Electronic Data Processing (EDP) can refer to the use of automated methods to process commercial data.

Typically, this uses relatively simple, repetitive activities to process large volumes of similar information. For example: stock updates applied to an inventory, banking transactions applied to account and customer master files, booking and ticketing transactions to an airline's reservation system, billing for utility services. ADVANTAGES 1. speed it operates the speed of electric flow which is measured in billions and trillionth of a second. It is faster than any other machine designed to do similar works. 2. Accuracy High speed processing by computer is accompanied by high accuracy results the electronic circuitry of computer is such that, when the machine are programmed correctly and when incoming data is error free, the accuracy of the output is relatively assured. 3Automatic operation An electronic computer can carry out sequence of many data processing operations without human interaction, the various operations are executed by way of a stored computer program 4. Decision making capability A computer can perform certain decision instruction automatically 5. Compact storage Electronic data processing system have the ability to store large amounts of data in compact and easily retrievable form 6. Discipline imposes
to solve problem-with computer you must, first understand the problem, second, program the computer to give you right answers. Understand a problem is one thing but understanding it to the depth of detail and insight required to program the computer is a completely different matter

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Advantages_of_electronic_data_processing#ixzz2DWsiWKn6

What is MIS, and benefits?

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.

Other People Are Reading

What Is a School Information Management System?

Library Management Information System

1. Financial MIS
o

Financial MIS creates reports about a company past and present money activities. The Financial MIS can show a companies profit and losses, financial records about a company that states how the company is doing, decisions on spending and how a company can control cost.

Manufacturing MIS
o

Manufacturing MIS monitors and control the flow of materials, products and services of a company. Raw goods that are processed are monitored by Manufacturing MIS. This helps Manufacturing MIS control and reduce costs of products and services.

Marketing MIS
o

Marketing MIS handles product creations, sales, prices, advertisements and future business decisions. Marketing MIS makes decisions on product and service appearance. Marketing MIS manages customer contacts, makes questionnaires for customer feedback about their company product or service and tracks customer spending habits.

Human Resource MIS

o

Human Resource MIS manages employees and selection of employees. Human resource MIS looks at needs of the employees, the workforce rules, the hiring process, training, and job assignments. The company's Human resource MIS is in charge of payroll and medical care for its employees.

Benefits
o

Management information system helps companies keep track of its resources and stay organized. MIS allows managers to make different types of reports about a company activities. Managers can print a report that show a companies daily activities, how products or sold or services being used and use reports to make future business decisions.

Benefits

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Improves personal efficiency Expedites problem solving(speed up the progress of problems solving in an organization) Facilitates interpersonal communication Promotes learning or training Increases organizational control Generates new evidence in support of a decision Creates a competitive advantage over competition Encourages exploration and discovery on the part of the decision maker Reveals new approaches to thinking about the problem space Helps automate the Managerial processes.

Defn: dss: Decision Support Systems (DSS) are a specific class of computerized information systems that supports business and organizational decision-making activities Definition: Management Information Systems (MIS) is the term given to the discipline focused on the integration of computer systems with the aims and objectives on an organisation. It does the following function . - sub serves managerial function - collects stores , evaluates information systematically and routinely - supports planning and control decisions - Includes files , hardware , software , software and operations research models It Facilitates planning In Minimizes information overload MIS Encourages Decentralization It brings Co ordination It makes control easier MIS assembles, process , stores , Retrieves , evaluates and Disseminates the information

More on EDP Electronic Data Processing (EDP) can refer to the use of automated methods to process commercial data. Typically, this uses relatively simple, repetitive activities to process large volumes of similar information. For example: stock updates applied to an inventory, banking transactions applied to account and customer master files, booking and ticketing transactions to an airline's reservation system, billing for utility services.

Data is information and can include anything from alphanumeric characters to dates, equations, and multimedia. Data processing is one of the steps in the information processing cycle and comes after data is acquired, entered, and validated. Data processing was originally done by individuals and incrementally, using punched tapes or tabulating cards or other methods. electronic data processing (EDP), also called automatic data processing (ADP) or information processing, is automated use of computer technology for the purpose of processing data, whether in classifying, recording, summarizing, or manipulating it. Originally, electronic data processing was the term used to cover the entire field of computers and their activities. The first scientific computer that IBM made available commercially wasnt called a computer: it was named the IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machines machines, plural because it was composed of 11 interconnected units; it was later known as the 701 Data Processing System. Additionally, Electronic Data Processing was the original name of Honeywell, Inc. from 19601963.

