Computer Application To Business At Pearl Continental

INTRODUCTION:

 

Pearl continental Karachi is one of the oldest and finest five-star hotels in town, having extensive facilities for conferences & business travelers. Pearl Continental Karachi, Pakistan’s premier hotel is suitable for business and vacation travelers. The Pearl Continental Hotel is located in the heart of the commercial and shopping district of Karachi and only 15 Kilometers from Quaid-e-Azam International airport. The location of this property provides easy access to all major banks and multinationals, shopping centers and traditional bazaars. The hotel also provides excellent business and conference facilities.

 

Company Overview:

 

Pearl Continental Hotels, a chain owned and operated by Pakistan Services Limited sets the international standards for quality hotel accommodation in South Asia. The company manages 5 luxury hotels in major cities of Pakistan comprising 1350 rooms including expansion of Lahore property and employing appropriate 2000 persons with registered office in Karachi, Pakistan.

 

Pakistan Services Ltd., Which owns and operates the Pearl-Continental Hotels (Formerly Inter-Continental Hotels) is the largest and oldest hotel company in Pakistan. Pearl-Continental Hotels is the first Pakistani chain, which has achieved excellent international standards of service, quality and product. In recognition of its high standards, the Karachi Hotel was conferred the prestigious membership of “The Leading Hotels of the World”, an exclusive global organization of deluxe hotels established in 1928.

 

To have international exposure and an overseas reservations network, Pearl-Continental Hotels are linked with Utell International.

 

Pearl-Continental Hotels have become synonymous with a tradition of personal service, efficiency, convenience and guest satisfaction.

 

INFORMATION SYSTEMS AT PEARL CONTINENTAL – KARACHI:

 

In order to achieve the stated guiding philosophy, Pearl Continental Hotel – Karachi turned to information technology to sustain the growing need for computerization of all its business processes. In this light Pearl Continental – Karachi implemented a large number of various computer based information systems. An Information Technology Department was established that took the responsibility of designing and implementing these information systems. All the information systems at Pearl Continental – Karachi have been developed in – house by the IT professionals employed by the hotel. The IT department was then made a permanent department and has been functioning for the past 6 years. These information systems have helped in the automation of all of Pearl Continental Hotel’s internal and external business processes. The information systems at Pearl Continental – Karachi are connected with the information systems of other Pearl Continental Hotels throughout Pakistan. A Company Intranet using Wide Area Networking (WAN) technology connects all the computer based information systems of all the Pearl Continental Hotels in Pakistan. Information can be retrieved from the database of any information system at any Pearl Continental Hotel by an information system that is located in another Pearl Continental Hotel situated in any city.

 

PC Karachi, PC Lahore, PC Rawalpindi, PC Bhurban and PC Peshawar are all inter connected through a Wide Area Network.

 

Major Systems in Application at Pearl Continental Hotel – Karachi:

 

Some of the major information systems in application at Pearl Continental – Karachi are as follows:

 

1. Accounting Information System.
2. Transaction Processing System.
3. Restaurant System.
4. Inventory Control System.
5. Human Resource System.
6. Payroll System.
7. Cost Control System.
8. Guest Reservation and Online Booking System.
9. Guest History System.
10. Reception System.
11. Employee Training System.
12. Decision Support System.
13. Executive System.

 

The systems stated above have many sub-systems that facilitate the working of these major systems. All the information systems at Pearl Continental – Karachi are inter-linked with one another.

 

Information Systems under study For the Report:

Due to a strict security policy followed by Pearl Continental Hotel – Karachi, We were only allowed to study and examine the working and application of the following information systems:

 

1. Transaction Processing System.
2. Restaurant System.

 

TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEM

AT PEARL CONTINENTAL – KARACHI:

Introduction to the System:

 

The first information system under study is the transaction processing system at the restaurants of Pearl Continental – Karachi. At Pearl Continental Hotels this system includes the point of sales terminal. A cashier is in charge of the terminal and feeds in the required information abut the sales, and cash payments by customers. The same system is found on all the operating desks in all the restaurants.

