Experience of Mosque Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Experience of Mosque - Assignment Example I visited the ICM on Friday and went to ‘Jumuah’ petition at 1.30 pm. In addition, I experienced the petition schedule to discover the specific time of ‘Jumuah’ on the grounds that my strict confidence is not quite the same as Islam. In addition, this helped me to go to the congregational petition that began at 2.00 pm. One can see that mosques are overwhelmed by devotees on Fridays. Along these lines, I left my vehicle at Lot ST8 and strolled to the ICM. Entering the mosque, I saw that the greater part of the guests are understudies. Additionally, the main recognizable contrast in dress is the top or ‘Taqiyah’. In any case, a large portion of the guests were not wearing ‘Taqiyah’. Also, jeans and shirt/shirt is the normal dress among the guests. Along these lines, one can see that there is no exacting clothing standard executed by the specialists in light of the fact that a large portion of the adherents are understudies. The mosque’s outside isn't so not the same as different structures in the area. To be explicit, the outside doesn't speak to the customary mosques in the Middle East. Entering the mosque, I saw that the fundamental corridor utilized for supplication intention is emblematic of present day development in light of the fact that there are less images or pictures that imply Islamic engineering. Yet, the main distinction is that there is a different office for womenfolk to implore. Additio nally, the recognizable image of Islamic design inside ICM is the ‘minaret’ type distension on the structure. As the devotees know about the guidelines inside mosque premises, there are no exacting standards to be followed at ICM. Moreover, quiet during supplication time, legitimate dressing, ‘hijab’ (state, for womenfolk) are general standards. My discussion with an African American and an Indonesian understudy demonstrates that they feel happy with the petition administrations at the ICM. Still the discussion shed light into the contrasts among Islamic and Christian beliefs. Renard (2011) states that, â€Å"In actuality, a Christian going to administrations on Sunday could

Buddhism Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Buddhism Reflection - Essay Example It is a result of this advancement and changing ways of thinking that creates turmoil with regards to better understanding the basic elements associated with the journey of man to accomplish self-salvation. In the first place, the greater part of the ways of thinking are joined in the possibility that there are 4 Noble Truths that can control the lifestyle of an individual who is planning to accomplish Nirvana or a Buddha like status of self-salvation. These four certainties incorporate (â€Å"Buddhas Four Noble Truths†) : Recognizing the previously mentioned realities of Buddha is the start of edification of an individual. Through contemplation, self-assessment, and self-reflection, one can find when of life he is at comparable to the four certainties and simultaneously, assist him with examining how he may push ahead from his present purpose of being. Just by developing as an individual, through the accomplishment of the four certainties can an individual case to have accomplished self-salvation. Notwithstanding which way of thinking you buy in to in Buddhism, be it the India or Chinese based school of proselytyzing, the objective of each school is the equivalent, individual salvation. A feeling of salvation that originates from inside an individual who, through the modifying of his lifestyle, has at long last figured out how to liberate himself from the requirements of the material world so as to accomplish a higher feeling of scholarly and otherworldly accomplishment. This specific feeling of salvation must be reached by the individual once he acknowledges that our reality isn't changeless and subsequently, ought not be clung to. This will at that point permit an individual to clean his musings and activities with an end goal to accomplish a Zen like status throughout everyday life. The Four Noble Truths that direct the way of a Buddhist is the thing that likewise encourages him disentangle how he can develop himself so as to profit others. Buddhism, as I would like to think, once saw from the perspective of an advantageous, aware connection between people, drives us to

I like romantic things like music and art