Electronic data processing coverage, also called EDP coverage, is insurance that is focused on covering the equipment, software that was developed in-house, damage or loss of data, and resulting loss of income. Prepackaged software is not generally covered. Since damage to electronic data processing equipment and electronic data may result from electronic, changes in temperature and humidity, and magnetic disturbances, and since these are excluded in standard policy coverage, they need to be specially elected. Portable computing devices, projectors, and peripherals, can be included in the coverage. A separate kind of computer virus and hacking coverage is also available as part of EDP coverage. Two branches of the US Armed Forces, the Marine Corps and the Air Force, offer an exam called the Electronic Data Processing Test (EDPT) as a way to determine aptitude for computer programming or technical applications specialties. It is offered at the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS). The EDPT is not offered until the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) the entrance exam given in order to enlist in the United States Military has been completed. A score of 71 is required for the Air Force and 50 for the Marine Corps in order to qualify for the jobs. Retest is possible, but only after a six-month waiting period.

As with other industrial processes commercial IT has moved in all respects from a bespoke, craft-based industry where the product was tailored to fit the customer; to multi-use components taken off the shelf to find the best-fit in any situation. Mass-production has greatly reduced costs and IT is available to the smallest company. LEO was hardware tailored for a single client. Today, Intel Pentium and compatible chips are standard and become parts of other components which are combined as needed. One individual change of note was the freeing of computers and removable storage from protected, air-filtered environments. Microsoft and IBM at various times have been influential enough to impose order on IT and the resultant standardizations allowed specialist software to flourish. Software is available off the shelf: apart from Microsoft products such as Office, or Lotus, there are also specialist packages for payroll and personnel management, account maintenance and customer management, to name a few.

These are highly specialized and intricate components of larger environments, but they rely upon common conventions and interfaces. Data storage has also standardized. Relational databases are developed by different suppliers to common formats and conventions. Common file formats can be shared by large main-frames and desk-top personal computers, allowing online, real time input and validation. In parallel, software development has fragmented. There are still specialist technicians, but these increasingly use standardized methodologies where outcomes are predictable and accessible. At the other end of the scale, any office manager can dabble in spreadsheets or databases and obtain acceptable results (but there are risks).Specialized software is software that is written for a specific task rather for a broad application area. These programs provide facilities specifically for the purpose for which they were designed.

Supply Chain Management

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN RETAILING Supply Chain Management (SCM) is an end-to-end process in merchandise planning and movement, from planning the inventory to the point of reaching the merchandise to the customers. SCM is and integrated process where every activity is interlinked with the system for information throughout the cycle time of each step of the process so that timely action can be taken.
RELATED ARTICLES

Financial Supply Chain Management An Overview Of Supply Chain Management SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT Supply Chain Management Software To help support your supply chain infrastructure Integrated Supply Chain: The end to end integration of all supply chain elements and functions are achieved by applying interlinked packages for perfect information management. The integrated supply chain starts from the design stage at the vendor level to the time when there is consumer response at the retail stage. The benefits of having an integrated supply chain are many, including achieving the best delivery performance, reduction in inventory, faster fulfillment of cycle time, accuracy in forecasts, lower supply chain costs, improvement in overall productivity, improvement in capacity utilization, and so on. VENDOR MANAGEMENT: Efficient Vendor Management involves selecting the right vendors capable of giving the right quality of merchandise and meeting delivery deadlines. Besides , they should be able to deliver the right quantities as well, so that the retailer can get the right hit ratio'. The right hit ratio measures the gap between delivery and purchase orders and helps eliminate backlog in deliveries. In achain store scenario, vendors directly delivering to stores are an important element in attaining good supply chain efficiency. The vendors directly manage inventories in a few retail organizations. Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) is ideal for retail organizations as it totally eliminates inventory-carrying costs. Here, vendors manage the inventory at every store, monitoring the flow of information and ensuring just-in-time deliveries. The vendors are able to take slow-selling and non-moving merchandise, thus reducing the scope for mark-down losses for the store. ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (EDI):

