Ch 6 Quiz
How can information systems be used to improve processes?
5 ways IS can be used to improve a process: 1. Improve an activity- At the pizza shop, the Delivery process driving activity can be improved by adding a GPS or Waze app to each delivery vehicle that displays traffic updates 2. IS can also improve a process by adding or improving the data flow between activities in the same or different processes. For example, consider the Web site used by the pizza shop for the Order process. The order data from the Order process can be used to improve the Delivery process if the order data flows to GPS displays in the delivery cars in real time. 3.improve the control of activities in the process. In general, control limits behavior. A process is like a river; controls are like dams and sidewalls that limit the behavior of the river. You have controls in your life that help you limit your own behavior. Your alarm clock limits your sleep, the cruise control on your car limits your speed, your phone password limits who can use your phone, your social media privacy controls limit who can see your posts 4. Automation means that a computer does an activity or a part of an activity that was once done by a person. The computer can be either a robot or an artificial intelligence (AI) program. One classic example of this is the ATM that replaced some of the activities of the bank teller; another is e-commerce Web sites that do several activities of salespeople 5.Improving a procedure can often lead to process improvement. For example, you might have a great phone but lousy Movie processes because you never learned how to search nearby theaters for showtimes or reviews. Your procedures are holding you back; fix those and your Movie process will get much better.
What are the important characteristics of processes in organizations?
Business Process: a sequence of activities for accomplishing a function Activity: a task within a business process Resource: the items, such as people, computers, and data and document collections, necessary to accomplish an activity Role: a subset of the activities in a business process that are performed by a particular actor Actor:resources who are either humans or computer hardware 4 Characteristics of processes: 1. the stability of the flow of process activities. Some processes are structured and others are dynamic. In a structured process, the activities typically follow a fixed predefined sequence; a good example is logging into your email account. Dynamic processes are more informal; the activity sequence is less fixed, like when you collaborate with classmates on a group project. 2. Scope Processes - Operational processes are commonplace, routine, everyday business processes. At the pizza shop, operational processes include ordering supplies, paying bills, and checking out customers. -Managerial processes concern resource use. These processes include planning, assessing, and analyzing the resources used by the company in pursuit of its objectives. Managerial processes occur much less frequently and with many fewer computerized actors than operational processes. At the pizza franchise, these processes include assessing seasonal promotions, planning and scheduling cashiers, and determining which personnel to promote -Strategic processes seek to resolve issues that have long-range impact on the organization. These processes have broad scope and affect most of the firm. Because judgment and a tolerance for ambiguity are important, there are typically more human actors than in operational or managerial processes. Examples of strategic processes at the pizza shop include deciding where to locate a new restaurant, corporate budgeting, and new product introduction 3. Objective Processes: An objective is a desired goal an organization has decided to pursue -Efficiency means that a process creates more output with the same inputs or the same out- put with fewer inputs. To say this more formally, efficiency is a ratio of process outputs to inputs. One efficiency objective for the pizza-making process might be to go green and use less energy. This objective led management to buy better-insulated ovens for its new restaurant. -An effective objective helps achieve an orga- nizational strategy. One simple effectiveness objective is to sell better-tasting pizzas, and this objective led Mr. Pizzi to design the walk-in refrigerator that preserves the freshness of the ingredients until they are needed. -To summarize, an efficiency objective aims to conserve resources, whereas an effectiveness objective helps achieve a company strategy. A good way to remember the difference is that effectiveness is doing right things while efficiency is doing things right. As we will see shortly, objectives, unlike the other characteristics, are not mutually exclusive; processes can have effectiveness or efficiency objectives or both
How can an IS hinder a process?
Information silo—the data needed for a process activity is unavailable because it is stored in an isolated, separated information system. One fix to the information silo problem is to duplicate the data—make a copy of the data that is isolated and make it available to the process that needs it. However, when duplicated, the data can quickly become inconsistent when changes are made to only one set of data. The most complete fix to eliminate information silos is to store a single copy of data in a shared database and connect the business processes to that database Accountants know more than anyone about how the accounting database should be used, so it is natural for them to want to control how it is set up, what the data will look like, and how the database will be updated. Also, a department may have very different objectives than other departments in the firm. These objectives might be to minimize inventory or serve customers. A department system that supports a key objective, even if it is an information silo, might be a better solution for the department than an enterprise system that doesn't support that objective as well.
What are examples of common business processes?
