BSAD 141 Essay Questions Exam 1

Explain the business benefits of a data-driven website.

Data-driven websites - an interactive website kept constantly updated and relevant to the needs of its customers using its databas Benefits Easy to manage content Easy to store large amounts of data Easy to eliminate human errors

Explain ETL and the role of a data mart in business.

ETL or Extraction, transformation, and loading - a process that extracts information from internal and external databases, transforms the information using a common set of enterprise definitions, and loads the information into a data warehouse. Data mart - contains a subset of data warehouse information

Information Age

Information age: When infinite quantities of facts are widely available to anyone who can use a computer. The impact of technology on the global business environment is equivalent to the printing press's impact on publishing and electricity's impact on productivity.

Information

Information: data converted into a meaningful and useful context. Having the right information at the right moment in time can be worth a fortune.

Knowledge

Knowledge: includes skills, experience, and expertise, coupled with information and intelligence that creates a person's intellectual resources. Knowledge workers are individuals valued for their ability to interpret and analyze information.

Systems Thinking

Systems thinking is a way of monitoring the entire system by viewing multiple inputs being processed or transformed to produce outputs while continuously gathering feedback on each part. Feedback helps the system maintain stability. ST provides an end-to-end view of how operations work together to create a product or service. Consider entire process not just a single component.

Support Value Activity

The development of a human resources system that could more efficiently reward employees based on performance The system could also identify employees who are at risk of quitting, allowing manager's time to find additional challenges or opportunities that would help retain these employees and thus reduce turnover cost.

Differentiate among business process improvements, streamlining, and reengineering.

1. Improving operational business processes - automation o Business process improvement - attempts to understand and measure the current process and make performance improvements accordingly. o Automation - the process of computerizing manual tasks, making them more efficient and effective and dramatically lowering operational costs. Most transactional process systems are automate business processes o Process Document as is process Establish measures Follow process Measure performance Identify and implement improvements 2. Improving managerial business processes - streamlining o Streamlining - improves business process efficiencies by simplifying and eliminating unnecessary steps. o Bottlenecks occur when resources reach full capacity and cannot handle any additional demands, they limit throughput and impede operations o Redundancy - unnecessarily repeated o Cycle time - the time required to process an order 3. Improving strategic business processes - reengineering o Business process reengineering - the analysis and redesign of workflow within and between enterprises. o Process Set project scope Study competition Create new processes Implement solution

Identify the business advantages of a relational database.

1. Increased flexibility - handle changes quickly and easily - provide users with different views - have one physical view (physical storage of info on a storage device) - have multiple logical views (how individuals logically access information to meet their own needs) 2. Increased scalability and performance - must scale to meet increased demand, while maintaining acceptable performance levels - scalability - how well a system can adapt to increased demands - performance - measures how quickly a system performs a certain process or transaction 3. Reduced Data Redundancy - data redundancy - duplication of data or storing the same information in multiple places - inconsistency is one of the primary problems with redundant information 4. Increase Information Integrity (quality) - information integrity- measures the quality of information - integrity constraint - rules that help ensure the quality of information: relational integrity constraint, business-critical integrity constraint 5. Increased Information Security - password - provides authentication of the user - access level - determines who has access to different types of information - access control - determines types of user access

Explain the five different networking elements creating a connected world.

1. Network Categories (LAN) Local Area Network-connects a group of computers in close proximity, such as in an office building, school, or home. (WAN) Wide Area Network-spans a large geographic area such as a state, province, or country. Example: Internet (MAN) Metropolitan Area Network-a large computer network usually spanning a city. Colleges, Universities, and large companies that span a campus use an infrastructure supported by a MAN. 2. Network Providers (NSPs) National Service Providers-private companies that own and maintain the worldwide backbone that supports the Internet. Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, etc. (NAPs) Network Access Points-traffic exchange points in the routing hierarchy of the internet that connects NSPs. (RSPs) Regional Service Providers-offer Internet service by connecting NSPs, but they can also connect directly to each other. (ISPs) Internet Service Providers-provides access to the internet for a monthly fee. 3. Network Access Technologies Bandwidth the maximum amount of data that can pass from one point to another in a unit of time. Bit the smallest element of data and has a value of either 0 or 1. Modem a device that enables a computer to transmit and receive data (dial-up) Broadband a high-speed internet connection that is always connected Digital Subscriber Online (DSL) allows high-speed digital data transmission over standard telephone lines Internet Cable Connections provide Internet access using a cable television company's infrastructure and a special cable modem. T1 Lines a type of data connection able to transmit a digital signal at 1.544 Mpbs 4. Network Protocols Protocol: a standard that specifies the format of data as well as the rules to be followed during transmission. Computers using the same protocol can communicate easily, providing accessibility, scalability, and connectability, between networks. Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP): provides the technical foundation for the public internet as well as for large numbers of private networks Domain Name System: to convert IP addresses into domains, or identifying labels that use a variety of recognizable naming conventions Ex: .gov, .org, .net 5. Network Convergence Network convergence is the efficient coexistence of telephone, video, and data communication within a single network, offering convenience and flexibility not possible with separate infrastructures. Network convergence then allows the weaving together of voice, data, and video Unified Communications (UC) the integration of communication channels allowing participants to communicate using the method that is most convenient for them.

