Using Information and Reports (P6, D2)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Go5XyQzJkuNW1wQklaMDdCSTQ/edit?usp=sharing

Features of a Business (P4, P5)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Go5XyQzJkuMWJvX3dKQmFpYU0/edit?usp=sharing

(P7, M3)

Nomis Screenshots:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Go5XyQzJkuakdGZ3RuX2RQN2M/edit?usp=sharing
Final Report:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Go5XyQzJkuRDluLUNObEZZN2M/edit?usp=sharing
Data Findings:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Go5XyQzJkuQV95Rm93Nkt6dEk/edit?usp=sharing
Spread sheet:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Go5XyQzJkueld4X1hTcTRxV28/edit?usp=sharing

How IT is used to Produce Management Information
PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Go5XyQzJkuUm9icjRjcUxubGs/edit?usp=sharingwe

P3

Legal issues

Data Protection Act:

The data protection act is the law that controls someone's personal data. It ensures that that personal data collected is done so in a fair and lawful manner, this means it has to be obtained with consent and without breaking the law. It also ensures that the data can only be used for the purpose that was specified when collecting the data and that it is only kept for as long as it is needed. The data must also be accurate and kept in a secure environment.


Principle One:
Personal data should be obtained and processed fairly and lawfully
This principle enforces the fact that the data subject must be aware the of the data being recorded and must give their permission. this principle also states that the data subject must be aware of what the data is being used for.

Principle Two:
Personal data can be held only for specified and lawful purposes
this principle expands on the later part of the previous principle. This principle ensures that the data subject is fully aware of what the data will be used for. It also states that the data subject must be notified for consent if the data will be used for any other reason on a later date.

Principle Three:
Personal data should be adequate, relevant and not excessive for the required purpose 
This principle ensures that all data collected is adequate and relevant to the subject. It also states that the data must not be excessive.

Principle Four:
Personal data should be accurate and kept-up-to-date
This principle ensures that any data that could be considered as personal data stored must be accurate and up to date. This principle also states that a data controllers must change the data if requested by that data subject.

Principle Five:
Personal data should not be kept for longer than necessary
This principal ensures that data must not be kept for longer than needed. It also ensures that data is discarded securely and the data subject is notified

Principle Six:
Data must be processed in accordance with the rights of the data subject.
This principle ensures that the data subject still has rights over the data associated with them. An example of this would be the data subject has the right to request their data.

Principle Seven:
Appropriate security measures must be taken against unauthorised access
This Principle states that the data controller must protect the any data from unauthorised access, the data controller must also ensure that the data is coved accidental destruction, accidental loss and unlawful use.

Principle Eight:
Personal information must not be transferred to other country's without adequate protection
This printable states that any data being transferred to different country's must be adequately protected due to potentially differing data laws.

Computer Misuse Act:

The computer misuse act is a law that prevents unauthorised access to a computer system, the law can be separated into 3 sections to make the following act illegal:     

• Unauthorised access to computer material
• Unauthorised access to computer systems with intent to commit another offense
• Unauthorised modification of computer material

The first section prevents anyone to use someone else's identification to access a computer, run a program, or obtain any data.

The second prevents someone from accessing a computer system with out authority to commit a another offense. an example of this would be to access another persons computer to send a virus to their contacts 

The last section prevents anyone from using a computer without authority to delete, change, or corrupt data.

Freedom of Information Act:

The Freedom of Information Act allows any member of the public to ask for any information any public sector company has on any subject. this means that a member of the public can ask for any notes made about them during a situation such as an interview, this could lead to court cases if the information is found to be offensive and unprofessional. 

You can also request to revive information from organisations such as the police or the council, although you must make a request, this can be done verbally, via email or even on social media.

Ethical Issues

E-mails:

Using E-mails in an aggressive or inappropriate manor is not allowed within an company's code of practice and will often result in a disciplinary or even being fired.

In my small business I would have a policy of each case would be dealt separately and would at least result in a disciplinary. I would also set a cap of the amount of personal emails that can be sent, this is prevent any employees from being unproductive.

Internet: 

Internet usage in businesses in generally tracked to ensure employees are not accessing inappropriate websites within the workplace. Businesses will also use software to filter out and prevent access of pornographic or gambling websites in the workplace. If a member of staff is caught consistently wasting time accessing inappropriate sites it could result in a disciplinary or even being fired.

In my small business I would allow the staff some access to the internet but I would ensure it was not over used or abused by using software to create a report of their history, I would then review this report and take any necessary action.

Whistle Blowing:

Whistle blowing is when a member of staff reports the misuse of a computer system. the policies a company has on whistle lowing will generally protect the whistle blower. Whistle blowing can often cause a tension in the work place and could lead to a reduction of productivity from staff. In my small business i would only encourage whistle blowing in server cases of computer misuse, because I believe whistle blowing in minor cases will cause more problems than good and will lead to tension in the work place and a reduction productivity of the staff.