I like romantic things like music and art DID YOU KNOW? Andre 3000, from OutKast, has a son (by Erykah Badu) named Seven. I wonder if that makes his name 73000? Dre was also named Sexiest Vegetarian of the Year 2004 by PETA. So maybe one of these days youll go to an information session at an ivy league university, or maybe youll be watching something on television, or Weird Als White and Nerdy on YouTube, or maybe youll be just sitting around the table with your parents having frank and open discussions of your future and college plans, and youll hear something that might make you think MIT students just sit around all day culturing cells and building killer death robots and putting fire engines on the top of buildings, and although all of those are kind of cool, they end up not knowing anything about the fine arts or history or any of that lame-o stuff. Well, today I woke up at 8 AM to start sweating the onions for my award-winning apple cream of butternut squash soup. It was time for the nth annual Burton-Conner Apple Bake, a culinary competition for which my floor routinely cranks out about a third of the dishes and takes home about a half of the prize money and though I didnt go quite as crazy as last year, I still found time to present a total of 6 dishes for tasting and judgment. I was incensed that my SAM: Spaghetti, Apple, and Meatballs didnt win the award for most creative dish, especially considering I used the super-secret Sams Moms family meatball recipe and executed it fairly faithfully. But, to paraphrase Martin Scorcese when he lost the academy award to Three 6 Mafia, We should feel lucky that we even get to bake apples anymore. But I didnt even have time to go accept my award for the soup! No no, as soon as I was finished with that (and pulling some flaming apple hamentaschen out of the oven) I had to jump on my bike and race halfway across campus to a practice room so I could work on a performance of Bachs Ricercare a 6 from A Musical Offering. Now, since I kind of suck at piano, Im one of six people working together to play this Ricercare tomorrow in 21M.500: Senior Seminar in Music, but since Ive never worked in a small group on music like this, its actually a pretty cool opportunity. Hopefully Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer John Harbison will be really tired and wont notice that I get lost every ten measures or so. And now Im writing a blog entry to you just to put off the fact that I have to study 20th-century German economic history, from arbeitsloesigkeit to bargeldlose wirtschaft for a quiz tomorrow for which I am woefully unprepared. Heck, the only time I even spent in lab today was when I snuck over to my UROP to steal an industrial-strength heat gun so I could melt the sugar on the top of my apple crv ®me brv?lv ©e. And OF COURSE I made Laura take a picture, which you will see soon enough.

The Mechanisms Employed by an Individual to Enjoy Profound Benefits by Proper Utility of the Challenges Free Essay Example, 1750 words

People s perception of failure and weakness can be a major milestone in future success and growth. In essence, success is a journey that starts from an unknown point and ends in the unfathomed destination. Apparently, success is a complex subject to address since there exist numerous strategies that can be used to achieve success (Gladwell 96). For instance, some sports team and other organized groups choose to stick to the old formulas despite the emergence of new conventional techniques. An evaluation of the factors that drive sports teams and other organized groups to continue using the old formulas or techniques reveals that a variety of reasons contribute to the practice. For instance, old formulas have been tested, and the outcomes are known. Moreover, the structures and policies of utilizing the old formulas or techniques are already established and, therefore, it becomes easy to apply. It is imperative to recognize that underdogs seek new approaches to doing things for vario us motives. For instance, they want to explore new opportunities and experience its impacts. In addition, they tend to adopt new ways to adjust to changes and fit in the changing environment. The Redwood City style of playing basketball was up to the standard and the results achieved were quite impressive. We will write a custom essay sample on The Mechanisms Employed by an Individual to Enjoy Profound Benefits by Proper Utility of the Challenges or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page

Mgm And Corporate Social Responsibility - 1378 Words

MGM and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) MGM Resorts International is a gaming, hospitalist and entertainment company based out of Paradise, Nevada. MGM was formally known as MGM Grand Inc. (1986-2000) and MGM Mirage (2000-2010). Their 15 properties spread across America and China. Within the company, the sense of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) runs deep in it’s roots. Their values break down into three sections, Diversity inclusion, Environmental sustainability, Philanthropy and community engagement. MGM believes in a diverse workforce, and has inclusion programs that creates acceptance of other races within their workforce. In addition, they support events that represent diversity and supports minorities. It’s beliefs in Philanthropy and community engagement is explained by how much they give back to the community, the military and the people of America. MGM is recognized by the Las Vegas food bank, as well as the Nevada Military Support Alliance. MGM although a hospitality and entertainment company has methods to reduce water consumption and has introduced the switch to solar energy to all their properties within Las Vegas. When the Las Vegas properties are co mbined MGM consumes more water and engird then a