1) What are the input, processing, and outputs of a package tracking system? The inputs of a package tracking system include package information, customer signature, pickup, delivery, time-card data, current location and billing and customer clearance documentation. The processing is the customer service representatives with the desktop computers that linked to the central computers. Data are also reorganized so that they can be tracked by customer account, date, driver and other criteria.
The outputs of a package tracking system include pickup and delivery times, location and package recipient. It can also include various report suck as a summary reports for the management. 2) What technologies are used by UPS? How are these technologies related to UPS’s Business Strategy? UPS has spent billions of dollars into many technology and systems to improve customer service while maintaining the cost of operation low and streamlining its overall operations.
These technologies includes handheld computers (DIADs), scanning system, wireless network, large mainframe computers, the internet, and many other different pieces of software such as for tracking packages, calculating the fees of the package, maintaining the customer accounts and managing logistics. These technologies in long run will bring the company higher revenue. 3) What problems do UPS’s information systems solve. What would happen if these systems were not available? One of the problems that the information systems solve is to keep the level of services high yet bring the cost and prices down to compete with other competitors.
If these systems were not available then UPS will not be able to compete with others and it will not become the largest package deliver company as what it is today. 4) What added services did UPS provide to the companies shown in the film: eg: Boeing, Mercedes Benz, Fanny May, and Gateway? UPS invests on other companies as well by providing additional services. Boeing is a major aerospace and defense corporation in United States, UPS then constructed a three billion dollars inventory next to the largest Boeing factory that build airplanes and other aircrafts.
UPS then can ship their parts directly to the factory and also allow Boeing to track the bar code on the package as well. For Mercedes Benz, UPS picks up the auto part from sixteen different countries and shipped those parts to fourteen different Mercedes Benz factories around the world. Fanny May is a chocolate company in Chicago, UPS came up with the idea of the thermo wrap for the chocolate packages such that the thermo wrap can prevent the chocolate from melting or turning into bad quality.
Then UPS will ship those chocolate packages to the satisfying customers. And Gateway is a computer hardware company which also manufactures personal computers, UPS will deliver the Gateway computer packages by next day, it is fast and easy for the customers. “Mis in Action” 1) What kinds of information and services does the “Web site provide for individuals, small businesses, and large businesses? List these services and write several paragraphs describing one of them, such as UPS Trade Direct or Automated Shipment Processing.
Explain how you or your business would benefit from the service. On the UPS website, there are many information and services that UPS offers to the customers, such as customer account where the customer can track their package, calculate the time and cost of a package, scheduling a pickup time, order supply, UPS Trade Direct, Automated Shipment Processing, UPS Express Critical, etc. The UPS Trade Direct is a solution to the customer by shipping the package directly to a retail store or at customer’s door.
Trade Direct is a one carrier, under one bill and it is one solution to the customers and this service makes it easy for the customers to deliver or to receive packages from anywhere on earth. UPS will pick up or receive a shipment, provide consolidation, transport the item to the destination country, provide customers clearance then deconsolidate into individual shipments and then send those shipments directly to the customers. This service can make my parent’s business easier to handle and save a lot of time for my parent to focus on other important issues on their usiness. Instead of my parents take care of shipping different packages to different addresses; UPS Trade Direct will take care of the packages and will deliver them to different addresses to my parent’s customers in a faster and easier way. 2) Explain how the Web site helps UPS achieve some or all of the strategic business objectives we described earlier in this chapter. What would be the impact on UPS’s business if this Website were not available? UPS uses a collection of information technology to continue to grow its business.
Those information technologies includes handheld computers, barcode scanning systems, wireless network, internet services and other important software for tracking packages, calculating fees, to maintaining customers, account and managing logistics. If the website is not available to UPS then they will start to loss customers since the customers are seeking for the simplest way of doing business, and as well as UPS have to remain in competitive. Without the website, UPS will downfall and soon may be at risk.
