ISA235 outline (ch 8-9)

Development Phase

Takes all the detailed design documents from the design phase and transforms them into the actual system.

*Why integrations are important (the silo problem). There is not much on this concept in the textbook. The instructor should describe the silo problem, how silos come about, and why data duplication is undesirable. Refer to the data redundancy discussion in Chapter 6 as a similar idea.

- An information silo is an insular management system in which one information system or subsystem is incapable of reciprocal operation with others that are related - Thus information is not adequately shared but rather remains sequestered within each system or subsystem - Information silos occur whenever a data system is incompatible or not integrated with other data systems - Duplicate data can cause storage and data integrity issues, making it difficult to determine which values are the most current or most accurate

*Function and strategic importance of CRM systems Students should understand the goals of CRM, both strategic and operational. They don't need to memorize a list (like the list of CRM metrics on p. 241), but they should understand them in broad strokes and be able to recognize them in context.

- Customer relationship management (CRM) - involves managing all aspects of a customer's relationship with an organization to increase customer loyalty and retention and the organization's profitability - CRM strategic goals include: - Identify sales opportunities - Classify low-value customers and create marketing promotions to increase consumer spending - Classify high-value customers and create marketing promotions to increase consumer loyalty - Analyze marketing promotions by product, market segment, and sales region - Identify customer relationship issues along with strategies for quick resolution - CRM moves far beyond technology by identifying customer needs and designing specific marketing campaigns tailored to each - Three phases of CRM: - 1) Reporting - customer identification - asking what happened o Help organizations identify their customers across other application - 2) Analyzing - customer segmentation - asking why it happened o Help organizations segment their customers into best and worst - 3) Predicting - customer prediction - asking what will happen o Help organizations predict consumer behavior, such as which customers are at risk of leaving - Operational CRM supports traditional transactional processing for day-to-day front-office operations or systems that deal directly with the customers - Customer service and support - Sales force automation - tracks all the steps in the sales process - Analytical CRM supports back-office operations and strategic analysis and includes all systems that do not deal directly with the customers

*How ERPs facilitate integration Students know that the primary purpose of an ERP system (as a whole) is integration. They should understand that ERP can be costly and often risky, especially when the ERP is customized. It is suggested that the instructor reflect back on Chapter 2's discussion of reengineering to relate to business processes.

- Enterprise resource planning (ERP) - integrates all departments and functions throughout an organization into a single system so that employees can make decisions by viewing enterprise-wide information on all business operations - Software customization modifies existing software according to the business's or user's requirements - Heavy customization leads to complex code that must be continuously maintained and upgraded - Customizing an ERP system is costly and complex and should only be done when there is a specific business advantage - The primary risk for ERP implementation are the costs associated with it: - Software costs, consulting fees, process rework, customization, integrations, testing, training, data warehouse integration and data conversions - Business process re-engineering (BPR) is the analysis and redesign of workflow within and between enterprises - Creating value for the customer is the leading reason for instituting BPR and MIS plays an important enabling role

*The importance of understanding requirements Students should know that requirements determination and management is critical to any system development project. They should be able to describe how requirements are handled in the SDLC and in agile methods, and understand that changing and unclear requirements are unavoidable and must be dealt with.

- Project requirements document - defines the specifications for product/output of the project and is key for managing expectations, controlling scope, and completing other planning efforts - Project objectives - quantifiable criteria that must be met for the project to be considered a success

*Supply chain management Students should understand what a supply chain is, and recognize how efficient and effective supply chain management can reduce the power of market forces and affect strategy. Instructors should emphasize the importance of IS in supporting supply chain management.

- Supply chain - all parties involved, directly or indirectly, in obtaining raw materials or a product - Supply chain management (SCM) - the management of information flows between and among activities in a supply chain to maximize total supply chain effectiveness and corporate profitability - Supply chain is an intricate network of business partners linked through communication channels and relationships - Supply chain management systems manage and enhance these relationships with the goal of creating a fast, efficient, and low-cost network for business relationships that take products from concept to market - Efficient and effective supply chain management systems can enable an organization to have these effects on Porter's five forces: - Decrease the buyer power and increase supplier power - Increase buyer's switching costs to reduce the threat of substitute products and services - Create entry barriers to reduce the threat of new entrants - Increase efficiencies while seeking a competitive advantage through cost leadership - Procurement - the purchasing of goods and services to meet the needs of the supply chain - Supported by 3D printing - Logistics - includes the processes that control the distribution, maintenance, and replacement of materials and personnel to support the supply chain - Supported by RFID and drones - Materials management - includes that activities that govern the flow of tangible, physical materials through the supply chain, such as shipping, transport, distribution, and warehousing - Supported by robotics - focuses on creating artificial intelligence devices that can move and react to sensory input

*Why project management, the SDLC and other development methodologies are needed Students should understand the challenges and risks inherent in system development projects. Instructors should supplement the textbook's motivation of the topic by presenting case examples project failures. The instructor should discuss the causes of these failures with the students. The students need not know the details of each phase of the SDLC, but should know, in broad strokes, what goes in in each phase.

