List Of Figures Business Plan Samples

Management Information System for Dame’s Coffee Shop

Figure 1 Information flow and decision making chart for MIS design for Business Organization 4
Figure 2 General schematic of the Dame’s café’s website 5
Figure 3 Quicken report and invoice (Intuit) 7
Figure 4 Taking orders at the counter (Google Images) 9
Figure 5 Monitor views from One Stop Pos 10
Management Information System for Dame’s Café

Abstract

The research project evaluated the needs for installing a MIS in a coffee shop named Dame’s Café. One Stop Point of Service (POS) is recommended so that data about orders will immediately be processed so that inventory will be adjusted and the accounting information will be place in the correct database. Quicken TurboTax is recommended because a software application is available for small businesses to organize financial data and determine the taxes the need to be paid.
Management Information System for Dame’s Café

Introduction

The Dream
A dream business for many entrepreneurs is an inviting coffee shop that can offer excellent coffee along with activities to make the shop unique and competitive. The coffee shop is named Dame’s Café and in order to compete with chains like Starbucks, I will provide unique forms of communication and entertainment through the Internet. Therefore, the business has a real world New York City location and a large virtual component. E-literacy is important for people and everyone needs access to electronic devices. One perspective is that cyber-cafes need to be supported by external funding sources because they offer Internet use based on demand; the digital divide becomes narrower when everyone has equal access to information and communication technology (ICT) (Rangaswamy 20).

Software applications

Management Information Systems (MIS) is the organizational core of modern business enterprises so Dame’s Coffee Shop is being designed starting with the MISs and growing the plan once the MIS is planned. The software applications were chosen from two companies that have a reputation for high quality products, helpful support and updates the make their products even more useful. The software can also be used interactively; the functions they can perform complement each other. One Stop POS Software includes advantages to increase workplace productivity. Quicken is a software application that has been around for some time, so the product has been improved over a few years to remove glitches. Quicken is the software Dame’s Coffee Shop is using for accounting and financial purposes. Inputting budgets and computing balances are easy and tax documents are made by Quicken with the information that has been input on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. More details are described below.

MIS for Information Flow and Decision Making

The MIS needs to meet specific goals so that fit the needs of the business. The MIS needs to continually up-date information so that business decisions can be made based on accurate and timely data.
Figure 1 Information flow and decision making chart for MIS design for Business Organization
Products and Services are specific factors that give Dame’s café its unique attractions for customers such as the café environment that is designed to give the café a personality and atmosphere that will make it special. (See fig. 1) The ‘Three C’s’ that can never be ignored are customers, competitors and capabilities. In order to compete and remain interesting to customers, the marketing mix can be adjusted when necessary. Operations are similar to other businesses because the equipment maintenance, training, supplies; MIS allows the owner to understand how internal and external factors influence aspects of sales and customer satisfaction. The components of the MIS are discussed below and include Quicken TurboTax, One Stop POS and the cafés website that offers shopping online.
Figure 2 General schematic of the Dame’s café’s website
The website is a great opportunity to tie all the features together that will persuade customers to come for coffee. The home page links to the EVENT’s page that makes announcements and reports the daily specials. The links that can be reached from the event’s page are the all-important social media links, the news about books and readings for children and the ‘virtual goodies’ that are offered for entertainment. Another link is for ‘play dates.’
The location of the shop is near two nursery schools and an elementary school. Parents have the opportunity to enjoy coffee when the kids are in school. On the other hand, parents are welcome to bring their children, because play structures are provided. The market research showed that no other restaurant or business offers an indoor play space. A decision that sill needs to be made is whether or not to build a clear Plexiglas divider between the activity area for children and adults drinking coffee (Lewis). The children can also have access to what some people consider ‘opposing interests.’ They can play educational computer games or sit quietly and look at children’s books.

Qualifications for setting up MISs

My qualifications include a Bachelor of Science with a Computer Science major and a Business Management minor. I have also taken workshops in website development. I have examples of websites I have finished. I also have experience installing and coordinating MIS with One Stop POS and Quicken. I have installed several systems with great success. I also take care of the periodic maintenance. (Table See A-1)

Hardware

The specifications for necessary to install Quicken 2015 are listed below. Windows needs a Microsoft.NET Framework version 4.0; it is included in the Quicken Installer. The computer needs 1 GHz or more, and the operating system must be Vista SP1, Windows 7 (32- and 64-bit)/Windows 8 & 8.1 (32-bit and 64-bit). The memory requirement is 1GB or higher. Up to 450 MB of free hard disk space is need but if .NET is being installed at the same time then a maximum of 1.5 GB is needed. The monitor should be set at 1024x768 or higher resolution; 1280x1024 for large fonts. It is recommended that the CD-ROM drive double speed equal 4X and for multimedia the speed needs to be higher. A 56 kbps modem or higher (broadband recommended for an online service is necessary for an internet connection. Windows Installer 3.1 and Internet Explorer 6.0 or older versions are also necessary, but they are both included in Quicken installer.

