All Final Review Questions

list and describe the major management issues and developing international systems

- Agreeing on common user requirements - introducing changes in business processes - coordinating applications development - coordinating software releases - encouraging local users to support global systems

Describe information system problems resulting form poor project management

- Cost that vastly exceed budgets - unexpected time slippage - technical performance that is less than expected failure to obtain anticipated benefits - systems are often not used in the way they are intended or not used at all - users have to develop parallel manual systems to make these systems work - data in the system may have high level of inaccuracy or inconsistency

List and describe the steps in the prototyping process.

- identify the user's basic requirements - develop an initial prototype - use the prototype - revise an enhance the prototype

Name and describe the groups responsible for the management of information systems projects.

Corporate strategic planning group is responsible for developing the firm's strategic plan which may require development of new systems. they usually will have developed objective measures of firm performance KPIs and choose support projects that can make a substantial improvement in one or several of these KPIs information systems steering committee Senior management group with responsibility for systems development and operation it is usually the Department heads from both end user and information system areas Project management group is composed of information systems managers and end user managers responsible for overseeing specific information systems projects project management team is responsible for the individual systems projects it usually consists of systems analyst specialist from the end user business areas application programmers an maybe even database specialists

Distinguish between data, knowledge and wisdom and between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge.

Data: flow of events or transactions captured by the org's systems. They are useful for transactions in this state. Information: organized data into categories of understanding. Knowledge: discover patterns, rules and contexts where the knowledge works Wisdom: collective and individual experience of applying knowledge to the solution of problems. Tactic Knowledge: knowledge that is stored in the brains of employees, not documented. Explicit Knowledge: documented knowledge

Define end-user development

End user development allows end users to create simple information systems with little or no formal assistance from technical specialists. A query language is a software tool that provides immediate online answers to questions that are not pre defined these are often tied to data management software.

Define and describe the various types of enterprise-wide knowledge management systems and explain how they provide value for businesses.

Enterprise Content Management Systems - Help organizations manage structured (explicit knowledge in formal documents and formal rules) and semistrucutred knowledge assets (folders, messages, memos, proposals, emails, graphics, presentations, videos). Collaboration and Social Tools Learning Management Systems

Describe how MIS, DSS, or ESS provide decision support for each of these groups.

For the super users making semi-structured decisions, they may create their own reports or use more sophisticated analytics and models. DSS are used for this as they rely more heavily on modelling than MIS systems do. This would include Sensitivity analysis models that answer "what-if" questions.

Describe the five cultural factors leading toward growth in global business and the for specific business factors .

Global business drivers can be divided into two groups: general culture factors and specific business factors. A global culture was created by television the Internet and other globally shared media such as movies which now permits different cultures and peoples to develop common expectations about right and wrong desirable and undesirable heroic and cowardly.

Define a group decision support system GDSS and explain how it differs from a DSS.

If a person is part of a team and needs to make a decision as a group, these types are systems are used. Physical conference rooms are replaced with flexible virtual collaboration rooms that can connect mobile employees with colleagues in an office sitting at desktops with high-quality video and audio environments. DSS are generally used if one person needs to make a decision as opposed to a group of people.

Name some policies and procedures for managing end-user development.

If management can control the development of these applications by requiring cost justification an establishing hardware software and quality standards then they can maximize the benefit of these end user application development

Define information requirements and explain why they are difficult to determine correctly.

Information requirements are also part of the systems analyst job. This involves identifying who needs what information, when, where, and how. They also define the objectives of the new or modified system and develops a detailed description of the functions the new system must perform. A system designed or round the wrong set of requirements will either have to be discarded because of poor performance or need to undergo major modifications.

Explain how component-based development and web services help firms build and enhance their information systems.

It is an approach to software development where groups of objects have been assembled to provide software components for common functions such as graphical user interface or online ordering capabilities. - These can be combined to create large scale business applications - It enables a system to be built by assembling and integrating existing software components - web services is one example that can be used as tools for building new information system applications or enhancing existing systems

Define knowledge work systems and describe the generic requirements of knowledge work systems.

Knowledge workers have 3 key roles: - Keep the org current in knowledge as it develops in the external world - Serving as internal consultants in their area of knowledge, changes taking place and opportunities - Acting as change agents, evaluating, initiating and promoting change projects Knowledge Work Systems Requirements - Powerful graphics - Analytical tools - Communications and document management capabilities - Sufficient computing power to handle sophisticated graphics or complex calculations - Provide quick and easy access to external databases User-friendly interfaces

List and describe important types of m-commerce services and applications.

Location-based services: Geosocial: can tell you where your friends are meeting: foursquare and google & facebook apps Geoadvertising: can tell you where the nearest restaurant is located: ads can be sent to user's cellphones base don the GPS location and merchants buy access to the consumers. Geoinformation: can tell you the price of a house you are looking at or special exhibits at a museum you are passing. Example: waze. Banks and credit card companies have services that allow customers to manage their accounts from their mobile device.

Define and describe Natural Language Processing and give examples of their application in organization.

Natural Language Processing - Makes it possible for a computer to understand and analyze natural language, not specifically formatted to be understood by computers. - Based on machine learning and often uses deep learning. Examples: Akershus Hospital used LP and IBM Watson Explorer to sift through medical records with unstructured text data expressed in NL. It used the algorithms to read the medical record and determine its meaning. Mizuho Bank used speech recognition and IBM Watson content analytics to convert customer speech to text data and apply the NLP to learn more from each customer interaction so that it can eventually infer the customer's need and display that to the agent.

Describe the advantages of using outsourcing for building information systems.

Outsourcing is driven primarily by the fact that outsourcing firms possess skills resources and assets that the client itself does not have often it is less expensive to outsource work that has a shorter time period such as 12 months in offshore outsourcing the decision is usually more cost driven since a skilled programmer in an offshore country such as India or Russia will be paid much less than one who is in the United States Internet and low-cost communication technologies has drastically reduced the expense and the difficulty of coordinating the work when the teams are in offshore locations

Describe how partner relationship management (PRM) and employee relationship management (ERM) are related to customer relationship management (CRM).

PRM: used to enhance collaboration between a company and its selling partners. It helps channels to sell to customers directly providing them with ability to trade information, distribute leads and data about customers, integrate lead generation, pricing, promotions, order configurations and availability. ERM: deals with employee issues such as setting objectives, performance management, performance base compensation and employee training. Both of these use many of the same data, tools and systems as CRM management.

Distinguish between a push-based and a pull-based model of supply chain management and explain how contemporary supply chain management systems facilitate a pull-based model.

Push-based (build-to-stock) production master schedules are based on forecasts or best guesses of demand for products, and products are pushed to customers. Pull-based (demand driven or build-to-order): customer orders or purchases trigger events in the supply chain. This allows for manufactures to use only actual order demand information to drive their production schedules and procurement of components or raw materials. Example: Walmart's replenishment system. Internet technology allows for movement along the supply chains to move from sequential to concurrent, where products can move along the supply chain in many different directions simultaneously, looking more like a digital logistics nervous system.

List each of the major decision making constituencies in an organization and describe the types of decisions each makes.

Senior Managers Middle Managers - Monitoring key aspects of the business - Most of the decisions are fairly structured - MIS systems are used by middle managers Operational Manager

Define and compare supply chain planning systems and supply chain execution systems

Supply Chain planning system: enable the firm to model its existing supply chain, generate demand forecasts for products, and develop optimal sourcing and manufacturing plans. They help companies make better decisions, such as: - how much to make of a product at a given interval - establish inventory levels for raw materials, intermediate products and finished goods - determine where to store finished goods - identifying transportation mode for the product Demand planning: determines how much product a business needs to make to satisfy all it's customers' demands. Supply chain execution system: manages the flow of products through distribution centers and warehouses to ensure the products are delivered to the right locations as efficiently as possible.