- Systems development life cycle (SDLC) - the overall process for developing information systems, from planning and analysis through implementation and maintenance - Phase 1: Planning - establishes a high-level plan of the intended project and determines project goals - Phase 2: Analysis - the firm analyzes its end-user business requirements and refines project goals into defined functions and operations of the intended system - Phase 3: Design - establishes descriptions of the desired features and operations of the system, including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams, pseudo code, and other documentation - Phase 4: Development - takes all the detailed design documents from the design phase and transforms them into the actual system - Phase 5: Testing - brings all the project pieces together into a special testing environment to eliminate errors and bugs and verify that the system meets all the business requirements - Phase 6: Implementation - the organization places the system into production so users can begin to perform actual business operations with it - Phase 7: Maintenance - the organization performs changes, corrections, additions, and upgrades to ensure the system continues to meet business goals - Primary reasons projects fail: - Unclear or missing business requirements - business requirements drive entire systems and if they are not accurate they will not be successful - Skipped phases - Changing technology - technology changes so fast that is it almost impossible to deliver an information system without having to update it - The cost of finding errors - if an error is found in the testing or implementation phase, it is going to cost a lot to fix because the organization has to change the actual system - Balance of the triple constraints (time, resources, scope) - if any one of these variables changes, then at least one other is likely to be affected

*Agile vs. Waterfall and the historical context Students should be understand why the SDLC was originally implemented as a waterfall method and how Agile seeks to improve on them. Students should understand the concept of iterative development, and how advances in technology have made it more practical (e.g., effective prototyping). Instructor may want to discuss potential downsides of Agile, as well.

- Waterfall methodology - a sequence of phases in which the output of each phase becomes the input for the next - In the SDLC, this means that the steps are performed one at a time, in order - No longer serves today's development efforts because it is inflexible, expensive, and requires rigid adherence to the sequence of steps - Prototyping is a modern design approach where the designers and system users use an iterative approach to building the system - Discovery prototyping builds a small-scale representation or working model of the system to ensure it meets the user and business requirements - Iterative development - consists of a series of tiny projects - Has become the foundation for multiple agile methodologies - Agile methodology - aims for customer satisfaction through early and continuous delivery of useful software components developed by an iterative process using the bare minimum requirements - Fast and efficient with lower costs and fewer features - Helps refine feasibility and supports the process for getting rapid feedback as functionality is introduced - Four forms: rapid prototyping, extreme programming methodology, RUP methodology, scrum methodology

The seven Phases of the SDLC

1) planning 2) analysis 3) design 4) development 5) testing 6) implementation 7) maintenance

CRM

A means of managing all aspects of a customer's relationship with an organization to increase customer loyalty and retention and an organization's profitability.

Prototyping

A modern design approach where the designers and system users use an iterative approach to building the system.

Waterfall Methodology

A sequence of phases in which the output of each phase becomes the input for the next.

Agile methodologies

Aims for customer satisfaction through early and continuous delivery of useful software components developed by an iterative process using the bare minimum requirements.

Supply Chain

All parties involved, directly or indirectly, in obtaining raw materials or a product.

Integration

Allows separate systems to communicate directly with each other, eliminating the need for manual entry into multiple systems.

Outsourcing

An arrangement by which one organization provides a service or services for another organization that chooses not to perform them in-house.

Legacy Systems

An old system that is fast approaching or beyond the end of its useful life within an organization.

Salesforce Automation (such as Salesforce)

Automatically tracks all the steps in the sales process.

Testing Phase

Brings all the project pieces together into a special testing environment to eliminate errors and bugs and verify that the system meets all the business requirements defined in the analysis phase.

Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)

Connects the plans, methods, and tools aimed at integrating separate enterprise systems.

Intangible Benefits

Difficult to quantify or measure.

Tangible Benefits

Easy to quantify and typically measured to determine the success or failure of a project.

Planning Phase

Establishes a high-level plan of the intended project and determines project goals.

Design Phase

Establishes descriptions of the desired features and operations of the system including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams, pseudo code, and other documentation.

production and materials management ERP component

Handles production planning and execution tasks such as demand forecasting, production scheduling, job cost accounting, and quality control.

ERP

Integrates all departments and functions throughout an organization into a single MIS system (or integrated set of MIS systems) so employees can make decisions by viewing enterprisewide information about all business operations.

Accounting and Finance ERP components

Manages accounting data and financial processes within the enterprise with functions such as general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, budgeting, and asset management.

Enterprise Systems

Provides enterprise-wide support and data access for a firm's operations and business processes.

Analytical CRM

Supports back-office operations and strategic analysis and includes all systems that do not deal directly with the customers.

Operational CRM

Supports traditional transactional processing for day-to-day front-office operations or systems that deal directly with the customers.

Supply Chain Visibility

The ability to view all areas up and down the supply chain in real time.

Analysis Phase

The firm analyzes its end-user business requirements and refines project goals into defined functions and operations of the intended system.

Feasibiity

The measure of the tangible and intangible benefits of an information system.

Maintenance Phase

The organization performs changes, corrections, additions, and upgrades to ensure the system continues to meet its business goals.

Implementation Phase

The organization places the system into production so users can begin to perform actual business operations with it.

Business Requirements

The specific business requests the system must meet to be successful.

Human resources ERP component

Tracks employee information including payroll, benefits, compensation, and performance assessment and ensures compliance with all laws.