Importance of Data for Planning Capability

Questions:

1. Discuss the criteria to consider in specifying the structure and features of CGC’s new system.
 

2. Identify the data that should be incorporated into CGC’s new system to provide adequate planning capability. Explain why each data item it is important and the level of detail needed for the data to be useful. 

The report seeks to provide more insight to the case study about Citizen’s Gas Company. It analyses the market factors that result in the demand for the company’s products. It is prudent to employ the most efficient strategies that will strengthen the market share of the enterprise. Most importantly, the company should focus on increasing its customer base and embracing customer loyalty. That will result in an increase in sales that replicates to the growth in profitability. Additionally, the company should structure the market demands in such a way that will promote the success of every department within the organization. The purpose of the report is to answer two questions that relate to the performance and structure of the organization.

The implementation of a new regime may be a daunting experience. All the stakeholders should come together and help in the design, analysis, as well as the implementation of the project. In most organizations, the cost of the system development outweigh the hardware costs thus calls for maximum attention to avoid the creation and duplication of errors. That will ensure that the system meets its specification and takes into account the least resources during its implementation (Cowell 2006). The specification of the structure and the features of the system encompass various consideration as outlined below.

Errors remain the most common aspect of system design and implementation. It increases the scope of the project and leads to the use of more resources that could help in structuring and improving the efficiency of the system. The method should be accurate to adjust the level of details, quality of the data input as well as the sophistication of the system logic. The system should function according to the specifications outlined during the requirement elicitation process. That will improve its operation and effectiveness. It is paramount to be careful during the process to ensure that design matches the needs of the organization. The team should not spend excessive effort when creating the system as well as specifying the structure and features of CGS’s system.

The market presents some forces that dictate the performance of any system in the market. The management should ensure that they understand the specific requirements of the market as well as that of the organization before specifying the new regime. That will make sure that the system performs the intended function and benefits the team. It should also encompass the stakeholders’ requirements and desires. That helps to produce the best output that will benefit both the society as well as the members of the team. It is paramount to isolate the factors that affect the demand and supply for gas as well as to determine their relative importance. That will ensure that the system follows some strategies in its implementation. Additionally, it is imperative to quantify the effects of such policies.

Challenges in Implementing a New System

Some systems may remain dormant in an organization for a considerate period. Evaluating the need for the regime in the organization is proper. That serves as a method of providing direction towards the level and degree of automation as well as sophistication required in the body (Parvazeh, Harounabadi, and Naizari 2016). For instance, the development of the less sophisticated system is important for example, when the system functions less frequently in the organization. That can be on a monthly basis or even after two months. On the contrary, the sophisticated system performs the daily operations within the organization. They help in decision making as well as data procession. Building such system calls for more modern design to meet most operations within the premise. 

The development of the scheme depends on the degree of efficiency that the organization will receive from the system (Bide, Balson, Mankelow and Selby 2016). That depends on various aspects such as time of delivery among others. That provides the guidelines on the degree and level of automation as well as complexity that the system should possess. That acts as the guidelines during the development of the system and ensures that their system benefits the organization since it will serve the intended purpose. The system should provide for quick turnaround monthly since it will multitask by performing the multi-year planning as well as the monthly tactical planning. Additionally, the developing team should account for the considerations that will minimize the data input requirements during the implementation process.

Software development is one of the most expensive methods in the field of Information Technology. Hence, the organization should perform the cost-benefit analysis to ensure that they implement a new system that will help in saving costs (Ganguli and Guha Deb 2016). That should range from the processing speed as well as the ease of operation. Systems that are less sophisticated reduces the training time and cost. Hence, users that understand most of their features and start using them immediately they surface in the organization. Thus, the management should justify the new system on the issue of cost-benefit analysis and decide on the best system that will ensure that the organization achieves its ultimate goal.

The planning process of the new system is an important aspect that helps in determines the best options that will save on cost as well as time. The planning process needs some resources such as computer devices as well as enough storage to contain the organization’s information. Again, the processing time signifies an important aspect of the character (Dugan, Clark, LeCun and Van Parijs 2016). The management should consider the computer environment to determine the benefits of the new system to the organization. They should make a comparison with the old regime to evaluate the success and compatibility of the new system. 

The human nature is prone to resistance that erupts due to the implementation and use of a new system. Users find it hard to embrace the new regime due to the challenges that come along due to its use. They find it hard to learn most features of the new system and rather reject it since it gives them hard time understanding the various components of the system (Umble, Haft and Umble 2003). The designers should improve the interface of the scheme to ensure that it is user-friendly. That approach will enhance its usability and reduce the level of resistance within the organization. Excessive support burden has adverse consequences on the performance of the system. It makes the system lack timely reporting. Additionally, it can make the system depend on simplifying assumptions that hurt the accuracy as well as the credibility of the scheme. The system should allow for maintenance since such failure may make it fall into a state of disrepair. That will affect its usability in the organization.

