Management Information System

EC 4401

Tutorial 1

Section A
Management Decision Problems
1) Snyders of Hanover, which sells more than 78 million bags of pretzels, snack chips, and organic
snack items each year, had its financial department use spreadsheets and manual processes for
much of its data gathering and reporting. Hanover’s financial analyst would spend the entire final
week of every month collecting spreadsheets from the heads of more than 50 departments
worldwide. She would then consolidate and re-enter all the data into another spreadsheet, which
would serve as the company’s monthly profit-and-loss statement. If a department needed to
update its data after submitting the spreadsheet and wait for the department to re-submit its data
before finally submitting the updated data in the consolidated document. Assess the impact of this
situation on business performance and management decision making.
- Human error
- The accuracy of the data is questionable
- Time consuming to compile the report
- Also time consuming to get the data incase of error in data
- Analyzing and decision making may not be accurate due to error

2) Dollar General Corporation: Wants to keep costs as low as possible so it does not use an
automated method for keeping track of inventory at each store. What decisions have to be made
before investing in an information system solution?
- Identify the real problem in current environment (inventory)
- You have the business process of existing inventory system
- Design a new business process
- Identify the users of IS
- Want to decide whether you want to build in house or outsourcing
- Identify the budget and calculate the Interest Rate of Return (IRR) and ROI (return of
investment
- Review income statement
- The cost of building or purchasing IS
- Identify the vendor
- Identify the features of the IS

Section B
Improving Decision Making: Using Databases to Analyze Sales Trends:
Software skills: Database querying and reporting
Business Skills: Sales Trend Analysis
Data File : laudon_ch01_questionfile.mdb
Collect the information for the following queries :

a) Best performing region by total sales

Sum of Total
Row Labels Sales
East 529124.8
North 233832.75
South 234595.05
Grand Total 997552.6

b) Best performing stores by total Sales

Store NO Total Sales

1 90281.1
2 54262.7
3 90051.25
4 75498.75
5 158334
6 267648.9
7 170040.85
8 91435.05
Grand Total 997552.6

c) Best Selling Products by units sold

Product Total Units Sold
101
Keyboard 917
17" Monitor 609
Desktop CPU 981
PC Mouse 670
Grand Total 3177

d) Best Selling products by weekly sales

 Row Labels Sum of Total Sales
101 Keyboard 18,294.15
27-Oct 5,645.85
24-Nov 6,064.80
29-Dec 6,583.50
17" Monitor 139,461.00
27-Oct 44,655.00
24-Nov 57,479.00
29-Dec 37,327.00
Desktop CPU 833,800.95
27-Oct 265,184.40
24-Nov 277,083.70
29-Dec 291,532.85
PC Mouse 5,996.50
27-Oct 2,237.50
24-Nov 1,333.55
29-Dec 2,425.45
Grand Total 997,552.60

e) Strongest sales region by product quantity

Row Labels Sum of Total Sales Sum of Units Sold
101 Keyboard 18,294.15 917.00
East 7,680.75 385.00
North 6,164.55 309.00
South 4,448.85 223.00
17" Monitor 139,461.00 609.00
East 75,112.00 328.00
North 26,793.00 117.00
South 37,556.00 164.00
Desktop CPU 833,800.95 981.00
East 443,673.90 522.00
North 198,888.30 234.00
South 191,238.75 225.00
PC Mouse 5,996.50 670.00
East 2,658.15 297.00
North 1,986.90 222.00
South 1,351.45 151.00
Grand Total 997,552.60 3,177.00

