Applying Information Technology Systems in Manging a Sports Club - Case Study Example

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLYING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS IN MANGING A SPORTS CLUB IN ABU DHABI-DUBAI NAME OF STUDENT NAME OF INSTITUTION DATE OF SUBMISSION TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary Introduction Statement of the Problem Purpose of the Study Significance of the Study Statement of the Proposals Literature Review Discussions Conclusion and Recommendations Reference Executive Summary Information Technology is indeed one of the most important developments in the society today that gives out a chance of rapid progress among institutions at present is that of the emergence of IT or information technology. It could be observed that through this particular improving agent, many institutions today including profit-based organizations are already able to take considerable control of the market and the system operations that they using to manage their business. With the many applicable systems of the IT operative options, it could be observed that the realization of its function in fueling the development of organizations using it could be certainly expected and later on proven. In this project management paper, an understanding on the utilization of IT for the improvement of a business system towards the advancement that they would likely want to garner from the market that they are trying to serve shall be discussed. Through examining the situation of the Abdul Bin Nasar Al Teejani in Abu-Dhabi Dubai, the application of IT shall be observed and examined as to how it could improve the current systems of the organization. PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLYING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS IN MANGING A SPORTS CLUB IN ABU DHABI-DUBAI PART 1: Introduction The growing developments that technology and communications have taken so far have been an essential part of the growing system of technological applications. Along with the technological advancements, the social living of humans also is further enhanced. Both economic and social lifestyles were advancing but there was no rest in incurring the best possible progress that the developers of technological systems wanted. With the introduction of computers to the society, the easier way of living and completing everyday tasks has become a trend for many industrial workers. (Deitel, et al, 2004, 15) However, as mentioned earlier, the development in the eyes of the ones who are in charge of the enhancement of the operating systems is never ending. Hence, although there were already some great achievements in terms of the developed operating systems, things got better each time there are new innovations introduced (Warford, 2005, 41). Most of the sectors of the entire society actually depended on technology ever since the time it was first introduced to the human civilization. It could not be denied then that among the said sectors are business entities. The development of different operating systems that actually perform the tasks needed in business, from the most basic calculating procedures toward the complicated procedures of accounting and systematic planning of business transactions, the computer technology or most likely known as Information technology have actually been the main source of successful trade and exchange transactions in the business industry. This also includes the controlling operations that help such business organizations to see through the different matters of operations that are occurring within their care. Statement of the Problem The importance of seeing through the different operations of an organization during a regular day of business proceeding is essential in assuring that everything goes well in accordance to what has been planned for the whole day operation. This is the reason why management of operation through the application of IT is essential especially concerning an organization such as the sports club that is examined in this paper. It could be observed that through the operation management handled through IT, the different functions of the different branches of task completion in the business could actually be given careful attention for better results on the part of the returns that needs to be handled in the business. In accordance with this, the following questions shall stand as the most important foundation of the entire paper discussion to be presented herein: What are the most important factors that make up IT systems that could assure the effectiveness of its applications in the business operations? In terms of the proposed systems, the indication of IT as part of the operational procedures undergone by the organization for the sake of developing the business is essential in the aim of continually aiding the needed progress of the company. How could the essentiality of the matter be assured to have an impact on the systems existent in the organization and how should these changes be dealt with successfully by the management team in consideration with the said challenges of IT application? These two questions are among the most important issues that are to be given careful attention within this study and proposal project which is aimed by the researcher to have direct effect in the process of business operation of the organization in focus. Purpose of the Study As observed and repetitively mentioned earlier, the purpose of this study is to completely create a matter of observable process that could increase the competence of the process of operational management utilized by the Abdul Bin Nassar Al Teejani Sports Club as they deal with the daily business functions that they are supposed to complete. Significance of the Study Believably, the