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Oman
Logistic
Company
[Management Information
System]
BalqeesALMakhmari

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Table of Content
Title page
1 Introduction 2
2 1. IT Infrastructure and support systems 3
3 2. Data and Document Management system 7
4 3. Network management and Mobility 9
5 4. IT Security, Compliance, and Continuity 11
6 5. E Business and E commerce 12
7 6. Web and social media strategies 14
8 7. Operational planning and control systems 16
9 8. Enterprise information system 17
10 9. Business Intelligence and business
support
18
11 10. IT Strategic Planning 21
12 11. Business process management and
system development
23
13 Conclusion 25
14 References 26

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Introduction
Management information systems were developed in the 1960s. Management information
system describes a company and its resources. MIS allows managers to create reports about
the company activities. Company activities can be products produced or sold services,
inventory, business partners and people. MIS keeps company information and resources
organized. Management information system helps companies keep track of its resources and
stay organized. MIS allows managers to make different types of reports about company
activities. Managers can print a report that show a company’s daily activities, how products
or sold or services being used and use reports to make future business decisions.
In order to study MIS in OLC, full description of the logistic company required.
Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation.
In logistics is the management of the flow of things between the point of origin and the point
of consumption in order to meet requirements of customers or corporations. The resources
managed in logistics can include physical items, such as food, materials, animals, equipment
and liquids, as well as abstract items, such as time and information. The logistics of physical
items usually involves the integration of information flow, material handling, production,
packaging, inventory, transportation, warehousing, and often security.
Logistics management is the part of supply chain management that plans, implements, and
controls the efficient, effective forward, and reverse flow and storage of goods, services, and
related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet
customer's requirements. The complexity of logistics can be modeled, analyzed, visualized,
and optimized by dedicated simulation software.
Implementing an effective MIS in logistic company is not an easy process. The coming
papers describe the importance role of MIS in OLC and how did they implement it in order to
be in this successful position.

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1. IT Infrastructure and support systems
Logistics companies are increasingly depending on IT systems to maintain their services and
operations. As they are growing in size and sites as well, they need a complete solution where
they can monitor and support their business globally irrespective of location and 24/7. The
most important asset to any organization in general and logistic organization specifically is
Information and then Staff (People).
IT Infrastructure in general consists of:
 Hardware
 Software
 People (Users)
 A Management Information System in place (Process)
 Network
 Database (Information)
A company’s IT Infrastructure determines the efficiency and speed of handling its
Applications, Information Systems, Network devices etc. moreover it allows managing, store
and protecting the Data and making it available to the end users.
Since the role of any logistic company is very important, in order to get the customers
satisfaction and to reduce the inventory cost, having a perfect IT infrastructure is a must. All
the above components are engaged in the business cycle of the company. However IT
infrastructure has to be updated in a continuously manner, this could cause time consuming
and expensive cost. To overcome with these problems, below are different solutions that
applied n the company to save their time and eliminate any additional sunk costs.
The solutions are:
1) Virtualization
Virtualization is the creation of a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, such as an
operating system, a server, a storage device or network resources.
It used by the logistic company as primary solution, it consist of virtual machines. Virtual
machines allow running other operating systems within the current operating system .Virtual
machines help the company to test out other operating systems. VMware is a perfect example
that is used by the company. The Figure 1 describes the full process of the VMware.

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Above figure explainsthe structure of atypical virtual platformof VMware infrastructure,where you
can findlaptops,Clients,Serversall connectedvirtuallyVMware Server.
The above virtual infrastructure had a very positive impact in the company’s operations,
which reflect the following benefits:
1. Enables the company to run more workloads on a single server.
2. Converting physical machines to virtual machines and consolidating the converted
machines into a single host, which facilitate the operation and make all the cycle faster and
more efficiency.
3. Changes the way servers are provisioned, by eliminating the need to wait for the hardware
to be procured or cabling to be installed. Virtual machines provisioning is performed using an
intuitive graphical user interface. In contrast to the long process of deploying physical
servers, deploying virtual machines can be deployed in a matter of minutes. It reflects a very
huge impact in the amount of inventory stored to the logistic company.
In addition VMware, there are many other big Organizations provide alternative Solutions for
the Virtualization with their customized products suite. Such as:
 Microsoft: Hyper-V
 Citrix: XenServers
 Amazon, Oracle, and IBM
Figure 1: VMware Infrastructure