small town, which was the reason for their switch to solar energy and their method introduced to reduce water consumption. MGM Resorts’ Community Engagement and Philanthropy MGM Resorts has been nationally recognized for its community engagement andShow MoreRelatedMgm Resorts : An International Hospitality Company1210 Words   |  5 Pages MGM Resorts Name Course Course title Course instructor Date MGM resorts are an international hospitality company featured in the Fortune 500 as one of the top global hospitality companies. The company is known to operate a portfolio of destination resort brands all over the globe. The company’s supply chain described as enhancing the inclusion of diversity in their commerce supply chain as its main priority in their global procurement program. Additionally the company has been layingRead MoreEssay on Microsoft Manages Legal and Ethical Issues1148 Words   |  5 Pagesrecognized in the field of corporate social responsibility and philanthropy. However, since 1990 the computing giant has been plagued by allegations of antitrust violations and monopolistic, non-competitive business practices. By answering the three questions posed in Part 5, Case 7 of Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases; this review will address how such a legal and ethical dichotomy is possible, and how the issues relate to one another in terms of cor porate reputation. 1. What uniqueRead MoreThe Current Global Financial Meltdown Essay1627 Words   |  7 Pagesbalanced scorecard as a performance management system to support reporting on various management activities. Based on the literature, the non-financial measures used in this study are competitiveness, quality of service, innovation, community social responsibility, supplier performance resource utilization, and flexibility. This study supports the argument of Chan by noting that the link between the procurement process and the organizational competitiveness is that procurement is a cycle of which weRead MoreWorking On A Corporate Customer Service Program For All Mgm Resorts Dealers2414 Words   |  10 Pagesworking on a corporate customer service program for all MGM-Resorts dealers. He told me that he thought we some fantastic ideas, and the he might be able to incorporate some of them into his corporate program. After several months I was told that Mr. Kirby attended a corporate event were Greg Chase presented his customer service program â€Å"Table Games Guest Workshop†. Mr. Kirby took for the meet the accompanying literature the Mr. Chase gave to the attendees. The similarities between Mr. Chase’sRead MoreThe Studio System Essay14396 Words   |  58 Pagesthe global corporate entities which produce and distribute most of the films we watch. Starting in 1920, Adolph Zukor, head of Paramount Pictures, over the decade of the 1920s helped to fashion Hollywood into a vertically integrated system, a set of economic innovations which was firmly in place by 1930. For the next three decades, the movie industry in the United States and the rest of the world operated by according to these principles. Cultural, social and economicRead MoreMattel Inc3110 Words   |  13 PagesQuestion One: Do manufacturers of products for children have special responsibilities to consumers and society? What are these responsibilities and how well has Mattel met them? Provide evidence of Mattel’s strengths and weaknesses in this area. Yes. As Mattel’s products are designed primarily for children, it must be sensitive to societal concerns about children’s rights. Strengths Responsibility towards the community * Mattel recognizes international environment, different legal systemsRead MoreBasic Philosophy of Supply Chain Management(Sony)4960 Words   |  20 PagesAbstract This paper describes the basic philosophy to supply chain management in order to develop and implement comprehensive supply chain strategies for Sony Corporation in global operation. Sony is committed to fulfilling its responsibility to society as a corporate citizen, including managing its supply chain in a responsible manner. To achieve this goal, Sony is working with its business partners, suppliers and subcontractors to help ensure that they adhere to the same high standards as SonyRead MoreBasic Philosophy of Supply Chain Management(Sony)4953 Words   |  20 PagesAbstract This paper describes the basic philosophy to supply chain management in order to develop and implement comprehensive supply chain strategies for Sony Corporation in global operation. Sony is committed to fulfilling its responsibility to society as a corporate citizen, including managing its supply chain in a responsible manner. To achieve this goal, Sony is working with its business partners, suppliers and subcontractors to help ensure that they adhere to the same high standards as SonyRead MoreCasino Industry Strategy Case Study Essay6573 Words   |  27 Pagescontrol, cash procedure ï  ® Special and Intelligence Investigations: crime, gambling problems ï  ® Electronic Services: monitoring slot ï  ® Tax and License: tax, license fees ï  ® Economic Research ï  ® Enforcement: 24 hours inspection, arrest Social/Cultural