FREE ESSAY ON MS FIELDS COOKIES

MS FIELDS COOKIES

The textbook, Information Technology in Business - Principles, Practices and
Opportunities, defines the purpose of information systems as, "An (IT) Information system
is a system which data and information flow from one person or department to another."
(Senn, 1998, p.643). The books continues with Business Information Systems and identifies
these operating systems as, "IT applications that underlie the activities of running and
managing a business." This paper will discuss how Mrs. Fields Cookies uses these two
interchangeable accessories, will explain how these systems have impacted the roles that
the Information Age - those of assistance, adviser, and communicator. In addition, this
paper will address how Mrs. Fields can function as an organization using a small-scale
ratio of management to employee.
" Debbi Fields, a young mother with no business experience, opened her first cookie store
in Palo Alto, California in 1977. Humble beginnings launched Mrs. Fields into a worldwide
celebrity and made her company the premier chain of cookie and baked goods stores."
www.MrsFields.com. In order to become one of the premier chain of cookies and baked good
companies, Mrs. Fields could not rely on cookie dough alone. Mrs. Fields, along with her
husband, Randy, who just happened to be a computer programmer with IBM, designed and
implemented an Information Technology system to serve the vast managerial needs of the
organization. 
"The system created by Ms. Fields is a Paper-less Management System; this system is
currently being used at other franchise operations, including Burger King." (Senn, 1998,
p.650). The computer system of Mrs. Fields is extremely streamlined and centralized
throughout the company. The system accounts for a large percentage of Mrs. Fields
success. "Sales information is immediately processed by the computers and is available
for the managers' use. The system has the ability to track the volume of sales, the
amount of cookies that need to be baked, and sales quotas, among other things, so that
waste is educed, time is used efficiently, and immediate and future plans can be made by
Mrs. Fields headquarters." www.MrsFields.com. The system also has the capabilities of
linking in store personal computers, and is made up of 20 software modules - the five
most important being: #1) Daily Production Planner, #2) Sales and Reporting Analysis, #3)
Labor Scheduler, #4) Interviewing, and #5) Skills Assessment and Computer-aided
Instruction
The Daily Production Planner is a "to-do-lists" and forecasting system. The system
monitors the daily progress and transactions of Ms. Fields franchise locations and
suggests alternative approaches should sales fall below target. The Sales Reporting and
Analysis System is a actual to budget comparison, and suggests corrections should the
organization fall behind. The Labor Scheduler provides employee work schedules and
assists in the minimization of overtime and maximizes schedule alternatives. The
Interviewing System provides an unbiased ? hour interview, which is provided to every
applicant of Mrs. Fields, and The Skills Assessment and Computer Aided Instruction
Program, detects employee weaknesses and supports those weaknesses with corrective
training. All of this, along with the management techniques of Ms. Fields, supports the
success of the organization.
The Managers of Mrs. Fields, which currently employees 5,000 employees within 700
stores-and only 130 head-quarter employees, are freed from the constraints of doing
paperwork and therefore have more time to manage both the operational efficiency of Mrs.
Fields and the employees therein. The result is a maximum amount of freshly baked cookies
with a minimum amount of waste. This proves that companies that use a system, whether the
Paper-less Management System or a similar system, can operate in a more flat-lined
organization. It also allows companies, such as Mrs. Fields, to have a stronger grasp on
the operations of the company.
The saying that backs Debbie Fields is, "One Smart Cookie." This statement supports this
paper and "details how she (Debbi) and her husband (Randy), built their cookie empire." 
WORKS CITED
Senn, James, A., Information Technology in Business -- Principles, Practices, and
Opportunities, Prentice Hall Publishing, New Jersey, 1998.