researcher of the study thinks that being able to go through this particular proposal of system operation is obviously designed to help the management of the Sports Club as it tries to serve its clients well and provide the entire organization the right chance to progress through finely managed operations through the use of Information technology. Statement of the Proposals Proposal 1: an integrated computer system with on-line microcomputers at all grounds, handling requisitions, authority checking, inventory and equipment loans (see the DFD and systems configuration diagram in Figure 1, in the Appendix) Proposal 2: a distributed system, with requisitions on a microcomputer at the club’s main clubrooms accessible by the Secretary-Manager’s office staff, and inventory and loans on stand-alone microcomputers at the various grounds. Communication between these systems being via printed reports (see the DFD and systems configuration diagram in Figure 2, in the Appendix) Proposal 3: a minimal system, with a microcomputer at the club’s main clubrooms accessible by the Secretary-Manager for handling requisitions and inventory. The loans system remaining manual at all grounds (see the DFD and systems configuration diagram in Figure 3, in the Appendix) PART 2: Literature Review With the introduction of the computer technology to the human society during the 19th Century, the works or the tasks of people have been further created with ease. With the implementation of computer systems within the existing systems of completion for human tasks, the jobs of people, which can be merged with technological arrangements, were enhanced to becoming easily completed. Today, 95% of the whole population of man all around the world utilizes the computer systems for their everyday application. Even ordinary appliances are now compiled with complex operating systems based upon computer arrangements to be able to meet the best possible performance that they could render the human society. (Tanenbaum, 2006, 15).Now, even more complex role is played by the application of operating systems in the daily dealings of people has been introduced. With the development of the communication systems such as the internet, learning from home, using top of the art facilities and technologies became possible for many students who cannot attend universities because of some unavoidable circumstances. Through the existence of the emerging technological innovation on communication and information transfer, everything became possible and available through the Internet (Ensor, 2006, 12). As of the present situation, there are still other innovations that have been affected by the developing Operating Systems. The world trade systems has become more easy for the traders since the Internet systems allow them to connect with others easily and effectively transact with their business partners abroad. (Tanenbaum, 2006, 19) Every computer system is controlled by an operating system. A pre-programmed system controls the operations that the computer system is supposed to perform. This mainly pertains to the responsibilities of the computer and how it is able to complete the tasks that are further addressed to its performance. At present, the operating systems are referred to as computer programs that are supposed to manage both the hardware and software systems of the entire computer facilities. There are five main tasks that the OS performs as a program: Controlling and Allocating Memory This task mainly focuses on the capability of the computer programs to assimilate the memory priorities of the entire computer system. To allocate the memory means designating the memory priorities on which its performance is most needed. Prioritizing System Requests Most of the time, the system follows a “first Come First Serve” arrangement. As a result, in multi tasking systems the operations are carried on basing on what request came first and what has been allocated by the system to come in priority. Controlling Input and Output Devices The input devices are the ones used to enter information within the computer memory while the output devices are the ones used to produce hardcopy of the information entered within the system. The operating system that is present within the computer makes it possible for the computer device to perform well and do as it is programmed to. Facilitating Networking To be able to connect to others, networking the systems is needed. Once an operating system is programmed to perform such tasks, it would be able to connect two different systems together to be able to have a connected exchange of information and communication as well. Managing Files To manage files means to arrange them on what part of the memory should be utilized by the files. It also sorts out the files with the necessary section of the computer memory should it be stored in. (Source: Warford, J. Stanley. (2005). Computer Systems. Jones & Bartlett Publishers; 3rd edition. ) With the mentioning of the five major roles of the operating systems, it should be clear to the readers how the operating systems make the computer programs and facilities work in coordination with the tasks that they are supposed to complete. Along with these tasks, there are other responsibilities that the operating systems hold for better performance of the computer. The following are called OS services. It is by the existence of the OS that computers are able to render the following services: Process Management Every existing program within the computer system is a process. The first produced computers could only perform one process at a time. The ability of the computer to perform different tasks is then limited. However, when the computer program facilitators introduced the computer developments, multi tasking became possible. At