The “Transportation Company” is a state enterprise which employs almost 20 000 staff.
In its 1994 annual report, profits before tax were US$168.49 million. Its stated strategies
for maintaining its market share and profitability are total quality, cost advantage and
external competence. The Transportation Company aims to support these strategies with
motivated and unified staff, financial strength, strong information systems and a
simplified fleet.
Developing an EIS was part of the overall Management Information Systems Plan.
The objective of the EIS is to provide top executives with rich management information
to monitor organisational activities, and to provide support for planning and decision
making. The EIS project was initiated by the President of the company in January 1994
immediately after he was appointed. The non-information system executive sponsors
were the Vice President of Corporate Planning and the Vice President of Accounting.
The EIS development commenced without formal cost-benefit analysis and was
approved by the Executive Management Committee. The initial cost of hardware,
software and personnel in the EIS development were US$130 370, $92 592 and $74 074
respectively. The company spends around US$74 000 annually for maintenance and
operation of the system. The technical environment is client/server in nature with Pilot’s
Lightship as the main software.