Principles of Management Chapter 17: Managing Information

An executive information system (EIS) is

a data processing system that uses internal and external data sources to provide the information needed to monitor and analyze organizational performance.

Data typically comes from a Data Warehouse which is

a database that stores huge amounts of data that have been prepared for data-mining analysis by being cleaned of errors and redundancy.

corporate portals are

a hybrid of executive information systems and intranets that allows managers and employees to use a web browser to gain access to customized company information and to complete specialized transactions.

Malware is

a program or piece of code that, without your knowledge, attaches itself to other programs on your computer and can trigger anything from a harmless flashing message to the reformatting of your hard drive to a system-wide network shutdown.

firewalls are

a protective hardware or software device that sits between the computers in an internal organizational network and outside networks, such as the internet.

A virus is

a special kind of malware that copies itself and spreads to other devices.

Bar codes are

a visual pattern that represents numerical data by varying the thickness and pattern of vertical bars.

If the company collecting this information used data mining techniques to uncover trends in the data, which of the following is evidence of a data cluster? a: Deliveries made at night, to a facility more than 50 miles away, and processed by more than 3 employees result in less than 10% of containers being returned. b: Deliveries made after 5:00 PM and processed by only 1 person result in the lowest percentage return of containers. c: Deliveries made before 10:00 AM result in the greatest percentage of containers being returned. d: Deliveries made before noon and at a distance less than 10 miles away result in the highest percentage return of containers.

a: Deliveries made at night, to a facility more than 50 miles away, and processed by more than 3 employees result in less than 10% of containers being returned.

Wayne's notes include details that pertain to the characteristics of useful information. His notes about double-checking the statistical analyses performed by the software are in reference to the _____________ of information.

accuracy

Document scanners are

an electronic device that converts printed text and pictures into digital images.

Expert systems are

an information system that contains the specialized knowledge and decision rules used by experts and experienced decision makers so that nonexperts can draw on this knowledge base to make decisions.

decision support system (DSS) is

an information system that helps managers understand specific kinds of problems and potential solutions.

two-factor authentication is

authentication based on what users know, such as a password and what they have in their possession, such as a secure ID card or key.

Since the Gillette Company had the first-mover advantage in successfully producing the products listed in the case study, which of the following is true? a: The Gillette Company bought the patent for the battery-powered razor from a company that no longer wanted to make the product. b: No other company successfully produced a pivoting-head razor before 1979. c: Other companies successfully produced a triple-blade razor before 1998, but Gillette had a better marketing department.

b: No other company successfully produced a pivoting-head razor before 1979.

Hewlett-Packard acquired the data management company 3PAR in 2010. The purchase of this company allowed HP to provide its customers with even greater capabilities in data warehousing. Hewlett-Packard's investment in this technology is most likely an attempt to impact the _______________ costs of data management.

communication

Data silos often have high processing costs because of

data variety, that is, data that are formatted or structured in different ways.

Raw data is

facts and figures

DuckDuckGo was founded in 2008, while Google was founded in 1998. This means that Google was more likely to have a __________________ than DuckDuckGo.

first mover advantage

Sensors are

instruments that detect events or changes and actively transmit that information to other electronic devices.

secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption (many companies use these)

internet browser-based encryption that provides secure offsite web access to some data and programs.

A data silo

is an isolated data set that is difficult to obtain, combine or use with other company data.

extranet

networks that allow companies to exchange information and conduct transactions with outsiders by providing them direct, web-based access to authorized parts of a company's intranet or information system.

predictive patterns (the opposite of association or affinity patterns) are

patterns that help identify database elements that are different.

Intranets are

private company networks that allow employees to easily access, share, and publish information.

Hewlett-Packard acquired the data management company Vertica in 2011. With the purchase of Vertica, HP was able to offer its customers the ability to immediately extract meaningful information from large and complex data sets. Companies that now purchase this service from HP are experiencing the _____________ costs of data management.

processing

From the details of this case study, it seems that Mission Foods is using _________________________________ to capture information on its shipping containers.

radio frequency identification tags

Wayne's notes include details that pertain to the characteristics of useful information. His notes about there being a different customer base at the Main Street and Lincoln Avenue locations are in reference to the _______________ of information.

relevance

One important thing to remember is that all of this information technology is created to aid in the process of acquiring knowledge. Knowledge is the understanding a person gains from information and ___________________________.

resides in people, not computers

robotic data automation is

software robots are taught to recognize specific data patterns and then automatically scan, locate, and extract those data.

virtual private networks (VPNs) are

software that securely encrypts data sent by employees outside the company network, decrypts the data when they arrive within the company computer network, and does the same when data are sent back to employees outside the network.

Web services are

software that uses standardized protocols to describe data from one company in such a way that those data can automatically be read, understood, transcribed, and processed by different computer systems in another company.