present, the modern computers consist of an OS that could perform different processes at one time. The prioritizing of the input processes that are inserted within the system is then performed randomly by the OS of a specific computer. With the implementation of such system, the reducing of the time of process is then prolonged. As for example, if the OS is running a single process, the reading of the operation would be fast. However, when multi tasking is applied the processing time is prolonged for the system to be able to cater to all the tasks that are supposed to be completed. Memory management The Parkinson’s Law says, “Data Expands to fill the space available for storage”. Hence, the memory manager is an OS that fixes the memory of the computer as to what program or data should it cater to in priority. Today, the modern developed computers posses a kind of operating system that can arrange the data in a hierarchical system whereas the fastest performing data comes first while the slow ones are set aside to perform at the last. This is happening because of the RAM that each data requires. As a result, the operating system is able to prioritize the programs that require larger memories in order for them to perform well. One more part of the essential factor that memory management plays is the managing of the virtual addresses. In the Internet, the memory of each website should be arranged well for them not to overlap each other’s performance when people are surfing within the same site simultaneously. The system works by maintaining the tables which are most known as page tables and matching them with the virtual addresses along with the physical addresses as well. Disk and File Systems Files differ from their origin. There are native files that each OS posses. The native file systems are the most efficient and reliable among all the Windows system applications. The process of allocating files within the memory of the computer system is utilized to be able to have an extra file arrangement once there occurs to be a system crash. To be able to do this, the operating system journalizes the necessary directories that should be journalized within the system. The separation of the directories with the use of a backslash is also utilized to set a certain section f the computer memory for a certain directory. Networking The modern operating systems are capable of utilizing TCP/IP networking protocols. This system allows different addresses to share files and printing processes. Through either wired or wireless connections, the sharing of tasks and informations becomes possible. Security There are two main ideas that govern the existence of security managers within the operating systems of certain computer facilities: 1. The operating system allows people to have an access to different information and resources that are in the form of files that could be utilized by the computer operators; 2. the operating system is supposed to have the ability to distinguish the authorized from the unauthorized personnel that are able to have an access on the system applications and the confidential files as well. Hence, with these ideas and reason of security application, it is necessary that there exists two different bases of security measures: 1. Internal Security: an original program device running within the operating system that has an ability to recognize the system requests that are to be allowed to process and those that are not. 2. External Security: a new request from the operators that control the program. These system applications include login prompts from the users of the computer program services. Some include electromagnetic cards that are owned by the ones who are authorized to operate the system. Without the required requests, the system is not going tos operate. (Source: Silberschatz, Abraham . (2004). Operating System Concepts. John Wiley & Sons; 7 edition.). With these security measures, the operating system assures that only the authorized operators are able to access to several hidden files that are not set for public notice or public information. The computer’s operation system’s ability to perform the services as mentioned in this part of the review shows the capability of the OS to perform the requested tasks that it is supposed to perform for its operators. More than just the performance and the complex responsibilities of the OS, it could be noted that modern produced OS have a considerably different approach as to the ease of the operators who are able to utilize and benefit from its services. (Harris, 2001, 18) Today, the usage of Graphical User Interface (GUI) devices is already a part of the modern operating systems application. Now, human interaction is then encouraged when taking over the operations that the computers are supposed to perform. During the earlier years, the only interaction of the human operators towards the computer operated systems is by the cards or the input commands that they are able to type through the keyboard inputs. An example of such is the DOS Command Systems. However, in today’s present situation, it could be noted that even non-experts of the computer operations could already utilize the services that the computer systems render its operators. As a result, the production of Personal Computers increased, and the people owning such technological devices increased in number as well. (Harris, 2001, 3) As it could be observed, gone are the days when only the large business companies are able to utilize computer devices for their own convenience. Modern day students are even able to carry with themselves cell phones and laptops that are able to help them get along with their student lives through the assistance of technological innovations (Pajagopal, 1999, 14). Furthermore, modern day operating systems