Primary Activities: Inbound logistics processes receive, store, and disseminate product input. -Procurement is an operational process that acquires goods and services. Procurement activities at the pizza shop include ordering ingredients and boxes as well as receiving and paying for those items Operations transform inputs into outputs; in some industries, this is called the Production process. Operations processes schedule the equipment, people, and facilities necessary to build or assemble a product or provide a service Outbound logistics processes collect, store, and distribute products to buyers. Outbound logistics processes concern the management of finished-goods inventory and the movement of goods from that inventory to the customer. Outbound logistics processes are especially prominent for non manufacturers, such as distributors, wholesalers, and retailers. Sales and Marketing provide the means and incentives for customers to purchase a product or service. The primary objective of sales and marketing processes is to find prospects and transform them into customers by selling them something Providing after-sales support to enhance or maintain the value of a product is called service. Operational customer service processes include Track Orders, Customer Support, and Customer Support Training Support Activities: Human resources processes assess the motivations and skills of employees; create job positions; investigate employee complaints; and staff, train, and evaluate personnel. Technology development processes include designing, developing, and testing technology in support of the primary activities. Infrastructure processes are essential supporting processes in the organization that enable day-to-day operations. These include processes in accounting, administration, quality assurance, and legal and financial areas Ask good questions about objectives Standardize structured processes and keep dynamic processes fluid Don't confuse process and IS Ensure processes work together Continually improve your own processes
How can management improve processes?
Process improvement: means that a process better achieves its objectives based on its measures. Therefore, it is essential to first understand the concepts of objectives and measures and the responsibilities of managers to specify and communicate them It is the job of the managers responsible for the process to specify the most appropriate objectives and convey those objectives to people who play roles in the process. Management needs to collaborate effectively and not assume agreement on process objectives. Setting objectives is a team sport. One objective is an efficiency objective—reduce the time needed to place an order by phone—and the other is an effectiveness objective—sell to freshmen. By clearly specifying an objective as either efficient or effective, objectives are less vague. Vague objectives, such as "have a great sales process" or "be good to our customers," are difficult to improve Measures, also called metrics, are quantities assigned to attributes. Measures are common inside and outside of process improvement. You have measures—your height, weight, GPA, and family size In process improvement, the measures selected by managers to use to assess process performance are called key performance indicators (KPIs) Specifying KPIs can be difficult, as it requires a very thorough knowledge of the process managers should avoid the common trap of falling in love with their favorite KPI
How can process management principles improve processes?
Process management experts call these process improvement principles a number of names: systems engineering, workflow/WfMc, Business Process Modeling, Business Process Reengineering, Continuous Improvement, xMatrix, Kata, 5 Whys, Kaizen, and Six Sigma. A common goal of these principles is to create in an organization a culture of continuous improvement Improve Activity Remove unproductive resources from a process. For example, if drivers assigned to a particular pizza outlet are not busy, they could be trained to do other jobs so their time is more productive. Improve the feedback generated by the process. Feedback is the return of a part of the output of process to the input. Remove a process bottleneck. A bottleneck occurs when one activity reduces the performance of the overall process. In the pizza restaurant, a bottleneck occurs when too many customers are being served by one waiter Redesign the structure: To change structure simply means to change the arrangement or roles of the activities of a process. An example of changing a structure can be seen in the Assemble Pizza process. Currently each chef rolls dough, adds toppings, then loads his or her own pizza in the oven and takes it out when it is finished. On hectic nights, a better structure to the process would be to specialize the jobs. That is, one chef rolls dough for all the pizzas, another adds ingredients, and a third moves pizzas in and out. This helps reduce delays, an objective of the Assemble process. Reduce slack, the time an activity is idle. In the pizza shop, if the waiters are busy with customers and food is ready, the process should be redesigned to allow the cook to bring the pizza to the table. This will reduce the slack in the serve pizza activity. Outsource an activity—that is, have a supplier, customer, or business partner do one of the activities in the process. Customers seem willing to swipe their own credit cards, change their password, pump their gas, check out their groceries, make their travel arrangements, and check in at an airport. Customers should not be the only ones considered for outsourcing; other businesses should also be considered. For example, the pizza shop can outsource its accounting activities. Six Sigma seeks to improve process outputs by removing causes of defects and minimizing variability in the process
How do process teams diagram process improvement?
The team includes the users who are the actors in the process, general managers responsible for the process, IT analysts, and business analysts Diagrams of the current process are typically called "as-is" diagrams, and diagrams of suggested improvements are called "ought-to-be" diagrams.