Distinguish between unstructured, semi-structured, and structured decisions.

Unstructured: - decision maker must provide judgment, evaluation, and insight to solve the problem. - Decision is novel, important, nonroutine and no well-understood or agreed-on procedure for tackling the problem Structured - Repetitive, routine - Involve a definite procedure for handlign them so they don't have to be treated each time as if they were new. Semi-structured Only part of the problem has a clear-cut answer provided by an accepted procedure.

Define and describe robotics and give examples of their application in organization.

- Deals with the design, construction, operation and use of movable machines that can substitute for humans along with computer systems for their control, sensory feedback and information processing. - Manufacturing robotics is the most common such as Renault SA plant that uses them to drive screws into engines.

describe the main technical issues facing global systems

- Hardware - software - networking standards - a major challenge is finding a way to standardize a global computing platform when there are so much variation from operating unit to operating unit and from country to country - another major challenge is finding specific software applications that are user friendly and truly enhanced productivity of international work teams

Explain why builders of new information systems need to address implementation and change management.

- Introduction or changing of an information system can have behavioral and organizational impacts, - It often leads to new distributions of authority and power which can breed resistance and opposition and lead to the demise of an otherwise good system - implementation organizational activities working towards adoption management and implementation of an innovation - A change agent is a catalyst for the entire change process and is responsible for ensuring that all parties involved accept the changes created by the new system. They communicate with users, mediate between competing interest groups, and ensures that the organizational adjustment to the changes is complete . - system implementation generally benefits from - high levels of user involvement and management support if the users are heavily involved in systems designed. - They have more opportunities to mold the system according to their priorities and business requirements and more opportunities control the outcome. - They are more likely to react positively to the completed system because they have been active participants in the change process . - user define communications gap users and information systems specialist tend to have different backgrounds interest in priorities. - These differences lead to divergent organizational loyalties in approaches to problem solving in vocabularies - system development projects run a high risk of failure when there is a pronounced gap between the users and technical specialist

List and describe the project management activities and variable addressed by project management

- Planning the work - assessing risk - estimating resources required to accomplish the work - organizing the work - acquiring human and material resources - assigning tasks - directing activities - controlling project execution - reporting progress - analyzing results - there are five major variables 1) scope defines what work is or is not included in the project 2) time is the amount of time required to complete the project 3) cost is based on the time to complete a project multiplied by the cost of human resources required to complete the project. this also includes the cost of hardware software and workspace. 4) quality is an indicator of how well the end result of the project satisfies the objectives specified by management 5) risk refers to the potential problems that would threaten the success of a project

Describe the value of the SCM systems

- They allow companies to match supply to demand - Reduce inventory levels - Improve delivery service - Speed product time to market - Use assets more efficiently The total costs for most businesses approach 75% of their operating costs so by reducing the supply chain costs it has a major impact on firm profitability. It helps to increase sales because it allows for the manufacturer to have the product available when the customer wants it.

identify and describe three principles to follow when organizing the firm for global business

- organize value adding activities along lines of comparative advantage for instance marketing sales functions should be located where they can best be performed for least cost an maximum impact - develop and operate systems units at each level of corporate activity regional national and international - establish a world headquarters a single office responsible for development of international systems and a global chief information officer position

identify and describe three steps of the management strategy for developing and implementing global systems

1) Define the Core Business Processes The first step is to define a short list of critical core business processes. identify centers of excellence for these processes. When you understand the business processes of a firm, you can rank-order them. You then can decide which processes should be core applications, centrally coordinated, designed, and implemented around the globe and which should be regional and local. 2) Identify the Core Systems to Coordinate Centrally second strategic step is to conquer the core systems and define these systems as truly transnational. The financial and political costs of defining and implementing transnational systems are extremely high. Therefore, keep the list to an absolute minimum, letting experience be the guide and erring on the side of minimalism. 3) Choose an Approach: Incremental, Grand Design, Evolutionary Avoid piecemeal approaches. These surely will fail for lack of visibility, opposition from all who stand to lose from transnational development, and lack of power to convince senior management that the transnational systems are worth it. avoid grand design approaches that try to do everything at once. These also tend to fail because of an inability to focus resources. An alternative approach is to evolve transnational applications incrementally from existing applications with a precise and clear vision of the transnational capabilities the organization should have in five years. Make the Benefits Clear crucial that senior management at headquarters and foreign division managers clearly understand the benefits that will come to the company as well as to individual units. 1: global systems contribute to superior management and coordination. a simple price tag cannot be put on the value of this contribution and the benefit will not show up in any capital budgeting model. it is the ability to switch suppliers on a minutes notice from one region to another in a crisis ability to move production in response to national disasters and ability to use excess capacity in one region to meet raging demand in another. 2: contribution is vast improvement in production operation and supply and distribution. 3: global systems means global customers an global marketing. 4: global systems means the ability to optimize the use of corporate funds over a much larger capital base.

Describe the disadvantages of using outsourcing for building information systems.

A company is more likely to benefit from outsourcing if it takes the time to evaluate the risks and make sure that outsourcing is appropriate. It must thoroughly understand the project including its requirements method of implementation, anticipated benefits, cost components, and metrics for measuring performance. It can occur additional costs for coping with cultural differences that drain productivity and dealing with human resources issues such as terminating or relocating domestic employees . many companies underestimate the cost for identifying and evaluating vendors of information technology services for transitioning to a new vendor improving internal software development methods and for monitoring vendors to make sure they are fulfilling their contractual obligations it can take three months to a year to successfully onboard an offshore partner and make sure the vendor thoroughly understand your business hidden costs increased the total cost of the offshore outsourcing project by an extra 15 to 57%

Define artificial intelligence and the major AI techniques

AI in an ambitious definition is the attempt to build computer systems that act, and think like humans, but in the raw form of the definition, AI takes data input from the environment, processes the data and produces output. Where they differ is in the techniques and tech that they use to perform these activities. Driving forces for AI include: - Development of big data by the internet, e-commerce IoT and social media - Drastic reduction in cost of processing power and growth in the power of the processors - Refinement of algorithms and significant investment from business and governments Major Techniques - Expert Systems - Machine Learning - Neural networks and deep learning - Genetic algorithms - Natural language processing - Computer vision systems - Robotics - Intelligent agents

Describe each of the 4 kinds of organizational change that can be promoted with information technology.

Automation: assist employees with performing their tasks more efficiently and effectively. Rationalization of procedures this is a different form of organizational change because automation frequently reveals new bottlenecks in production and makes the existing arrangement of procedures and structures painfully cumbersome. This is the streamlining of standard operating procedures. Examples include total quality management TQM which makes achieving quality an end in itself and responsibility of all people and functions within the organization. Lean Six Sigma is a specific measure of quality representing 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Business process redesign: this is a even more powerful type of organizational change. Business processes are analyzed simplified. A redesigned business process redesign reorganizes workflows combining steps to cut waste and eliminate repetitive labor intensive tasks. It is more ambitious than the rationalization of procedures. Paradigm shift while rationalizing procedures and redesigning business processes are limited to specific parts of the business, new information systems can affect the design of the entire organization. This is done by transforming how the organization carries out its businesses and even the nature of the business. Paradigm shifts in business process redesign often fail because of the extensive organizational change which can be difficult to orchestrate. In many instances firms seeking paradigm shifts in pursuing reengineering strategies achieve an order of magnitude that increases their return on investment to make it worth it.

Define and describe the balanced scorecard method and business performance management.

