Information Technology and Procter and Gamble
Application of IT in Procter and Gamble
IT enables error-free and efficient data gathering in different departments and areas of the business from the procurement and inventory, transaction processing and recording and financial management, marketing and customer relationship management up to the human resource management. This has been done by application of IT to the process of controlling and managing the data coming from the different process of the companies, from the inventory, in knowing the current status of stocks, to the different Point of Sales or POS that collects the data regarding the demands of the customers, that can help in marketing and customer relation in terms of forecasting the buying behavior of the customers, up to the process of controlling the human resource.
Open system or a system that implements sufficient open specifications for the interfaces, services as well as the supporting formats in order to enable properly engineered components for utilization across a wide range of systems with the minimal change (Software Engineering Institute 2008).
The company uses almost everything regarding the computer, such as servers, that handles the heavy processing, PCs for each working station or POS, mainframe and super computer for global processing. In terms of input devices, keyboard, scanners are used in each and ever office, while the bar code reader and other card reading devices are used in the POS of the company. In terms of output devices, it used different types of printer, regarding on the printing needs.
The company is using different types of software, from the individual PC operating system up to the network operating system. Furthermore, there are also varieties of application software that are used, for the implementation and maintenance of their database and websites.
Due to the fact that the company is operating in international basis, it uses the Internet, together with the intranet and extranet for their internal and external communications, from and to their different stakeholders.
There are three types of information that are required of the MIS of the company, including the strategic that helps to come up with the decisions about the marketing, the technical, which focus on the result of the implementation, and operational that focuses on the actual process of the company. In P&G, the key ratios, strategic plan, market analysis and control are important because it enables them to know about the behavior and flow of demand of the customers, and apply it with the current strategy of the company. In technical way, variance analysis and exception reports are needed because it enables the company to analyze the difference between what they have expected and what are the actual situations. Above all, the operational information focuses on the current or important input data that will serve as the basis for all of the decision or output of the system such as the invoices and orders.
There are four major departments that handle the most important aspects of the company such as the financial departments that handles the different processes and issues regarding the accounts, debtors and payroll. Furthermore, the purchasing department is the one that handles the orders issued and the stock selection of the company. The HR department handles the different aspects regarding the labor such as the staffing, skills, absenteeism as well as the level of skills and shortage. On the other hand, as the complementary department of purchasing department, the sales and marketing departments focuses on outflow of data such as turnover, sales rations and market intelligence.
Report is considered as the most important aspects of any system, in terms of the company, it is important because, they have to show to their customers and to the public the performance of their company in terms of their annual report. Their reports are shown in terms of tabulation such as the different quantities and values, the sub-totals and totals, as well as the percentages of the different bases. Furthermore, the graphical presentation focuses on the movement of the sales orders in terms of line graphs, pie graphs and bar graphs in showing the segmentation of their market and products.
Information Flow
Figure 1 Information Flow
Figure 1 shows the information flow inside the company, it shows that all of the departments are all connected with the financial department that handles the financial issues of the company. The company is using the Internet in terms of sharing information, this can be seen by their relationship with their customers by their e-marketing, furthermore, the employees, in different part of the globe are using their own intranet for their learning management.
It is important to have accurate as well as update information, because it has a great impact in the decision-making process of the company that will reflect in their strategies towards their market.
The application of IT in the overall internal and external aspects of the company can be considered as almost perfect, however, it is important to take note of the different possibilities that might come up in the future such as the different security issues. Furthermore, it also important to consider the possible threat such as viruses, spam as well as denials of service of DoS, that is why it will be important to apply different applications and software that will prevent those such as anti-virus and anti-spam, together with the firewalls and encryption.
On the other hand, it is also important to consider that there are different responsibilities that are related to the use of IT and computer technology in terms of the storage of information. Primarily, the Data Protection Act of 1998 shows the 8 principles in protecting the personal and policy, together with the practice in monitoring the computer use of the employee, and the privacy information. The Computer Misuse Act 1990, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations of 2003, the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and Environmental Information Regulation 2004, The Telecommunications Regulations 1999, the Electronic Communications Act, the Electronic Regulations 2003 as well as the roles of the Information Commissioner are important to consider.
References
1999 Annual Report, P&G, viewed 17 September, 2004, <http://www.pg.com/co ntent/pdf/02_investor/financial_reports/annual_report/annual_report_1999. pdf>
2000 Annual Report, P&G, viewed 17 September, 2004, <http://www.pg.com/co ntent/pdf/02_investor/financial_reports/annual_report/annual_report_2000. pdf>
2001 Annual Report, P&G, viewed 17 September, 2004, <http://www.pg.com/ann ualreports/2001/pdf/pg_ar2001.pdf>
2002 Annual Report, P&G, viewed 17 September, 2004, <http://www.pg.com/annualr eports/2002/pdf/pg_ar2002.pdf>
2003 Annual Report, P&G, viewed 17 September, 2004, <http://www.pg.com/an nualreports/2003/pdf/pg2003annualreport.pdf>
Management Information Guide 2007, Credit Unions, FSA, viewed 4 September 2008, <http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/small_firms/unions/pdf/mi_gu ide.pdf>
Open Systems 2008, Software Engineering Institute, viewed 4 September 2008, viewed 4 September 2008, <http://www.sei.cmu.edu/opensystems/faq.ht ml>
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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