Hewlett-Packard is investigating the use of photonics, the transmission of information via light. HP hopes to one day put photonic connectors in computers, allowing the transmission of data at a rate that is exponentially faster than current capabilities provide. Companies that now purchase this service from HP are experiencing the ______________ costs of data management.

storage

Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are

tags containing minuscule microchips that transmit information via radio waves and can be used to track the number and location of the objects into which the tags have been inserted.

optical character recognition is

the ability of software to convert digitized documents into ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) text that can be searched, read, and edited by word processing and other kinds of software.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is

the capability of computerized systems to learn and adapt through experience.

Retrieval cost is

the cost of accessing already-stored and processed information.

Acquisition cost is

the cost of obtaining data that you don't have.

Storage cost is

the cost of physically or electronically archiving information for later retrieval and use.

Communication cost is

the cost of transmitting information from one place to another.

Processing cost is

the cost of turning raw data into usable information.

Data mining is

the process of discovering unknown patterns and relationships in large amounts of data.

Protecting information is

the process of ensuring that data are reliably and consistently retrievable in a usable format for authorized users but no one else.

unsupervised data mining is

the process when the user simply tells the data mining software to uncover whatever patterns and relationships it can find in a data set.

Supervised data mining is

the process when the user tells the data-mining software to look and test for specific patterns and relationships in a data set.

First-mover advantage is

the strategic advantage that companies earn by being the first to use new information technology to substantially lower costs or to make a product or service different from that of competitors.

Data encryption is

the transformation of data into complex, scrambled digital codes that can be decrypted only by authorized users who possess unique decryption keys.

Knowledge is

the understanding that one gains from information.

Wayne's notes include details that pertain to the characteristics of useful information. His notes about receiving the purchase reports around the time he puts in supply orders are in reference to the __________________ of information.

timeliness

Processing information means

transforming raw data into meaningful information.

information is

useful data that can influence people's choices and behavior.

Data clusters occur

when three or more database elements occur together (i.e., cluster) in a significant way.

electronic data interchange (EDI) is

when two companies convert their purchase and ordering information to a standardized format to enable the direct electronic transmission of that information from one company's computer system to the other company's computer system.

Sequence patterns appear

when two or more database elements occur together in a significant pattern in which one of the elements precedes the other.

Association or affinity patterns occur

when two or more database elements tend to occur together in a significant way.

Information technology has been used to improve both internal and external access and sharing of information. Three main kinds of information technology allow access and sharing of information internally among employees: executive information systems, intranets, and portals. For each description in the following table, identify the corresponding information technology.

1. Serves as a platform where employees can share and publish information. Intranet 2. Helps managers monitor and analyze organizational performance. Executive Information System 3. Allows employees to access customized information and complete specialized transactions. Corporate Portal

Two critical steps are required to make sure that data can be accessed by authorized users and no one else. They are ____.

Authentication: making sure potential users are who they claim to be. Authorization: granting authenticated users approved access to data, software, and systems.

To ensure success, a company in today's business environment must understand that raw data and information are no less important than money. Forensic Pathways is an example of a company that understands the importance of information and the acquisition of a first-mover advantage. Read the case study on Forensic Pathways, and answer the question that follows.

N/A

Moore's law is

Raw data the prediction that about every two years, computer processing power would double and its cost would drop by 50 percent.

The purpose of search engines is to deliver information to consumers. One question users ask when first starting to use DuckDuckGo is "Will I get the Internet websites I need from my search with DuckDuckGo?" For example, one reviewer tried to get information about account verification on Vine, a form of social media. Twitter uses something called 'blue tick' to do this. When the reviewer entered 'vine green tick', he got results about bugs on grape vines. Google's first result was for a website entitled "Vine quietly adds verified badges for high-profile users." This is an issue of information:

Relevance

The Gillette Company is known for producing innovative products. The company's willingness to conduct consumer research and obtain information on what customers want in a shaving product has allowed it to continually hold a first-mover advantage. The following is a list of innovative shaving products introduced by Gillette:

Safety razor 1901 Twin-bladed razor 1972 Twin-bladed disposable razor 1976 Pivoting-head razor 1979 Pivoting-head disposable razor 1980 Razor designed specifically for women 1992 Triple-blade razor 1998 Battery-powered razor 2004

While an innovative company may have the first-mover advantage, the potential exists for competitors to follow its lead and come up with similar products and services. With this in mind, the company with the first-mover advantage needs to address three critical questions in order to sustain its competitive advantage. The following diagram presents these three questions and the potential consequences of each answer.

The following diagram is missing two key terms: A and B. Use your knowledge of sustaining a competitive advantage to match each letter with the term it represents. A: Competitive disadvantage B: Sustained competitive advantage

Suppose that the developers of DuckDuckGo became concerned that Google engineers were trying to hack their system so that Google could get access to the search requests made on DuckDuckGo. Which of the following steps could they encourage users to take to prevent the hacking from working? Check all that apply.

Work on a virtual private network (VPN) Use a system of public/private key encryption