It helps in establishing an efficient information flow on stock movement, and the vendors get to know of sales and inventories instantaneously. Reorder supplies are immediately planned and executed by the vendors following acceptable norms. This process eliminates the time taken to exchange documents for placing orders, thus achieving just-in-time inventory management. EDI is done through web-enabled servers or with the help of the organization's Enterprise Resource Planning package that interacts with the vendor's systems.
AdChoices

WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT: The retail warehouse or the distribution centre performs the functions of receiving the ordered stocks; checking for the right quality, quantity and price; temporary storing and docking; tagging the merchandise with both the MRP and security tags; preparing and readying the merchandise; transporting the merchandise; receiving goods returned from retail stores, if any; and sending returned merchandise to vendors back as returns or for refinishing. GOODS RECEIVED NOTE (GRN): It is prepared when the merchandise received at the warehouse from suppliers /vendors is checked and matched with the relevant purchase order(po) after certifying all the elements of quality, quantity, etc. The GRN is then automatically recognized by the system after authorization for payment to the vendor by the accounts department. The merchandise is then docked and tagged with bar codes and price tags if applicable. If the bar coding for MRP has already been done by the vendor, it saves a great deal of time for the retail organization. Then , only the security tagging needs to be done at the warehouse. INTER-TRANSFER NOTE (ITN):

This is made when the prepared and readied merchandise is supplied to the retail stores. The reverse ITN (ITN out) is prepared when goods are sent back to the warehouse by the retail store. Goods that are returned to the warehouse are then sent back to the suppliers and vendors. The system recognizes the same and raises a debit note to the vendors. TRANSPORTATION: It is done according to timely delivery schedules so that replenishments are delivered as per the plan. Cost efficiency and reduction in delivery time are critical success factors in transportation. EFFICIENT DOCKING: This plan ensures the best utilization of space. Docking also ensures that the First In First Out(FIFO) delivery plan is followed so that ageing of merchandise in the warehouse is kept to the minimum. MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENT: Material Handling Equipment in the warehouse should be tailored for specific varieties of merchandise. At a micro level of handling , most of the time garments are delivered by hangers and sometimes by the browser itself in a ready-to sell state.

Footfall
The number of people visiting a shop or a chain of shops in a period of time is called its footfall. Footfall is an important indicator of how successfully a company's marketing, brand and format are bring people into its shops. Footfall is an indicator of the reach a retailer has, but footfall needs to be converted into sales and this is not guaranteed to happen. Many retailers have struggled to turn high footfall into sales. Trends in footfall do tell investors something useful. They may be an indicator of growth and help investors to understand why a retailer's sales growth (or decline) is happening. Investors may want to know whether sales growth due to an increase in the number of people entering the shops (footfall) or more success at turning visitors into buyers (which can be seen by comparing footfall to the number of transactions). Sales growth may also come from selling more items to each buyer (compare number of transactions to sales volumes), selling more expensive items (an improvement in the sales mix), or increasing prices. Which of these numbers is disclosed varies from company to company. Investors should look at whatever is available.

9 Tips To Increase Footfall In Retail

Wednesday, 22 June 2011Written by

Fardad Amirsaeedi

Category Strategy How does everyone else do it and make it look so easy? Setting up a retail businessoften means significant

regular costs that can feel like a cloud permanently overhead waiting to open up and drench you! This burden puts a great deal of pressure on the cash flow and the ability to maintain moral.
Fortunately Cuadros and Fresh Feet have already identified this and are looking toresolve it using various tactics... The following tips should aid to focus on the values and benefits offered by you. 1. Be extraordinary in your visual presence. Your ability to trigger peoples imagination long enough to stop in curiosity is often enough to get them to step inside. 2. Make a feature of the window space or free standing signage but ensure to change it regularlywith interesting new ideas or attractions relevant to your service/ product. 3. Get interactive and step outside and greet people, maybe hand out info packs, special offers,setup mini stalls in high profile locations, give event invitations or any other micro campaigns you are running at the time. 4. Call to action and be distinctive in your brand and communication and allow your audience to understand

clearly and simply what you stand for and how they can benefit from your offer. Brand and message
confusion can cause uncertainty which often results as a repellent. The client journeystarts well before they enter your outlet. 5. Be convenient and make sure people know you exist, have a launch or re-launch. Offermultiple ways to access your offer e.g. mail order, ecommerce, after hours and weekend opening, trial offers, pre-orders notifications, telephone bookings, delivery, parking for visitors and the list goes on. 6. Make it easy to buy from you. Provide your clients with payment options to incentivise the purchase and become a closer match to the preferred buying pattern/choice of the consumer. 7. Try new things and be relevant to the desired audience. Sometimes the most unusual tactics get the desired results but you may need to go through a variety before identifying what works for you. 8. Select a high traffic location. It sounds obvious but location is king. However the costs can be prohibitive so a creative approach maybe needed. For example: a collaborative relationship with other businesses to co-

