University of Hertfordshire

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences

ASSIGNMENT BRIEFING FRONT SHEET
Assignment Order Processing for Kamban Ltd.
Title (Referred course work)
Module Title Manufacturing Information Systems

Dr S. Loke

Tutor

Date
submitted
Module MAAD0059
Code
GROUP or
INDIVIDUAL
Assignment

Individual

*****************************************************************************************************************************
FOR INVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS STUDENT TO COMPLETE
(Comments on this assignment by students can be made on the back of the assignment briefing sheet).
By completing BOX A below, I certify that the submitted work is entirely mine and that any material derived or quoted from
the published or unpublished work of other persons has been duly acknowledged. [ref. UPR AS/C/6.1, section 7 and UPR
AS/C/5 (Appendix III)].
Please print your forename and surname in capitals, provide your; - ID number, the study year code (e.g. CS1, ASE1), actual
time spent on the assignment and your signature.

BOX A
Student Forename
(in CAPS please)

Student
Surname

Student ID
Number

Year
Code

(in CAPS please)

Actual Time
Spent by the
Student
(hours)

Signature of
Student

*****************************************************************************************************************************
FOR GROUP ASSIGNMENTS - STUDENTS TO COMPLETE
Group Name/Number (if allocated by module team)

(Student comments on this assignment can be made on the back of the assignment briefing sheet)
By completing BOX B below, we certify that the submission is entirely ours and that any material derived or quoted from the
published or unpublished work of other persons has been duly acknowledged. [ref. UPR AS/C/6.1, section 7 and UPR
AS/C/5 (Appendix III)].
Please print your forenames and surnames in capitals, provide your; - ID numbers, the study year code (e.g. CS1, ASE1),
actual time spent on the assignment and your signatures. By signing the submission you certify that this work represents
equal contributions from all team members. If this is not the case, the module leader must be informed before submission.

BOX B
Student Forename
(in CAPS please)

Student
Surname
(in CAPS please)

Student ID
Number

Year
Code

Actual Time
Spent by each
Student
(hours)

Signature of
Student

This sheet must be submitted with the assignment, signed and either BOX A or B filled in.
LATE SUBMISSION WILL ATTRACT STANDARD LATENESS PENALTY.
Guidance on avoiding academic assessment offences such as plagiarism and collusion is given at the URL:
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~scs/PlagiarismAndCollusion.pdf* (* Schools to insert their own guidance notes where
relevant)

UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE
Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences
ASSIGNMENT BRIEFING SHEET
ASSIGNMENT AIMS:

To perform Systems Analysis & Design for an Organisation.

MODULE LEARNING OUTCOMES ASSESSED:

1.
2.
3.
4.

demonstrate and explain the role of Information Systems within the manufacturing environment
apply analytical tools relevant to the design and implementation of information systems
solve problems of the structure, operation and management of integrated computer systems
develop an IT/IS implementation programme taking into account, resource, quality and cost issues.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

Detailed requirements are as stated in the case study attached.

This is a group assignment. Each group will consist of a maximum of two students. Students are expected to work
as a team of two members to discuss the problems associated with this case study and to work out solutions. Students
must all fill in the peer assessment part of this briefing sheet to assess individual contributions.
MARKS AWARDED FOR:

Presentation:
Contents:

10%
90%
35

This assignment is worth 100 % of

the overall in course assessment for this module.
Date work
handed out

13th Feb 2009

Date to be
handed in

Typical (hours) required by the

student(s) to complete the assignment.
25 June 2009

Internal moderator
approval (signature)

Target date for the return of the marked Assignment

Marks Awarded %

Marks Awarded %
After Lateness Penalty

[Late submission will attract

standard lateness penalty]

A note to the Students:

1. For undergraduate modules, a score of 35% - 39% represents performance at non-honours level. Scores
above 40% represent performance at honours level.
2. For postgraduate modules, a score of 50% or above represents a pass mark.
3. Modules may have several components of assessment and may require a pass in all elements. For further
details, please consult the relevant Definitive Module Document, Module Guide or Module Leader.

