belt
✓ Installation of bearings and alignments
✓ Replacement of the drive chain
✓ Construction and repair of hydraulic hoses
To come up with a standard manner to execute duties, consult the most experienced members
of the maintenance staff. Set of maintenance should go into enough depth that someone who

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has never done these activities before might complete them without needing any additional
instructions.
• Include any safety concerns
One of the most important aspects of any maintenance programme should be safety concerns.
When determining the safest manner to complete a task, it is critical to be adequately prepared
and completely knowledgeable of the task at hand. Include the following items:
To accomplish the task, you will need the following personal protective equipment:
- While on the work, be aware of any safety and environmental concerns.
- A step-by-step guide to completing the job or task.
- An entire list of tools and supplies required to perform the task.
To safeguard against personal harm, use the term "Warning," and to protect against equipment
harm, use the word "Caution." Correct use of those words can alert the technician to specific
safety risks while also preventing confusion.
• Maintain Consistency
A standard maintenance procedure must be well and detailed enough that it can be completed
successfully by qualified personnel who have never performed the task before. Consistent
new maintenance procedures limit procedure variability and, as a result, can help prevent
procedures from being conducted improperly. Here are a few things that should be maintain:
- Do not modify the names of the equipment from one step to the next.
- If feasible, start each step with a verb.
- Allow the job performer to enter numerical quantities.

• Visuals should be included

Visuals are an important component of an efficient set of maintenance, especially for larger
operations. Pictures, drawings, diagrams, and graphics are fantastic tools for explaining the
processes required for a specific set of maintenance. Maintenance duties are frequently
complicated and difficult to visualize. Images can help your plant save thousands of dollars
by speeding up tasks.

• On-the-job training for the employees

Everyone must go through training and complete work while being inspected by a supervisor
in order to ensure that maintenance technicians are completing activities in accordance with

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the set of maintenance procedures. These trainings and testing must be conducted on a regular
basis to guarantee that all maintenance personnel are performing their duties appropriately.

• Continue to improve the set of maintenance procedures.

The employees will never stop looking for better ways to do things. Make sure the person in
charge are keeping track of new ideas and upgrades, and that maintenance checklist is up to
date. If the person in charge do not do this, the maintenance set will become obsolete and no
longer be useful.

Having a set of maintenance tools will provide the maintenance crew with the tools they
require, making it much easier to rapidly and affordably onboard new maintenance
employees. There will be clear direction on assignments with standard procedure in place,
and rookie staff will not have to consult more experienced personnel as frequently.

6) As a system analyst, what Eric can do to facilitate future maintenance.

Answer:
A systems analyst, also known as a system developer, is a professional in information
technology (IT) who specialises in analysing, designing, and implementing information
systems. System analysts are responsible for researching problems, solving them,
recommending courses of action, and coordinating with stakeholders in order to meet
specified requirements. They evaluate a company's current system, procedures, and business
processes and develop action plans based on the requirements. Systems analysts can also act as
change agents, who identify the organizational improvements needed, design systems to
implement those changes, and train and motivate others to use the systems.

Eric, as a system analyst, should adhere to the following points in order to facilitate future
maintenance.

First and foremost, provide proper documentation. In general, a programmer does not
provide documentation because they believe that no one will need to read the code. Eric can
ensure that each module of code contains proper internal documentation, such as comments
with the external documentation from which the information system was built. Changes to
the system that occur during the development phase should be reflected in the external

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documentation. Certainly, Eric can ensure that the records are available to the maintenance
team. Thus, proper documentation can make future maintenance easier, assist new users learn
quickly, keep track of all parts of a system, and significantly alleviate maintenance cost.

Second, the types of maintenance strategies must be understood. In general, there are
six main maintenance strategies: reactive (run-to-failure), predetermined maintenance,
preventive maintenance, corrective maintenance, condition-based maintenance, and
predictive maintenance. Different types of maintenance are performed for various reasons
and in various ways. Therefore, Eric should perform preventive maintenance on the
production support system to aid in the detection and correction of potential problems that
could lead to system failure in the future. Furthermore, preventive maintenance will reduce
downtime and business closures due to unanticipated future system failures.

Lastly, the factors that influence the system's maintainability must be identified and
addressed, and the effectiveness of maintenance must be measured. To assess effectiveness,
Eric must measure the number of failures, the time between each failure, and the type of
failure in the future. Measuring the number and time between failures will provide him with
the basis for calculating a widely used measure of system quality. This metric is known as the
mean time between failures (MTBF). The MTBF measure, as the name implies, shows the
average amount of time between the detection of one system failure and the detection of the
next. After a few months of use (and corrective maintenance), he should expect the MTBF
value to rapidly increase. If the MTBF does not rapidly increase over time, it will be a warning
sign to management that there are major issues within the system that are not being adequately
addressed through the maintenance process.

D. Conclusion
Our suggestions are Eric could have warned Yin Yin earlier about potential dangers might
occur in future to avoid circumstances. Following suggestion, firefighting solution, the
investigation, analysis, and documentation required to build a permanent solution should be
conducted. The firefighting repair, on the other hand, was left in place in this circumstance,
and the rest of the maintenance procedure was skipped. In addition, maybe Yin Yin could
have chosen a system analyst who has expertise skills and who can overcome any
maintenance problem at any stipulated time. Next, maybe Eric also could have been more

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responsible into his job by not giving Yin Yin more problems because she trusted his
profession and assigned him to investigate the problem. In short, these are the suggestions
should be taken care by Yin Yin and Eric to avoid any problems occur.

E. References
Bizmanualz. (2017). Retrieved April 6, 2017, from https://www.bizmanualz.com/save-time-
writingprocedures/what-are-policies-and-procedures-sop.html
Plant Maintenance. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2017, from http://www.plant-
maintenance.com/articles/5S.pdf
Program Documentation - Tutorials point. (2020). Tutorialspoint.com. Retrieved from
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/programming_methodologies/programming_methodologies
_program_documentation.htm
Quality System Enhancement. (2017). Retrieved April 10, 2017, from QSE:
http://www.enhancequality.com/auditing/layered-process-audits/
Siikanen, J. (2017, April 27). Tulosten julkaisu. (P. E. Perälä, Interviewer) Vääksy.
Sittsamer, M. J. (2005). The Luminous Group LLC. Retrieved April 10, 2017, from
http://www.lpaadmin.com/Articles/Layered%20Process%20Audits%20Part1.pdf
SOP. (n.d.). Standard-operating-procedure. Retrieved March 15, 2017, from http://www.sop-
standard-operatingprocedure.com/
Vorne Industries Inc. (2002-2016). Retrieved May 4, 2017, from http://www.oee.com/oee-
six-big-losses.html

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