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2. Cloud Computing
Second solution comes after virtualization that the logistic company relies on. A cloud-based
application is fully deployed in the cloud and all parts of the application run in the cloud. It
has been used since it is very easy and useful at the same time. Cloud Computing provides a
simple way to access servers, storage, databases and a broad set of application services over
the Internet. Cloud Computing providers own and maintain the network-connected hardware
required for these application services, while you provision and use what you need via a web
application. This is very useful since the company will have different global relationship
(suppliers and customers), which the web based communication and system wise will be the
perfect way and to be as much as efficiency and effective logistic company.
Using cloud computing in the logistic company brought up many benefits that will reflect in
their productivity of their business cycle, such as:
 Trade capital expense for variable expense
 Benefit from massive economies of scale
 Stop guessing capacity
 Increase speed and agility
 Stop spending money on running and maintaining data centers
 Go global in minutes.
In simple words and mentioned above, Cloud Computing is a technology that uses the
internet and central remote servers to maintain data and applications. Cloud computing
allows consumers and businesses to use applications without installation and access their
personal files at any computer with internet access. Implementing cloud computing to the
logistic company is shows as per figure 2.
Above figure showshowwe canhave a secure accessto all our applicationsanddatafrom any
networkdevice.
Figure 2: Cloud computing

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As analysed from figure 2, cloud computing tool in the logistic company had three main
models, they are:
1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the basic blocks for the cloud IT and the door to
access to data storage space (the product and client information)
2. Platform as a Service (PaaS): this platform helped the company to remove the need to
manage the underlying infrastructure (usually hardware and operating systems) and
allow focusing on the deployment and management of all the applications.
3. Software as a Service (SaaS): provide the company management with full report of
any completed product that is run and managed by the service provider.
Most of the logistic companies agreed upon implementing cloud stems, however the main
issues that stop most of the companies – especially the large one- from having this flexible
solution are:
 Security: They are still not confident enough to move their data to Cloud, as there is
always a threat of Information theft and quite open to vulnerable attacks.
 Speed (Uploading and downloading): since the logistic company has a huge amount
of data, it will be very long and hard process to download or upload that much of
information.
IT Infrastructure Support System is focused on managing the IT tools to be used. It also
ensures the highest levels of availability for the business applications to function without
interruption. It is a very important the logistic company to make sure that there is no
interruption in order to stop additional cost in the supply chain process of the company. It is
very sensitive area if the customer didn’t get the product in the same time or didn’t get the
products from the suppliers too.
OLC has to Deal with the day-to-day operations such as assigning employees to tasks and
recording total work hours, or placing a purchase order, managing daily LCs and all it needs a
support system to manage its operational activities.
These tasks can be supported via TPS, MIS and Mobile systems. The concept of mobility is
growing in the market, with handheld devices with each. OLC record the dispatch and inflow
of the supplies via a single click. This may help them to keep a track of daily operations.
These devices can easily be programmed by an open source C code or Android application be
used. Both are cost reasonable compared with already built in PDAs. These Operational
systems are mostly used by OLC supervisors (first line managers). These are the called
tactical activities or decisions, deal in general with middle-management. These activities can
be supported by MIS, DSS & BI reporting and query capabilities, such as Qlikview, Power
view Excel, MS Project. OLC has everyday management tasks, of managing is logistics.
OLC will have to deal with situation that may significantly change the manner in which
business is Operating by involve long-term planning. IT supports the organization to make a
strategic response and to be the initiator of change. And these changes are necessary in
making key decisions keeping the business profitability and vision in mind. The Decision
making Matrix should be facilitated via IT support, where every objectives risks with its
solution to be provided. And those solutions to be both responsive and reactive, with a
conclusion of what should be the way forward. In organization like OLC which is in the
domain of logistics, the timely efficient delivery is very much accountable as the key
performing indictor of the company. Therefore every decision made must be made out of
reliable data, here IT support is a lot needed.

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Figure 3 describe how OLC can continuously develop their services and also give a robust
support for the system available to have an effective supply chain management, which will be
describes in figure 4. Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management and
Project Management is been achieved successfully and a continuous development in services
been done at same time.
In addition, an effective Infrastructure and supply management system is implemented in
OLC for a smoother business transactions and ensuring the availability at any time.
Above figure showshowwe canmanage our Desktopmanagement,Applicationmanagement,data
managementandautomationfromasingle console foreffective businesstransactions
Figure 3: Infrastructure Management Services