 

Functioning Of the System:

 

 

The Transaction Processing System at Pearl Continental – Karachi is used to record transactions that occur at the restaurants of the hotel. The designing of the software of the system is uniform and in such a way that in all the restaurants the same user interface is displayed. The main software designed contains all the different functions required to process the occurring transactions at the restaurants.

 

Main Functions Performed by the System:

 

The main functions performed by this system are as follows:

 

• Cashier function.
• Report formation.
• Updation function.

 

Aside from this there is an exit menu.

The different categories deal with every kind of economic activity. The category to work on is chosen and filled with the required information, which is directly taken to the main server. Here it is stored updated and used for different purposes.

(A) Cashier Function:

 

 

This function deals with basically the “cash receiving” part. A customer bill is prepared and payments are received using this function. It has the following categories:

 

1. Enter items:

In this menu option the items which have been consumed or ordered by the customer are entered when the customer request for a bill. For example if a customer had ordered a cup of tea the code number for tea will be entered by the cashier at the workstation or counter then the quantity of the item will be entered. In this case quantity will be one (1) as the customer ordered one cup of tea. When all the items ordered by the customer have been entered the cashier will move onto the next menu option, which is discussed below.

 

2. Display check:

After having entered all the items ordered this option displays the entire check or bill. The cashier compares the displayed check with the ordered items with the help of this option.

 

3. Print check:

After checking for correction the cashier prints the check using this menu option.

 

 

4. Enter cash/ credit card:

 

After printing the check it is presented to the customer he makes the payment. The payment can be with cash or through credit card. This menu options records receipt of the payment by either cash or credit card.

 

5. Charge room bills:

 

If the customer is a guest staying at the hotel then the bill is charged to his account and the money will be received in the total bill of the customer when he checks out of the hotel.

 

6. Enter discount:

 

Pearl Continental also offers discounts. There is a special card called the “Privilege Plus”. The holder of this card gets a discount on the bill. If the customer is the holder of this card he receives a discount and this menu option is used to enter the discount given.

 

7. Cancel a check:

 

This option is used to cancel a check in case of a mistake.

 

8. Officers / ENT check:

 

This option is used to record checks that are drawn on the people who are in the management of the hotel.  The amount is charged from the company account. This option is used to record business lunches etc. given by the high level management.

 

 

 

9. Inquiry by room No:

 

This option is used to view and find out the number of transactions performed by the guests at the hotel.

 

10. Guest preference:

 

This option deals with the preferences of guests who frequently come to the restaurant in question.

 

(B)  Report Formation:

 

As the name suggests, it deals with summaries and reports of the transactions performed. It has the following categories:

 

1. Print of sales history:

 

This option is used to prepare and print all the transaction performed or carried out through the Point of Sale Terminal.

 

2. Print of sales summary:

 

This option is used to prepare and print the summary of all the transaction performed or carried out through the Point of Sale Terminal.

 

3. Privilege summary:

 

This option is used to prepare a summary of all the transactions that involved the use of the special discount card “Privilege Plus”.

 

 

4. Restaurant sales summary:

 

This option is used to prepare a summary of all the sales in the history of the restaurant to date.

 

5. Sales list (alpha):

 

This option is used to prepare a list of items and their quantity, which have been sold.

(C)  Updation:

 

This category deals with the updating process, which is done online.

 

1. Close meal period:

 

This option is used to close meal periods i.e. switch from breakfast period to lunch period or dinner period. This is done to manage the types of items sold.

 

2. Daily update:

 

This option is used to update the system in respect of the day, date etc.

 

 

Merits and Demerits of the System:

 

The merits and demerits of the Transaction Processing System are discussed below:

 

Merits:

 

The following are the merits and benefits of the system:

 

1. Record keeping has become proper and effective. Any record can be viewed at any given time.
2. The process of preparation of bills and receiving payments has become automated and thus manual work has been greatly reduced.
3. Amount of sales can be easily calculated at any given time.
4. The process has become efficient.
5. Departmental work has been reduced.
6. Reports can be made easily and without much effort.
7. Chances of fraud have been eliminated.