Balanced scorecard method - is a framework for operationaizing a firm's strategic plan by focusing on measurable outcomes in 4 dimensions of the firm: financial, business process, customer, and learning and growth. These are measured using KPIs, or key performance indicators. - KPIs are measures that are proposed by senior management for understanding how well the firm is performing along any of the given dimensions. - Once the automation of tracking the KPIs are put into place, it is generally through an ESS system. Business Performance Management - BPM attempts to systematically translate a firms strategies into operational targets. - A set of KPIs are developed to measure progress towards the targets drawn from the enterprise database systems. These types of systems provide well-designed ESS to help senior executives monitor organizational performance, track activities of competitors, recognize changing market conditions and identify problems and opportunities. To be useful the information must be actionable, readily available and easy to use to make decisions.

Describe prototyping benefits and limitations.

Benefit: - prototyping is useful when there is uncertainty about the requirements or design solutions - it is often used for designing and information systems end user interface because it encourages intense end user involvement throughout the systems lifecycle - it is more likely to produce systems that fulfill requirements Limitations - it can gloss over essential steps in systems development if the completed prototype works well. - Sometimes decisions will be made that there is no more naval reprogramming or redesign or full documentation - Sometimes this may cause the system to not easily accommodate large quantities of data or users in a production environment

Define and describe business intelligence and business analytics.

Business Intelligence: term used by hardware and software vendors an IT consultants to describe the infrastructure for warehousing, integrating, reporting and analyzing data that come from the business environment, including big data. Examples include: data warehouses, data marts, Hadoop. Business analytics: vendor-defined term that focuses more on tools and techniques for analyzing and understanding data. Examples: OLAP, data mining. Together these two are about integrating all the information streams produced by a firm into a single, coherent, enterprise-wide set of data. Then it uses modeling, statistical analysis tools and data mining to make sense of the data. All this drives towards managers making better decisions and plans.

Name the types of e-commerce.

Business to consumer (B2C): retailing products and services to individual shoppers. Business to business (B2B): sales of goods and services amount businesses. Consumer-to-consumer (C2C): consumers selling directly to consumers

Describe how the following systems support knowledge work: CAD, virtual reality, and augmented reality

CAD: - automates the creation and revision of designs, using computers and sophisticated graphics software - Allows the designer to use simulations of a physical prototype before the actual printing of the design. - They also supply data for 3-D printing for physical prototyping Virtual Reality Visualization, rendering and simulation capabilities to go far beyond CAD systems Augmented Reality Enhances visualization by overlaying digital data and images onto a physical real-world environment. Provides additional information to enhance the perception of reality so that it's more interactive and meaningful. Example is the yellow first-down markers shown on televised football games.

Define customer relationship management and explain why customer relationships are so important today.

CRM is based on information that you need to build and nurture strong, longer lasting relationships with your customers. They would answer questions such as: - Who is the customer - Are they costly to service or do they provide profitability - What kind of products do they want - How much money do they spend at the company By have good CRM, firms can use it to acquire new customers, provide better service and support to existing customers, customize offerings more precisely to their preferences and provide ongoing value to their profitable customers.

List and describe the major costs and benefits of the information systems.

Capital budgeting models are are technique used to measure the value of investing in long-term capital investment projects. The principal capital budgeting models for evaluating IT projects are the - payback method, - the accounting rate of return on investment (ROI), - net present value, and the - internal rate of return (IRR). Major costs - Hardware - networking - software - services - personnel - tangible benefits - intangible benefits

describe the four different system configurations that can be used to support different global strategies

Centralized systems are those in which systems development and operation occured totally in the domestic home base. domestic exporter duplicated systems are those in which development occurs at the home base but operations are handed over to autonomous units in foreign locations. franchisor decentralized systems are those in which Bourne unit designs its own unique solutions and systems. domestic exporter multinational an franchisor network systems are those in which systems development and operations occur in an integrated and coordinated fashion across all units . multinational and transnational

Compare the descriptions of managerial behavior in the classical and behavioral models.

Classical Model - Describes what managers do - 5 classical functions: planning, organizing, coordinating, deciding & controlling - Does not address exactly what managers do when they perform these functions. Behavioral model - The actual behavior of managers is less systematic more informal, less reflective, more reactive and less well organized than the classical model insinuates. - 5 attributes: - Perform a great deal of work at an unrelenting pace - Managerial activities are fragmented with most lasting for less than 9 minutes and only 10% of them lasting more than an hour - Prefer current, specific, and ad hoc information - not printed - Prefer oral forms of communication because it provides greater flexibility, less effort and brings a faster response. - Give high priority to maintaining a diverse and complex web of contacts that acts as an informal information system, helps them execute their personal short and longer term agendas.

identify some technologies that will help firms develop global systems .

Computing platforms and systems integration the goal is to develop global distributed and integrated systems to support additional business processes spanning national boundaries keep in mind that having all sites use the same hardware and operating system does not guarantee integration some central authority in the firm must establish data standards as well as other technical standards to which all the sites must comply connectivity the ability to link together the systems and people of a global firm into a single integrated network similar to a phone system but capable of voice data and image transmissions an example of this is the Internet. while private networks have guaranteed service levels and better security than the Internet the Internet is the primary foundation for global corporate networks when lower security and service levels are acceptable NR's net service can be lacking in less developed countries because of lack of bandwidth capacity an unreliability due to power grid issues. software localization the development of course systems poses a unique challenge for application software such as how to the old systems interface with the new entirely new interfaces must be built and tested if old systems are kept in local areas and they can be messy and costly to build the entire process of converting software to operate in a second language is called software localization. The most important software applications focus on basic transaction in management reporting systems In addition to supply chain management and enterprise resource planning systems in order to standardize their business processes on a global basis as well as keep their global supply chains and work forces coordinated keep in mind these are not always compatible with differences in languages cultural heritage is in business processes in other countries. edi systems and supply chain management systems are widely used by manufacturing and distribution firms to connect the suppliers on a global basis.

list and describe the major challenges to the development of global systems

Cultural particularism: making judgments and taking action on the basis of narrow or personal characteristics in form such as religious nationalistic ethnic religion ISM geopolitical position rejects the concept of a shared global culture and penetration of domestic markets by foreign goods and services. Transborder data flow is defined as the movement of information across international boundaries in any form in 1998 the European Union adopted a data protection directive which broadened and standardize privacy protection in EU nations and allowed for transfer of personal data to systems located in the United States and other nations where the systems meet European privacy standards. National laws and traditions created disparate accounting practices in various countries, which affects the ways profits and losses are analyzed. German companies generally do not recognize the profit from a venture until the project is completely finished and they have been paid.

Describe the stages in the knowledge management value chain

Data and Information Acquisition: - collecting, storing, disseminating (based on feedback) Acquire - IS:Business analytics, Data mining, neural networks, machine learning, knowledge workstations, expert knowledge networks - Mgmt & Org: knowledge culture, CoP, social networks Store - IS: Content Management Systes, Knowledge databases, expert systems - Mgmt & Org: Org routines, org cultures Disseminate - IS: Portals, Search Engines, Collaboration and social business tools - Mgmt & Org: Training, Collaboration Apply - IS: DSS, Enterprise Applications, Robotics - Mgmt & Org: New IT-based business processes, New products and services, new markets

List and describe the elements of a business intelligence environment.

