Marriott Uk & Ireland in Word 2003

8/8/2019 Marriott Uk & Ireland in Word 2003

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MARRIOTT, UK & IRELAND

A) INFORMATION ACROSS VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS.

MAJOR DEPARTMENTS OF HOTEL

Hotels are very complex places and in order to deliver quality

services and products to its guests the hotels under Marriott UK & Ireland has

been broken down into various departments. Its depicted in the above chart.


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FRONT OFFICE:

It is the most important department of the hotel. The main function of

this department is to give warm welcome to the guest. It helps to create good

image in front of the guest. This is the first department where guest comes in

contact with. It generates the maximum revenue for the hotel as it sells room

to guests. This also includes sub departments like reservation, Bell desk, and

information desk. It also provides some facilities like concierge service to the

guest. Above all this department handles the check in and the check outs and

thats where the MIS kicks in. Marriott hotels uses CRM application software

from Siebel Systems Inc. This system enables to integrate all the operational

departments of the hotel and shares the information about the guests .As

soon as the guest checks in an account is created for him with the room

number as its identification at the system terminal in the reception. This

account is accessible by all the operational departments of the hotel with the

help of employee login ids and passes words. Till the check out other

functions of the software are mostly utilized by the other departments.

FOOD & BEVERAGE SERVICE

It is a department which serves food and beverage to the guest in a

very attractive and pleasing manner, which creates good impression on the

guest. There are several kinds of food and beverage outlet like restaurants,

bars, cofeeshops, take away banquets etc. It is second most revenue

producing department of the hotel by selling different types of food and

beverage to the guest. To give quality service in the right time F&B

department should a have good coordination with the food production

department and this is possible through the KOT (kitchen order transfer)

included in software developed by Siebel for Marriott. As soon as the order is

placed through the system terminal in the restaurant or bar its shown in theterminal of kitchen in the particular guests account and food items are made

according to the order through this the bill of the food items are

automatically shown in the account of the guest which further helps at the

time of the check out.


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FOOD PRODUCTION

It is a departmentwith deals with the preparation of different types offood items. It is not a visible department to the guest because it usually

works in the back area. It makes the food more delicious and attractive by

different styles of cooking method. Different cuisine has their own kitchen

and specialized chef to work on it according to their skills. Bakery

departments comes under this which include preparation of desserts, breads

etc. In

Kitchen its different scenario they use an application software called

INVENTORY PRO this helps management of inventories and its replenishmentat the time of exhaustion. When the raw materials for the food production are

needed to be replenished orders are placed through the terminals of kitchen

which are followed up by the purchase department.

HOUSE KEEPING

This department is responsible for cleaning and maintaining hotel

premises which include public area, guest rooms, lobby, swimming pool area

etc. generally this department is not visible to the guest. It works for guest

satisfaction through keeping the environment clean and hygiene. Horticulture

is one of the most important features of housekeeping department which

deals with different types of flower arrangement and maintaining the garden.

This department works to give pleasant look of the hotel to the guest. Assoon as the rooms are ready for guest that means, after cleaning a room

which have been vacated recently the conformation about room have been

readied for accommodating another guest its fed on to the network through

the Siebel software by the housekeeping staffs this information is picked up

by the staffs at front office which helps them to identifies how many rooms

are ready for selling which in turn adds to the revenue it all happens quickly

saving time.


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ACCOUNTS

There are many users of accounting and financial information. It takes

quite a bit of work to make sure that records are kept properly for all parties.

This main function of the accounts department other functions include

preparation of budget appropriation of accounts, re-appropriations, surrender

and savings, Control of expenditure and ways & means position, Financial

concurrence and advice. In Marriott for the maintaining record of accounts

Siebel has developed an accounting software for Marriott suiting to its needs

its integrated with the CRM software used in the hotels through which bills,receipts and transaction records are sent to the accounting software by CRM

software untouched by human it will be completely error free.

TECHNOLOGY AND SOFTWARE USED BY MARRIOTT UK & IRELAND

Seibel CRM software

Microsoft Windows Operating system

Basic system which can be used as centralized server

LAN network

Inventory pro

Siebel accounting software

Routes/Switches


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B) FACILITATE DECISION MAKING AT THE THREE TIERS OF

MANAGEMENT.