Operational 

Security of Information

Keeping an employees personal information safe is an important policy in a business. this is an area often controlled by the IT department.this because it is a computer system is a sensible platform to keep sensitive information due to its high level of security. It also allows the information to be updated easily and for a record of who has changed the information and when. In my small business game i would use a piece of software such as Microsoft excel to keep the information and since i may not have an IT department i would handle the maintenance and security of the information myself.

Back ups

Back ups are a vital process for any business that aims to succeed in the futer. If a business doesn't backup their computer systems information to somewhere such as an off campus server, they run the risk of potentially losing all of their information and data due to a fault in the computer or even a building fire. A business could do a backup of vital information every week and a complete system update once a month to ensure they never lose any vital data. In my small business game i would back up all of data on to a portable hard drive due to its cost efficiency, I would also only backup vital information such as stock counts and important reports such as income and expenditure reports.

Health and Safety 

Heath and safety is a top priority in a business and although not many risks are associated with working computers precautions should be made to ensure no member of staff sustains an injury. Simple precautions such having the computer monitor correctly positioned and an office chair with an adjustable back. Staff dealing with a computer for 3 hours continuously must have a minimum of a 30 minute break to ensure no damage is done to the eyes. Health and safety is important in my small business game due to the amount of member of the public enter the shop daily, and if something was to injury them while the shop they would be due compensation from earthier the owner or the company itself.

Business contingency plan

A BCP is an important factor for any business and a lot of thought should be put into it. A BCP is a plan that is put in place to ensure that in the worst case scenario there is plan. An example of this scenario could be is all of the computer systems data is lost, and a a good BCP would to have a offsite back of the data, so that it is not lost. In my small business game BCP would be my portable drive with all of the staffs personal information and the businesses reports.

Costs

the costs of installing a brand new IT system can be huge, especially for a smaller business. for this reason it is vital that the business make an assessment on whether or not it would be cost effective. they must take into consideration factors such maintenance and the cost of training an employee to use the system. Is this assessment is not done correctly it could cause the business the go bankrupt or leave the computer system useless and a complete drain on cash flow. In relation to my business game if i decide to hire a company to build and host a website  for me i must ensure that i have a customer demand high enough to ensure i will still be making profit.

Impact of Increasing Sophistication of Systems

As technology advances in capability and complexity, so does the cost of maintaining the systems. This means if a company buys a new sophisticate piece of technology they will also have to pay a high price to keep it working due the training needed to use such equipment, this as a result can cause unexpected expenditure from a company's books. In terms of the small business game you can buy more sophisticated computer systems that will collect more data for you to analyse, but this equipment does come at a large cost.

Good Information (P2)

Characteristics of Good Information: 

Valid

For information to be good it must first be valid, if this is not the case the information will be rendered useless die to the fact it is incorrect. If incorrect information is used it could cause a chain reaction of bad decisions made by the company, in many ways information that is not valid can be worse than no information at all.  

Reliable

For information to be good it must be reliable. If information is not reliable it may have similar consequences as information that is not invalid, such as people may make an incorrect decision based on the unreliable information. Unreliable information could also cause an business to lose a large amount of money in the sort and long term.

Timely: 

Information must be timely due to that fact that it may only be relevant for a brief period of time before it become invalid information. Once the information has become invalid it is rendered useless and has therefor been a waste of time and money for the business.

Fit-for-purpose 

Information being fit for purpose is vital. If information is not fit for purpose it is completely useless. An example of information not being fit for purpose would be if a customer satisfaction questionnaire was taken, and only one questionnaire was completed. This wouldn't be fit for purpose because the amount of data collect isn't large enough.

Accessible

Good information must be easily accessible, if the information is not accessible to the people who require the information, it is completely useless and will have no positive effect. This is way it is crucial for the information to be accessible.

Cost effective

Information must be cost effective for a business, if this is not the case it is a complete waste of time and resource of the business. For the information to be cost effective it must be relevant for the objective the business is attempting to achieve. One the information is collected it must also be used in the correct way to be cost effective. 

Sufficiently Accurate:

Good information must be accurate, although this can be difficulty due to the subjective nature of some data collected. but if data is not accurate it can result in the business making poor decisions and causing a loss in profit.

Relevant:

Good information must be relevant, if the information is not relevant is is useless and will have no positive impact on the business at all. it will also be a complete drain on the business resources

Correct Level of Detail:

Good information must have the correct level of detail, this means the information be comprehensive enough too be useful but not so much that the important information is hard to locate.

Trustworthy Source:

Good information must come from a trust worthy source for in to be reliable and valid. This is particularly important in high tech areas such as aerodynamics.

