- Case study
Relisha is a manufacturer of non-alcoholic drinks products in a variety of packages and delivery styles including;
Carbonated and still fruit beverages and cordials (orange, lemon, raspberry, strawberry etc., and many exotic fruits)
Still and sparkling mineral water
Tea and coffee based cold drinks
Drinks mixers such as tonic and cola
Factories are located, along with distribution warehouses, in a number of countries throughout the world. Each factory is responsible for supplying demand for a territory which includes the country in which the factory is located and a number of countries adjacent (you do not need to know what the territories and countries are to answer the questions).
The reporting structure for the business is detailed below. Reporting in to each Territory Manager is a Factory Manager and several country managers, one of whom is based in the same country as the territory manager and the factory. The Factory Manager is responsible for the performance of the factory in terms of output value at standardized sale price, and the country managers are each responsible for the total sales value of their individual country.



Management Level
Reporting Structure


Senior Management
Company/Strategic
CEO and Company Board


Middle Management
Tactical
Territory Managers (Local CEO)


Local Management
Operations
Factory Manager
Country Managers several

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The product is shipped to the distributors in the relevant country from the warehouse attached to the factory. Some of the distributors are large supermarket chains selling direct to consumers, others are various sorts of wholesaler. Distributors have different terms and conditions (e.g. discounts and credit periods) depending upon the volumes of product they handle, market power and other factors. Orders are placed by distributors electronically via the Internet. Invoices are issued by the same mechanism, at a time depending upon the particular contractual terms.
Business Analysis and Decision Making
© NCC Education Limited 2017
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Each product is given a name and a structured product code, the code is devised as follows.
The country of manufacture is given a 3 character code; e.g. FRA
The packaging of the finished product is given a 3 character +1 numeric code; e.g. BTL5 The type of product is indicated by a 6 digit code; e.g. 123456
Thus, a product named ‘Orangeade’, manufactured by the factory in France and packaged in a glass bottle of 0.5 litres capacity, would be coded as;
FRABTL5123456
Assignment task(s)
This assignment requires you to critically analyse the above case and an approach to improvement of information systems to support decisions. You may make assumptions provided they are compatible with the basic business described in the case.
Task 1
The Relisha board of directors, after years of using a variety of different information systems in the different territories, has decided to develop a Management Information System (MIS) to support the territory managers in a consistent way. The initial stage is focused upon territory management requirements and financial revenue performance of both factories and countries.
Assume you have been asked to take an initial look at information and systems requirements, and that the detail of reporting required is on a product by product basis weekly.
i. Briefly describe two examples of the financial information that territory managers may require, one for factories and one for a country in their territory (two examples in total). Explain how this information can be of use to the territory managers.
ii. Assuming that you have initially identified examples of information required on a weekly basis, propose and justify an elicitation process, involving one or more methods (requirements elicitation approaches), to obtain the detail requirements for the MIS in respect of the financial reporting. What will be the deliverables of this elicitation process.
iii. Justify the elicitation process you have proposed
Note: Start with the case, focus on the question and avoid thinking too far ahead in terms of the type of information system, technology and software that will be used.
Business Analysis and Decision Making
© NCC Education Limited 2017
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Task 2
Prepare a data model (entity relationship model) that covers the following;
Company Territories Countries Products Distributors Orders Invoices
For each entity in your model, list some of the main attributes, including a key attribute.
You should only have entities derived from the list above, a little elaboration is allowed, however, the majority of the credit will go to the core model based upon what is in the question and case.
Task 3
The MIS system that Relisha is embarking on is focused upon measuring performance of the organization, and in particular providing detail of how well particular products are contributing to performance. Assuming that territory and country managers get access to a system that allows them to ‘drill down’ to product and country level, critically discuss how this may help them make decisions that will improve territory and overall company performance.
If you are unclear of any aspect of this assignment, then please contact your Module Leader.