Data from business environment: a combination of structured and unstructured data which includes data such as call center, web data, mobile and social data, suppliers. Business Intelligence infrastructure: it's the underlying foundation of BI where the data is stored such as data warehouses, databases, data marts, analytic platforms Business analytics toolset: set of software tools used to analyze data, produce reports, respond to questions and track the progress of KPIs such as models, data mining, OLAP, reporting and query tools, big data analytics Managerial users and methods: Managers impose order on the analysis of the data by using methods to define the strategic business goals and specifying how progress is measured using methods such as business strategy, performance management, balanced score card, forecasts Delivery Platform - MIS, DSS, ESS: These are the systems that can be used to deliver the data to the managers that are making the decisions. User Interface: Visual representation f data instead of reports with columns and rows of information. They feature data visualization tools.

describe the four main strategies for global business an organizational structure

Domestic exporter: Characterized by heavy centralization of corporate activities in the home country of origin. nearly all international companies begin this way and then move on to other forms. Multinational: concentrates financial management and control out of a central home base while decentralizing production sales and marketing operations to units and other countries. Franchiser: product is created designed and financed an initially produced in the home country but for product specific reasons must rely heavily on foreign personnel for further production marketing and human resources examples are McDonald's and KFC Transnational: Stateless globally managed firms that may represent a larger part of international business in the future they have no single national headquarters but instead have many regional headquarters and maybe even a world headquarter nearly all value adding activities are managed from a global perspective without reference to national borders optimizing sources of supply and demand wherever they appear in taking advantage of any local competitive advantages

Name and describe the principal e-commerce business models.

E-tailer: sell physical products directly to consumers or individual businesses transaction broker: saves users money and time by processing online sales transactions and generating a fee each time a transaction occurs market creator: provides a digital environment where buyers and sellers can meet, search for products, display products and establish prices for those products Content provider: creates revenue by providing digital content generally in the form of intellectual property: tangible and intangible products of the mind for twhich the creator claims a property right. This can include podcasting, a method of publishing audio or video broacasts through the internet and streaming, a publishing method for music and video files that flows a continuous stream of content to a user's device without being stored locally. Community provider: provides online meeting place where people with similar interests can communicate and find useful information Portal: provides initial point of entry to the web along with specialized content and other services. Service Provider: provides applications and user-generated content as services

Define an enterprise system and explain how enterprise software works

Enterprise systems feature a set of integrated software modules and a central database by which the business processes and functional areas throughout the enterprise can share data. The key business areas include: finance & accounting, sales & marketing, Human resources, Manufacturing & Production. Enterprise software is built around thousands of pre-defined business processes that reflect business processes. Because these types of software are highly complex it's best to limit customization and instead change business processes to match the software's capabilities. This will ensure product degradation does not occur.

What are the 3 types of knowledge management systems?

Enterprise-wide KM systems - General purpose, integrated firmwide efforts to collect, store, disseminate and use digital content and knowledge - Enterprise content management systems - Collaboration and social tools - Learning management systems Knowledge Work Systems - Specialized workstations and systems that enable scientists, engineers and other knowledge workers to create and discover new knowledge. - Computer-aided design (CAD), Virtual reality Intelligent Techniques - They consist of tools for discovering patterns and applying knowledge to discrete decisions and knowledge domains. - Data mining, expert systems, machine learning, neural networks, natural language processing, computer vision systems, robotics, genetic algorithms and intelligent agents.

Name and describe four business trends and three technology trends shaping e-commerce today.

Expansion to mobiele devices, social commerce and with a national audience to local merchants and consumers. (social, mobile, local) Disruption to the traditional advertising industry On-demand service e-commerce sites such as Uber, Airbnb Newspapers and traditional media are adopting online,interactive models along with the growth in e-books Online entertainment business models as online distributers move into movie and tv production and cable tv is in decline.

List and describe the challenges enterprise applications pose.

Expensive and difficult to implement taking several years with 64% reporting cost overruns and 79% reporting timeline overruns. Require technological changes and business operation changes. Impacts to employees can include: new job functions, responsibilities, performing a new set of work activities and understand how the information they enter into the system affects other parts of the company. Switching costs are introduced because it can be difficult to change vendors once you implement such a complex system.

Define and describe genetic algorithms and intelligent agents. Explain how each works and the kinds of problems for which each is suited.

Genetic Algorithms: useful for finding optimal solutions for problems by examining a very large number of alternative solutions for the problem. How it works - Searches a population of randomly generated strings of binary digits to identify the right string representing the best possible solution for the problem. - As the solutions alter and combine, the worst ones are discarded and the better ones go on to produce better solutions. Benefits - They can solve dynamic and complex problems that involve hundreds or thousands of variables or formulas. - The problem must be one whose range of possible solutions can be represented genetically and criteria can be established for evaluating fitness Examples: General Electric uses this for optimizing the design of jet turbine aircraft engine since it can require changes in up to 100 variables for just one change. Intelligent Agents: software programs that work in the background without direct human intervention to carry out specific tasks for an individual user, business process, or software application. Examples: Siri which over time can also learn the user preferences; chatbots for automated conversations such as Vodafone who uses it to answer questions; simulations

Define and describe computer vision systems and give examples of their application in organization.

How computers can emulate the huan visual system to view and extract information from real-word images. Facebook uses deepFace to recognize faces to ensure that every photo in facebook is associated with a profile.

Define business process management and describe the steps required to carry it out

Identify process for change: firms must understand what business processes need improvement so that they are strengthening the correct business model or business process. These are the process which allows them to become more efficient and ensure they are doing what they should be doing. Managers need to determine what business processes are the most important and how improving these processes will help business performance. Analyze existing processes: these should be modeled and documented, noting the input, output, resources, and sequence of the activities. The design team will identify redundant steps, paper intensive tasks, bottlenecks and other inefficiencies. Design the new process: once the existing process is mapped and measured in times in terms of time and cost, the design team will then try to improve the process by designing a new one. This is called a streamline "to be" processed which is documented and modeled to be compared with the old process. Implement the new process: once the new process has been modeled and analyzed it's then translated into a new set of procedures and work rules. The new information systems or enhancements to the existing systems must be implemented to support the design process. These are rolled out into the business organization. As the business starts using these processes problems are uncovered and should be addressed. Employees working with the process may recommend improvements. Continuous measurement: once the process has been implemented and optimized it needs to be measured. We find that processes can deteriorate overtime or employees may fall back onto the old methods. - When properly implemented business process design produces dramatic gains in productivity and efficiency and may even change the way a business is run. In some instances it drives a paradigm shift that transforms the nature of business itself. This happened when Amazon challenge traditional physical bookstores with its online retail model an Kindle ebook reader . - BPM also poses challenges, The largest single barrier to successful BPM change is organizational culture. Employees don't like it when there are unfamiliar routines and are often resistant to change.

Describe the purpose of an information system plan and list the major categories in the plan.

Information systems plan supports the overall business plan in which strategic systems are incorporated into top level planning. it helps to identify the information systems projects that will deliver the most business value. the major categories in the plan are - purpose of the plan - strategic business plan rationale - current systems - new developments - management strategy - implementation plan - budget requirements

List and describe the stages in decision making.

Intelligence Discovering, identifying, understanding the problems occurring in the organization; why the problem exists, where and what effects it's having Design Involves identifying and exploring various solutions to the problem. Choice Consists of choosing among solution alternatives Implementation Involves making the chosen alternative work and continuing to monitor how well the solution is working

List and describe the five major dimensions for developing an international information systems architecture.

International information systems architecture consists of the basic information systems required by organizations to coordinate worldwide trade and other activities Business driver is a force in the environment to which the business must respond and that influences the direction of your business The major dimensions for developing an international information systems architecture are the global environment: You must understand the overall market forces or business drivers that push our industry towards global competition corporate global strategies : you should understand how your firm will respond to the global environment the structure of the organization : in order to pursue the strategy you must consider how you need to structure your organization in order to accomplish a division of Labor across the global environment the management and business process: what type of management issues in implementing your strategy might you find this is where you will design your business processes and deciding how you will re engineer on a global scale and how you can coordinate that systems development the technology platform : you need to have a corporate strategy and structure before you can choose the right technology which is the key driving factor towards leading in global markets

Describe end-user development advantages

It can reduce the time and steps required to produce a finished application. Can be completed more rapidly They allow users to specify their own business needs Improved requirements gathering leads to higher level of user involvement and satisfaction.