Understandable:

If the information is not understandable due to something such as a language barrier, it causes the information to be useless and therefor and complete waste of time and resources.

If information doesn't contain all of the mentioned characteristics it generally considered useless for a businesses point of view, due to the negative impact it will more than likely cause. It is vital for a business to obtain good information from customers to improve their service and in turn their profit margin, and without this goal to constantly improve the quality of service and products, the business could lose money from rivals with this goal.

An example of good information would be a survey conducted on the customers of the store asking them if they enjoyed their product. to ensure this was good information the conductor of the survey would need to ensure that the information is all of the characteristics above. If the conductor of the survey is asking customers about the wrong product and form a different store the information would be useless.

Using Information (P1)

How a Business Uses Information:

Most modern businesses now use some form of technology to help form and use information to increase aspects such as profit margin and customer satisfaction. An example of a piece of this hardware would be a point of sale system, this system allows a business to calculate how much of an individual product has been sold with out keeping a physical record and without the need to pay a member of staff. this method also allows the information to be securely stored on a cloud sever meaning the information is safe and can be accessed easily at anytime. The fact that the information is digital also allows for it ti easily be manipulated and edited.

A business could use the information it collects using a systems that tracks when sales are made over the course of a year, the business could then analyse that data and make a report telling them when specific items are in high demand. with this information they could make a decision on whether it is appropriate to order and higher or lower quantity of a specific item in a particular month.

Another way the business could use this sales information is analyse the data and decide if it would be a good decision to make promotions for certain products that could be struggling to sell over the year. By making a promotion it would help prevent the business from losing profit from products that have reached and expiry data and must be thrown away

The Small Business Game Report (P1, M1, D1)

I have been playing a small business game that allows me to control all aspects of a small business such as finance, marketing and sales.
During the first in game week of my business I decided to work on my marketing and stock. I also took out a my personal saving to help get the business running. In this week I decided to use the marketing technique of prompting and individual business.
I then came to the conclusion that this would be a good way of making a large amount of profit quickly.

I the second week I stocked heavily in training tracksuits (because it had the largest profit margin) and hired several members of staff to help sell the product.
I found this technique work extremely well and the fact that I had a suitable amount of staff working allowed me to delegate tasks and lower my hours to 28 hours a week.

In the third week I decide that it would be a good idea expand the range of products I was selling and to also individually promote two of my new products on top of training tracksuits to maximise profitability. In this week I also gave my staff some basic training to improve my customers service.

I found in the next week my profit was considerably larger than before and that I would now need to spend more of my cash flow on new stock to meet customer demand. I also decided to improve my stall moral by giving them a reward such as buying them pizza. I promoted my business and raised my social bar by sponsoring a local football team.

I felt the next step for my business was to expand the availability for consumers, so I decided to make a website for only shopping. This would improve my sales without having to spend money on wages for new members of staff. I also decided to supply my members of staff with an improved working environment by providing the with air con and a new refrigerator.

Types of Information used in my Business:
Whilst managing my business i found that i mainly used quantitative information, this is mainly due to that fact that in the very nature of a store you deal with a lot of numbers such as stock, prices and sales.
I found the quantitative data that i collected to be extremely beneficial to my business.

(Quantitative, Primary)
I found that the point of sale data was extremely useful for find out what customers had bought that week, this then allowed me to make an assessment on how successful any advertising campaigns i launched went. This data also allowed me to forecast the quantity of a product i would sell, and this data allowed me to increase or decrease the amount of stock i was buying each week in accordance to my forecasts. This means that the data that it was collecting was having the direct result of saving me money on stock and therefore made it cost effective.

(Qualitative, Secondary)
I used some a qualitative information through out the duration of the game, although it was mainly just the feedback bubble that appeared above the head of some of the customers each week. For the first few weeks i found that the feedback the customers gave me was negative, so i took the necessary actions to change this, such as giving my staff training and increasing the number of staff i had working, to improve the customers experience. A few weeks after making these improvements i noticed that the feedback i revived had improved and that the action i had taken had been successful.

Operational:
I had to deal with a range of operational issues during the course of the game, the most notable with the staffs motivation levels. I found that the lack of staff motivation was causing problems such as poor customer satisfaction, i felt that this issue gad to be resolved asap, so the action i decide to take was to improve the staff room to allow an improved working environment for the staff. This did help the situation, although i was not completely happy with the result, so i decide to start rewarding the staff members with meals, and various other social activity's. After this second action i was happy with the level of staff motivation i had achieved.

Tactical:
Although my business did not have any direct rivals to compete against i was able to make tactical decisions such as buying an increased amount of stock when a big league game was approaching, this decision in turn increased the profitability of my business.
If my business had a direct rival i could have made decisions such as the price of my products to increase the among of customers i revived, or even opening for longer hours.