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Above figure showshowwe canmanage differentsystemsinaLogisticsenvironmentsuchas3rd
party services,outsourcedservices,corporate maintenance,systemoperationsetcfromasingle
console whichreducesburdenandachieveshighproductivity
2. Data and Document Management system
Data Management is the management of the key data. This key data may result from either
internal transactions or external, i.e OLTP or OLAP.
The need to make sure the data is managed properly can be done when the databases are built
in infrastructure that are secure and process fast.
In OLC where the logistics demand and supply are carried out extensively throughout the
year, it is necessary for a proper management system to be provided to them.
The use of ERP like Oracle, Microsoft, or SAP can be a great tool for OLC, but seeing a
company like OLC with a widespread of Operations Data management using SQL tools or
Oracle can be helpful, considering the supply chain module it contains, where from the
Planning to procurement, to issuance to distribution can be managed very efficiently.
Moreover these different databases can be combined and transformed via the ELT into data
warehouse for the OLAP purposes. Here OLC can do further analysis on its competitors,
Figure 4 :SupplyChain ManagementSystem

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make predictions of various business modules and keep a historical track of its record. All of
the above conclude in figure 5.
Nowadays, since everything is online, so the fashion of using hardcopies is slowly
eliminating. Instead of giving approval signature on Paper, it’s been done via the online
forms with workflows. Most importantly the 20th century has stepped up in a green
environment, thus the rooms and cabins of papers are now diminishing, and using online
shared drive (cloud drive) this process is being carried out, and all that comes under CSR
(company social responsibility) of the company too.
A company like OLC has to keep all the documents, LCs, receipts, plan changeover approval
as a proof, online solution is the best practice in order to achieve the above mentioned goals.
Developing shared servers to be access via LANs can be used for this purpose, or by simply
installing Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2013, both the online approvals, time stamp
and document management can be entertained. The whole company can then be online on
browsers, having one click approvals instead of waiting to dispatch the documents for review.
OLC can achieve three main objectives –illustrated in figure 6- additional to the above, they
are:
• Indexed sequential access method (ISAM): OLC uses an index of key fields of
each record and where that record is physically located on the storage media.
• Sequential file organization: OLC files are organized on tape, data records must be
retrieved in the same physical sequence in which they are stored.
• Text Management: Each word can be used at backend as Keyword/Tags. Such Tags
can then be used for analysis to see which Document/word was searched/clicked the
most, and thus a trend and see popularity of the Text can be seen.
Figure 5

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3. Network Management and Mobility
Network management refers to managing computer networks; to the OLC Company it is all
about managing all supply chain networks. There are number of Software and Hardware
products available in the market which helps Admins to monitor their Network. Furthermore,
Mobility refers to Secure, reliable access from anywhere at acceptable speeds, which is
exactly implement it to avoid OLC competitors from copying their strategy.
OLC Monitoring their data through many segments in Network, which their Admin could
monitor such as:
 Network Monitoring (Routers, Firewalls, Servers, Switches, and Printers)
 Server Monitoring (Windows Event Logs and Windows Services)
 Cisco IPSLA Monitoring (VoIP networks with the Cisco IPSLA monitor)
 WAN Monitoring (WAN links)
 VMware or Hyper-V Monitoring (APIs provided by VMware and Hyper-V servers via
WMI)
 Applications and Services Monitoring (Applications and Services as such, HTTPS,
FTP, IMAP, LDAP, Telnet, MySQL, MS-Exchange, SMTP,POP3, Web Logic, etc )
 URL Monitoring (Global URLs and URLs in the servers)
 Script Monitoring
 Fault Management (Syslogs, Event logs)
 Performance Management (Bandwidth, Memory, Disk and CPU Utilization, and
Service Response Time)
Figure 6

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There are numerous products available in the market for Network Monitoring, but one should
have to be keen in selecting the product which suites our business requirement.
Since OLC one of the large Logistics Companies, which is dealing with large number of
Sites, Data Flow (Bandwidth) need to have a robust Monitoring tool in place, which can
come handy with all the required features. Such as all the above listed and apart from that:
 It should be a Web Based application for remote login
 Single Sign-On (Remote Use)
 Ability to Monitor Bandwidth and give real time reports
 Customizable (To suite our environment, where we can customize the tool to fit our
requirements)
 Reliable
 A product which has a good Support team (Business Continuity is only possible with
good Tech Support)
 Should be in the Budget (Cost-effective)
There are number of products available in the market for Network Monitoring, OLC used:
 Manage Engine – Op Manager
It is applicable for Small & Medium Business organizations and available in Enterprise and
Professional Editions. Used when OLC still at the beginning stage. Had many Features, they
are:
 Fault
 Configuration
 Accounting
 Performance
 Security
 HP: HP Operations Manager
Second product used by OLC, had the following features:
 Fault
 Performance
 Security
 OpenNMS 1.6.10
Next choice for the, which added advanced following features:
 Fault
 Performance
If we have a look on above different products, there are few products which are quite same in
features and functionality but there is a huge difference in Price segment, for example:
ManageEngine, OpManager, and HP Operations Manager. Features of Reliability and
Performance of these products are almost equivalent and HP is bit more robust and
customizable compare to ManageEngine OpManager, but in the budget segment there is a