Define knowledge management and explain its value to businesses.

Note: 20% of total economic output of the US (4 trillion) is derived from output of the information and knowledge sectors of business. Organizational Learning: Through the collection of data, measurements, experimentation and feedback from customers, organizations gain experience. From this experience, organizational learning occurs as a process by which organizations change to adjust their behavior to reflect the learning by creating new business processes and by changing patterns of management decision making. Knowledge Management: the set of business processes developed in an organization to create, store, transfer and apply knowledge. Value: it increases the ability of the organization to learn from its environment and incorporate knowledge into its business process.

Describe the important dimensions of knowledge

Knowledge is a Firm Asset - Useful information requires data transformation and knowledge requires org resources - Knowledge is an intangible asset - Knowledge is not susceptible to the law of diminishing returns and instead gains value the more people share it. Knowledge has Different Forms - Tactic or Explicit - Involves know-how, craft and skill - Involves knowing how to follow procedures - Involves knowing why, and when, things happen. Knowledge has Location - A cognitive event involving mental models and maps of individuals - Social and individual basis of knowledge - It's "sticky", situated, and contextual Knowledge is situational - It's conditional, knowing when to apply a procedure is just as important as knowing the procedure. - Related to context; you need to know how to use the tool and under what circumstances.

define cooptation an explain how it can be used in building global systems

Legitimacy is defined as the extent to which are authority is accepted on the grounds of competent vision and other qualities this is important when introducing changes in business processes. Cooptation is defined as bringing the opposition into the process of designing and implementing the solution without giving up control over the direction in nature of the change. this is important win encouraging local users to support the global system There are several options here - permit each country unit the opportunity to develop one transnational application first in its home territory and then throughout the world - develop new trans national centers of excellence or a center single center of excellence they will perform the initial identification and form the business and systems analysis an accomplished all design and testing

Identify and describe the strategies for controlling project risk

Manage technical complexity - using internal integration tools to anticipate problems and develop smooth working relationships formal planning and control tools - a Gantt chart lists project activities in their corresponding start and completion dates. It visually represents the timing and duration of the different tasks in a project as well as the human resource requirements - a PERT chart: program evaluation and review technique which was a method developed by US Navy during the 1950s to manage the Polaris submarine missile program. It depicts project tasks and their relationships. It lists specific activities that make up the project and activities that must be completed before a specific activity can start. It is a network diagram consisted of numbered nodes representing the project task each node is numbered and shows the task, its duration, starting date and completion date. It uses arrows to show the sequence of tasks and which activities must be completed before the beginning of another activity . increasing user involvement and overcoming user resistance - external integration tools consist of ways to link the work of the implementation team to users at all organizational levels - Implementation strategy should encourage user participation an involvement and also address counter implementation which is a deliberate strategy to thwart the implementation of information system or an innovation in an organization - overcoming user resistance includes user participation huge user education and training management edicts and policies better incentives for users who cooperate

Explain the features of mobile application development and responsive web design.

Mobile website: version of a regular website that is scaled down in content and navigation for easy access and search on a small screen mobile web app: Internet enabled app with specific functionality for mobile devices the app resides primarily on a server in his access via the Internet but doesn't need to be installed on the device native app: a standalone application designed to run on a specific platform and device it is directly installed on the mobile device it connects to the Internet to download and upload data and so it can operate on this data even when it's not connected to the Internet responsive web design enables web sites to change layouts automatically according to the visitor screen resolution whether it's on a desktop laptop tablet or smartphone. - It uses tools such as flexible grid based layouts flexible images and media queries to optimize the design for different viewing - This eliminates the need for separate design and development work for each device - HTML5 supports cross platform mobile applications.

explain why some firms have not planned for the development of international systems

Most companies have inherited a patchwork of international systems that are often based on outdated concepts of information processing. Some of these may include reporting from independent foreign divisions to corporate headquarters, manual entry of data from one legacy system to another, and very little online control and communication. Some of the difficulties in building these international architectures are - planning a system appropriate to the firm's global strategy - structuring the organization of systems and business units - solving implementation issues - choosing the right technical platform

Define neural networks and deep learning neural networks, describing how they work and how they benefit organizations

Neural network is composed of interconnected units called neurons that can take and transfer data to/from other neurons. The neurons are software programs and mathematical models that perform the input/output functions. The weight of the connections is controlled by a Learning Rule, an algorithm that systematically alters the strength of the connections to produce the final desired output. Neural networks: find patterns and relationships in very large amounts of data that is too complicated and difficult for human to analyze by machine learning algorithms and computational models loosely based on how the biological human brain operates. They are pattern detection programs. Deep Learning: more complex with many layers of transformation of the input data to produce the target output. It's expected to be "self-taught" and looks for patterns in the data without specific direction of what to look for. How it works - They learn patterns by sifting through large quantities of data and finding pathways through the networks. - Once a successful path is found, the Learning Rule is used to strengthen that connection between the neurons in the pathways. - The process is repeated thousands/millions of times until the most successful pathways are discovered. Eventually the process will stop when an acceptable level of pattern recognition is reached. Limitations - Require very large data sets - Often many patterns in large data sets are nonsensical and requires humans to choose which patterns make sense. - It's hard to explain how the system arrived at the solution - They have no understanding of ethics Examples: - Computer vision used for photo tagging, facial recognition, autonomous vehicles - Speech recognition used for digital assistants, chatbots, helpcenters - Machine controls, diagnostics: preventive maintenance; quality control - Language translation: translate sentences from one language to another - Transaction analysis used for fraud control; theft of services; stock market predictions - Targeted online ads: programmatic advertising

Explain how supply chain management systems help reduce the bullwhip effect and how they provide value for a business

Note: supply chain inefficiencies waste as much as 25% of a company's operating costs. The perfect supply chain system would allow manufacturers to know exactly how many units of a product customers want, when they want them and when it should be produced, but this is impossible so they strive towards it as much as possible with a "just in time strategy". Bullwhip effect: information about the demand for a product is distorted as it passes from one entity to the next in a supply chain which causes excess inventory for suppliers along the supply chain to occur which can be expensive. This effect can be reduced by reducing the uncertainties about demand and supply. To do this, you need to be able to share dynamic information about the inventory levels, schedules, forecasts and shipments across all the members of the supply chain. This allows them to make better purchasing and scheduling decisions.

Describe the object oriented approaches for modeling and designing systems.

Object-Oriented Approach: Object oriented development uses the object as the basic unit of systems analysis and design. An object contains data and specific processes that operate on the data. - The system is modeled as a collection of objects and relationships among them. - Because processing logic resides within objects rather than in separate software programs the objects must collaborate with each other to make the system work. - Based on concepts of class and inheritance where objects belonging to a certain class or general category of similar objects have features of the classes of objects - They can inherit all the structure and behaviors of a more general class and then add variables and behaviors unique to each object - Object oriented development is more iterative an incremental - During analysis system builders document the functional requirements of the system specifying its most important properties and what the proposed system must do - The information system is implemented by translating the design and program code reusing classes that are already available in a library of reusable software objects and adding new ones as needed - Because the objects are reusable object oriented development can potentially reduce the time and cost of writing software Computer aided software engineering (CASE) sometimes called computer aided systems engineering provides software tools to automate the methodologies described. To reduce the amount of repetitive work in systems development these tools provide automated graphics, facilities for producing charts and diagrams, screens and report generators, data dictionaries, extensive reporting facilities, analysis and checking tools, code generators and documentation generators

Distinguish between operational and analytical CRM.

