Hierarchical Perspective Pyramid

Hierarchical Perspective Pyramid

The hierarchical perspective recognises that the making of decisions and business activities occur at different level of the organisation. Each level has different activities, that carry different responsibilities, and result in individuals having to make different kinds of decisions that impact the organisation; from relatively no impact to affecting the organisations overall strategy. However even though the activities at the operational level may have little impact individually, combined they can influence the organisations overall strategy. (Piccoli, 2008)

As most organizations are hierarchical, the way we classify IS (information systems) tends to follow the hierarchy. This is frequently described as "the pyramid model" because the way in which the systems are arranged reflects the nature of the activities found at various different levels in the organization.

There are several different versions of the pyramid model ranging from three to five layers; however for the purpose of this assignment I believe the four layered pyramid (see Fig. 1.A) applies to Glanbia from my research, and from my experience working for them, as factory operatives report to middle managers, who the report to the department heads and the general manager, who reports to the Executive Board. I am now going to give a brief overview of each layer, the processes involved and what information flows from one layer to the next. It is important to note I am going to focus my description on the flow of information from their production plants in Ireland that produce milk and  protein powder, for the sake of word count, however this will reflect all of their other products as they use similar IS.  Glanbia ingredients Ltd are partners of Glanbia plc and run their Irish Dairy operations. (Glanbia, 2016) (Euromed Marseille Ecole de Management, 2015)

Operational Level/Transactional Processing Systems

This level focuses on short-term activities and basic transactions performed by factory floor operatives that deliver the organisations value proposition. IS that support these levels are known as Transaction Processing Systems, and are typically used to automate repeated operations, ensuring speed and accuracy. The types of processes these systems conduct are sorting, listing, updating, merging and sorting, and their outputs usually come in the form of lists and reports e.g. order processing systems. The key data that flows from these systems feeds into the management information systems that will be discussed in the next segment. (Piccoli, 2008)

Case Study: Glanbia use a SAP system to record and transfer data such as order fulfilment, shipment of goods and product test completion from the warehouse and laboratories to the relevant managers/supervisors. In their Virginia plant, the finished pallets of milk powder come directly of the production line into the warehouse, where their code is entered into the SAP system by an operative, which automatically prints out a label with the product details and a bar code that is attached to the pallet. Simultaneously as the label is printed, the data regarding the product is uploaded to the system for the assistant production manager and shipping manager to access in order for them to schedule production and shipments. Another label automatically prints inside the lab and is attached to a sample bag. Using the product code on this label the lab assistant can find its coinciding pallet on his SAP interface, and updates the test results on to the system, so it is available for the lab supervisor to access.