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huge difference, Where ManageEngine OpManager starts from $999, HP is 10 times higher
in prize.
4. IT Security, Compliance and Continuity
Security is a basic human concept that has become more difficult to define and enforce in the
Information Age
OLC is a large organization information technology, which is generally refers to laptop and
desktop computers, servers, routers, and switches that form a computer network, although
information technology also includes fax machines, phone and voice mail systems, cellular
phones, and other electronic systems. A growing reliance on computers to work and
communicate has made the control of computer networks an important part of information
security. Unauthorized access to paper documents or phone conversations is still an
information security concern, but the real challenge has become protecting the security of
computer networks, especially when they are connected to the Internet. OLC have their own
local computer network, or intranet, which links their computers together to share resources
and support the communications of employees and others with a legitimate need for access.
Almost all of these networks are connected to the Internet and allow employees to go online,
which is hard then to be secure.
OLC introduce Information technology security very well, since it is controlling access to
sensitive electronic information, only those with a legitimate need to access it are allowed to
do so. This seemingly simple task has become a very complex process with systems that need
to be continually updated and processes that need to constantly be reviewed. There are three
main objectives for information technology security: confidentiality, integrity, and
availability of data. Confidentiality is protecting access to sensitive data from those who don't
have a legitimate need to use it. Integrity is ensuring that information is accurate and reliable
and cannot be modified in unexpected ways. The availability of data ensures that is readily
available to those who need to use it (Feinman et. al., 1999).
Information technology security is often the challenge of balancing the demands of users
versus the need for data confidentiality and integrity. For example, in OLC, allowing
employees to access a network from a remote location, like their home or a project site, can
increase the value of the network and efficiency of the employee.
OLC has invested in the latest information systems designed for effective logistics
management and link ups with the local customs departments, ports/ airport authorities and
local and global partners, ensuring that all shipments are effectively tracked from origin to
destination.
The systems ensure that customs documentation, manifest registration and clearance of
shipments are conducted with ease. Interactive systems enable customers to access
information on shipments at any chosen time.
OLC information Technology Department is a special-purpose division that is responsible for
research, development, implementation and maintenance of information & analytical systems
and ensure information security. Information Technology department provide distinctive IT
infrastructure, applications and tools for atomization which reduces the manual jobs,
accelerate the business process and all aspect of organizations work including:
 Freight calculation and capacity planning
 Operations and technical management
 Financial management
 Budget planning
 Payroll Management

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 Operation analysis
5. E business and E commerce
E-business and e-commerce are terms that are sometimes used interchangeably, and
sometimes they're used to differentiate one vendor's product from another. But the terms are
different, and that difference matters to today's companies.
In both cases, the e stands for "electronic networks" and describes the application of
electronic network technology - including Internet and electronic data interchange (EDI).
OLC has become more prominent and is recognized as a critical factor in competitive
advantage due to the nature of a physically distributed operations environment and global
markets. So Managers are now aiming to provide a one-stop service for total E-Logistics
services, linking global merchants and direct marketers to their customers.
Over the years, OLC has developed from single party logistics (self-managed) to Third-party
logistics (3PL) using a logistics network – as illustrated in figure 7. 3PL is contractual
logistics focusing on regional operations. The main objectives of outsourcing logistics
services are to:
 Reduce operating costs
 Meet demand fluctuations
 Reduce capital investment
Above figure givesanoverview aboutdifferentlevelsof operationsinaLogisticsenvironment.
Figure 7: E-LogisticsCycle

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Under such circumstances, the role of information technologies including the Internet, World
Wide Web (WWW) and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) increases dramatically.
E-Commerce has brought new challenges, as well as opportunities to OLC management.
However OLC implemented an E-Commerce system which covers more of an exterior
process that interacts with customers, suppliers and external partners, including sales,
marketing, order taking, delivery, customer service, purchasing of raw materials and supplies
for production and procurement of indirect operating-expense items, such as office supplies.
OLC E-Commerce aims on innovative business ideas/models and in turn has a potential of
gaining new leads/revenue to its current list, but also has risk of losing revenue/Clients/leads
from its current list due to change.
OLC E-Business covers all that of E-Commerce and it also covers internal processes such as
production, inventory management, product development, risk management, finance,
knowledge management and human resources. In simple words, LC used networked (many to
many) platform, which is illustrates in figure 8.
Above figure givesanoverview of howcomplex aLogisticsenvironmentcanbe withMany-to-many
platformandthese problemsare solvedbyone-to-manyprocedure,wherethere isasingle console
for all the operations.
OLC looking for an e-business where there is an advent of EDI and Internet to get hold of
growing business needs, It need a profound solution which can keep a track of everything
which is going on. This explains in figure 9. The diagram shows how e-business needs to be
connected with all the modules for business continuity, we may coin it as a framework for e-
business.
Figure 8: E-BusinessLayers – Simplified

