Please see the attached 2 files for complete assignment information. Thanks
Assignment Detail with instruction: Please read the following case: Stately Furniture Stately Furniture (SF) is a hand-crafted furniture producer based in Medicine Hat. · Furniture is made to order and shipped to customers throughout North American and Asia. · Raw material supplies are acquired from Eastern Canada and require at least four months to cure to the point where they are safely usable. · The raw materials are very expensive, so waste must be carefully avoided and SF cannot afford to carry a large stock of material. · 75% of the furniture produced is custom-designed, one-of-a-kind articles. · All administration and production is completed in a single building. · The existing internal operating systems are paper-based, but SF uses the Internet to communicate with past, current and potential clients using an outsourced website. · The sole owner of SF is 75 years old and will be passing control of the company to his granddaughter within the next 12 months. The majority of the administration staff are young and technically savvy, but most of the furniture artisans are older men with little interest in learning new things. Also read the attached Task 1, 2 & 3 Files. Based on you reading please answer the following: · As part of the senior management team of the Stately Furniture, you have received a pair of reports from a team of consultants regarding your operations and management information systems. · Choose one of the recommendations made by the consultants and write a short memo to your executive team colleagues that makes a case to implement the recommendation, referencing specific technique. You’ll want to consider: · Developing a high-level DFD / flowchart / other documentation that reflects the process(es) being affected · Selecting and assessing the platform for delivery · Selecting and assessing the feasibility of the proposed solution; and · Developing a high-level testing, conversion, and training plan. •If the recommendation is insufficiently detailed to produce the materials above, please extend the recommendation as needed to produce these materials. The memo should be concise and use appropriate diagrams, tables, or charts. Task 3 The organization Stately Furniture is an organization which makes and sells handcrafted custom furniture from Medicine Hat, Alberta. Its sales operations stretch too far away countries including Latin America and Asia. The procurement of raw materials is done in Eastern Canada. Thus, the operation spreads to a vast area of the Asia-Pacific region. The current status The communication to customers is provided through websites and internet but the internal communication to date has been manual. This is more so because the workers are of an older generation and most of them are apathetic to technology and demonstrate an aversion to learning new things. SF needs to revamp the manual operating system. This includes setting up their own website, setting up a local area connection (LAN), creating a database for its own employees, clients, and transactions which are carried out in the business. The prospect with MIS SF will need to upgrade their MIS for the following reasons: The implementation of the MIS will provide an integrated data storehouse for its various operations, the handling of which will be easy, time-saving, concise and economical. Doing this will help the company to centralize all its operational departments into one easy-to-use system. The integrated LAN system of the organization will enhance communication among employees. A good networking system will help SF to reach out to global customers in a more systematic, professional way that is appealing to the general public, efficient customer response turnover, authenticity and brand value of the company. This process will make it more efficient as well as user-friendly for the customers, increasing the chances of repeat customers which in turn will spread the word of excellence to potential customers. A good record keeping system is one that is easily adaptable and simple to use. This will make the transition to change easier for employees with less resistance. The functions of the different departments like human resource, finance, operations, and production can be facilitated and included in this change, so all departments are on the same track. There will be easy maintenance of stock without pile up and wastage. The stock required can be easily accessible in time of need. This is a very efficient inventory system that will hold advantages like more space. The website can advertise the different types of products to the global customer easily, essentially reaching a bigger crowd. A well-designed website, that is easy to navigate through creates customer satisfaction. The production system will receive a substantial upgrade as the design department can use the different software like MATLAB etc. to enhance the specialty of the one of a kind, custom furniture. This upgraded superior software system would remove any room for error when making their product. The software also keeps the customer in control of their needs for customizations. The data saved and gathered can be used for data analytics which will give purposeful insight into the business. This better feedback is extremely valuable for any type of business. The maintenance of data with proper passwords and protection will be more secure ensuring the companies data and safety against possible viruses and hackers. The manual filing system will be reduced, creating efficiency, less paper and storage, providing more space for production. The internet and common communication system will