Casinos have a major role in the dynamism of US tourism. Indeed, 65% of Americans and 84% of tourism professionals believe that the casino industry has a major importance for the whole US tourism industry. Moreover 82% of tourism professionalsRead MoreStarbucks Company Analysis9593 Words   |  39 Pagesincrease production that, in turn, contributes to a more sustainable supply of the high quality coffee that customers demand. To ensure this quality, Starbucks partners with C.A.F.E. Practices suppliers and Fair Trade Certified cooperatives (Social Responsibility, 2006). Further examples of their superior quality are Starbucks’ coffee buyers, tasters, and its quality control team, who taste an average 1,000 cups per day (Horovitz, 2006). Starbucks’ third distinctive competency is the innovation of

Teacher Internship Paper Free Essays

My Public Policy and Administration Program Internship took place at California Common Cause. I began as a volunteer in February of 2006, which quickly turned into an internship, followed by a fellowship. I have now been working at California Common Cause as its Northern California Organizer since January 2007. We will write a custom essay sample on Teacher Internship Paper or any similar topic only for you Order Now California Common Cause is a non-profit, non-partisan citizens’ lobby organization working to hold public officials and public institutions accountable to the people. California Common Cause’s current focuses include redistricting reform, public financing of elections, and media reform. Its budget is composed of membership donations and grant funding. It has offices in Sacramento and Los Angeles with six paid employees, including myself. California Common Cause is the state organization for the national Common Cause. While California Common Cause provides state support for national issues, it mainly focuses on the state and local level within California. I was very excited to have the opportunity to volunteer for California Common Cause and am thrilled that it has turned into a full time position. I have been a member for many years, during which I was always impressed by the organization’s work. I particularly like its emphasis on remaining non-partisan, working solely for the common good of all Californians. Due to the small number of employees and the diversity of the work, I was able to participate on a huge variety of projects, including redistricting reform efforts, researching state campaign contributions, summarizing state bills and drafting letters of support or opposition of bills, writing sample letters to the editor and political officials for CCC members, organizing public financing efforts in the San Jose region, writing CauseNets, our â€Å"Action Alerts†, and updating the website. Redistricting Reform One of California Common Cause’s main focuses is promoting redistricting reform. Currently, the State Legislature draws political districts for state and Congressional representatives. California Common Cause sees this as a clear conflict of interest. Politicians are basically picking and choosing whom to include in their own districts, allowing the m to draw districts that will be most beneficial to their reelection. As such, California Common Cause has been working with a coalition of various interest How to cite Teacher Internship Paper, Papers

Managing Information Systems

Executive Summary Information analysis forms the basis for making decisions in an organisation. A large amount of information compels organisations to employ many employees if they do not utilise information management systems (MIS).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Managing Information Systems specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More From the perspective of Med-Lab Company, such an approach introduces ineffectiveness and inefficiencies in decision-making, especially where decisions from different departments are fed into a central platform to arrive at an overall decision to execute a given task. The current paper proposes ERP as a working MIS solution to handle customer relationship, supply chain, and manufacturing function problems that lead to low profitability at Med-Lab Company. Background Every organisation seeks strategic plans for growth in terms of size and productivity levels. Growth leads to increased difficul ties in handling customer and supply chain complaints due to the large amount of information that requires analysis and synthesis using the existing information systems. Med-Lab Company currently experiences this situation. Based in New Jersey, Med-Lab manufactures medical equipments, which it sells within the US after sourcing manufacturing materials from a myriad of suppliers who are located across the US. Apart from sales of the products, the company also gets revenue from the customer support services such as maintenance of the medical equipments. In 2010, its annual pre-tax profit was US$229 million. After expanding by twice its production capacity and increasing employee by 20% between 2011 and 2012, it reported an annual profit of US$307 in the financial year that ended in December 2012.