Software

In order to generate business, social media will be used. A blog will be included on the website with entries that include words with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The shop needs the information about orders to flow along the paths to generate profit shown in figure 3. Quicken sends out payments and bills but those activities do not generate profit so they are not included in figure 3.
Figure 3 Generating Profit

Quicken Turbo Tax

Quicken and TurboTax are both products from Intuit so financial finance data from Quicken exports directly into TurboTax. TurboTax Premier 2014 and Quicken Premier 2015 are available bundled. Intuit products can be used as a basic MIS system and then as the cafe grows other Intuit products can be linked to without a problem. iPhone, iPod, and iPad Touch are all trademarks of Intuit. The applications are all important for the cafe’s success and helping to grow the business. Contact of customers and potential customers is fast and easy, social media links to the applications so virtual coupons, contests and book reading times can all be communicated effectively and speedily. Intuit is a reliable company that promises the calculations of the software are 100 percent accurate and guaranteed.
Figure 4 Quicken report and invoice (Intuit)
Quicken is a good choice because the software is adaptable to particular business and it is easy to use. Reports are automatically made with data used for graphs so the information is accessible to users.
The small business or sole proprietor edition can import W-2 income, identifies itemized deductions, and can solve some tricky issues about miscellaneous income and expenses. The Schedule C small business income and expense reporting is part of the package, business tax deductions and depreciation are maximized. Inuit offers services that make a user confident like running online error checks for thousands of examples and double-check the tax returns accuracy. The Federal and state taxes can be filed for free using TurboTax. New business owners might feel better knowing that audit support is guaranteed. TaxCaster 2014 can be downloaded for free to calculate the amount of tax owed or refunds quickly.
The benefits for using Quicken Turbo Tax are great, but like they say on Business Owners Idea Café tax software is not magic. The software requires time for a learning curve, but the company also offers support online and by phone.

One Stop POS

Point of Service (POS) computers are efficient and easy to use. The servers and cashiers use a simple touch screen monitor to make orders, add up the bill and print the receipt. The order ticket is sent to the kitchen and the coffee bar workers.
Figure 5 Taking orders at the counter (One Stop POS )
The great management advantage offered by POS is that information from customers orders do not have to have to be re-entered into a computer’s database like when old-fashioned cash registers are used. The order is taken, the payment is recorded and then supplies used are subtracted from the inventory. The data can be used for identifying the most popular drinks, the busiest times during the day and accurate reports of what is being sold and when.
Figure 6 Monitor views from One Stop Pos

Data input and Organization

One Stop Point of Service (POS) is a software application that offers complex results with simple inputs because it is very well designed. The variety of outputs from One Stop POS can be seen above. (See fig. 5 top) Data is input into POS and reports and graphs are generated. When customer orders are entered, the inventory is adjusted automatically and alerts will appear to help with ordering supplies. The application also lists the bills that have been paid and the bills that need to be paid and when they need to be paid. the lists of transactions can be sorted by dates, amounts or names. (See fig. 5 bottom)

E-Commerce

Cyber cafés are businesses that are for-profit and open to the public. Customers can access the Internet and information technology for free from the cafe’s Wifi or by pay for use. Customers can use their own computers or use the computers provided. The ideas for the business are such that the many activities offered (and excellent coffee) will draw customers, so that the food and drinks sold will be enough to keep the café profitable. E-commerce is a way to conduct real time business transactions using the best business intelligence available.
The success of business strategies relies on smart use of Business Intelligence for understanding the past trends and looking forward to potential trends (Ranjan 60). Some researchers think that transaction oriented information systems can level the playing field for completion (Ranjan 68). Business intelligence allows the opportunity to use all the data from the past and from real-time transactions to produce essential analysis quickly and efficiently.

TPS and ERP

The transaction processing system (TPS) is designed to record the data every time a transaction takes place in a business. The data is stored and can enhance decision-making. Decisions that do not need a human brain can be automated with TPS. The focus of TPS is recording transaction details, gathering, storing and formatting data as well as tracking the rules and policies that are part of the business organization. A transaction event is recorded and processed in a batch of similar data so scheduled events like pay employees every Friday are automatically prepared. A great advantage of TPS is that errors are corrected and data is kept up-to-date.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) links with all the business organizational features and the package architectures of the software chosen for the cafe are well-suited to the task. The employees need to understand the business organization and that change are inevitable, and changes are based on the ERP outputs. TPS concepts are embedded in ERP. ERP is part of the MIS and used managers and employees. Information is summarized to support performance monitoring, coordinating activities, and offer information from the business’s past that can be used to inform the future.

Ethical Issues

Social responsibility and sustainability are two components of modern business. A simple business ethic is to deal honestly with employees and customers. Business ethics are becoming complex include elements of law, politics, philosophy, history and respecting others (Velentzas and Broni 795). The main point is that business ethics are not only focused on the honesty of the business but also on how the community is impacted.
One of the main security issues for the café is making sure that customers’ privacy is respected. The business is centred on ICT, using MIS, computers and mobile devices so firewalls need to be adapted to keep the hackers out but allow everyone else access. Passwords must be used and changed periodically ole-based security strategies need to be applied. The level of access to the MIS must be controlled so that the employees access only the applications the y permission to use.

Works Cited

Intuit TurboTax. https://turbotax.intuit.com/
Lewis, Jared. How to open a coffee shop with a play structure. n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2015. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/open-coffee-shop-play-structure-kids-33215.html
Quicken www.quicken.com/go/apps
Rangaswamy, Nimmi. Telecenters and Internet cafes: The case of ICTs in small businesses. Asian Journal of Communication, 18(4), 365-378, 2008.
Ranjan, Jayanthi. Business intelligence: Concepts, components, techniques and benefits. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, 9(1), 060- 070, 2005-2009. Web. 1 Feb. 2015. jatit.org/volumes/research-papers/Vol9No1/9Vol9No1.pdf
Velentzas, John and Broni, Georgia. Ethical dimensions in the conduct of business: Business ethics, corporate social responsibility and the law. The “Ethics in Busines” as a sense of business ethics. International Conference On Applied Economics (ICOAE), 795-819, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2015. http://kastoria.teikoz.gr/icoae2/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/articles/2011/10/092.pdf
Appendix
Table A- 1 Maintenance