MGMT2006 Dec 2016

SECTION B

Answer ANY THREE questions in this section

Each question is worth 15 marks

ALL questions are based on the following scenario

MGMT Ltd. is a company that supplies and maintains solar

water heaters on the island. Crews of service technicians, who
are managed by a crewman-in-charge drive to customers to
install, remove, or replace heater tanks, water pressure valves
(WPVs) and complete other maintenance issues. Certain
parishes are visited on specific days of the week, that is,
service crews would work in St. Philip and St. Joseph every Monday and St. Thomas every
Tuesday, and so on.
Recently, the company has had to hire additional crewmen who work to reduce customer
demand. However, at the office there seems to be a breakdown in managing the data entering the
information system. Typically, a customer requests a service which is logged in the system and
later assigned a crew and service date. After visiting the customer, a member of the service crew
makes notes (such as ‘longer ladder required’ or ‘WPV not in stock’) on the customer’s work
sheet to document the service call. These work sheets are returned to the office in the evening
when the crew returns, and the system is updated by a clerical officer.
As a new manager with the company, you wish to check the system to address customer
complaints in order to report your findings and make possible recommendations at the upcoming
management meeting.

QUESTION ONE

(a) Describe two advantages of applying a ‘Work System’ model when evaluating a
company (4 marks)

(b) List the eight (8) elements of the Work System model. Provide examples of these
elements from the scenario. (1+8 marks)
(c) Explain, with reasons, which one of the eight elements represents the core of the model.
(2 marks)
QUESTION TWO

The scenario implies that there are customer complaints. Recommend a procedure or process that
could be implemented to improve any aspect in the scenario. Be sure to include:
(a) At least FIVE steps in your proposed procedure (4 marks)
(b) Examples of four sets of data that should be obtained for the Information system (4 marks)
(c) Any people involved and their roles, if any, in this procedure (4 marks)
(d) Any technology that would be included to improve efficiency (3 marks)

QUESTION THREE

The following list was extracted to sample the service calls that were completed.

INFORMATION ON INTERIM SERVICE

SERVICE SERVICE
FIRST LAST SERVICE DAY
DESCRIPTIO CLOSED CALL DATE
NAME NAME DATE S
N (Y/N)
Karl Lewis Maintenance Yes 29/08/2016 31/08/2016 2
Cheryl Doepke Maintenance Yes 22/09/2016 28/09/2016 6
Robin Ball Maintenance Yes 07/09/2016 12/09/2016 5
Alicia Smith Maintenance Yes 29/08/2016 05/09/2016 7
Roger Chin Maintenance Yes 08/08/2016 01/09/2016 24
Sheryl Palermo Maintenance Yes 16/08/2016 17/08/2016 1
Robert Weaver Maintenance Yes 10/08/2016 15/08/2016 5
Kell Lee Maintenance Yes 01/06/2016 08/06/2016 7
Cheryl Bressette Misc Yes 19/08/2016 13/09/2016 25
Bill Coats Misc Yes 19/07/2016 26/07/2016 7
David True Misc Yes 04/07/2016 12/09/2016 70
Dale Nelson Repair Yes 16/08/2016 22/08/2016 6
Trevor Hill Replacement Yes 21/10/2016 25/10/2016 4
Bill Coats Replacement Yes 09/06/2016 15/06/2016 6

(a) State:
(i) the heading of the column that contains a calculated field (1 mark)
(ii) whether the sample of data represents output at the operational, management or
strategic level (1 mark)
(b) Describe three database tables that would have produced the sample above and state at
least two field headings most suitable for each table (6 marks)
(c) Use the sample above to re-organize the information. It should be grouped by Service
Description and include the number of service calls for each group (4 marks)
(d) Discuss three important sets of information based on your results of part (c) (3 marks)
QUESTION FOUR

(a) Management has decided to review its processes. Explain, with reasons, which of the
following methods it should use. Be sure to explain both methods:
(i) Enterprise analysis, also known as business systems planning
(ii) Strategic Analysis or Critical Success Factors (CSFs) (4 marks)
(b) A team was assigned to develop a prototype of a part of the Information System (IS) that
would more effectively capture the assignment of crew men to the service calls.
(i) Explain the concept of a prototype (2 marks)
(ii) Explain two advantages and two challenges of using a prototype (3 marks)
(iii) State the management term given to this category of employees who would work
on this team (1 mark)
(iv) Sketch a suitable conversion method and explain why it would be most suitable
for this part of the IS (2 +3 marks)