THREE TIERS OF MANAGEMENT IN MARRIOTT HOTELS

LOWER LEVEL MANAGERS (SUPERVISORS)


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At the most bottom down of the hierarchy of decision-makers isstructured operational level that includes restaurant captains,housekeeping supervisors, duty manager in front office department andchef de partie in kitchen . In this level, operational managers often makestructured and routine decisions. Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)is designed to cater to the information needs of the operational managersin this level. The TPS used by Marriott UK & Ireland hotels are custommade for them by Siebel. TPS collect, store, modify, process, and retrievethe transactions of an organization. It serves as the base of the IS structureand as primary support for the organization. TPS get many data from externalsources such as customers, suppliers, business associates. Data generatedinternally by the organization itself includes transactions like purchase or

employee records, sales orders, invoices, debit notes and inventoryrecords. For example, Accounting IS receives records of routine businesstransactions, such as the purchase of raw materials or services, or the saleof manufactured goods from TPS. The system automatically routes everypurchase of raw materials or services to the accounts payable system,

which uses it to produce check. TPS is important and at times critical for mostorganizations, but not necessarily strategic in nature. Without TPS,

there will be no higher level information system.

MIDDLE LEVEL MANAGERS

The mid-level managers primarily duties in hotel are making tacticaldecisions that will ensure everything is working to plans, budgets andupholding the strategic plans. For example, manager of front officedepartment must face with unstructured decision making when they decide

based on occupancy within two weeks. Human resource angers are faced withsemi structured problems when they have to decide whom to recommend for anew position, considering a persons qualifications and his or her ability to learnand assume new responsibilities. Such decisions are either structured or semi-structured as there is sufficient information to assist them to make

rational decisions to solve problems at this level of thehierarchy. Their responsibilities are to control, monitor and rectify situationbefore they get badly out of control. The two DSS approaches to data- driven

and model-driven modeling provide for decisional support in sensitivityand optimization modeling which is used by middle level managers of

Marriott UK Ireland.While DSS combine data, analytical tools and modelsto support semi-structured and unstructured decisions, MIS provides routine

summary, statistics, and exception reports to serve the functions of planning,controlling and decision-making, hence, focusing on structure informationflows. With good information supports, mid-level managers have a good

chance of adopting a rational decision-making approach to preempt andcounter out of control or impending damaging situation albeit semi-structured problems. Another system used by Marriotts middle levelmanagers are Group Decisions support systems (GDSS) is an interactivecomputer-based system facilitating group decision-making processes to


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solve unstructured problems. In GDSS, members meet interactivelytogether in specially designed rooms with onlinetelecommunication and video conferencing facilities over Internet,

extranet or private network. The decisions they arrived has group support.The decisions are largely rational, and unlikely bounded experiencesand exploring all alternatives with intensity. Finally, the strategic level

refers to strategic activities performed by senior and top managers such asestablishing long-term goals, identifying long-term market trends and soon. The main purpose at this level is to match changes in the external

environment with existing organizational capabilities.

TOP LEVEL MANAGEMENT

Top executives would likely be candidates of muddling

through and satisfying decision models. Adoption of bounded rationality

at this level would be disastrous as top executives are responsible for the

decisions that are often novel and strongly affect the future directions of the

hotels. They will have to be very innovative, original and different from

competitors so as to create new opportunities and competitive advantages.Hence, an adoption of unbounded rationality is the best approach.

An Executive Support System (ESS) used by Marriott provides easyaccess to both internal and external data relevant to meeting the businessstrategies of the organization. ESS also helps senior managers spotproblems, identify opportunities and forecast occupancy trends. They caneither filter out extraneous details or drill down data so as to providesenior managers with detailed transaction data. Unlike the other levels, an

orderly, programmed approach to decision making is not possible. Tomake effective strategic decisions, top executives will often have to combine,scan external information and knowledge from untested, unknown fromunlimited sources. Often, a situation of information overload exists, andsenior executives need effective ESS to help them evaluate the complexityand uncertainty of market conditions. ESS also caters to unstructured

decision-making.


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Most senior executives are computer illiterates and have neither thetime nor the inclination to learn how to use a computer keyboard. Hence,in order to make the system extra user friendly for top executives, thesystems user interface is usually a touch- screen with multi-media voicerecognition and a mouse. In the light of discussion, it can be seen thatemployees at different levels in Marriott make decisions that vary in scope andtype. At the bottom of the hierarchy, workers and operational managers useTransaction Processing System (TPS) to resolve daily problems and handletransactions of high frequency. Middle managers solve problems that aretypically slightly more complex and non-routine than those faced byoperational managers. They rely on Management information system(MIS). Lastly, Executive Information Systems (ESS) supports unbounded

rationality suitable for high-ranking officers in Marriott.

