Sherwood Store is a retail grocery store chain with a central distribution center and 14 retail stores in a major metropolitan area. Managers at all levels at the headquarters office, at the distribution center, and in the retail stores use reports generated from various information systems. One of the important information systems is the inventory system that keeps track of physical inventory by product line. Sales information gathered at point-of-sale checkout terminals is used to update inventory levels. At the end of each day, the store manager receives a reorder report indicating which items in inventory have reached their reorder point and need to be reordered from the distribution center. The inventory system also includes a report of items on order by product line, prices, and expected delivery dates. Each department manager within each store develops a sales plan that indicates the expected sales volume for each item for the subsequent week. Actual sales for each item are compared with the planned sales activity on a weekly basis, and a sales analysis summary report is generated, which provides information on planned versus actual sales for each item. Department managers in each store use this report to develop a new weekly sales plan. All orders from the local stores are filled from the central distribution center. At the central distribution center, a purchasing system is used daily to generate purchase orders for stock. One byproduct of this purchasing system is a purchasing order due-in report that indicates when shipments are scheduled to arrive, the shipper, and the warehouse location for the shipped merchandise. Another report helps monitor the performance of various suppliers by providing information on planned versus actual shipment dates and on the quality of the shipped merchandise. E.g. if six cases of eggs are damaged in shipment, the damage is indicated on the shipment report. Sherwood Store has 24 trucks making deliveries to local stores daily. An information system provides drivers with a computerized schedule of store deliveries. Distribution managers develop standards for truck loadings based on shipment quantity and weight. Actual delivery data are compared with delivery standards in reports to distribution managers. Finally, planners on the headquarters staff use external market data and demographic data to forecast sales trends in various regions. They build these data into reports that analyze the sales potential of alternative store sites. Store site selection is an important issue for top managers at Sherwood Store because they would like to expand the number of stores from 14 to 24 within the next three to five years. The information systems at Sherwood Store are essential to its ability to control inventories, manage the distribution process, and analyze sales trends affecting various product lines and store sites.

a) From the above description, identify eight different information systems by briefly describing the business objectives/functions done by each information system. (16 marks)

b) What level of decision making (operational, tactical, strategic planning) does each information system identified in (a) support? (Note that 0.25 mark will be deducted for the wrong level of decision making for each information system.) (4 marks)