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In thisdiagramyoucan see howe-businessneedstobe connectedwithall the modulesforbusiness
continuity.
Now, when the companies are looking for a solution which imbibes all the features, with high
performance, reliability, availability and mobility which constitutes for business continuity,
companies should be very keen in having the below modules in their solution, such as:
 Accident Tracking
 Routing
 Barcode Support
 Driver Management
 GPS Integration
 Vehicle Tracking
 Inventory Management
 Work Order Management
 Job Management
 Labour Management
 Billing & Invoicing
 Customer Database
They may also list below features too:
 Dispatch Management
 Fuel Management
 Inspection Management
 Maintenance Scheduling
 Maintenance Tracking
 Mileage Tracking
 Motor Pool / Daily Rental
 Parts Management
 Tire Management
 Tool Tracking
 Vehicle Information
Figure 9 : Framework for e-business

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 Job Assignment Management
 Label Printing
 Order Entry
With growing needs of OLC, we need a complete and profound solution for its business
continuity, products such as BIXIE Logistics Management Software, Arc Logistics, Onfleet,
and ARGUS Logistics are lacking in their features and compatibility criteria. OLC also need
to keep a check on budgetary issues as well.
6. Web and SocialMedia Strategies
According to the 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, 78% of marketers saw
increased traffic with just six hours a week invested in social media. The businesses that do
social media marketing well will see even bigger wins in 2012, as the gap between who “gets
it” and who doesn’t grows wider by the minute.
OLC invest very heavily in their web and social media strategies, below is a three-step plan
designed by them, which help OLC to develop an effective, streamlined road map for their
social media success.
A. Step one : Assessment
Assessment is to evaluate where the company is, where the company wants to go and what
the wins will be along the way. Next to put the company’s audience (customer, supplier) first.
The company need to clarify its audience’s needs, wants and challenges. Companies’ usually
used tools like Survey Monkey or Google Docs to quickly and inexpensively survey their
customers.
The five major benefits of knowing the audience are:
1. Laser focus: the company can create content that resonates instantly.
2. Break barriers: Confront pain points head-on to build trust.
3. Language: Increase engagement by being a person your audience relates to.
4. Empathy: The more the company listens, the better it can respond to specific needs.
5. Positioning: the company can become the go-to source in your niche.
Next to that, the company should define the Guiding Theme of its strategy. Since the
company’s identified its audience, the next step is to ask what is the company’s theme? It’s
usually one of three things:
•Awareness
•Sales
•Loyalty
Loyalty and awareness is the main theme of OLC which actually lead them to generate very
successful revenues.
Once the company identifies what its path, it is the right time to move little bit in depth and
be specific by asking: what does the company’s business actually do? What do my customers
say when they’re happy? What is at the core?

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Moving forward, the company’s should Identify Metrics and Monitoring Opportunities,
which is the very tricky skill to catch up the success at the first and be the first mover in each
step.
Finally, the company will drill down on the answers in a written editorial guide tailored to its
business, team and goals. A good guide will address:
•Who is your team? Who is responsible for what?
•What’s the point? Identify why the company is using social media, and what it wants to
track.
•Where? Identify the networks the company wants to focus on.
•When? The company should be as specific as possible; e.g., blog at 8 am, post it to
Facebook at 10 am.
•How—identify team tools and platforms.
B. Step two : Implementation
Next up: execution. The implementation phase is all about zeroing in on the details and day-
to-day tasks you and all company’s team are now responsible for.
Creating a Content Calendar is very important, since it will be as editorial guide that translate
policy into concrete actions—preferably on an editorial calendar. The more information and
detail the company include, the better effectiveness can be measured.
Moreover, the company should have a Step-by-Step Plan for Promotion and Growth. Here
are the steps of OLC to implement that:
•Integrate social media on their website with plugins and icons.
•Run contests and promotions or offer rewards.
•Showcase their expertise.
•Promote its networks consistently.
C. Step three : Monitor, Measure and Get Momentum
After about two months of running OLC brand-new social media strategy, it’s time to hunker
down with their team, evaluate the progress and fine-tune the details to benefit from the
feedback. Several meetings should be conduct.
When OLC team saw traction with its strategy at the first evaluation milestone, they
considered mixing it up and adding some more advanced strategies into their plan.
Here are some ideas for some “next steps” to take:
•Facebook ads are a good, inexpensive way to grow, increase engagement and collect leads.
•Run a multi-level contest integrating multiple channels (like Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube). Use a promotion, event or reward that will resonate with the customers. Word-of-
mouth is a powerful way to leverage momentum.
•Live Q&As on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ hangouts.
Ultimately, everyone’s social media strategy will look different and will get very different
results. To be effective, the company’s should know their business and the metrics that matter
to them.