C) SERVE AS EFFICIENT MEANS FOR MANAGING BUSINESSPROCESSES.

Business processes are the ways in which organizations coordinate and

organize work activities, information, and knowledge to produce their valuable

products or services. Business processes for the hotels include food production,

housekeeping, and producing bills of services, making customers aware of the

services, selling the rooms, maintaining customers, paying creditors, creatingfinancial statements, and managing cash accounts, hiring employees, evaluating

job performance of employees, and enrolling employees in benefits plans.

An organization operates in an ever-increasing competitive, global

environment. Operating in a global environment requires an organization to

focus on the efficient execution of its processes, customer service, and speed

to market. To accomplish these goals, the organization must exchange valuable

information across different functions, levels, and business units. By

integrating its processes, the organization can more efficiently exchange

information among its functional areas, business units, suppliers, and customers.

For most hotel operations, client server technology is inevitable.The benefits of integration via networked computer systems are


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compelling given the impact of improved technologies and theopportunity for business process reengineering. At the same time, oldertechnologies are phasing out, and hotel operators will need well- integratedsystems to support the database marketing and guest services required to

compete in coming years. With future Marriott hotels have adopted

some of state of the art systems which felicitated the efficient businessprocess management

ONE-STOP GUEST SERVICES

These services implemented by Marriott have two differentapplications. Guest services accessed by the guest typically involve the

use of the in-room television remote control to select from a suite ofinteractive programs and services. Guests can navigate easily throughmulti-media video and audio, and be automatically connected by phone

to outside services.

In addition, guest services provided by the staff typically involvea PC running a front-end application that allows access to outsideservices, as well as access to guest- specific information maintained ina central repository or database. In either case, the method employed isdriven by the guest familiarity and comfort in using technology. In thefuture, one-stop integrated systems will make the same basic services

available to hotel staff available to the guest by means of fullyintegrated systems (retail, ticketing, reservations, etc.) using a centralguest data repository and access to outside service providers. All thesefunctions will be on-line and presented to the employee and guest in anintuitive graphical user interface.

SMART CARDS

These cards contain an integrated circuit that can allow a guest

access to the room or other services in the Marriott hotels. Smart Cardsalso have the potential to be coded for use in charging retail items, meals,minibar use or other purchases. Marriott hotels have a reader that canencode the card for use as a room key and capture frequent guestprogram information.

The main drawback of Smart Cards currently is standards.Vendors write information in their own coded software which can only be


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understood by their own reader. Further agreement on standards willneed to be reached by the various manufacturers before the power of thistechnology can be fully exploited.

VIDEO CHECK-IN AND EXPRESS CHECK-OUT

For these services, touch screens on free-standing terminals atkiosks are implemented as part of systems to check in and check outguests without the need to use the traditional front desk. Touch-and-Go,the first system of its kind in the industry, provides the guest who hasan advance reservation and a credit card the option of avoiding the frontdesk at the beginning or end of the stay. Touch-and-Go was

successfully implemented by Marriott Hotels at two properties and isnow being rolled out to between twenty and thirty of their properties. Thetarget speed for the system is to allow guests to check themselves intotheir own rooms in less than 90 seconds. The system on check-out allows aguest to approve expenses which appear on-screen, and then print a folioof charges.

DATABASE MARKETING

At the core of technology-driven marketing is the ability to bettertarget Marriotts customer base. A hotel's customer information fileprovides the opportunity to segment customers, develop profiles offrequent guests, target prospective customers and improve retention.Many finer hotels maintained a guest history system manually before theadvent of affordable computer systems. However, these manual systemswere limited in their ability to serve as the basis for a marketing program,and also did not permit the chain operator to identify the best individualcustomers who frequented multiple hotels within the chain. Client server

technology now permits Marriott hotels chain to maintain one singlecustomer database which can be accessed by all of the propertiesconnected to the server over the network. In addition, far more data can becollected about the customer and his spending, making the database much

more powerful as a focused marketing tool.