f) Strongest sales region by products sales

 Row Labels Sum of Total Sales Sum of Units Sold
101 Keyboard 18,294.15 917.00
East 7,680.75 385.00
North 6,164.55 309.00
South 4,448.85 223.00
17" Monitor 139,461.00 609.00
East 75,112.00 328.00
North 26,793.00 117.00
South 37,556.00 164.00
Desktop CPU 833,800.95 981.00
East 443,673.90 522.00
North 198,888.30 234.00
South 191,238.75 225.00
PC Mouse 5,996.50 670.00
East 2,658.15 297.00
North 1,986.90 222.00
South 1,351.45 151.00
Grand Total 997,552.60 3,177.00
g) Strongest selling periods by product
Sum of Units Sold Month
Product Oct Nov Dec Grand Total
101 Keyboard 283.00 304.00 330.00 917.00
17" Monitor 195.00 251.00 163.00 609.00
Desktop CPU 312.00 326.00 343.00 981.00
PC Mouse 250.00 149.00 271.00 670.00
Grand Total 1,040.00 1,030.00 1,107.00 3,177.00

h) Strongest selling periods by sales region

 Sum of Units Sold Month
Product Oct Nov Dec Grand Total
101 Keyboard 283 304 330 917
East 123 123 139 385
North 92 106 111 309
South 68 75 80 223
17" Monitor 195 251 163 609
East 76 138 114 328
North 45 45 27 117
South 74 68 22 164
Desktop CPU 312 326 343 981
East 165 173 184 522
North 76 81 77 234
South 71 72 82 225
PC Mouse 250 149 271 670
East 94 97 106 297
North 94 35 93 222
South 62 17 72 151
Grand Total 1,040 1,030 1,107 3,177.00

i) Strongest selling periods by store

 Sum of Units Sold Month
Product Oct Nov Dec Grand Total
101 Keyboard 283 304 330 917
1 30 35 39 104
2 8 8 8 24
3 30 32 33 95
4 12 24 36 72
5 80 82 75 237
6 52 58 69 179
7 49 47 48 144
8 22 18 22 62
17" Monitor 195 251 163 609
1 28 30 9 67
2 8 8 10 26
3 38 30 3 71
4 18 20 4 42
5 27 25 23 75
6 24 85 56 165
7 34 36 35 105
8 18 17 23 58
Desktop CPU 312 326 343 981
1 25 27 33 85
2 18 18 20 56
3 28 27 29 84
4 21 24 30 75
5 55 57 47 159
6 78 88 99 265
7 55 57 55 167
8 32 28 30 90
PC Mouse 250 149 271 670
1 28 3 38 69
2 9 9 8 26
3 25 5 26 56
4 29 11 38 78
5 65 24 55 144
6 35 39 44 118
7 45 42 45 132
8 14 16 17 47
Grand Total 1,040.00 1,030.00 1,107.00 3,177.00

j) Strongest stores by product quantity

 Product Sum of Units Sold
101 Keyboard 917
1 104
2 24
3 95
4 72
5 237
6 179
7 144
8 62
17" Monitor 609
1 67
2 26
3 71
4 42
5 75
6 165
7 105
8 58
Desktop CPU 981
1 85
2 56
3 84
4 75
5 159
6 265
7 167
8 90
PC Mouse 670
1 69
2 26
3 56
4 78
5 144
6 118
7 132
8 47
Grand Total 3,177.00

k) Strongest stores by product sales

 Product Sum of Total Sales
1 90,281.10
2 54,262.70
3 90,051.25
4 75,498.75
5 158,334.00
6 267,648.90
7 170,040.85
8 91,435.05
Grand Total 997,552.60

1) Which products should be restocked?

2) Which stores and sales regions would benefit from a promotional campaign and additional
marketing?

3) When (what time of year) products should be offered at full price, and when should discounts be
used?

Section C
Achieving Operational Excellence: Using Internet Tools to Budget for Shipping
Costs
Software skills: Internet-based software
Business Skills: Shipping cost budgeting

1. Compare three shippers, such as Federal Express (www.fedex.com), UPS (www.ups.com), and
the U.S. Postal Service (www.usps.gov). Consider not only costs but also such issues as delivery
speed, pickup schedules, drop-off locations, tracking ability, and ease of use of the Web site.
Which service did you select? Explain why.

2. By using suitable job search engine, research for the careers that require information skills.