Sources of my information

(Internal)
Throughout the duration of the game i revived information from many different areas and departments. One of the most important areas i revived information from was the sales department. the sales department provided me with vital information on how well products were selling. This information was crucial throughout the game and without it i fell i would have struggled to make a large profit

The marketing department  also played a huge role in my businesses susses, and that is due to the large amount of important information they provided me with. The information they gave me helped me decide on what advertising campaigns i should run, this is because every time i would run a campaign they would provide me with a report on how successful that campaign was.

Another huge department in the game that provided me with a steady flow of information was the finance department. the information that this department provided me with was crucial to creating a profitable business. this department provided me with weekly reports with information such as cash in, cash out and the gross profit on a weekly basis.

(External)
Although i didn't find the need use of any external information within the my experience of the business game, i would of needed to use the government as a source if a something such as the minimum wage rate was to change. the government is usually a good external information source due to the fact the most of the information they provide is of great importance, but it is also an extremely reliable source.

I could have also used a data base as an external source of information but i felt that is was not necessary. If i had used a database to find data, i would have researched something such as the population of people that support my team within a 20 mile radius. i could the then use that data to make a decision to earthier relocate my business on the hand advertise more aggressively. Although i would have to ensure that the data i had revived was reliable, due to it being from an external source.

High Level Diagram: (PDF)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Go5XyQzJkuZDRjaWFaaE9oTzg/edit?usp=sharing
Low Level: (PDF)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Go5XyQzJkuQnIwSnJYVFlWT3M/edit?usp=sharing

How a Business can improve the Quality of Information: (D1)

PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Go5XyQzJkuZUZwakE4bW5WZXM/edit?usp=sharing

Having information that is of a good quality is vital for any business is that aiming to be successful in the long term. Due to this it is vital for a business to actively improve the quality of the information they collect.

Valid:

One way to improve the quality of information is to ensure that the information is valid. A business could ensure that the validity of its information, by simply passing that information through operational support. By doing this the business is ensuring that flow of information is being monitored and checked for validity. This will have a direct result of improving how valid the information that has been collected is.

An example of this process happening with in my small business game would be, every time I received my weekly profit report, I compared it against my profit chart and my own calculations to what my profit should have been for that week. By doing this I am ensuring that the information I am receiving is correct. If one of the pieces of data I have compared to the other two piece of is incorrect, it is as a result not valid and should not be used for any of my business decisions.

Type of data:

Another aspect a business should look at before collecting information is the type of data that they want to collect e.g. qualitative or quantitative.

Qualitative data is data such as text, a customer’s opinion would be a qualitative data. This sort of data is great for analysing a problem in depth, but its main disadvantage is that it can’t be easily grouped, or interpreted in the form of an info-graphic or any sort of graph.

Quantitative data is data of a numeric value, a rating out of 10 would be an example of this data. This sort of data is fantastic when trying to find information such as what % of customers like the new product, and the data it collects can be displayed via an info-graphic which is a useful when trying to view data in a readable form. The main disadvantage of this form of data is that result are very linear and do not allow for personal opinion.

It is vital when collecting data that the right form of data is picked, otherwise the data will not be very effective and could just end up being a waste of time and resources. By choosing the correct data type it could potentially drastically improve the effectiveness of the data that is collected and therefore that is an improvement of the quality of the information.

An example of this with in my business game is the data that I collected about my profits was quantitative, this allows me to give a precise figure of my profits.

Purpose:

The purpose of the information is a vital aspect to being able to improve the quality of the information. This is because if the information collected has no purpose it will not be valid and will be more than likely useless. This is way it is vitally important for any business to ensure they have a clear purpose before collecting information. Not having a purpose for the information before collecting will also produce problems such not knowing what data type to choose or it the wrong data could be collected and that will result in the data not being fit for purpose.

An example of this in relation to my small business game would be if I wanted to order my next week of stock and I decide to gather information on what how much I was paying my employees,  the information I had collected wasn't for the correct purpose and therefore it would result in a potentially bad business decision. However if I was to think about the information I should collect, and decided to look at the footfall count of last week and how much of what stock I sold last week, then that information would be fit for purpose and I would be a the correct decision.

Sources:

An important part of the reliability and the quality of the information, is the source it comes from. If information comes from an external source (secondary data) it must be verified, due to the fact it could be potentially invalid. However a business could improve the source of its information by using primary data, in other words data from internal department. Although data from an external source can still be extremely useful but it is essential that the data is verified as being valid.

An example in terms of my business game would be, when a reviewing CV it is essential to confirm with the references given that the information that has been stated is correct and valid. If I didn't do this I could potentially end up with an incompetent employee, which could become a drain on resources and potentially cause damage to my businesses reputation.