Discuss about the POS System for Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery.
The case study given in this report is a small business and a garden center known as Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery in Colorado. The nursery is a small business and deals with its own inventory and sales within itself. As their business is increasing, more number of employees associates with the business. The employees find it difficult to maintain all their inventory and sales record manually (Willcocks 2013). The nursery uses manual registers so that they can track the inventory and also maintain the sales production in the company. The profit register is also maintained manually in registers. It was seen that their percentage of profit was very negligible or they were running for loss. They were not able to manage all their operations in their business. The employees were not able to track their individual products. To mitigate all these problems, the company can implement the POS system which helps them to deal with all such problems. The Point-of-Scale system helps the user to track all their inventory records as well as transaction of sales. The system of POS helps to store all the data and process the system which is difficult to track manually.
This report elaborates all such properties of POS system including the advantage sand the disadvantages of POS system. The POS system also enhances competitive advantages within the organization. The nursery also can use central database system for storing all their data. The advantages of central database system are also highlighted in this report. The POS system also facilitates decision making in the company. Since, all the system has a good effect as well as negative effect, there are some risks of implementing POS system in their business. This report also recommends tele-communication network for the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery.
There are certain advantages of POS system. The system of POS is very accurate, and helps to maintain the inventory. The POS system helps to scan all the data which is not possible in traditional method. The scanning method is much more accurate than other traditional method. It is not possible for the cashier to remember the cost of all the items. The POS system helps to do all these operations easily (Cassidy 2016). The POS system also manages the inventory, flag the items for reordering, and analyze the pattern of sales. The terminal of the POS system can also be networked with all other terminals and can be networked to a server situated in the back room or at some other locations. The POS system can be handled with devices that are connected wirelessly having a link with the main system. All the operation carried out in the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery can be monitored and managed by the POS system and can be changed over time if needed. The most important advantage of POS is that the POS system can be used instead of a cash box or instead of using a cash register. The manual process of handling the cash is a difficult process. The POS generated system helps to keep a detailed sales report of the business that is carried out in the nursery (Galliersand Leidner 2014). All the items that are sold from the nursery, time period of the product, promotions that are made within the organization, all such details are stored in the POS system. This will help the manager of Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery to buy the amount of inventory that is actually needed and save from running at loss.
There are also certain disadvantages of using the POS system. The cost of POS system is relatively high as compared to other traditional processes. The POS helps in connecting to a single network to a very large network including information that are not convenient or are unavailable for accessing (Arvidsson, Holmström, and Lyytinen 2014). This creates negativity for the business that involves POS system in them. Many organizations use the web-based system instead of using software-based system to mitigate this disadvantage of POS. There are also many security risks of using the POS system. The customers who use credit and debit cards for transaction in POS system, faces a risk of displaying their pins to other involved customers.
The software of POS expedite all the transactions so that they can keep a turning line with an increased pace. The POS systems that are cloud based helps to eliminate all line turning entirely and also allows the associates of the sales so that they can complete their transaction with iPads. The POS can give the company of Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery to report the sales hourly, which can help the nursery to find out when to work with more people and when not to. This gives an advantage in the competitive market (Xu and Bélanger 2013). The POS system enables the company to market their sales across many numbers of channels very quickly, helping them to stay fresh in the minds of customers. Competitive advantage can be enhanced by POS system by keeping a track of all the items that are being sold out from the company and that are waiting in the store.
There are many advantages of centralized database. The advantages are as follows:
Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery maintain the accuracy of the POS system. The POS system helps in decision-making and helps in product synchronizing. The nursery can give order for the products with the help of POS on assumption basis and on speculation basis. If the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery uses the POS system in their business, they can make proper decision about what to buy and what not to buy (Sabherwal, Hirschheimand Goles 2013). Previously the company used to maintain all their records of accomplishment by manual registers. The POS system helps to make exact decision about the inventory and the products that are being sold by the company. The service that is provided by the POS system is very effective and is considered as error free. The nursery was running for loss because it was not able to maintain its inventory and was not able to detect the amount of raw materials they were needed for the company for the production. The POS system can acknowledge maximum profit.
