TERM ASSIGNMENT

Honey bliss is a retail outlet of bakery products including breads, pastries, cookies, desserts
and many other bakery items near Patia square, Bhubaneswar. It also owns its own vegetarian
restaurant on the first floor which is located atop its bakery outlet on the ground floor. Honey
Bliss manages both its bakery and restaurant business and are known for their good quality
and reasonable pricing. The whole idea is to ensure that a strict quality standard is maintained
and the food is fresh and not stored for more than a specific period of time. Honey Bliss
operates its own production system rather than outsourcing its bakery products from outside.
In addition to that they have also tied up with various food delivery platforms like Zomato
and Swiggy to increase their reachability and customer base. This requires them to manage a
food ordering system using information technology and Management Information System.
What we observed within our time spent there and the observations we yielded from our
interaction with the staff and the manager was that a well executed Management Information
System (MIS) was responsible for the maintenance of quality and consistency and the
competitive pricing in the bakery products as well as the restaurant service of Honey Bliss.
MIS applications help them in the ordering and tracking of raw materials, management of
inventory, maintaining balance between supply and demand, catering to customers’ needs
and faster production and distribution. It also helped them in food ordering and delivering
system through various online apps.

After interviewing a few staff members and the manager according to the questionnaire
prepared by us to gather information about the design and system of running business used by
Honey Bliss we could come up with the following findings:

Information systems encompasses three basic resources: people (customers and employees),
technology (IT/IS) and information. Now focussing on the application of information
technology in the bakery and restaurant business of Honey Bliss. The financial management
aspect which includes online and offline transactions processing, record keeping and database
management is the most important aspect where information system and information
technology is being applied.
Transaction Processing System (TPS):
This is a very crucial type of information system used in honey bliss. The daily sales and
orders are recorded and processed by its TPS system that is installed in the outlet that we
visited. The input data called transaction events are fed into the TPS system which converts
them into output information to be used both by the management as well as the customers.
This TPS system is also applied in the B2B business of Honey Bliss. Honey Bliss is also
involved in delivering its bakery products to various other retail stores and hostel mess and
canteens. The transactions involved in this aspect of business is also governed by Transaction
Processing System. The TPS system processes the input data fed to it and generates ouput
information in the form of invoices, monthly bills, reports and summaries of individual and
collected transactions and also updates data for further stages of processing.
In the bakery shop, most of the products are packaged and have a barcode system that they use for
automated data collection using handheld scanners and supporting computer system infrastructure.
What we could gather from our interaction with them was they also used barcoding for their inventory
management as well.

Decision Support System (DSS)

The company makes use of the information such as the invoice, customer orders, stock records and
sales to make decisions on the amount and scale of production that they require to cater to customers’
needs. It also helps them make their operations management decisions like supply chain, value chain
and inventory management. The strategic decisions are taken by the top management by analysing the
current situation of the business and cash flow statements. It also helps them predict the projected
demand of customers in the future and analyse the changing trends in their preferences which helps
them serve their customers better.
Their tie up with Zomato and Swiggy necessitates them to have a robust IT/IS infrastructure to keep
track of the orders and identify gaps if any in the demand and delivery. It enables quick resolution of
the customer support and queries as and when required.
They are very meticulous about quality management as they need to maintain a good rating and keep
serving their customers well enough in the face of competition from other emerging competitors.
Management Information System (MIS)
Honey Bliss has implemented MIS system quite well in terms of customer relationship management
and employee management. It keeps a record of the employees shift and attendance and the number of
hours they work in their respective shifts. It helps them observe and regulate the level of staffing, the
skills overkill or shortage, the manpower planning, absenteeism and other HR issues.
They also use MIS system to prepare a monthly list of expenses as compared to the stipulated budget
that was assigned by the management. It also helps the production department analyse the sales of
previous day to ensure minimum wastage and labour cost.
MIS and DSS systems are quite interrelated in the sense that MIS provides information about the
turnover, profitability ratios and projected demands by the customers to help the mangers and the staff
get a fair idea and understanding of their business and plan its future direction accordingly.
Different reports generated regarding payrolls, sales transactions, online food delivery orders,
accounts, debit and credit helps the financial decision makers to order, reorder, stock or sell and other
purchasing and financial and budgetary decisions.

Benefits of using IT/IS

If we analyse deeply, the use of computer based IT/ IS system has Honey Bliss maintain a competitive
positioning of their business both in bakery as well as restaurant service business. It has helped them
remain ahead of competition. The IS/IT tools used by the organization has enabled them to access
solutions for quick service, automated transaction processing, cost control, improved customer service
and hospitality partners that look for user-friendly point of sale(POS) solutions. They can know about
their net sales, peak time of sales, best selling product and their core competency to maintain their
competitive positioning in the bakery and restaurant business. It has helped them to analyse the
overall performance of their business, save time, cost and effort in various business processes, and
serve customers better.

We had a few suggestions on the “information system solution” that Honey Bliss can adopt to gain
competitive advantage and sustain its business.
They can better utilize the customer details, repeatedness of order and track frequency of their visit.
This information can be used to customize service for the customers according to their preferences. Its
also important to keep customers’ feedback report and put it to use. The front line staff should also be
well informed about the use of information system in the business. This would help in better result
orientation in the ground level.
Moreover to consolidate their competitive positioning in the bakery and restaurant business industry
they can use software packages and tools to help in sending real time data to the kitchen directly. The
order made should be displayed immediately on the kitchen screen and the transaction and billing
process should be transparent to the customer. The credit/debit card processing should be smooth and
accurate and the operator should know how much payment is due. The kitchen should get live update
and real time information on the upcoming orders and the average waiting time for the customers.
Using the Wi-Fi system to track the browsing habits of their customers and keep the time they spent
in the bakery shop or restaurant can be useful to know about the customer preferences and how they
need to change their business model or decisions to cater to customers’ needs for greater customer
retention and improved customer relationship management.
They can even use information system for the procurement of raw materials by running an analysis on
the daily requirements of their business to maintain the supply and demand balance with optimum
usage of labour and cost-effective ways to minimize wastage.
IT/IS software can be used for a number of reports and analysis like variance analysis, exception
report, market research, market analysis. This can be used by Honey Bliss to promote their business
via social media marketing and digital marketing. They can use information system to target their
customer segment and also increase their customer base through posts on Instagram, Facebook and
Twitter. These are great platforms to promote their business and attract more customers. The market
analysis data can be used to open up new outlets in strategic locations to garner more business both in
B2B and B2C segments. The online food delivery apps that have tie ups with Honey Bliss can also
promote their business through paid advertising. The hospitality partners like college mess and
canteens, hotels and other small retail stores can also be increased in terms of customer base through
strategic planning by the use of Information system and information technology.