Guidance on avoiding academic assessment offences such as plagiarism and collusion is given at the URL:
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~scs/PlagiarismAndCollusion.pdf* (* Schools to insert their own guidance notes where
relevant)

STUDENT COMMENTS ON THE ASSIGNMENT (optional- for your continued academic and personal
development you are encouraged to review your achievement and reflect on your progress in your studies).

What did you do well?

What could you have done better?

What would have enabled you to do it better?

MARKERS COMMENTS (markers may elect to provide feedback or comments by alternative means on
students submissions, e.g. StudyNet, detailed marking plan, etc.)

Guidance on avoiding academic assessment offences such as plagiarism and collusion is given at the URL:
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~scs/PlagiarismAndCollusion.pdf* (* Schools to insert their own guidance notes where
relevant)

CASE STUDY - Kamban Ltd

Kamban Ltd manufactures and supplies a range of hi-fi, TV, radio and video goods to retail outlets throughout
the United Kingdom. Fifty percent of parts used are delivered by suppliers who each supply a variety of types
of parts. Currently, Kamban has over 40 suppliers who supply a total of over 500 different item types. The
number of suppliers is expected to remain fairly constant during the foreseeable future though the range of
types of equipment may alter considerably. Kamban has approximately 1200 live Customers and receives on
average about 300 orders per day, each one averaging 10 items requested.
Kamban employs about 450 people in a number of departments:

Sales order department: accepts and processes Customer orders.

Credit control department: responsible for Customer credit checks.

Stores department: responsible for stock control.

Invoicing department: responsible for customer invoicing.

Account Department: handles general accounting requirements and the provision of reports.

Packing and dispatch department: responsible for goods inward and goods outward.

Purchase department: responsible for placing orders with suppliers.

Sales and marketing department: deals with advertising and establishing new outlets.

Payroll department: prepares Kamban's payroll.

Maintenance department: responsible for general maintenance and also maintenance of Kamban's fleet of
vans.

General administration: handles administration not specifically covered elsewhere.

Kamban was started 30 years ago by Mr Kamban (senior) and has grown rapidly in the last five years with
the increased consumer use of video recorders, compact disc players and the whole range of modern electronic
leisure equipment. Mr Kamban (junior) has pioneered this development with a subsequent 300% increase in
trade in the last three years. However, problems are beginning to emerge. Kamban's domination of the
north-east of the county and its expansion into the north-west is being threatened by a serious rival, Denon
Ltd. This company was set up nine months previously with a large injection of capital. Denon Ltd. provides a
direct public customer link for telephoned credit card orders for the purchase of electronic leisure equipment.
Also, and this is most serious for Kamban, Denon is now, moving into the area of supplying retail outlets, in
direct competition with Kamban.
The management of Kamban has been conscious for some time of slowness in satisfying the orders received
from retail outlets. These orders are taking an increasing time to process. This has been further exacerbated by
the expansion of Kamban over the last three years. The entirely manual system that Kamban uses has not been
able to cope adequately with the increase of trade, even though more staff have been employed. Denon is able
to offer superior service because of its modern computerised data processing and information systems, which
give it a significant edge over Kamban.
Mr Kamban (senior) has long resisted his son's representations to computerise the business. This is partly
because of loyalty to his older employees, who have been with Kamban since its foundation. He fears that
they, like him, would he unable to make the transition to computerisation. Also he is conscious of the demise
of his best friend's business, which rapidly moved from being a flourishing enterprise to bankruptcy as the
result of completely mismanaged and inappropriate introduction of a computer system.
The recent rise of Denon and his own impending retirement have forced Mr Kamban (senior) to reconsider
the possibility of computerisation. He has subsequently given responsibility for the project to his son.
Although knowing little about computers the son realises the potential and sees this as a necessary
requirement if Kamban is to stave off the threat from Denon and to expand further (satellite TV and personal
computers).