habit a particularly well located shop (temporarily, permanently or even mobile) to retail complimentary
products or services, spreading the risk/costs and direct people toyour main outlet. 9. Learn from the best and gain some ideas. You do not need to reinvent the wheel or innovate to succeed. For example supermarkets and department stores often make use of smell or organics tomotivate purchase and trigger positive emotional reaction. This is done by placing the fruit and veg on entry in a supermarket or perfume and cosmetics stalls near entry doorways in a department store.

Top tips for increasing footfall

By Josh Hall

18 August 2010

Increasing footfall is a key part of any retail businesss expansion plan. Growth in footfall is vital if you are to achieve your long-term goals, and maximise your profits.

But getting people through the door can be a tricky proposition. In such a competitive retail environment, how can you encourage punters to choose your business?

1. Tidy up your shop front

Competition on the High Street is fierce. Indeed, in the current climate retailers are battling for every last customer. So, it is vital that you make your premises as attractive as possible.

You can often see big increases in footfall by making very marginal changes. Something as simple as leaving the front door of your shop open can help to make you seem more approachable, and encourage customers to enter.

You should also make sure that any window displays are as smart as they can be, and in keeping with the season. Make sure that you change displays every few weeks, and that seasonal items are removed as soon as they are no longer relevant. If you have a Christmas display up in February, there is something wrong.

2. Partner with local businesses

It is common for retailers to presume that they are necessarily in competition with every other business in their area. This may not be the case. Instead, you might well be able to benefit from partnerships with other local businesses.

Think about ways that you can build relationships with customers of other, related businesses in your area. For example, if you sell musical instruments, consider asking your local record shop if you can put some leaflets by their point of sale and offer to do the same in return. This customer cross-over can be mutually beneficial, and will help to increase awareness of your business in the area.

3. Move into the street

Many retailers presume that they are limited by the four walls of their premises but there is nothing to stop you heading out onto the street in search of customers. If your products are easy to demonstrate, think about offering samples or examples to passers-by. This is particularly useful (and easy) for retailers offering food or drink just think about how popular free coffee samples are outside major chains.

Meeting customers on the street can be a great way of enticing them into your shop, and building brand awareness at the same time.

4. Build customer loyalty

Loyalty schemes are a great way of increasing footfall amongst existing customers. Repeat customers are the bedrock of any successful business, so you should consider ways that you can encourage customer loyalty.

You can increase repeat business by offering discounts or incentives to returning customers. For example, you might choose to offer a discount on a customers fifth or tenth purchase. Schemes of this sort are particularly useful for businesses that have direct competitors in the area, as they help to differentiate your firm.

5. Consider your offering

Of course, it is no good increasing footfall if you are not entirely confident about the products or services you are offering. It doesnt matter how many customers you get through the door if they dont find what they want, they wont come back.

You should therefore make sure that you are entirely happy with the products or services on offer in your shop. If you are unsure, consider making a visit to a competitor to see what they are offering. Some quick research of this kind can significantly improve your sales rates.

6. Boost your marketing

Finally, it is important that potential customers know who you are, and where to find you. In order to achieve this you need to make sure that your marketing efforts are as comprehensive and as targeted as possible.

If the majority of your business is conducted through bricks-and-mortar premises, consider ways that you can target your marketing to the local community. This might be through direct mail, adverts in local papers, or geo-targeted online marketing.

Increasing awareness of your retail business is key to increasing footfall and yet it is often overlooked by business owners.

Merchandise Management
With a merchandise and retail inventory management solution from Retail Anywhere, you can efficiently analyze, order, price, and distribute inventory across your channels. Having the right inventory at the right place at the right time while optimizing for promotion and pricing of products maximizes sales and reduces the need for future markdowns, giving you an efficient omni-channel strategy. Retail Anywhere delivers a real-time retail inventory management solution through NetSuites cloudbased ERP platform. With our integrated inventory management solution, manage product allocation to define and maintain accurate retail inventory distribution and track replenishment cycles all from one place to automate ordering, prevent excess, and stop product shortages. You can automatically calculate inventory-order points and preferred stock levels by item and location, and automatically create purchase orders to maintain these levels as a part of your omni-channel strategy.

