Types of Information Systems
CIS 465 -Types of Information Systems (99F)
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Case: Frito Lay
Frito-Lay, Inc., a snack food subsidiary of Pepsi-Cola, outfitted its 10,000-person direct store-delivery sales force with handheld terminals used while calling on the 400,000 stores that sell its 100 products. Salespeople use the terminals to enter replenishment orders and record the number of “stales” removed after their 35-day shelf life. Based on this data, a printer in the truck prints an invoice handed to the store manager as part of the day’s deliveries. Salespeople hook the terminals to telephone lines to transfer each day’s data to the company’s mainframe computers in Dallas. The system saves salespeople four or five hours of paperwork per week.
CIS 465 -Types of Information Systems (99F)
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The mainframes in Dallas consolidate the data each night as part of Frito-Lay’s internal replenishment system. Requirements for that system changed drastically in the 1980s, and Frito-Lay’s regional competitors became stronger. Frito-Lay had to be able to respond quickly to a variety of competitive challenges, ranging from price changes to totally new products. Coordination between manufacturing and sales had to be much tighter because the company needed to be able to run local promotions on Thursday for a product that would have to be available on Monday.
CIS 465 -Types of Information Systems (99F)
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Question:
What type(s) of information systems does the case illustrate?
Debate:
The ability of large firms to build information systems like the one in the case gives them unfair advantages over small firms that lack both the staff and money to build such systems.
CIS 465 -Types of Information Systems (99F)
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The system also used a data warehouse to provide comprehensive, up-to-date data for studying sales by any combination of product, store, and time period. In South Texas, the data from this system showed an unexpected drop in sales of Tostitos tortilla chips. Research into the cause of the drop indicated that a small competitor had launched a white corn tortilla chip. Frito-Lay developed a competitive white corn product within three months and regained market share.
CIS 465 -Types of Information Systems (99F)
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The Frito-Lay information system supports a range of communication and decision-making functions typically associated with different types of information systems. It is a transaction processing system because it is used to enter orders from each retailer. It can be considered a management information system or executive information system because it provides information in a readily available form for management’s use. It is a decision support system because it supports decision making by helping route drivers, customers, and managers obtain needed information in a genuinely useful form.