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Figure 10
7. Operational planning and control systems
It is important to understand the difference between an "operational plan" and a "strategic
plan". The strategic plan is about setting a direction for the organisation, devising goals and
objectives and identifying a range of strategies to pursue so that the organisation might
achieve its goals. The strategic plan is a general guide for the management of the organisation
according to the priorities and goals of stakeholders –shown in figure 10. The strategic plan
does not stipulate the day-to-day tasks and activities involved in running the organisation.
Organisation management and staff should frequently refer to the operational plan in carrying
out their everyday work. The Operational Plan provides the what, who, when and how much:
 what - the strategies and tasks that must be undertaken
 who - the persons who have responsibility of each of the strategies/tasks
 when - the timelines in which strategies/tasks must be completed
 How much - the amount of financial resources provided to complete each
strategy/task.
The purpose of the Operational Plan is to
provide organisation personnel with a clear
picture of their tasks and responsibilities in
line with the goals and objectives contained
within the Strategic Plan.
An operational plan is a key tool for managing
an organisation. It provides the manager with detailed information on the work that must be
done to ensure that planned goals and objectives are achieved.
The management process should involve continual checking of the implementation of the
Operational Plan and exercising control of the organisation's resources to ensure success.
Managers will therefore need to control the above factors on a week-to-week basis. This
control by managers will involve:
 Investigating on a regular basis of what has been achieved, and what has not.
 Implementing corrective action where tasks are not achieved, or achieve on time
 Checking that resources will be available when needed.
 Supervising, supporting and motivating the people of the organisation to ensure tasks
are undertaken.
 Adjusting the operational plan if there is a need.
 Reporting problems to superiors e.g. directors, committee personnel, the Board
Members of the organisation.
OLC implement and control their operational plan in order to regularly monitor achievement
and exert control to reduce any variance from the plan. The above processes will be same
implement it.
8. Enterprise Information System

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Enterprise information systems are the large complex software systems and tools underlying
many of the organizations. Examples include the systems associated with finance, research
support, human resources, student administration, course management, and several others.
Every day these systems process thousands of business transactions in which data are entered,
manipulated, and stored for both operational and informational purposes. The resulting
information resources constitute a valuable institutional asset that is used for analysis and
decision making.
Enterprise information systems have both operational (transaction-processing) and
informational (data storage, retrieval, and reporting) functions. The operational goals tend to
be focused on efficiency. For example, when OLC performance is well, enterprise
information systems make it easier for people to complete their work in a timely and accurate
manner. They also enable the company to standardize and streamline its operations. By
contrast, poor quality enterprise systems can actually increase workloads, lead to frustration
among the people who use them, and cause costly operational disruptions.
The informational goals of enterprise systems focus on effectiveness. Institutional data needs
to be readily available to decision-makers in a form that marries data with context. The
quality of the information is more important than the quantity of data.
The main objectives of the EIS in any organization:
 Improve the value proposition of enterprise information systems by decreasing the
cost of implementing and supporting them and by increasing their business value.
 Treat data as an institutional asset.
 Manage enterprise information systems as an integrated portfolio of applications.
The process of implementing EIS in OLC is illustrated in figure 11. The results of
implementing the EIS in the company are mentioned in the above objectives.
9. Business Intelligence and Decision Support
BI is a very important concept in every organization nowadays. OLC uses the following in
order to implement the best BI in order to have best decision making mechanism:
• Employ strategic planning
• Use new and innovative business models
• Restructure business processes
• Participate in business alliances
Figure 11

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• Improve corporate information systems
• Improve partnership relationships
• Encourage innovation and creativity
• Improve customer service and relationships
• Move to electronic commerce (e-commerce)
• Move to make-to-order production and on-demand manufacturing and services
• Use new IT to improve communication, data access (discovery of information), and
collaboration
• Respond quickly to competitors' actions (e.g., in pricing, promotions, new products
and services)
• Automate many tasks of white-collar employees
• Automate certain decision processes, especially those dealing with customers
• Improve decision making by employing analytic
The process of implementing BI in OLC is illustrating it in figure 12.
One of the major objectives of computerized decision support is to facilitate closing the gap
between the current performance of an organization and its desired performance, as expressed
in its mission, objectives, and goals, and the strategy to achieve them.
The process of BI is based on the transformation of data to information, then to decisions, and
finally to actions.
In OLC, the use of Business performance management (BPM), Qlikview, Knime is the
emerging portfolio of applications and methodology that contains evolving BI architecture
and tools in its core. They extend the monitoring, measuring, and comparing of sales, profit,
cost, profitability, and other performance indicators by introducing the concept of
management and feedback. It embraces processes such as planning and forecasting as core
tenets of a business strategy. This strategy can be used by OLC in strengthening there
process.
Figure 12

