APPLICATION OF

OPERATIONAL
INFORMATION
SYSTEMS

TASKS

Pay cheques are calculated, printed &

distributed each week
Sales invoices are verified, calculated,
printed and mailed each month
Purchase orders are verified, calculated,
printed and mailed each day
Potential customers are identified and called
each day

OPERATIONAL IS (TPS)

IS perform or support completion

of these tasks

Operational IS produce routine,

repetitive, descriptive, expected
and objective data that describe
past activities

OPERATIONAL IS / TPS

Information produced

Usually detailed
Highly structured
Accurate
Derived from internal sources
Produced regularly

MANAGEMENT ADVANTAGES

Increases efficiency
Run faster
Require less personnel than other manual
sys.
Several benefits
Reduced

cost
Increased speed
Increased accuracy
Increased customer service
Increased data for decision making

HOW AN ON-LINE ORDER-ENTRY

SYS. WORKS
To illustrate how an on-line order-entry sys. works,
lets examine how a manufacturing firm might use
one to process orders. At this firm, salespeople
with notebook computers equipped with modems
are responsible for entering customer orders at the
customer site. To create an order, salespeople
bring up an order-entry screen like the one shown.
The salespeople enter the customers name, and the
computer sys. at the home office supplies the
customers number, address, city, state, pin code
and credit terms in the correct places on the
screen. The order-entry sys. obtains these data
from the accounts receivable sys.

HOW AN ON-LINE ORDER-ENTRY

SYS. WORKS
The salespeople then enter the stock number of
each item the customer orders. The order-entry
sys. obtains the stock name, stock description, and
price for each item from the inventory sys. and
displays these data on the screen. When the
salespeople enter the quantity ordered, the
inventory sys. is queried to determine if enough
stock is on hand to fill the order.
The salespeople continue this sequence of entries
and responses until the last item ordered has been
entered. Then the order-entry sys. immediately
subtotals the order and verifies that the
customers credit is good.

HOW AN ON-LINE ORDER-ENTRY

SYS. WORKS
It then produces immediately, at the
appropriately located printer, a picking slip
for warehouse personnel to use to fill the
order from inventory shelves, a mailing label
for the carton, and a packing slip to be
included in the carton with the completed
order. The accounts receivable sys. then uses
the completed sales order to bill the cust.
and create and print the sales invoice.

OPERATIONAL MARKETING IS

Basic goal satisfy needs & wants of

customers
Sales systems
Advertising systems
Sales promotion systems
Warehousing systems
Pricing systems
To be effective coordinate with other
organizational IS like purchasing sys., inv.
sys., accounts receivable sys., order-entry
sys.

IT

Increased productivity of salespeople

Helped firms manage customers better
Locate prospective customers
Customize marketing efforts to specific
groups and individuals
Reduce costs
Widened reach of many organizations
Also captures data useful for tactical &
strategic decisions

SALES FORCE AUTOMATION

SYSTEMS

Designed to increase productivity of sales people

Usual Sales Activities
Identifying

potential cust.
Contacting cust.
Calling on cust.
Making sales pitches
Closing sales
Following up on sales

Supports administrative tasks of salespeople

Customer

contact management
Customer call reports
Travel expense reports

SALES FORCE AUTOMATION

SYSTEMS

Support Sales process

Managing

sales cycle
Providing electronic catologs
Providing electronic sales presentations

PROSPECT INFORMATION
SYSTEM

Locating potential customers

Files of sales leads prospects files easier to search
or summarize
Electronic directory databases source of sales leads
Outputs of prospect information systems
Lists

of
Lists of
Lists of
Lists of

prospects
prospects
prospects
prospects

by
by
by
by

location
category
income
other classifications

Online databases provide prospect information

Searched

by database query software or plotted by

mapping software

CONTACT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Provide information to sales force pertaining

to customers, product or service
preferences, sales history data & historical
record of sales calls/visits
Output Call report
No.

of sales calls made by salesperson

No./amount of sales made per customer, per
visits, per category

CONTACT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Identify cust. who prefer certain types of

prods. or who may be ready to purchase
accessories for previous purchases
Sorting dates of previous visits identify
cust. who may be running out of prod. and
need to place another order
When stock has been placed on sale notify
cust. who are interested in or who regularly
purchase these items

OTHER SALES FORCE

AUTOMATION SYSTEMS

Also provide support for other routine,

repetitive salesperson activities
Travel

expense reports
Appointment calendars
Telephone & address details
Sales letter creation & distribution
Email & fax

Internet access info. on industry,

competitors and customers

MICROMARKETING & DATA

WAREHOUSE SYS.

Micromarketing Pitching sales or advertising

campaigns to narrowly defined customer targets
Can be used identify & target specific
prospects from large databases
Avoids waste of resources
Requires Data Warehouse
Purpose of data mining
Identify

new marketing opportunities

To allow marketing deptt. To focus on sales,
advertising & promotional campaigns on market
niches

TELEMARKETING SYSTEMS
Use of telephone to sell
products & services
Improve productivity of sales
force
Has allowed firms to increase
sales and gain market share
while decreasing costs per sale

DIRECT MAIL ADVERTISING

SYSTEMS

Generate sales by mailing

sales brochures & catalogs
directly to customers
Customer mailing lists are
maintained

POINT-OF-SALE SYSTEMS

POS sys. Capture data about orders at point

of sale
Info. From POS input to financial acctg.
Sys. input to marketing info. Sys.
POS sys. provide immediate updates to
sales & inventory sys. & allow firms to
monitor sales trends
Provide cust. With terminals

DELIVERY TRACKING & ROUTING

SYS.

Delivery systems place small satellite dishes on

delivery vehicles & use GPS to monitor movement &
location

Some firms even provide customers with tracking

system software to monitor status of their

packages

Firms route delivery vehicles most efficient

manner
Lay

out deliveries on electronic map & then have

mapping software identify best routes for delivery
vehicles save firms great deal of time & money

FedEx lets customers use Website on Internet to

track their packages

ELECTRONIC SHOPPING &

ADVERTISING

Virtual shopping(electronic shopping)

Interspace

technology Virtual env. shared by

many users & in which they can interact

Virtual stores & malls

Electronic kiosks
Kiosks

computer terminals placed in walls or

other structures on streets and public places
Used for marketing purposes multimedia
presentations & electronic catalogs, CBT
Provide 24-hr access to prods. & prod. info. to
customers

Internet advertising

ASSIGNMENT
Use an Internet search tool to identify two
Contact Management software programs.
Note the features of each program, including
its cost. Create a memo to your boss, Sales
Manager, comparing the two programs,
recommending one to purchase, and
justifying the software in terms of sales force
productivity. Include the Web site addresses
you used as references.

RALSTON ELECTRIC COMPANY

Melinda Kaikati, a sales manager for Ralston
Electric company is considering providing computer
support for her sales personnel. Her salespeople
sell electric motors to manufacturing firms in seven
Midwestern states and spend most of their time on
the road. Most of them live in the area they serve.
While on the road, salespeople telephone in orders
to order clerks located at the main office who use
terminals connected to the firms mainframe. This
system allows the salespeople to confirm
immediately that enough stock is on hand to meet
each order and that the customers credit is
satisfactory.

RALSTON ELECTRIC COMPANY

Ms. Kaikati wants to know if there is computer
support that she can provide to her salespeople
to help them manage their sales activities so as
to improve their productivity and performance.
Ms. Kaikati as asked you for help.
Provide Ms. Kaikati with a list of potential
operational-level information systems
applications that might help her salespeople
manage their everyday sales activities more
efficiently and productively. For each application,
describe how the application will improve the
productivity and performance of the sales force.