Information Use
Josh Dunn
CIS/207
11/10/2014
John Maloney

Information Use
Information systems have played a major role in the way companies do business. Information is a very essential part of the modern organizations and is required to run them efficiently. We can say it in another way that without an information system an organization system is bound to collapse. Information is needed to control the day to day operations properly and in an effective manner. From making key decisions to implementing them everywhere there is need of information at every step. The importance of information and its management to organizations is undeniable very large. The organizations which are able to manage information successfully are also successful in other aspects of business. Commonly information is defined as data that is timely, accurate, organized for specific purpose and presented in a context to make it meaningful and relevant. Information, generally leads to rise in understanding and decline in uncertainty. Information is considered important as it can affect behavior, decisions as well as their outcomes. Suppose a manager receives the information that his company is struggling during a certain time of the year he can use that information to make certain changes to help cut costs to operate the organization. If information is received that does not affect or bring any change to the organization that information is considered useless or unimportant.
Information at firehouse flows many different ways. The corporate office relays new ideas to us that we can pass on to our employees for the customers. They also provide cost saving tips and maintain our systems so they are up to date. The system we use provides managers’ with the tools necessary to run the day to day operations of the store. We are able to utilize many tools that provide certain information to make decisions as far as staffing needs, sale volume, product inventory, labor percentage, and food cost percentage. Without those tools available to us the business would not be able to be profitable. I have been with Firehouse Subs for four years and most of the time you are able to look at last year’s sales and base your staffing needs off that. The trend from year to year does not change a whole lot and it gives you a rough idea of what you need. That information is valuable when sitting down to make a schedule. Hourly sale’s volume is another important information tool that is available to us to see where our busiest hours are and calculate the right amount of staffing so you can adequately take care of your customers. Utilizing product inventory is an effective measure in combatting employee theft and ordering product to run the store. If a manager is unable to keep track of his inventory he runs the risk of running out of supplies to take care of the customers and having employees steal with his/her knowledge. A good manager will keep daily counts on the important products in his store to combat that issue. The best way for us to combat it is counting our meat, cheese, and bread at the same time every day. Those items are the three most stolen products in our stores. Labor percentage is a big chunk of our cost to operate a store. A manager who wants to succeed in this business will utilize the resources available to him/her to keep labor at a profitable level. For our stores to be profitable we are required to keep our labor percentage below 23% counting the salaried manager. Some weeks that requires us to work 40 hours a week where other weeks we end up work 50-55 hours a week. The biggest chunk of our businesses cost is food cost. Our food cost accounts for 32-34% of our total cost to operate. The best way for a manager to keep this in line is keep mess ups to a minimum and ensure that the cashier gets the order right the first time from the customer. A manager needs help from all of his/her employees to keep the food cost in check.
The concerns with properly controlling this flow is having open communication and proper training. Without proper communication from corporate, franchisee, manager, and to employees the system as a whole will fail. If the system fails employees lose their job, corporate loses money, franchisee loses his store while still having to repay debt if he still has the debt. Corporate also has to maintain our systems so we can avoid unauthorized data breaches that could be detrimental to our customers. If we have a data breach we run the risk of losing customers for fear of security with their information.