2014

Executive Support System

Noof Wasfi LAG038 Sara Shawoosh - LAG452 Section (1)

Dr.Magda Attiah

Table of Content
Title
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9)

Page

Introduction. 2 Executive Support System . 3 Intelligent Information . 4 Component of Executive Support System .. 5 One Company that Use ESS..6 Leiner Health Product Inc. How Leiner Health Product use ESS Advantages of Executive Support System 7 Disadvantages of Executive Support System..8 Conclusion.. 9 References. 10

Introduction

To, Succeed in any business, companies need information systems that can support the diverse information and decision-making needs of their managers and business professional. The type of information required by decision makers is directly related to the level of management (Operational, Middle, and Senior managers) For the Senior manager, they must have a specific system to do their works in a proprite way, thus Executive Support System is the most suitable for them.

Executive Support System

Executive Support Systems have become valuable tools for business organizations. These systems compare, highlight and analyze data and present them in a easy to use format. The companies which have implemented the ESS have found it easy to measure their Key Performance Indicators and to monitor the balanced scorecard frame work. Executive support systems (ESS) help senior management address strategic issues and long-term trends, both in the firm and in the external environment. ESS addresses non routine decisions requiring judgment, evaluation, and insight . An ESS is a computerized system that provides executives with easy access to internal and external information relevant to their critical success factors. The ESS are tailored to executives information needs, extract, filter, compress and track critical data; provide on-line status access, trend analysis, exception reporting etc. The ESS also access and integrate a broad range of internal and external data. ESS are spreading rapidly in organizations.

Intelligent Information
These information are often external, unstructured and even uncertain. Exact scope and context of such information is often not known beforehand.

This information is intelligence based:

Market intelligence Investment intelligence Technology intelligence

Examples of Intelligent Information :

Following are some examples of intelligent information, which is often source of ESS:
External databases Technology reports like patent records etc. Technical reports from consultants Market reports Confidential information about competitors Speculative information like market conditions Government policies Financial reports and information

Component of ESS
A. Hardware: the basic needed for ESS includes for components:
1. Input data-entry devices. These devices allow the executive to enter, verify, and update data immediately. 2. The central processing unit (CPU) 3. Data storage files: this benefit the executives to save useful business information and to search historical business information much easier. 4. Output devices such as monitor and monitors provides a visual/permanent record for CEO to save or read.

B. Software : a typical ESS includes for software components:

1. 2. 3. 4. Text-handling software Database Graphic base Model base

C. User Interface
1. ESS must be efficient to retrieve relevant data for decision makers, so the user interface is very important. 2. There are several types of interfaces available for ESS such as scheduled reports, questions/answers, menu driven, command language, natural language, and input/output.

D. Telecommunication:
1. Transmitting data from one place to another has become crucial for establishing a reliable network. 2. The telecommunication within a ESS can accelerate the need for access to distributed data.

One of Companies that use Executive Support System

Leiner Health Product

Leiner Health Products Inc. regards itself as the world's largest manufacturer of vitamin
supplements and herbs. With manufacturing and packaging/distribution plants in both the United States and Canada, the company produces over 25 billion tablets annually of its Your Life brand of supplements as well as manufacturing private label brands for mass retailers, drugstores, supermarkets, convenience stores, military outlets, and warehouse clubs. Over 64,000 retail establishments, including 52,000 in the United States, sell supplements made by Leiner. It claims the distinction of being the first company to make supplements according to the strict standards of the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) Convention. Furthermore, it sells branded and private label nonprescription pharmaceuticals, such as pain medications and cold remedies, and also the Body ology brand of skin and hair care products.

How Leiner Health Product Use ESS ?

Digital Dashboards are becoming an increasingly popular feature of ESS. It incorporates data from both internal as well as external sources like the World Wide Web. Thus a web-interface is useful in the presentation of data. The CEO of Leiner Health Products, has an ESS that provides on his desktop a minuteto-minute view of the firms financial performance as measured by working capital, account receivable, accounts payable, cash flow, and inventory. The information is presented in the form of a digital dashboard, which displays on a single screen graphs and charts of key performance indicators for managing a company.

Advantages of Executive Support System

Easy for upper level executive to use Ability to analyze trends Augmentation of managers' leadership capabilities Enhance personal thinking and decision making Contribution to strategic control flexibility Enhance organizational competitiveness in the market place Instruments of change Increased executive time horizons. Better reporting system Improved mental model of business executive Help improve consensus building and communication Improve office automation Reduce time for finding information Early identification of company performance Detail examination of critical success factor Better understanding Time management Increased communication capacity and quality

Disadvantage of Executive Support System

Functions are limited, cant calculate complex operations. Hard to quantify benefits. Executive may encounter information overload System may become slow. Difficult to keep current data. May lead to less reliable and insecure data. Excessive cost for small company.

Conclusion

Executive Support System adds value to the company in which it eases operations to be done by the CEO and the managerial level. However, not every and each company can have it because its high price. ESS may be considered as the highest technology information system that companies could have, it might increase the companys profits and employees performance.

References
'Executive Support System', Tutorials point-MIS, Accessed: 9th April 2014, Source: from: http://www.tutorialspoint.com/management_information_system/executive_support_ system.htm

'ANINTEGRAL PART OF SUCCESSFULORGANIZATIONS', Executive Support System, Accessed: 9th April 2014, Source: from: http://ar.scribd.com/doc/45297081/executive-support-systems

'Executive Support System', ESS, Accessed: 12th April 2014, Source: from: http://ar.scribd.com/doc/44821781/Decision-Support-Systems-Executive-SupportSystems

'Executive Support System', ESS, Accessed: 12th April 2014, Source: from: http://www.slideshare.net/VonAdamMartinez/executive-support-system

Finding Universe', Leiner Health Product, Accessed: 15th April 2014, Source: from: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/leiner-health-productsinc-history/ C.Laudon, K & P.Laudon, J 2012, Management Information System, 13th ed., Pearson, U.S.A.

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Our Contribution in this Project

As the project required to be in team, we decided to divide the work among us to collect info, then meet to discuss the important and unnecessary info according to the criteria .

Noof Collect info about:

What is ESS? Intelligent Information Component of ESS. Advantages and Disadvantages of ESS. How Leiner Health Product use ESS?

Sara Collect info about:

Introduction Conclusion Information about the Company. Did Reference in official way.

After Both of us collect these information, we set together to read all what we got and discussed everything , we added, deleted, and edited many things together until we reach to the final draft of report.

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