Information Systems

The Information Systems Department has around 3000 societies that work in the David Glass Technology Center located in Bentonville !rkansas" #al$%art&s IS Department is very hierarchal" It includes a Business !nalyst Senior Business !nalyst %anager Senior %anager and levels 'elow them" The department of the information system is very structured and formal (D" Bra)ile *ersonal Communication +ovem'er , ,0--." It is so structured that they track the time spent on pro/ects down to fifteen minute increments" Doing this keeps them on track for 'udget and productivity metrics" 0ollin 1ord is the 23ecutive 4ice *resident and Chief Information 5fficer of #al$%art Stores Inc" since ,006" 7is responsi'ility is all General %erchandise 1ashion Grocery S!%&S Import and Specialty Distri'ution Centers" 1ord reports directly to %ike Duke the Chief 23ecutive 5fficer"

8 Type of data

9ane data center is the data center of #al$%art which has a capacity of :60 tera'ytes of data" #hich is a huge capacity of data availa'le in the internet; !nd it has helped #al$ %art 'ecome the 'iggest retailer in the world and to the corporation<s growing secrecy since founder Sam #alton<s death in -==," To the power of data 9ane data center is considered a mysterious icon" It helped #al$%art to 'ecome the 'iggest retailer in the world" #hen #al$%art constructed its primary data center at corporate head>uarters in -=?= it wasn<t a secret it was the largest poured concrete structure in !rkansas at the time and #alton himself ordered a third story" !ccording to the econometric society #al$%art deals with the following data@ Store openings data which included the opening dates of #al$%art stores and Supercenters" !lso the data that #al$%art dealt with included distri'ution center opening which show 5pening dates of General Distri'ution Centers and 1ood Distri'ution Center" %oreover #al$%art dealt with %odel Calculations data which include Gauss *rograms and Gauss Data sets (in "fmt format. that calculate sales operating profits and distri'ution miles for any given configuration of #al$%art stores in any given year" !lso #al$%art dealt with Deviations data which is a Data set on payoff to deviations plus an e3ample gauss program running a linear program"

8 Type of information

the universal 'ar code was esta'lished after #al$%art pushed the retail industry which made manufacturers adopt common la'eling" The 'ar allowed retailers to generate all kinds of information creating a shift of power from manufacturers to retailers" !lso #al$ %art 'ecame very good at using the information 'ehind the 'ar code and is considered a pioneer in developing sophisticated technology to track its inventory and cut the fat out of its supply chain" *rofessor 2dna Bonacich put it simply@ AThe shift in #al$%art<s power was when it started to really develop its control over information technology"A The key to that was the power of the information that is hidden in the u'i>uitous 'ar code" %oreover +o one has used the technology as efficiently as #al$%art" The former of #al$%art store B 1urthermore The famous retail store #al$%art recently showed that it is investing more in technology dealing more with sales and production tracking" #al$%art now re>uires its suppliers to provide microchips which will service radio fre>uency identification or 01ID which will greatly enhance the systems created 'y 'ar codes" 01ID tags are usually from two to four s>uare inches in si)e and contain a silicon chip that holds a uni>ue string of num'ers identifying the item to which it is attached" ! separate 01ID AreaderA receives the information contained in the tag through the tag<s antenna" Cnlike a 'ar code the signal does not have to 'e read directly 'y a scannerB 01ID signals need only to 'e in the vicinity of an 01ID reader" The technology is used in automated highway toll collection systems such as 2$D *ass and in +ovem'er ,00: the 1ood and Drug !dministration (1D!. and several drug manufacturers announced an initiative to use 01ID tags on medication 'ottles for drugs such as 4iagra and 53yContin to com'at theft and counterfeiting" Descriptions provided through the tags are more detailed than those in a 'ar code and #al$%art will 'e a'le to have instant information on which products are selling and which products are not well$received" This knowledge will 'e powerful when deciding which products to purchase from its suppliers"