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Forecasts made in July 2011 indicated that the co mpany’s profits would also double upon doubling the company’s production capacity. The failure to achieve these forecasts compelled management to look for answers. Evaluation of the design and development organ of the company indicated immense consumer information that was unincorporated in the production to suit consumer needs. Med-Lab has a hierarchical management structure. Commands flow from the top to bottom. Decision-making processes use information flowing from customers, suppliers, and other organisational stakeholders to and from Med-Lab. The strategic plan of the company targets to exploit the global market. To achieve this goal, Med-Lab values employees as the most important assets available to realise its strategic plan. With the difficulties in incorporating all customers’ concerns in re-designing of its products, Med-Lab believed that it could deploy the sales-push approach through marketing to create demand for its products successfully in the glo bal market. As part of an organisational culture, employees are required to respond to both customers and suppliers’ concerns with immediate effect in terms of registration of complaints. Without customer satisfaction, Med-Lab would have run out of business due to intense competition from its rivals. Operating in a competitive business environment compels Med-Lab to look constantly for solutions that facilitate both urgent and quick decision-making processes, especially in its efforts to engage in the global trade. This problem became even more significant upon the speculation that the failure to incorporate the suggested improvements on the products made by customers could explain the malfunction to double the profitability of the company after doubling its production capacity.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Managing Information Systems specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The pre-analysis of this challenge suggested that the 20% increase in employees could not analyse and/or synthesise customer and supplier information in an effort to respond quickly to their complaints as stipulated in the organisational culture. The management was caught up in the dilemma of whether to increase the number of employees or seek alternative solutions to speed up expedition of suppliers and customers’ information. A major concern has been that increasing the number of employees will require committing organisational resources in reward, training and development, and motivational programmes to increase productivity. Med-Lab also had to hire more HRM personnel. Therefore, such a move increased the cost of running a business both in the short and long-term in opposition to the company’s strategic plan of lowering its costs to capitalise on low-cost strategy to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace. Setting the Stage Med-Lab’s operations encountered a number of problems, even b efore the company’s expansion, in the continued effort to resolve urgently supply chain and customer problems and complaints. Fui-Hoon and Lee-Shang (2001) contend that the urgency in the resolution of customer complaints presents a major problem that hinders the success efforts of a company operating in a highly competitive market. Business strategy not only accounts for success or failure, but also determines its survival (Grant, Hall, Wailes Wright 2006, p.5). Thus, Med-Lab should establish mechanisms of responding and ensuring ardent reaction to marketplace demands or risk losing its competitive advantage.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Increasing the number of customers who are attended by Med-Lab has created problems such as quick location of the customers and the determination of their frequency of purchase in the recent past. Consequently, making decisions on market targeting proves problematic. This makes the company suffer from the inability to forecast its production accurately. Making target marketing decisions in good time aids in determining the appropriate alterations to business practices to woe more customers (Grant, Hall, Wailes Wright 2006, p.7). Using the current information management systems, which are highly dependent on the interaction of human decision makers (department heads and general managers) with segregated information systems running on different computers, location of past records that involve customer communication is hard to access. This challenge leads to slowed resolution of customer disputes. In effecting the transactions between the suppliers and the organisation, the fact that information is held on different computers makes it difficult to prepare urgently all documents relating to specific transactions (Kraemmerand 2003, p.229). This situation hinders the attainment of the strategic plans of the Med-Lab. Time spent in editing or paperwork generation increases the departure of the employee productivity from the ideal situation (Head 2005, p.71). Therefore, the solution is necessary to enhance speedy preparation of documents ranging from