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We can analyse from the above the main tools of BI, which illustrate in figure 13.
ADS is a rule-based system that provides a solution, usually in one functional area (e.g.,
finance, manufacturing), to a specific repetitive managerial problem, usually in one industry
(e.g., to approve or not to approve a request for a loan, to determine the price of an item in a
store). This can further be used in OLC for Shipment, Forecasting the Demand and hence
evaluating the clients.
OLC decision cycle is illustrated in figure 14.
10. IT Strategic Planning
Figure 14

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10. IT Strategic Planning
OLC uses “IT strategic plan” in order to answer the following questions:
 Question is, how can we create competitive advantage?
 To create competitive advancements, one should know where we are lacking and then
work on that aspect, can we know where we are lacking, if yes how?
 How can we keep abreast with changing demands and needs of the business up to
date?
 Is there a plan/standard strategy which fits for all, coming in many shapes and forms
depending on the kind of organizations?
 Is there any plan which provides an organisation with a blueprint that identifies the
core IT infrastructure?
By getting the following answers, OLC will define their planning cycle and process which
illustrate it in figure 15, 16. That led to achieve their strategic goal and have an efficient
business cycle “better management of supply chain”.
In thisdiagramyoucan see differentlevelsinvolvedinaStrategicPlanninglike :
- Formulate strategy
- Propse mission
- Propose goal
- Examine bothinternal andexternalissues
- Create SWOT ( strengths,weaknesses,opportunitiesandthreats)
Figure 15 : Strategic PlanningCycle

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We can analyse that IT strategic planning can be used to:
 Create a competitive advantage (Strategic planning begins with the goal and works
backward to the current status)
 Know where we are lacking and then work on that aspect (Identifies areas for
improvement and rationalization based on an evaluation of existing IT infrastructure,
services and assets with a view to realizing their full potential)
 Strategy which fits for all, coming in many shapes and forms depending on the kind of
organizations
 Provide an organization with a blueprint that identifies the core IT infrastructure
 A systematic process of envisioning a desired future, and translating this vision into
broadly defined goals or objectives and a sequence of steps to achieve them.
OLC IT strategic plan, the same of the other large organizations had four main components,
they are:
1. Analysis: Where the current status of an organization is been analyzed and assessed
based on its internal and external environments.
2. Strategy: strategy formation, where a high level strategy is been developed with
planners, where at every stage planners keep finding answers for what must be done
here to reach the next stage/ higher stage.
3. Execution: In this phase, the high level strategy which has been visualized is now
translated into more operational planning and action
4. Management Phase: Strategic management phase basically transform the strategic
plan into a system, it enables the plan to function/evolve and grow as requirement
changes.
In this phase, performance, communications, reporting, graphs are overlooked for
strategic management issues.
Figure 16 : Strategic PlanningCycle

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In thisdiagramyoucan see differentphasesinastrategyand involvementof yourplanners,business
stakeholdersand documentation,feedbackwhichensuresthe businesscontinuity.
Documenting the plan is essential as it can as a strategy map. The plan and its documentation
should be flexible enough to change in response to new organizational circumstances and
business priorities, budgetary constraints, available skill sets and core competencies, new
technologies and a growing understanding of user needs and business objectives.
OLC had an IT Strategic comprehensive plan, which cover all facets of technology
management, including cost management, human capital management, hardware and
software management, vendor management, risk management and all other considerations in
the enterprise IT environment.
OLC is continuously evolving and expanding, due to its complex structure and wide range of
sites, vendors, organizations, third party logistics, it’s difficult to manually maintain and
monitor the complete flow and ensure performance, durability, availability and of course
responsibility.
There are many Vendors in the market which provide complete solutions for “Business
management” / “Strategic Planning”, such as: Executive Strategy Manager (ESM) by ESM
Software Group, QuickScore from IntraFocus, and KPI Fire by KPI.
11.Business processmanagementand system development
Business process management (BPM) is a systematic approach to making an organization's
workflow more effective, more efficient and more capable of adapting to an ever-changing
environment. A business process is an activity or set of activities that will accomplish a
specific organizational goal.
The goal of BPM is to reduce human error and miscommunication and focus stakeholders on
the requirements of their roles. BPM is a subset of infrastructure management, an
administrative area concerned with maintaining and optimizing an organization's equipment
and core operations.
BPM is often a point of connection within a company between the line-of-business (LOB)
and the IT department. Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) and Business Process
Management Notation (BPMN) were both created to facilitate communication between IT
and the LOB. Both languages are easy to read and learn, so that business people can quickly
learn to use them and design processes. Both BPEL and BPMN adhere to the basic rules of
programming, so that processes designed in either language are easy for developers to
translate into hard code.
There are three different kinds of BPM frameworks available in the market today. Horizontal
frameworks deal with design and development of business processes and are generally
focused on technology and reuse. Vertical BPM frameworks focus on a specific set of
coordinated tasks and have pre-built templates that can be readily configured and deployed.
Full-service BPM suites have five basic components:

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 Process discovery and project scoping
 Process modeling and design
 Business rules engine
 Workflow engine
 Simulation and testing
OLC implement BPM in a very effective way which reflects a very positive impact on their
business cycle. The BPM cycle that used by OLC is illustrated in figure 17.
Systems development life cycle (SDLC), also referred to as the application development life-
cycle, is a term used in systems engineering, information systems and software engineering to
describe a process for planning, creating, testing, and deploying an information system. The
systems development life-cycle concept applies to a range of hardware and software
configurations, as a system can be composed of hardware only, software only, or a
combination of both. OLC implement their system development cycle as illustrated in figure
18.
Figure 17
Figure18

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Conclusion
Management Information Systems (MIS) not only include software systems, but the entire set
of business processes and resources that are used to pull together information from functional
or tactical systems.
The overall purpose of MIS is to provide profitability and related information to help
managers and staff understands business performance and plans its future direction.
As per our analysis in OLC, there are 9 main benefits that let MIS plays a very important role
in any organization, they are:
1. MIS is always management oriented and keeps in view every level of management and
gets the desired information.
2. Integrated - refers to how diff components (sub systems) are actually tied up together. eg:
diff departments of organization linked together.
3. Useful for planning - as every organization makes log-term and short-term plans with the
help of information like sales & production, capital investments, stocks etc. management can
easily plan.
4. Effective MIS helps the management to know deviations of actual performance from pre-
set targets and control things.
5. it’s important for increasing efficiency.
6. MIS provides updated results of various departments to management.
7. MIS is highly computerized so it provides accurate results.
8. MIS adds to the intelligence, alertness, awareness of managers by providing them
information in the form of progress and review reports of an ongoing activity.
9. Helps managers in decision- making.

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References
 https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/280915-looking-for-suggestions-to-improve-
our-infrastructure
 http://www.trefis.com/stock/vmw/articles/221206/growing-competition-for-vmware-
in-virtualization-market/2014-01-0
 http://spiderbook.com/company/16513/details?rel=113999&show_current=True&sho
w_others=True&people_page=0&document_page=0&current_tab=supporting_docum
ents
 http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/Cloud_Computing
 http://www.vmware.com/
 Few Blogs of Infrastructure Admins as well
 http://www.monitis.com/blog/2011/02/22/11-top-server-management-monitoring-
software
 http://www.networkmanagementsoftware.com/network-management-software-
smackdown/
 https://www.manageengine.com/network-
monitoring/index.html?gclid=CMzgnrmVoswCFQccGwodQIUA4g
 http://www.solarwinds.com/network-management-software.aspx
 https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~netsec/overview.html
 http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/3-steps-to-an-effective-social-media-strategy/
 http://www.leoisaac.com/operations/top212.htm
 http://www.leoisaac.com/operations/top025.htm

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 http://cio.cornell.edu/strategic-plan/enterprise-information-systems
 http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/business-process-management
 http://www.3plsoftware.com/solutions/technology
 http://campaigns.ramco.com/erp-
suite/logistics?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc_search_ad&utm_campaign=lo
gistics_search_me&gclid=CI7JrOzqoswCFdMV0wodcKYOMg
 http://www.capterra.com/courier-
software/spotlight/139946/Journease/Journease%20Software
 http://www.capterra.com/courier-software/spotlight/79275/Express-Pak/Ascar
 http://www.capterra.com/courier-software/spotlight/142633/Onfleet/Onfleet
 http://ira.lib.polyu.edu.hk/bitstream/10397/1150/1/IJoL%23229%28Final,%20Nov%2
07,%202006%29_PolyU_Libra.pdf
 https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:685599/FULLTEXT01.pdf
 http://ecommerce-software-review.toptenreviews.com/