Operational CRM: includes customer-facing applications such as tools for sales force automation, call center and customer service support and marketing automation Analytical CRM: applications that analyze customer data generated by operational CRM application to provide information for improving business performance. Customer lifetime value (CLTV): based on the relationship between the revenue produced by a specific customer, the expenses incurred in acquiring and servicing the customer, and the expected life of the relationship between the customer and company. A good CRM will allow a company to determine the customer churn rate: measures the number of customers who stop using or purchasing products or services from a company which is an indicator of growth or decline of a firm's customer base.

Identify the organizational considerations that should be address by project planning and implementation.

Organizational impact analysis explains how a proposed system will affect organizational structure attitudes decision-making an operations . sociotechnical design practices are one way of addressing human an organizational issues the solution should meet both social and technical objectives in its final design to produce an information system that blends technical efficiency with sensitivity to organizational and human needs which leads to higher job satisfaction and productivity organizational factors in system planning an implementation that should be considered are - Employee participation and involvement job design - standards and performance monitoring - ergonomics including equipment user interfaces in the work environment - employee grievance resolution procedures - health and safety - government regulatory compliance

Explain how portfolio analysis and scoring models can be used to select information systems projects

Portfolio analysis is used to evaluate alternative system projects. it inventories all the organizations information systems projects and assets including infrastructure outsourcing contracts and licenses. Companies can examine their portfolio of projects in the terms of potential benefits and likely risks. - high benefit and low risk: most desirable - high benefit high risk systems - should be examined - low benefit high risk systems should be totally avoided - low benefit low risk system should be re-examined for the possibility of rebuilding and replacing with systems have higher benefits. Scoring models are useful for selecting projects where many criteria must be considered. It assigns weights to various features of the system and then calculates the weighted totals.

Define predictive analytics, location analytics and operational intelligence and give an example of each.

Predictive Analytics: uses statistical analysis, data mining techniques, historical data, and assumptions about future conditions to predict future trends and behavior patterns. Example: credit scoring used to determine likelihood that you will pay your future debts. By using Big Data Predictive analytics, public policy decisions on utility management, transportation operation, healthcare delivery are much easier and accurate. Location Analytics - ability to gain business insight from the location component of data, including location data from mobile phones, output from sensors or scanning devices, and data from maps. Example: may help a marketer determine which people to target with mobile ads without nearby restaurants and stores or quantify the impact of mobile ads on in-store visits. UPS package tracking uses location analytics. Starbucks uses a geographic information system which ties location data with other resources to points, lines and areas on the map. Operational Intelligence: decisions that deal with how to run the business of cities on a day-to-day basis. IoT is creating streams of data from web activities, smartphones, sensors, gauges and monitoring devices that can be used for operational intelligence about activities in and outside of the org. Data Driven farming systems is an example.

List and describe the analytic functionalities provided by BI systems.

Production Reports: predefined reports based on industry-specific requirements Parameterized Reports: using several parameters in a pivot table to filter data and isolate impacts of parameters. Dashboards/Scorecards: visual tools for presenting performance data defined by users. Ad hoc query/search/report creation: allows users to create their own reports based on queries and searches Drill down: ability to move from high-level summary to more detailed view. Forecasts, scenarios, models: ability to perform linear forecasting and what-if scenario analysis

Describe the role of programming, conversion, production, and maintenance in systems development.

Programming: system specs that were prepared during the design stage are translated into software program code. Or they purchase the software that meets the requirements for a new system. Conversion: The process of changing from an old system to a new system there are 4 strategies 1) parallel strategy both the old system and the replacement are run together for an amount of time until everyone assured the new one will function correctly. It is the safest conversion approach because just in case there are problems with the new system, the old system can be used as a backup. It can also be very expensive since you have to support both systems. 2) direct cut-over strategy replaces the old system entirely with the new system on a specific day. This is a risky approach as it can be serious problems with the new system if there is no system to fall back on. 3) pilot study strategy introduces the new system in a limited area of the organization such as a single Department or operating unit when the pilot version is complete and working smoothly it's then installed throughout the rest of the organization. 4) phased approach strategy introduces the new system in stages either by function or organizational unit. Detailed documentation showing how the system works from a technical an end user standpoint is finalized during the conversion time to be used during training in everyday operations failure to do this can contribute to a system failure as a whole. Production & Maintenance: After a new system is installed in the conversion is complete the system is in production. The system will be reviewed by both users and technical specialist to determine how well it has met its objectives and decide if any revisions or modifications are needed. Sometimes this takes the form of a post implementation audit. Maintenance are changes in hardware software documentation or procedures to a production system in order to correct errors meet new requirements or improve processing efficiency

Identify and describe each of the principal risk factors in information systems projects.

Project size: - the larger the project the greater the risk - very large scale system projects have a failure rate that is 50 to 75% higher than for other projects because they are complex and difficult to control project structure - projects that are more highly structured such that their requirements are clear and straightforward and there is no possibility of users changing their minds is at much lower risk than those with a relatively undefined fluid and constantly changing requirements experience with technology - project risk rises if the project team and information systems staff lack the required technical expertise

Define information system prototyping.

Prototyping is the building of an experimental system rapidly an inexpensively for users to evaluate a prototype is a working version of an information system or part of the system but meant only to be a preliminary model when it's operational it is then further refined until it confirms exactly to what the user's requirements are once the design is finalized the prototype is then converted into a polished production system the process of building the preliminary design trying it out or finding it and trying it again is an iterative process of systems development because the steps required to build the system can be repeated over and over again it actively promotes system design changes

Define rapid application development, agile development and DevOps and explain how they can speed up a system building

Rapid application development refers to the process of creating workable systems in a very short period of time with some flexibility to adapt as the project evolves. It uses visual programming and other tools for building graphical user interfaces, iterative prototyping of key system elements, automation of program code generation, and close teamwork among end users an information systems specialist . Agile development focuses on rapid delivery of working software by breaking a large project into a series of smaller projects these are completed in short periods of time using iteration,s continuous feedback, and continual user involvement. - Testing occurs early and often throughout the entire development process. - It emphasizes face to face communication. - Encourages people to collaborate and make decisions quickly and effectively DevOps builds on agile development principles to create a culture an environment to promote further rapid and agile development practices DevOps stands for development and operations. - It also emphasizes close collaboration between software developers an IT operational staff who run and maintain the applications after they've been developed,. - It creates a type of organizational change along with agile techniques standardized processes an powerful automated software creation and testing tools so that it's possible to build test and release applications more rapidly and frequently

Define an expert system, describe how it works and explain its value to business.

Represent knowledge of experts in an if-then set of rules and used to assist in decisions. How it Works: - Uses a knowledge base: collective set of rules - Inference Engine: strategy used to search through the collection of rules and formulate the conclusions which works because it is triggered by facts the user gathers and enters. Benefits - Improved decision making - Reduced errors - Reduced costs - Reduced training time - Better quality and service Limitations - Sometimes experts can't say HOW they make a decision - Rapidly changing rules causes too much overhead for keeping the system up-to-date - Do not handle unstructured decision making which is the most common type - Do not scale well - Expensive to build Examples: application for making a decision on granting credit or medical diagnostics.

Name and describe the e-commerce revenue model.

Revenue model describes how the firm will earn revenue, generate profits and produce a superior return on investment. Advertising: website gnerates revenue by attracting a large audience of visitors who can then e exposed to advertisements. Sales: companies derive revenue by selling goods, information, or services to customers. Micropayment systems provide content providers with cost effective method for processing high volumes of very small monetary transactions. Subscription: website offering content or services charges a subscription fee for access to some or all of its offerings on an ongoing basis. Free/Freemium: firms offer basic services or content for free and charge a premium for advanced or special features. Transaction fee: company receives a fee for enabling or executing a transaction. Fintech firms are start-up financial tech firms that have grown rapidly to compete with banks for peer-to-peer, bill payment, money transfer, lending, crowdsourcing, financial advance and account aggregation services. Affiliate: websites send visitors to other websites in return for a referral fee or percentage of the revenue from any resulting sales.