Market Considerations for System Implementation

Fig1. The diagram above illustrates the processes that the implementation should follow

1.3.1 Weather data

This kind of data should exist in the system at the required period. They help in project heating requirements and contribute to communicating significant findings to the end users of the system. These data are useful for planning purpose since they assist in indicating the condition at any given time (Hopey 2011). That will contribute to forecast the operations of the company to avoid the frustrations that will result due to weather fluctuations. Such changes may present a significant effect on the organizations since they affect the execution of the core processes that makes the organization to achieve its core objectives.

1.3.2 Number of clients

Clients signify a critical part of the team. They control merely all processes in the body since most operations aim to satisfy the customers. The team should project the number of clients monthly. On the contrary, that should not be the case when the client’s growth is regular. In such a case, it is paramount to develop the client count base together with the growth factor. Additionally, it is prudent to break this aspect to ease the estimation process. For instance, the categories can include residential, industrial heating, industrial non-heating among others. The issue proves significant since it helps in the planning process, hence ensures the success of the organization.

1.3.3 Heating Factor

This kind of data helps the team to achieve most of their objectives since they convert weather data to customers’ demand hence giving the company a competitive advantage in the market. Most importantly, the kind of data should be available for every client that depends on heating. That includes residential commercial among others. Additionally, the heat factor should not vary on any aspect such as months unless there exist a seasonal relationship between the characters. Again, it can change in situations with various trends that contain multiple dimensions such as the conservation of heat principles.

1.3.4 Customer Unit Demand

That includes the order for the clients that purchase different products from the company either on small or large-scale. Containing the monthly consumption for the customers is imperative. That should add that for the commercial as well as the industrial non-heating customers. It should be either a constant or a variable over time. Additionally, it is helpful since it reflects both seasonal fluctuations and the longer-term trends. Moreover, the data assist in projecting the non-heating portion of commercial and industrial customer demand.

1.3.5 Sales forecast

The primary purpose of the company is to increase sales and decrease expenditures. In fact, that is the primary goal of most organizations in different parts of the world. However, it is proper to install various ethical dimensions that will ensure that the organization operates in the best way that will preserve the environment and avoid exploiting its customers. The company should forecast the sales to the top individuals by months for the first year of the five-year plan. Moreover, the future period can utilize the annual growth rates to determine the market values. The revenue class seems important in the process. It helps in projecting the heating and non-heating sales for all the other customers.

Degree of Automation and Efficiency in System Implementation

1.3.6 Customer rate structure

The structure is important when supplying the monthly rate information at the class revenue level. This date helps to communicate a lot between the management and other stakeholders that take parts in the administration of the organization. Again, these data should exist on a monthly basis to enable periodic rate changes by the revenue class.

1.3.7 Supplier contracts terms

Vendors form an integral part of the company since they promote the operations within the premise. They ensure the availability of various materials and products that help in the production process. Hence, keeping their details is vital to the success of the organization. That should be different elements such as the unit cost as well as the monthly volumes.

1.3.8 Storage field capacity

The management should allocate space for the storage capacity since it helps to determine the availability of the gas. Again, it helps to determine if gas remains to supplement the pipeline supply.

1.3.9 Priority system

The ideas are also feasible for the entire project. It helps the company to manage most of the complicated tasks that will prove daunting and affect the success of the enterprise. Additionally, the aspect is helpful in case the organization needs to curtail service to the consumers because of the inadequacy of the supply of the gas. The requirements are as below.

1.4 Conclusion

All the factors listed above are helpful for the success of the company. They help to strategize the operations of the company and to determine the feasibility of the company’s plan. The first six factors contribute to establishing the demand for the gas. That also helps to acquire a wider market for the product that improves the profitability of the company. The next two items determine the supply of the product. They also play a critical role in evaluating the success factor of the product in the market. In some instance, they supply might fail to demand the application. Hence, the last items prove significant since they help to give direction on the same. The computation of the monthly demand is imperative due to the implication of the monthly variations of demand and supply.  

References

Bide, T., Balson, P., Mankelow, J. and Selby, I., 2016. A new sand and gravel map for the UK Continental Shelf to support sustainable planning. Resources Policy, 48, pp.1-12.

Cowell, R.G. ed., 2006. Probabilistic networks and expert systems: Exact computational methods for Bayesian networks. Springer Science & Business Media.

Dugan, P.J., Clark, C.W., LeCun, Y.A. and Van Parijs, S.M., 2016. Phase 4: DCL System Using Deep Learning Approaches for Land-Based or Ship-Based Real-Time Recognition and Localization of Marine Mammals-Distributed Processing and Big Data Applications. arXiv preprint arXiv:1605.00982.

Ganguli, S.K. and Guha Deb, S., 2016. Board Composition, Ownership Structure and Firm Performance: New Indian Evidence in a Unique Regulatory Environment. Ownership Structure and Firm Performance: New Indian Evidence in a Unique Regulatory Environment (March 12, 2016).

Hopey, D., 2011. Bromide: a concern in drilling wastewater. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Parvazeh, F., Harounabadi, A. and Naizari, M.A., 2016. A Recommender System for Making Friendship in Social Networks Using Graph Theory and users profile. Journal of Current Research in Science, (1), p.535.

Umble, E.J., Haft, R.R. and Umble, M.M., 2003. Enterprise resource planning: Implementation procedures and critical success factors. European journal of operational research, 146(2), pp.241-257.