bring the departments within SF together creating a workspace for all to communicate faster between distances. The management and the human resource system will have a greater presence with the maintenance of personal data and performance measurement. The development process will also be measured easily through the system. System requirement The company must have its own website in order to advertise its products in a customized manner and enhance branding. They must have a Local Area Network system to connect with each employee as well as being able to connect with the outside customer in an integrated manner. The different departments must be linked through the LAN system. Packages like the inventory management system, accounting package, HRIS for human resource department etc. must be brought into use. Also connected with the network will be designing software like MATLAB, Cin7 Zoho Inventory, Easy Count etc. which will help in completing the design specification. Consequences and action required The implementation of MIS has an all-around purpose to make the system effective and more mechanized. After twelve months, the MIS system will pass on to the new tech-savvy generation. The new generation of computer users will easily embrace a technological system. This will help retain and motivate the younger generations who have joined the firm in recent years. However, the older generation of workmen may find it more convenient to use the manual method of communication and have aversion to learning new things. Introducing the system to the less tech-savvy will be implemented in stages. While introducing and training, emphasis will need to be placed on how the older generation will benefit, namely, less time manual work means more time on the floor doing what they love doing - making furniture. For these batch phased training and constant counseling must be implemented to make the system effective and the resistance for change low. Proposed Projects 1)To set-up a new LAN One of the proposed projects is to set up a new LAN which will create further employee productivity. The employees will be able to utilize their time by enhancing the customer service experience. The planning of these projects aims to design, configure, setup, and evaluate the effectiveness of installing a LAN in the company. It is feasible to set-up a LAN in the company as the administration and production are located all in one building. Sharing the data resources is more convenient which will result in effective customer service, which is a major factor for this type of business. This project illustrates the proposed connections, the security protocols associated with installing a LAN, and the backup recovery plan. The company will install an uninterruptible power supply to the network switch. The Internet Protocol (IP) telephones and other devices will continue to operate when the power supply is disconnected, leaving some room for the risk of delay or disturbance. LAN Security There are many ways to secure a LAN and among these are: installing the firewall resource behind a single access point by using the wireless router. It is also advisable to use the security protocols like the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) or WPA2, (the upgraded version of WPA). WPA and WPA2 are both designed for password encryption on traffic coming in from the internet. The network administrator may also opt to secure other routers and switches that serve the different parts of the network by installing antivirus or anti-malware security. Employee Preparation The company may conduct a user acceptance test, to test the functionality of the system and the readiness of the employee like how to boot in the system, log-in works correctly, all resources are accessible. The more the employees are able and willing to learn the easier the transition will become. By conducting this test, we will know where each employee needs to focus their time on training. 2) Creation of SF’s own website Another proposed project that we need to look at is the creation of the company's own website. Having an outsourced website exposes the company to risk by sharing confidential information to the provider. It would be beneficial for SF to create its own website for the customer's convenience. This will allow the company to not only have control over its content, but it will also allow it to promote its own business thus reducing the risk of identity theft. The company's trademark patent designs are kept within the company. Creating the company’s own website can be indexed by search engines and take advantage of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) opportunities for widening the company’s target markets. The proposed project is feasible and would not incur any foreseeable cost at all. There are website builders that are free of charges such as Wix and WordPress. Since SF is a small company, it would be to its financial benefit to using these cost-saving/free resources. They could research other similar websites to gain insight on how to effectively build a website that is user-friendly. SF would benefit by utilizing the tech-savvy administrators already employed by them, who may want to tackle a project like this. Give them an opportunity to own a project and be able to take recognition of this task. Once created, maintenance and upgrades can be handled from within as knowledge and experience were attained when initially created. SF’s Website Security SF’s website is vulnerable to cyber threats and newly created sites could be a target. Adding a web application firewall (WAF) such as Cloudbric, Incapsula, or Cloudflare, will secure the website before the start of an