Describe the tools and capabilities of customer relationship management of software for sales, marketing, and customer service.

Sales Force Automation (SFA): helps sales staff increase productivity by focusing sales efforts on the most profitable customers, those who are good candidates for sales and services. Capabilities of SFA include: - Sales prospect and contact information - Product information and configuration capabilities - Sales quote generation - Customer's past purchases - Enable sales, marketing and shipping departments to share customer and prospect information - Reduces the cost per sale - Reduce the cost of acquiring new customers and retaining old ones - Sales forecasting, territory management and team selling Customer Service: provide information and tools to increase the efficiency of call centers, help desks and customer support staff. Capabilities of Customer Service modules include: - Appointment or advice telephone system - Improved access to consistent and accurate customer information - Allows centers to handle more calls per day and decrease the duration of each call leading to greater productivity, reduced transaction time and higher quality of service at a lower cost. Marketing: provide capabilities for capturing prospect and customer data, for providing produce and service information, for qualifying leads for targeting marketing and for scheduling and tracking direct marketing mailings or emails - Tools for analyzing marketing and customer data - Identifying profitable and unprofitable customers - Designing products and services to satisfy specific customer needs and interest - Identifying opportunities for cross-selling - Cross-selling: marketing of complementary products to customers.

Explain how the challenges to enterprise applications can be addressed. Describe how enterprise applications are taking advantage of cloud computing and business intelligence.

Scaled down versions of software as well as cloud enabled versions are being offered to support all types of businesses from small to large. Avoiding customizations or updating business processes to match the system is also helpful.

List and describe the decision making and decision-making constituencies in organizations. Explain how their decision-making requirements differ.

Senior Management - unstructured - They often require access to external data points, industry views - High-level summaries of the firm performance - Requires use of own best judgment - Ability to poll other managers for their opinions Middle Management - semi-structured - Mostly structured decision scenarios but could include unstructured components. - They may need reports from the enterprise system that are part of the structured components - May also need to interview employees and gather unstructured information from external sources. Operational Management - structured They would need access to reports or workflows that are already set up for the decision making process. They rarely need access to unstructured data.

Define social CRM and explain how customer relationship management systems are using social networking.

Social CRM: allows for vendors to enhance their products by taking advantage of social networking technologies. They can help firms identify new ideas quickly improve team productivity and deepen interactions with customers. By using social media analytics and business intelligence it can help the vendor to optimize their social and traditional web-based campaigns.

Define machine learning, explain how it works and give examples of the kinds of problems it can solve.

Software that can identify patterns in very large databases without explicit programming although with significant human training. How it Works - Find patterns in data and classifying those data inputs into known and unknown outputs - Instead of expert knowledge, it uses very large data sets to automatically find patterns and relationships, analyzing large set of examples and making statistical inferences. - 2 different types of Learning include supervised learning in which the machine is fed a large amount of data and then humans will "show" the machine how to identify a particular type of data within the set. The machine can then learn from being shown the different types of particular data on its own. This has a very high accuracy rating. The other type is unsupervised where the machine is given a large amount of data, but instead of being shown how to discover the pattern, it's given an insanely large amount of processing power (brute force) and will eventually learn and figure it out on it's own. This has a very low rate of accuracy, but is continuing to improve over time. Benefits - Extraordinary ability to recognize patterns at scale in extremely shortened time periods - Ability to classify objects into discrete categories Limitations - It needs to have a very large datasets and computing facilities - The most desired outcomes need to already be defined by humans - Output is binary - The need for talented and large groups of software/system engineers is required. Examples: facebook ad display which uses prior user behavior information, information supplied by advertisers, user activity on apps and other websites that facebook can track. It uses that data to estimate within seconds the probability that any specific user will actually click on the add.

Define a digital market and digital goods and describe their distinguishing features.

The internet reduces information asymmetry which is when one party in a transaction has more information that is important for the transaction than the other party. This helps determine bargaining power. Digital markets: flexible and efficient because they operate with: - Reduced search and transaction costs - Lower menu costs - merchant's costs of changing prices - Greater price discrimination - Ability to change prices dynamically based on market conditions Dynamic pricing: the price of a product can vary depending on the demand characteristics of the customer or the supply situation of the seller. Disintermediation: removal of organizations or business process layers responsible for intermediary steps in a value chain. Digital goods: goods that can be delivered over a digital network - most of the time they are intellectual property.

Describe the traditional structured approaches for modeling and designing systems.

Structured approach: Refers to the fact that the techniques are step by step with each step building on the previous one, These are top down methods that progress from the highest most abstract level to the lowest level of detail, Structured development methods are process oriented focusing primarily on modeling the processes or actions that capture store manipulate and distribute data as the data flows through the system. The primary tool for representing the systems component processes in flow of data between them is the data flow diagram this offers a logical graphic model of information flow partitioning a system into modules and showing a manageable level of detail. Another tool for structured analysis is the data dictionary which contains information about individual pieces of data and data groupings within the system. It defines the contents of data flows and data stores so the system builders understand exactly what pieces of data they contain. Process specifications describes the transformation occurring within the lowest level of the data flow diagrams. The structure chart is a hierarchical chart top down showing each level of design its relation to ship to other levels an its place in the overall design structure. Structured methods are useful for modeling processes but don't handle data modeling well. They treat data and processes as logically separate entities while different modeling conventions are used for analysis the data flow diagram and for design the structure chart.

Define a supply chain and identify each of its components.

Supply Chain: network of organizations and business processes for procuring raw materials into intermediate and finished products, and distributing those products to customers. Upstream: suppliers, suppliers suppliers and the process for managing relationships with them Downstream: organizations and processes for distributing and delivering products to the final customers Internal supply chain processes: transforming materials, components and services their suppliers furnish into finished products or intermediate products for their customers and for managing inventory and materials.

Distinguish between systems analysis and systems design. Describe the activities for each.

Systems analysis the analysis of a problem that a firm tries to solve with an information system. It consists of: 1) Defining the problem 2) Identifying its causes 3) Specifying the solution 4) Identifying the information requirements that must be met by a system solution A systems analyst will 1) Create a road map of the existing organization and systems 2) Identifies primary owners and users of the data 3) Identify hardware and software detail the problems of the existing systems by examining documents, work papers and procedures. 4) Observing system operations and interviewing key users of the system. 5) Identify objectives a solution would achieve A feasibility study is done to determine whether the solution is feasible or achievable from financial, technical and organizational standpoint. While systems analysis describes what a system should do to meet information requirements, the system design shows how the system will fulfilled this objective. The design of an information system is the overall plan an model for that system similar to a blueprint of a building or a house. The systems designer details the system specifications that deliver the functions identified during the systems analysis. The specs should address all of the managerial, organizational, and technological components of the system solution.

Distinguish between tangible and intangible benefits.

Tangible benefits can be quantified and assigned a monetary value - increased productivity - lower outside vendor cost - lower operational costs - lower clerical and professional costs - reduce workforce - reduce rate of growth in expenses - lower computer expenses - reduce facility cost intangible benefits cannot be immediately quantified but may lead to quantifiable gains in the long run - Improved asset utilization - improved resource control - improved organizational planning - increased organizational flexibility - more timely information - more information - increased organizational learning - legal requirements attained - enhanced employee goodwill - increase job satisfaction - improved decision making - improved operations - higher client satisfaction - better corporate image

Describe the roles of the following in facilitating knowledge management: taxonomies, MOOCs, and learning management systems.