Guidance on avoiding academic assessment offences such as plagiarism and collusion is given at the URL:
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~scs/PlagiarismAndCollusion.pdf* (* Schools to insert their own guidance notes where
relevant)

Mr Kamban (junior) has called in a systems analyst with whom he wishes to discuss the problems and
opportunities. Initial interviews and meetings with the management have been very productive. It was found
that the sales catalogue of prices and products used to price customer orders is often out of date. In particular,
new items are not catalogued immediately and items that are now no longer stocked still appear. The problem
is located in the time-consuming nature of the manual preparation of the catalogue from the inventory records.
Customer enquiries are sometimes difficult to deal with as records of orders are not stored in a form that is
easily accessible. Also, orders that cannot be immediately satisfied from current stock - that is, back orders are not processed consistently. The analysts were told that due to the large number of documents flowing
through the system the time taken to process an order may be days, even if all the goods are held in the
warehouse. Further, data within the system is generally stored in a way that makes it difficult for management
to retrieve useful information. For instance, regular reports are time-consuming to produce and are often late,
rendering them ineffective for control purposes or to aid medium-term strategies.

Current Procedures for order processing

The customers mail their orders to Kamban Ltd. On receipt of an order in the sales order processing
department a five part company order form is filled out giving (amongst other information) the order, order
date, customer, customer name, item 1 code, item 1 quantity number, item 2 code, item 2 quantity
number and so on. The top copy of this form is temporarily filed in customer sequence for customer enquiry
purposes (rather than order sequence, as customers enquire about a recently placed order they will not be in
possession of the order). Each item is provisionally priced on the remaining copies of the form from a sales
catalogue held in the order department. The priced copies are sent to the credit control section.
The credit control section provisionally calculates the order value. Brief details of the customer account are
then consulted to establish that the customer exists, is correctly named, and that the total value of the order,
when added to the current balance, does not exceed the credit limit of the customer. If all these conditions are
met then the order copies are stamped approved, signed, and returned to the sales order department, one copy
of the order being retained in the credit control department filed by customer. If the above conditions are not
met, the order copies are temporarily filed to be dealt with later by the credit control manager.
On receipt of the approved order copies in the sales order department, the top copy is extracted from the
temporary file and sent to the customer as an acknowledgement. One of the approved copies is filed in the
order department in the 'approved order' file under order. This is to enable staff to retrieve details of the order
in the case of further customer queries. The remaining two copies are sent to the stores department and the
invoicing department. The invoicing department files the copy under order.
The stores department selects the goods as ordered and enters the quantities supplied on the order form. A
two-part dispatch note is made out giving the goods supplied together with their quantities. One copy of this is
sent to the invoicing department and the other is sent with the goods to packing and dispatch. If the entire
order is supplied then the order form is filed in the stores department under order, otherwise the goods
supplied are noted on the form and it is filed in date sequence. Periodically the stores department goes through
the unsatisfied back orders and attempts to supply the goods ordered. The stores department also updates the
inventory records.
On receipt of the dispatch note the invoicing department prepares a three-part invoice using the sales price of
the goods from the catalogue. The discount applicable to a customer is calculated. This is based on the
customer's geographical location, total purchases during the last 12 months and the total value of the order.
Sales tax is added and totals formed. One copy of the invoice is sent to the customer and one is sent to
accounts for updating the customer accounts and other ledgers. The remaining copy is filed in the invoicing
department with the order copy and dispatch note under order.

Guidance on avoiding academic assessment offences such as plagiarism and collusion is given at the URL:
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~scs/PlagiarismAndCollusion.pdf* (* Schools to insert their own guidance notes where
relevant)

Submission requirements:
1. List the problems of the order processing system of the company.
(10 marks)
2. Prepare a flowchart to illustrate the current manual system for order processing at Kamban
Ltd.
(20 marks)
3. Perform systems analysis and produce data flow diagrams for the current logical model
(context level and level 0 only)
(20 marks)
4. Design a new system to overcome as many of the problems as you have listed in question
(1) above. Produce data flow diagrams of the proposed logical model (context level and
level 0 and level 1) to illustrate the new system.
(40 marks)
5. Referring to your proposed logical model, list the improvement you believe you have made
to the companys order processing system.
(10 marks)

Guidance on avoiding academic assessment offences such as plagiarism and collusion is given at the URL:
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~scs/PlagiarismAndCollusion.pdf* (* Schools to insert their own guidance notes where
relevant)