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EXECUTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS (EIS)

These systems offer a way to extract information from disparatesystems and present it in a usable and informative manner to topmanagement. What is required is a front-end interactive interface which

displays and queries the back-end database (common repository ofinformation) and feeder systems, which include existing financing andoperational systems. Design and implementation of an EIS system was

typically complex, it required close examination of a hotel operation'skey performance indicators, information sources and other system designfeatures. Once created and implemented, however, an EIS system had thecapacity to provide management with a user-friendly, readily accessibleand current view of a hotel operation's key financial results andperformance indicators.

FINDINGS

MANUAL INTERFERENCE:

The software used by Food and beverage production is not

properly integrated with the software used by the Food productiondepartment this results in faults in inventories which requires manualinterference at times.

COST FACTOR:


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Implementation of CRM software from Siebel Inc by MarriottHotels has eaten out a lot of money of chain. It had an expense of around 15million dollars for the CRM is one of the drawbacks of the systemimplemented by Marriott Hotels. The systems integrated links need highaccuracy in other applications to work effectively. The company can achieve

minimum standards, and then over time "dirty data" will reduce the reliability ofsome applications.

HIGH SWITCH COSTS:

Once the system was implemented by the Marriott Hotels theswitching costs where very high for the company. It reduced the flexibilityand strategic control over the corporate level.

LIMITED CUSTOMIZATION:

The system used by the accounts department is not well suitedfor an industry like hotel industry. It is too rigid and too difficult to adapt tothe specific workflow and business process of Marriott Hotels this is cited as one ofthe main causes of the accounting systems failure.

EMPLOYEES TRAINING:

The employees in hotel industry are not well versed with IT andcomputer science and it requires training for the employees when they areacquired by the company this adds more towards the expenses of the Marriottchain.

RE ENGINEERING OF THE BUSINESS PROCESSES:

Some of the business processes of the hotel were reengineered to suitthe industry standards prescribed by Siebel resulted in losing the competitiveadvantage for the company.


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MAINTAINANCE COST:

Marriott have to shell huge amount money each year for themaintenance of the softwares from the Siebel and the state of the arthardware they are using. This will eat up a large chunk of the profits earned bythe company.

SUGESTIONS:

CLOUD SERVICES:

Its a service provided by IT companies where in which they providesservers and softwares for usage for a fixed rent or service fee . The system andsoftwares can be used by Marriott in return of a fee which will reduce themaintenance cost incurred as the cloud service providing company will do themaintenance and will also save the capital on IT infrastructure.


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UPDATION:

Updation of the system softwares and the hardwares from time to timewill solve the problems of integration among the departments in this case theproblem integration among the Food and beverage service and the food productiondepartment. As new versions of the software are developed by the companies atregular intervals solving the problems existed in the previous ones .The Marriottshould check for a software from Siebel or any other companies which will solve theexisting integration problem.

ALTERNATIVES:

Marriott should look for the alternatives for the existing high cost

incurring software which will save a lot of money for the company when it gets outdated. Marriott should not stick not only with Siebel as I have discussed earlier wecan find that a lot of softwares used by Marriott UK and Ireland have beendeveloped by Siebel.

HIRING:

The Marriott should try to hire employees who have knowledge aboutapplication softwares this will help reducing additional cost for the training of thenewly absorbed employees.

CONSULTING SERVICES:

The hotel should look for consulting services. There are companieswhich study the IT requirements of a company and gives suggestions and ideasand they are professionals in it Marriott should hire one of those companies tomake changes in the existing system which will help the company in managingthe business processes more efficiently.


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RFERENCES

o Business InformationTechnology Management 2009 byRay Hackney & Dennis Dunn

o Principles of Information Systems 8th Edition, 2008 byRalph Stair & George Reynolds

o Introduction to Information Systems 2009 by DavidWhiteley

o Management Information System 2010 by James

OBrien

o Management Information System 2009 by Kenneth C.Laudon & Jane P. Laudon

o Management of Information Technology 2009 byFrenzel

o www.siebel .com, 28-08-2010,4pm

o www.oracle .com, 29-08-2010, 7 am

o www.marriott.co.uk, 29-08-2010, 8am.
http://www.siebel/http://www.oracle/http://www.marriott.co.uk/http://www.siebel/http://www.oracle/http://www.marriott.co.uk/

Marriott Uk & Ireland in Word 2003

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