invoices, shipping labels, purchase orders, receipts, and customer communication to preparation of manufacturing plans based on customer demands. With excessive dependency on human decision makers and increased paperwork generation, 20% increase in the number of employees upon doubling of the production capacity cannot effectively address the issue of increased customer complaints without an additional mediation to enhance speed in both data collection and analysis. Case Description People Perspective Incommensurate incre ase in profitability of Med-Lab with an increase in resource commitment in the expansion of its production capacity has attracted various concerns from organisational stakeholders. Med-Lab’s people such as organisational stakeholders, who are influenced by the current state of information management systems, put management under pressure to look for a working solution to mitigate risking their investments. Due to the challenge of efficient and effective management of the immense customer information, Med-Lab has learnt that customers are conceiving it as overlooking their orders. Med-Lab is concerned that it may lose dissatisfied customers to its competitors in the industry. This move will hinder the achievement of its strategic focus on going global due to the decreasing competitive advantage. In building good and working customer relationships as a way of retaining them amid the persistent challenges at least in the short-run before a solution is sought, customer communicat ion sends individualised messages to explain the circumstances for order delivery delays together with other issues related to customer service. Nevertheless, in this process, several clients introduce the challenge of sending messages sometimes to unintended customers. In some situations, messages are sent to the right customers, but with the wrong preferred option. In the case of suppliers, staff members are incapable of making purchases for raw materials from suppliers who offer the best deal and quality. This challenge emanates from the incapacity of Med-Lab to maintain track of various suppliers who offer the best deals on various materials that are used in the production process. A challenge also exists in situations where an urgent replenishment of suppliers is required to meet the urgent demand. This replenishment goes into costing the organisation more money, thus raising the production costs, which expose the strategy of pursuing low costs at risk. Organisational Perspecti ve It is worrying the management that customer complaints and challenges in keeping track of the best suppliers will impair the success of Med-Lab. With increasing customers following the expansion of the production capacity, the ability of employees to handle the entire customers efficiently and effectively with the current state of information management system is a major problem. Board of directors together with the respective line managers meet to discuss the way forward. The meeting upheld the necessity of developing a working MIS intervention in an effort to ensure that the company developed the capability for handling even more quality and time cautious customers across the globe. From an organisational perspective, the most preferred strategy is the one that results in low costs in the end while ensuring satisfaction of customers with both Med-Lab’s products and services. Technology Perspective Med-Lab currently deploys information management technology that is custom ised for each department. For instance, the manufacturing department makes decisions based on the inventory level of raw materials, materials in the process, and the finished products. Med-Lab does not intend to hold large stocks of finished products. Therefore, information from the sales department is essential in determining manufacturing decisions. Unfortunately, the information technology systems are customised at departmental levels. The manufacturing department depends on the analysed customer information from the sales department before consulting with consumers. This process translates to delayed order executions and delivery. To raise the sales levels, Med-Lab has developed a web-based sales strategy. However, the strategy faces a challenge since web customers encounter challenges in choosing a product that profiles the one they are searching without information on its existence (Vilpola 2008, p.58). From a technological perspective, MIS technology that integrates all funct ions of the Med-Lab’s departments may help to solve many of the encountered challenges. Solution Design Options Considering the problems faced by Med-Lab, integration of the information management systems is required to enhance rapid decision-making. In fact, organisations that have a large number of stakeholders whose concerns influence their activities require quick decision-making (Dehning Stratopoulos 2003, p.213). In the case of Med-Lab, this goal can be attained in three main ways. Design a decision support system Design and implement a transaction processing systems Designing and implementation of integrated MIS systems Solution Selection The choice