BRICK to CLICK road trip P7, M3

This is a small document with some examples of different uses of computer systems:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0pcIhYl4Lgma21DcERULUlETlU/edit?usp=sharing
Initial findings:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0pcIhYl4LgmbWJKaS1mRk9DaXc/edit?usp=sharing
Spreadsheet collaborating all found data with graphs:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0pcIhYl4LgmRkZfVm52LUtUZm8/edit?usp=sharing
Final report:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0pcIhYl4LgmM01OUzhVN3FWM00/edit?usp=sharing

Con's sports shop p6,D2

To hit this criterion I chose to play the small business game, that is designed in order to give people a feel of what it would be like to run their own business. They give you a plethora of information that can be used in order to make your business more successful.

To start with I used the getting started guide that they give you within the hints section of the website, This told me the sort of things I should do to get the business of the ground and start selling stock. It stated that you should get some marketing in the shop window and try and pre-order the new kit that is available at the start of the game as people will put in orders for them as n to Meany stores will choose to have them available for pre-order this would give you an initial burst of customers. After completing this I went of my own back and checked things like the profit loss reports to work out where I am making the most money and where I am loosing money so I can optimise my outgoings. Below is a full report of the small business game that I played:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0pcIhYl4LgmUUZkUl9KNnBmaDQ/edit?usp=sharing

As I stated at the end of this report I thought that would my profits would increase if I played one more week so out of curiosity I checked the next week to see what the profits would be and they ended up at +£9000 which took my overall score up to 9756. This shows that I used the information that I was given properly to increase my own profits 10 fold in a very short period of time.

Data Laws p3. m2

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0pcIhYl4LgmQ01NbGI0aGUwM1U/edit?usp=sharing

How can information be improved brochure D1

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0pcIhYl4LgmcW1VRzBSc0h3ejA/edit?usp=sharing

Features of a business p4,p5

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0pcIhYl4LgmaWttS2xCaVFwVnc/edit?usp=sharing

Using information-p1

Once information has been collected, sorted and given to the people who it concerns it then has to be used to further the business and ultimately increase profit. There are many different ways that a business can use information for lots of different outcomes, an example of this would be at a super market such as Sainsbury's, they have A lot of stock, so to keep track of this stock they scan all the stock they have in the store, this is then sent back to head office where they compare it to how much got sent to them, from this they can find out how much of each item has been sold and how much to send for the next day to minimize the wastage of the stock. I have made a poster outlining more ways information can be used within a business.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0pcIhYl4LgmZXhldGpEX2dMSXc/edit?usp=sharing

Data Flow Diagrams- M1

Data Flow diagram

Data flow diagrams are used to show the flow of information between different functional groups and how this information is used to complete a process. The processes are in a Box and the number located in the top left of the box detonates the process number, the different functional areas are in the circular outlines, the arrows represent the flow of data.

I have completed a high and low level diagram based on the process of ordering new stock. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0pcIhYl4LgmbjhRMUtqdlAxd1U/edit?usp=sharing

Below of a list of some of the different functional areas both internal and external and what they do within a business. 

Functional areas 

Sales-

Sales deal with things like the sales targets of specific items, lists of the stock that they have in each store and customer questioners to see what the customers like and what they don’t like, this information can then be used to gain an advantage over the market hence boosting profits. Sales is often combined with customer services although a company might not have a customer services department but will have sales department or they could have a separate customer services department it depends on the specific business

Purchasing-

The purchasing department deals with buying the goods needed to sell on behalf of the whole organisation, they negotiate contracts and deals from the suppliers to try and get the lowest outgoing cost possible this way they will be gaining advantage as they could be buying the goods cheaper and therefore can sell them at a cheaper price than the competitors brining in new customers and driving profits up

Distribution-

This department is how you get your good to the shops to sell them, they are responsible for getting the goods from the warehouses where they are stored into the shops so that they can be sold, it is imperative that the Purchasing department communicate with them effectively as if there are items that mean you have to change the way you deliver them if the distribution department don’t know this the items could be damaged or put people in danger, such as a heavy object coming into the warehouse and no one was informed someone could put there back out trying to move it incorrectly.

Marketing-

This department is made out of more than one department, these are marketing and advertising in simple terms the marketing department deal with the planning and research around advertising your items and advertising put the marketing’s plan into action. This is when the research that sales do on the prices and competitor prices come into effect as marketing can then decide a good way to market their items to get the biggest sales.  

As you can see communication between the functional areas is necessary for the success of a business, however only communicating and using areas within your own business would be counter-productive as there is information that can help that comes from external sources.

Research-

Research is being constantly carried out by lots of different sources; this information can sometimes be invaluable to companies, such as the example given above so the people who carry out the research will sell their information on to companies so that they can be in the know before other company’s allowing them to gain the advantage.

Government-