Taxonomies: a classification scheme meant to organize the information into meaningful categories so it can easily be accessed. Learning Management Systems: provides tools for management, delivery, tracking and assessment of vaious types of employee learning and training. MOOCs: massive open online courses used to educate employees through an online course made available via the web to a very large number of participants. LinkedIn Learning probably.

Explain why the testing state of systems development is so important. Name and describe the 3 stages of testing for an information system.

Testing is conducted to determine whether the system produces the correct results and it answers the question will the system produce the desired results under known conditions. Unit testing consist of testing each program within the system. This testing should be viewed as a means of locating errors within the program so that they can be corrected. System testing test the functioning of the information system as a whole. It tries to determine if the discrete modules will function together as it was planned and if there are discrepancies between the way the system actually works and the way it is supposed to work. It looks at performance, time capacity, file storage, load testing, recovery and restore capabilities . acceptance testing is the final certification that the system is ready to be used in a production system. system tests are evaluated by users and by management and when all the parties are satisfied that the new system meets at their standards it can formally be accepted for installation.

Explain the advantages to application software package.

The company can save time and money by using prewritten predesigned pretested software programs from a software vendor SaaS vendors supply much of the ongoing maintenance and support for the system including enhancements. they can include capabilities for customization which are features that allow a commercial software package or cloud based software to be modified to meet the unique requirements without destroying the integrity the software

List and describe the four types of e-commerce presence.

Websites: platforms are traditional, mobile and tablit that can search, display apps, affiliates and sponsorships Email: platforms are internal lists and purchases lists. They are newsletters, updates and sales. Social Media: platforms are facebook, twitter and blogs for conversation, engagement, sharing and advice. Offline Media: platforms are print, tv & radio for education, exposure and branding.

Define the traditional systems life cycle.

The system's lifecycle methodology is a phased approach to building a system which includes system analysis, system design, programming, testing, conversion, production and maintenance which are formalized stages. It emphasizes formal specs and paperwork so documents are generated during the course of a systems project building process. Describe its advantage for systems building - it is used for building large complex systems that require a rigorous and formal requirements analysis predefined specs and tight controls over the system Describe its disadvantages for systems building - the approach can be costly time consuming and ultimately inflexible - the tasks in one stage have to be completed before work in the next stage begins - if requirements and specs need to be revised then new documents must be generated for the specs this approach is not suitable for many small desktop systems

Identify the specific managerial roles that can be supported by information systems.

There are 10 managerial roles as identified by Mintzberg which fall into 3 categories. Interpersonal - Act as figureheads for the org when they represent their companies to the outside world and perform symbolic duties. They act as leaders to motivate, counsel, and support subordinates. - These include: figurehead, Leader and Liaison Informational - Act as nerve centers of their organization by receiving the most concrete, up-to-date information and redistributing that information. - These include: nerve center, Disseminator, Spokesperson Decisional - Managers make decisions. - Act as entrepreneurs by initiative new kinds of activities, handle disturbances, allocate resources to staff members that need them, negotiate conflicts. - These include: Entrepreneur, Disturbance Handler, Resource Allocator, Negotiator.

Explain why there is such a high failure rate for implementations involving enterprise application, business process reengineering and merges and acquisitions.

There's a high failure rate among enterprise applications and business process reengineering projects because they typically require extensive organizational change and may require replacing old technology and legacy systems which are rooted in many inner related business processes - upwards of 70% of all business process reengineering projects failed to deliver the promised benefits - most of the time they have been undermined by poor implementation and change management practices which failed to address employees concerns about the change - they failed to deal with the fear and anxiety an overcoming resistance by key managers changing job functions career paths and recruitment practices For mergers and acquisitions combining two different information systems from the companies usually requires considerable organizational change and complex system projects in order to manage it. - It can result in a tangled hodgepodge of inherited legacy systems built by aggregating the system of one firm after another - Without the successful systems integration benefits cannot be realized at or worse the merged entity cannot execute its business processes effectively.

Describe the challenges of global supply chains and how Internet tech can help companies manage them better.

They can span larger geographic regions and time differences. Most of the time they have participants from a larger number of countries. They need to consider foreign government regulations and cultural differences. The internet can help combat these challenges by providing the ability to manage sourcing, transportation, communications and international finance. By using web-based software they can give their customers a better view of their supply chain providing the ability to do things like check a secure website to monitor inventory and shipments.

Describe how enterprise systems provide value for a business.

They increase value by increasing operational efficiency and providing firmwide information to help managers make better decisions. Example: They help firms respond quickly to customer request for information and products. Because of it's cross business functionality integration, it's able to product or procure only what customers have ordered, stage the production and minimize the time the components or products remain in inventory. Example: because corporate headquarters have access to up-to-the minute data on sales, inventory and production and use this information to create more accurate sales and product forecasts. The software includes analytical tools to use system data and capture overall organizational performance. This allows managers to see which products are showing the most profit and calculate costs as a whole across the organization.

List and describe the 8 unique features of e-commerce.

Ubiquity: internet/web tech is available everywhere which means the marketplace extends beyond traditional boundaries and removed from temporal and geographic location. Marketspace where the marketplace extends beyond traditional boundaries. It also reduces transaction costs or the time costs of participating in the market. Global Reach: tech reaches across national boundaries, enabling commerce across cultural and national boundaries seamlessly. Universal Standards: there is one set of tech standards (internet standards) such that disparate computer systems can easily communicate with each other. Market entry costs, the cost merchants must pay to bring their goods to market have lowered. Richness: video, audio and text messages are possible such that they are integrated into a single marketing message and consumer experience. Interactivity: the tech works through interaction with the user creating a dialog that dynamically adjusts the experience to the individual and makes the consumer a participant in the process of delivery goods to the market Information Density: tech reduces information costs and raises quality such that the cost of information processing, storage and communications drop and currency, accuracy and timeliness improve greatly. Because of this there is price transparency, the ease with which consumers can find out if the variety of prices in the market, cost transparency, the ability for consumers to discover the actual costs merchants pay for products. As a benefit to merchants, they can engage in price discrimination, selling the same goods to different targeted groups at different prices. Personalization/customization: tech allows personalized messages to be delivered to individuals and groups where marketing messages, products and services are personalized to individuals' characteristics. Social Technology: tech support content generation and social networking which enables user content creation and distribution and support social networks.

Explain why eliciting support of management and end users is so essential for successful implementation of information systems projects

When a project has the backing and commitment of management at various levels it's more likely to purse be perceived positively by both users and technical information staff both groups will believe their participation in the process will receive higher attention both groups will believe their participation in the process will receive higher attention and priority they will be recognized and rewarded for the time and effort they put in it ensures that a system project receives sufficient funding an resources so it can be successful management backing is needed for all the changes in work habits and procedures in any organizational realignments that have to happen

Define project management

a project is a plan series of related activities for achieving a specific business objective. project management is the application of knowledge skills tools and techniques to achieve specific targets within specified budget and time constraints

Define an application software package.

commercially available application software packages or cloud software as a service Many applications are common to all business organizations—for example, payroll, accounts receivable, general ledger, or inventory control. For such universal functions with standard processes that do not change a great deal over time, a more generic system will fulfill the requirements of many organizations.

Explain the disadvantages of developing information systems based on software packages.

if too much customization is required it can become expensive and time-consuming which negates many of the advantages of software packages and services the organization no longer has total control over the system design process it cannot be tailored to user requirements instead they will need to mold the user requirements to conform to the features of the package or software service if the requirements conflict with the way the package or software works and it cannot be customized the organization has to adapt to the package or service and change it's procedures.

Describe end-user development disadvantages

they cannot easily handle the processing of large numbers of transactions or applications.with extensive procedural logic and updating requirements They pose organizational risks because it occurs outside of the traditional mechanisms for information systems management and control Testing and documentation may be inadequate control over data can be lost