of either system is based on its SWOT analysis. The decision support system has the strength of helping to make various decisions based on analysis of data and statistical projections. Transaction processing system strength encompasses the provision of a means of collecting data, its storage, modification, or cancelation of transactions (Mureell 2001, p.9). Decision support system creates an opportunity for improvement of quality of the decisions made by organisations’ managers as opposed to their replacement. Through transaction processing system, an organisation gains an opportunity to permit multiple transactions to occur simultaneously (Davenport 2003, p. 124). Data collected by the system can be held in databases. It can later be deployed in report production including billing, reports for scheduling manufacturing, wage reports, production and sales summaries, inventory reports, and check registers. Decision support system and transaction processing system share common threats since their security constitutes a big issue. The major weakness of the transaction processing system is that the appropriateness of the transactions is overly dependent on the accurateness of the information maintained in the databases. Comparably, the decision support system is slower in helping to arrive at a d ecision (Fryling 2010, p.395). It interacts with human decision makers. However, this process is a major challenge that leads to low speed of expedition of customers and suppliers’ information at Med-Lab Company. Upon considering both decision support system and transaction processing system’s strengths and opportunities, Med-Lab needs to exploit strengths and opportunities of both system designs. Therefore, an integrated information system is preferred for design and implementation. The specific preferred system is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Solution Implementation Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) needs to be implemented such that Med-Lab Company develops the capacity to integrate all its production and management functions to facilitate quick decision-making while responding to all the company’s stakeholder concerns in real time. Figure 1 below schematically depicts the process of modelling ERP version that is planned for implementation at Med-Lab. Fig. 1: Modelling an ERP System Source: (Turban 2008, p.300) Implementation Methodology Solution implementation entails the construction of the ERP system to be introduced to Med-Lab. The construction involves physical development of both hardware and software applications. Hardware and software can be developed in-house following the modelling approach that is shown above. It can also be sourced from a vendor who can customise it to suit Med-Lab Company’s requirements. This option is preferred to reduce the challenges associated with new MIS platforms such as system learning and high probabilities of occurrence of bugs that may lead to failure of the system soon or after its implementation. The Bidding Process Bidding is the first step in the process of sourcing ERP software. Selection of the successful bidder will follow the ‘low-price bidder’ basis. However, the supplied ERP software must support external and internal management information integration throug hout Med-Lab Company. It should have modules for management of manufacturing functions, service and sales, modules for management of customer relationships, inventory controls, production planning and forecasting, and procurement. Another important consideration in the bid selection process is the capacity of the ERP system to allow and enhance information flow between various business functionalities within and outside Med-Lab boundaries while at the same time facilitating connectivity between Med-Lab and its external stakeholders. ERP is an expensive MIS in the short-run. Hence, Med-Lab Company needs to cut on the costs of hardware. The supplied ERP software must have compatibility with the current Med-Lab Company’s hardware, which supports Windows NT, UNIX, and mainframe. This eliminates the need to source hardware from external agents. No bidding for hardware is required. Successful bidder must also have the capability to customise his or her software to meet the needs of Med-Lab Company. System Customisation Med-Lab Company does not have a technical team to facilitate the implementation of the MIS. This claim underlines the necessity to hire a third vendor to evaluate its customisation needs. Fig. 2 shows Med-Lab Company’s customisation needs. Fig 2: Med-Lab ERP Software Customisation Requirements Upon considering the areas of customisation requirements, ERP scope involves significant alterations of staff work practices and working processes (Monk Wagner 2009, p.56). Thus, a complete understanding of various processes before initiation of implementation may reduce probabilities of the system to failure. Introducing the New MIS After selection of the successful bidder for the software, introduction of the new system follows. This step requires change management. The new MIS system calls for alteration of the processes that employees