Create An Omni-Channel Strategy With Seamless Merchandise Management from Retail Anywhere:
Minimize out-of-stocks, lost sales, overstocks, and markdowns Access real-time, detailed views of inventory across stores and channels Perform physical inventory, cycle counts, and do item adjustments Manage and optimize for style, color, and size Significantly improve relationships with suppliers, vendors and partners by providing self-service capabilities and real-time visibility Slash inventory costs by tightening control of stock levels Calculate demand plans leveraging historical data or sales forecasts Model how expected sales and purchase orders affect future inventory levels Handle bin and lot management, landed cost, demand-based replenishment, customer and volume pricing, multi-location inventory, and more Seamlessly integrate for omni-channel retailing with best-of-breed Planning and Open-to-Buy solutions Our integrated retail inventory management solution delivers a 360-degree view of every SKU - its pricing, available inventory, preferred vendors, order history, and much more. Improve all aspects of your merchandising and inventory management with help from Retail Anywhere.

Merchandising
Retail Merchandising refers to the various activities which contribute to the sale of products to the consumers for their end Merchandising helps in the attractive display of the products at the store in order to increase their sale and generate
revenues for the retail store.

use. Every retail store has its own line of merchandise to offer to the customers. The display of the merchandise plays an important role in attracting the customers into the store and prompting them to purchase as well.

Merchandising helps in the sensible presentation of the products available for sale to entice the customers and make them
brand loyalist.

Promotional Merchandising
The ways the products are displayed and stocked on the shelves play an important role in influencing
the buying behavior of the individuals. A merchandiser maximizes the sale of the products by:

Attractive packaging
The packaging of the merchandise goes a long way in improving the brand value of the product. A product kept in a nice box would definitely catch the attention of the customers.

Impressive presentation of the Product

The display of the products at the retail store must entice the customers. The merchandiser in coordination with the store manager must ensure that the products are according to the season as well as latest trends. The merchandiser must:

Source something which is unique and not available at any other retail store. Never compromise on quality of the merchandise. Compromising on quality costs later. Source merchandise as per the season and climate.
By mid of August and early September, the summer merchandise is generally on a close out and stores begin stocking merchandise for the winter season. Warm clothing, full sleeves apparels, jackets, pullovers start replacing cut sleeves, capris, ankle length dresses, shorts and so on. Colourful clothes dominate the shelves as compared to the subtle colours in summers. The type of product sourced also depends on the climatic conditions of the place. A Reebok store in Central India or Southern India would stock summer merchandise between April to September whereas a retail store under the same brand somewhere in a cold area would source woollen merchandise along with summer clothing as per the demand of the season. Unique Pricing (Discounts) Attractive prices, discounts, rebates also bring customers to the store. Promotional schemes, gifts Coupons and attractive gifts make shopping a pleasurable experience for the customers. Merchandising Tips

The merchandiser must source products according to the latest trends and season. The merchandise should be as per the age, sex and taste of the target market. Merchandise for children should be in line with cartoon characters (like Barbie, Pokemon etc) to
excite them. Creative Portico Pvt Ltd sources bed sheets, curtains specially inspired from characters (Disney, Harry Porter, Hannah Montana) - a hit amongst kids. Youngsters prefer funky clothes (colourful T Shirts, faded denims) as compared to professionals who would go for subtle colours. The target market of Zodiac Clothing Company Limited mainly comprises of office goers and professionals. The merchandise (shirts, trousers, neck ties, belts) is as per the taste of the professionals. Beach house shirts would have no takers in such a store.

 The merchandiser ideally works on the invariant right principle.

Since most of us are right handed, it is a common tendency that customers entering into retail store would first go towards the right side of the store. The merchandiser should display the unique and expensive collections on the right side of the store to entice the customers.

The set up of the store should be such that once a customer enters into a store, he has to walk
through each and every department.

The shelves should be stocked with the latest trends. The merchandise should be well organized on
the racks according to their size and pattern.

It is the key responsibility of the merchandiser to create an attractive display to pull the customers
into the store. Once the customer steps into the store, he would definitely buy something or the other.