are now capable of providing the best graphical designs possible for the benefit of the users, making information transfer and computer application system much easier to understand than before. What Could Be Expected of OS Applications in the future? As further discussed earlier, it could be noted that the developers have been observed and foreseen by the researcher of this paper to becoming highly concerned in further more developments that they could include in the existing operating systems and .NET technologies that are already utilized for applications today. More likely, basing from the developments that have been shown in the tables earlier, the improvement on the said technology would mainly be focused on the performance capability of the system. The constant application of improvement on the system would further allow it to cater to more than just the operations that it is able to handle today. It could be noted that the improvements would be much likely created to host the economic needs of the current human society. The government systems would also be made available to the public through the internet as it is already right now. However, once it would be improved, it could be expected that it would be more applicable for the public to utilize. Certainly, whatever the modern operating systems along with its merging with the current .NET technologies offer to the society could be more developed based form the trend of improvement that the technological developers take in consideration. (Silberschatz, 2004, 62) Most likely, this status of the Operating Systems and its continuing advancement has been the primary reason why business enthusiasts tried to take advantage on all the benefits it has to offer. Most likely, as globalization strikes, the merging of technology and business has also boomed out together. PART 3: Discussions Knowing how IT operates and functions for the matters of the organization, it could be observed that three major proposals could be completed and assured to be undergone successfully as expected. In this section, each of three major proposals are to be discussed as to how they are supposed to be undergone by the management team hence giving birth to new sense of operation as per guided by the IT applications further mentioned. Proposal 1: an integrated computer system with on-line microcomputers at all grounds, handling requisitions, authority checking, inventory and equipment loans (see the DFD and systems configuration diagram in Figure 1, in the Appendix) the installation of the microcomputers all around the area of the ground where transactions such as authority checking and inventory and equipment loans are done would centralize the observation facility that should be used to oversee the operations happening in a day. Considerably, the said process is expected to further enhance the procedure of creating a much secured environment for the clients as well as for the workers in the company whereas later on, when certain emergencies occur, the recorded videos from the microcomputers would give a clear sense of understanding towards the said situations. Proposal 2: a distributed system, with requisitions on a microcomputer at the club’s main clubrooms accessible by the Secretary-Manager’s office staff, and inventory and loans on stand-alone microcomputers at the various grounds. Communication between these systems being via printed reports (see the DFD and systems configuration diagram in Figure 2, in the Appendix) Having the clubrooms observed constantly shall keep the secretary manager’s office updated of what’s going on in the ground of business operations. Through this, if incase anything happens, the manager is ready to attend to the occurring situations. With the application of the said system mandating over the operations of the business would be much easier for the manager to handle and take good control of. Proposal 3: a minimal system, with a microcomputer at the club’s main clubrooms accessible by the Secretary-Manager for handling requisitions and inventory. The loans system remaining manual at all grounds (see the DFD and systems configuration diagram in Figure 3, in the Appendix) Through the minimal system applied in each clubroom, the inventory of the equipments used and loaned by the guests for their games would be easier to track down and easier to monitor hence making the inventory process easier to control. These proposed matters are considered by the researcher as the key results to the examination and observation performed with regards the operations undergone by the company in a daily basis. With the observation completed, the researcher noted the idea that keeping close attention to the regular operations the business undergoes is the essential part of management that the sports club needs to consider. Through taking into consideration the major benefits of implicating IT in the systems of management that is essential for the club to take notice of, the process of operating the business is believed by the researcher to have a much better benefit for the entire team of people working for the sports club. Part 4: Conclusion and Recommendations From the discussion and the presentations made in this paper, it could be observed that there is indeed a need for business entities to take the risks in making it within the industry of virtual business. Making their business services and products available through the Internet for the sake of advertising or even selling as it is would surely offer the organizations a progressive future in the fields that they are joined with. Certainly, the innovations brought about by information technology actually radically changed the economic trade of the entire global state of business industries. 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