8 Type of knowledge

The giant chain stores #al$%art have created a ma/or mark in the retail 'usiness industry" It has a great effective knowledge management program that has ena'led it to o'tain its competitive advantage even at unsta'le economic situations" %oreover #almart met its goals 'y commitment with the 'usiness aims and the 'alancing operations with the economy growth" as a result of the positive knowledge management strategies that walmart followed an important economic gin was

achieved " !lso #almart was a'le to focus on its strategic 'usiness operations into cutting operational costs and creating a value for its shareholders 'y maintaining a good corporation knowledge management strategies which was very useful " 1urthermore #al$%art managed to success in productivity and making 'y using focused differentiation and walmart now is a leader of its type in the whole world" #al$%art faced many challenges at introducing the many knowledge management strategies" the corporation<s organi)ational growth was greatly achieved 'y the change management analysis " !lso Cshering in of 'ig financial gains on the annual production of #al$%art helped to maintain an effective knowledge management "this trend was recogni)ed 'y all the ma/or stores associated with the corporation all over the world and at this modern glo'al age #al$%art stores are now ideal for the 'usinesses and organi)ations" %oreover improved employees skills which is one way of supporting the effective knowledge management 'y the corporation was so helpful and successful at facing challenges" !lso efficiency in service delivery and customer care as well as development of great competition" #as enhanced and supported 'y the stores effective and relia'le knowledge management skills" 1urthermore strengthening the staff 'y way of transformational leadership was the focus of the management intellectuality " The company plans language to its employee&s loyalty diligence and good conduct this has helped ensuring long service in duty 'y the employees" !lso !pt knowledge management in the company has ena'led it to solve all issues related to organi)ational practices and make decisions and discover issues like as animosity"

o Transaction process system (T*S.

This information system ordinarily automates routine and repetitive tasks that are very important to the operation of the organi)ation such as *oint$of$Sale preparing a payroll 'illing customers" The input of T*S is raw dataB the processing involves with the summari)ing recording and merging the data and the output is in the form of report" 5ne e3ample of T*S is *oint$of$Sale when you check$out the product at the

supermarket the cashier has to scan the product with the 'ar code that the input of systemB The idea of 'ar code scanning re>uired that industry develop a universal product code (C*C. system a could 'e a standard method for identifying products with num'ers and coding those num'ers as the type of 'ar code shown in the photo "!nd it had many 'enefits found 'y #al$%art were it

E 2nsure accurate pricing E Improve efficiency E 0educe Shrinkage E Improve communications

The use of 'ar code scanners made it easier were its unnecessary to put a price on every item ('ut still important for consumer protection."This reduced costs so much" The process involve with the calculating E num'er of product multiple with the price of product and the output is in the form of receipt"

T*S ordinarily automates routine and repetitive tasks that are very important to the operation of #al$mart Satellite system and 2lectronic scanning of uniform product code (C*C. at the *5S 2lectronic Scanning of uniform product code $C*C$

-" 2nsure accurate pricing ," Improve efficiency 3" 0educe Shrinkage :" Improve communications

Satellite System -" Data collected and analy)ed ," 5'serving %erchandise flow overstock discount 3" 4ideo transmissions credit card authori)ations and inventory control

o %anagement information system (%IS.

%IS is the system provides the actual performance report of the company that use in middle management which created 'ased on the data from T*S" In other way to say %IS provides the actual performance report of #al$mart

2lectronic Date Interchange $2DI$ -"1orecasting ,"*lanning 3"0eplenishing :"Shipping applications

DSS $ the effectiveness of decision makers rather than on increasing the efficiency of data storage and retrieval is on improving in !ll categories and types of DSS focus" some of the 'enefits of the DSS that were sited 'y alter tur'an udo and guimaraes and others were @

-"DSS improves individual productivity"

,"it improves the decision >uality and speed up pro'lem solving" 3"it improves interpersonal communications" :" it improves decision making skills" F" Increase organi)ational control " ! num'er of strategic DSS has 'een implemented In early -==0s walmart including retail link and a sale data warehouse " walmart collects sales data from stores in its data warehouse retail link consolidated data into useful reports reports and distri'utes it to suppliers with weekly forecasting information " The retail link is an e3ample of an interorgani)ational DDS" the result of the retail link has 'een redved inventory in stores more inventory of the right products at the right time and place improved revenues for 'oth suppliers and retailer and 'etter partner relationships with supplier"