The network that can be recommended for Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery is Wide Area Network (WAN). For accessing a file by any employee in the nursery, WAN is the best network practice for doing service very fast. The employees associated with Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery can easily utilize all the files that are stored in the POS system (Peppardand Ward 2016). The Wide Area Network also enhances wireless communication among all the devices that are connected with the main system. Inspite of the distance between different centers of the company, the WAN network helps to reduce the distance between them as the employees can get access to all their data from anywhere they like to access from. The application performance is generally improved by WAN network. The WAN network also reduces the cost of equipments that are involved in the system.
Wireless connection is best for Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery for the WAN network. All the employees of Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery can be connected together by the help of wireless network (Snyder and Diesing 2015). Without the lose of internet connection, the employees in the nursery can work anywhere and at anytime. All can work efficiently in the company with the help of wireless WAN network. The wireless connectivity is generally helps to access the information in the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery.
Security- The network of Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery can be made insecure which is generally considered as a threat for the nursery. The network should be made strong enough so that it cannot be hacked by any intruder. The database of the company should be made secured so that they can make their system vulnerable. Anti-virus installation in all the systems is to be done on an urgent basis so that the security of the system is ensured. The antivirus helps to protect the network of the company (Snyder and Diesing 2015). Security should be given to the network so that the attacker does not get access to the information of the company. The firewall of the anti-virus helps to protect the network from any type of potential virus or any type of malware.
Confidentiality- There should be confidentiality of the data in a network system of Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery (Ifinedo 2014). The data involved with the nursery are to be kept safe with the POS system. There is always a risk of data hacking in a company with all the networks related with the system. The data should be kept confidential within the company. With less data confidentiality, there is a chance of data breach in the company. Financial loss and loss of employee data are serious issues in a company.
Conclusion
In this report, the details of POS are highlighted for Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery. The nursery is presently working with manual registers for tracking their inventory controls and sales. This report highlights the advantages and the disadvantages of the POS system that may affect the nursery. For the nursery, it is suggested to have a WAN network connection with wireless media transmission. It is also recommended to implement a centralized database and the advantages of the centralize database are discussed in this report
References
Arvidsson, V., Holmström, J. and Lyytinen, K., 2014. Information systems use as strategy practice: A multi-dimensional view of strategic information system implementation and use. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 23(1), pp.45-61.
Cassidy, A., 2016. A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. CRC press.
Galliers, R.D. and Leidner, D.E. eds., 2014. Strategic information management: challenges and strategies in managing information systems. Routledge.
Ifinedo, P., 2014. Information systems security policy compliance: An empirical study of the effects of socialisation, influence, and cognition. Information & Management, 51(1), pp.69-79.
Kavanagh, M.J. and Johnson, R.D. eds., 2017. Human resource information systems: Basics, applications, and future directions. Sage Publications.
Pearlson, K.E., Saunders, C.S. and Galletta, D.F., 2016. Managing and Using Information Systems, Binder Ready Version: A Strategic Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Peppard, J. and Ward, J., 2016. The strategic management of information systems: Building a digital strategy. John Wiley & Sons.
Sabherwal, R., Hirschheim, R. and Goles, T., 2013. 11 Information Systems—Business Strategy Alignment The dynamics of alignment: insights from a punctuated equilibrium model. Strategic Information Management, p.311.
Snyder, G.H. and Diesing, P., 2015. Conflict among nations: Bargaining, decision making, and system structure in international crises. Princeton University Press.
Tsang, E.W., 2014. Case studies and generalization in information systems research: A critical realist perspective. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 23(2), pp.174-186.
Willcocks, L., 2013. Information management: the evaluation of information systems investments. Springer.
Xu, H. and Bélanger, F., 2013. Information systems journal special issue on: Reframing privacy in a networked world. Information systems journal, 23(4), pp.371-375
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