were utilising to conduct Med-Lab Company’s business. Since many operations that were previously execu ted by the employees manually, or with partial interventions of computers, will now be integrated and automated, employees will require retraining on how to use the new system. Fui-Hoon and Lee-Shang (2001) confirm that upon the introduction of a new MIS, employees require training on how to share common practices and information throughout the enterprise in addition to how to access and produce reports in real time. The implementation methodology follows Markus and Tanis’ ERP life cycle that includes, ‘chartering, project, and Shakedown’ phases (Markus Tanis 2000, p.173). The chartering phase comprises the evaluation of various decisions that lead to ERP project funding. The main players in this phase are vendors, organisations’ executives, and consultants together with Med-Lab Company’s IT specialists. The main activities include initiation of the ideas, making decisions to proceed with the project, and scheduling and planning of the project. Pro ject phase entails accomplishing tasks such as rollout and system configuration. The main crucial stakeholders are â€Å"the team members of the project, internal information technology specialists, vendors, and managers from the functional areas and business units that are planned for integration through ERP† (Markus Tanis 2000, p.175). The activities of the phases include software configuration, testing, integration, training, rollout, and conversion of processes. ERP system monitoring conducted in this phase ensures complete elimination of bugs. Conclusion Faced with the problem of unequal increase in profitability with increase in production capacity, Med-Lab Company has to develop effective solutions to the problem. When the volume of organisations’ clientele goes up, a large amount of data has to be processed to ensure a timely fulfilment of orders and/or improving products consistently with customer requirements. This concern accounted for the reduced profitabi lity for Med-Lab Company, thus prompting the necessity for designing and implementing an integrated information management system. References Davenport, T 2003, ‘Putting the enterprise into the enterprise system’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 5 no. 2, pp. 121-131. Dehning, B Stratopoulos, T 2003, ‘Determinants of a Sustainable Competitive Advantage Due to an IT-enabled Strategy’, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, vol. 12 no. 3, pp. 202-241. Fryling, M 2010, ‘Estimating the impact of enterprise resource planning project management decisions on post-implementation maintenance costs: a case study using simulation modelling’, Enterprise Information Systems, vol. 4 no. 4, pp. 391–421. Fui-Hoon, F Lee-Shang, J 2001, ‘Critical factors for successful implementation of enterprise systems’, Business Process Management Journal, vol. 7 no. 3, pp. 285-296. Grant, D, Hall, R, Wailes, N Wright C 2006, ‘The false promise o f technological determinism: the case of enterprise resource planning systems,’ New Technology, Work Employment, vol. 21 no. 1, pp. 2–15. Head, S 2005, The New Ruthless Economy: Work and Power in the Digital Age, Oxford UP, Oxford. Kraemmerand, P 2003, ‘ERP implementation: an integrated process of radical change and continuous learning’, Production Planning Control, vol. 14 no. 4, pp. 228–248. Markus, L Tanis, C 2000, The enterprise system experience from adoption to success, Pinnaflex Educational Resources, Inc., Cincinnati, OH. Monk, E Wagner, B 2009, Concepts in Enterprise Resource Planning, Course Technology Cengage Learning, Massachusetts, Boston. Mureell, S 2001, E–Business and ERP: Rapid Implementation and Project Planning, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, NY. Turban, M 2008, Information Technology for Management, Transforming Organisations in the Digital Economy, John Wiley Sons, Inc., Massachusetts. Vilpola, I 2008, ‘A method for improving ERP implementation success by the principles and process of user-centred design’, Enterprise Information Systems, vol. 2 no.1, pp. 47–76. Appendix: Definition of Terms Bugs: Errors that may lead to failures or lower functionality of a software application Chartering: A decision that entails the definition of business problems and constraints of the possible solutions Customisation: Configuration of MIS systems to meet the clients’ business needs Decision support systems: A type of MIS that enables managers to make decisions based on statistical projections and data analysis. ERP: A software application that enables organisations to manage effectively and efficiently the utilisation of resources including human resource, financial resources, and material resources among others Project phase: A phase in the implementations of MIS that entails the running of a system under implementation by the end users to determine its efficiency and effecti veness Shakedown: Removal of bugs in the systems under implementation This essay on Managing Information Systems was written and submitted by user Esperanza French to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.