 

Demerits:

 

The following are the demerits of the system:

 

1. Cost of maintaining the computers is high and the computers have to be upgraded and repaired.
2. In order to use the system employees have to be trained; this wastes time and money.
3. As employees didn’t know how to use computers resistance was present which had to be removed in order to implement the system.
4. The system had to be made Y2K compliant. This resulted in expenses and hassles.

 

 

RESTAURANT SYSTEM AT PEARL CONTINENTAL – KARACHI:

 

 

Introduction to the System:

 

The second system under study is the restaurant system at the Pearl Continental – Karachi. The main purpose of the system is to accommodate sales of food and to process the orders of the customers in all the restaurants at Pearl Continental – Karachi.

 

Functioning of the Restaurant System:

 

This system provides inventory control functions and also order processing controls. This system also provides information to the Accounts department and the Cost control department. The working of the system is explained below:

 

In this system all the restaurants in the hotel are connected to the main kitchen of the hotel. The kitchen is divided into many sub sections. There is a separate section for every restaurant. The main divisions are given below:

 

1. Pakistani Food section.
2. Chinese food section.
3. Hot beverage section.
4. Cold beverages section.
5. Continental food section.
6. Snack items section.
7. Bakery items section etc.

 

When a waiter receives an order from a customer, the waiter brings it to the cashier’s counter where the cashier enters the items ordered by the customer along with the table and waiter number into a workstation, which is connected to the main kitchen. When the cashier finishes entering the items ordered he presses the “Send Order” button on the screen of the workstation. When this is done the information about items ordered is sent to the kitchen. There are small printing devices placed in each sub section of the kitchen. The order is automatically broken down by the system the printing devices in the sub sections of the kitchen begin printing out their respective items along with the waiter name and the table and transaction number. For example if a customer ordered cup of tea and a cake then when the cashier enters the ordered items into the workstation the order will be automatically broken down into parts. An order slip will be printed in the Hot Beverages section for the cup of tea the customer ordered while the order for the cake will be printed in the section for Bakery Items along with the table and waiter number. When the chef receives an order through the printing device he starts preparing the ordered item. The prepared items are only given to the waiter who has the number that appears on the printed order slip. Another waiter cannot pickup the order. When the order is complete the waiters can serve them in the restaurants. If there is no printed copy of the slip sent to the kitchen, no order is received or prepared verbally. The waiters can not take anything out of the kitchen unless a slip is produced. The printed order is stored for future reference.

 

Another feature of this system is that when the order is entered by the cashier the inventory is automatically adjusted. Thus inventory adjustments are made automatically and easily.

 

The information about the items ordered is also automatically sent to the Cost Control department and the Accounting department. The cost control department monitors the pricing of the restaurant items while the accounting department makes the necessary adjustments.

 

Merits and Demerits of the System:

 

The following are the merits and demerits of the system:

 

Merits:

 

The following are the advantages and merits of the restaurant system:

 

1. The system has made the order processing automated.
2. There are no errors in the orders.
3. Inventory control has been achieved. Inventory is automatically adjusted without errors and hassles.
4. Inventory shrinkage and loss is avoided.
5. No chances of fraud by waiters.

 

Demerits:

 

The following are the demerits of the Restaurant system:

 

1. As in the case of Transaction processing system the cost of maintaining the system and the workstations is high.
2. Also training of staff members is required. . The system requires people with beforehand knowledge of computers.
3. This system had to be made Y2K compliant also.

 

 

CONCLUSION: 

 

The different systems even though overlap each other in many aspects, provide a chain of activities, which are coordinated very effectively. The restaurant system is created to serve the purposes of the different restaurants at Pearl Continental Hotels, where as the TPS provides opportunities at transforming the process of economic activities.