Identify the benefits and challenges of business mobility

Benefits of Business Mobility: ○ Enhances Mobility: ■ Allows activities that were formerly tied to physical locations to be performed almost anywhere. ■ More face-to-face contact with customers and business partners. ■ Gives a company the power to place the right resources in the right place at the right time. ■ Allows for the redistribution of operations to gain efficiencies or react to changing conditions. ○ Increases Location and Monitoring Capability: ■ The ability to locate and monitor assets reduces losses from theft and damage, gathers information from remote or difficult-to-reach locations, enhances safety, and makes possible a new wave of personalized services. ○ Improves Work Flow: ■ Offers the opportunity to redesign and simplify many processes to be faster, cheaper, and more responsive, and to eliminate redundant activities, integrate activities and services, and redistribute tasks. ○ Provides Mobile Business Opportunities: ■ Offers the advantages of making a purchase via the internet an anytime, anywhere experience and helps with digital purchases, location-based services, mobile banking and payments and mobile shopping. ○ Provides Alternative to Wiring ■ Wiring is unattractive, costly, and not always a feasible option for air travel, sea travel, remote locations, etc. Challenges of Business Mobility ○ Protecting Against Theft: ■ Companies may face significant exposure from stolen IDs, passwords, encryption keys, and confidential information if the device falls in the wrong hands. ○ Protecting Wireless Connections: ■ Any time a wireless network connects to a wired one, the wireless network can act as a conduit for a hacker to gain entry into an otherwise secure network. ○ Preventing Viruses on a Mobile Device ○ Addressing Privacy Concerns with RFID and LBS ■ (Radio Frequency Identification) already has the capability to determine the distance of a tag from the reader location ■ (Location-Based Services) risks the invasion of privacy and security caused by indiscreet location tracking.

Identify the benefits and challenges of a connected world.

Benefits of a Connected World: ○ Sharing Resources: ■ Resource sharing makes all applications, equipment, and data available to anyone on the network , without regard to the physical location of the resource or the user. ■ Supports a sustainable MIS infrastructure, allowing companies to be agile, efficient, and responsible at the same time ■ Intranets and Extranets let firms share their corporate information securely. ○ Providing Opportunities: ■ Manufacturers can order parts electronically when needed, reducing the need for large inventories and enhancing efficiency. ■ Networks allow companies to sell to consumers via the Internet. ■ Lowered barriers to entry for startups and small companies. ○ Reducing Travel: ■ VPN's, video conferencing, and VoIP allow employees to meet from distant locations without spending time and money on travel. Challenges of a Connected World ○ Security: ■ The company should preserve the integrity of its data; only qualified users should be allowed to change and update data, and only well-specified data. ■ Security problems intensify on the Internet where companies need to guard against fraud, invalid purchases, and misappropriation of credit card information. ■ SSL (secure sockets layer) and SHTTP (secure hypertext transfer protocol are two methods for encrypting network traffic on the web. ○ Social, Ethical, Political Issues: ■ The digital divide is a worldwide gap giving advantage to those with access to technology. ■ Problems can begin when social media feature topics people may be sensitive about such as politics, religion, or sex.

Compare Porter's three generic strategies.

Broad cost leadership - a. Broad market and low cost - walmart competes by offering a broad range of products at low prices. Bus. strategy is to be the low-cost provider of goods for the cost-conscious consumer. Broad differentiation b. Broad market and high cost - Neiman Marcus competes by offering a broad range of differentiated products at high prices. Its business strategy offers a variety of specialty and upscale products to affluent consumers Focused strategy a. Narrow market and low cost: payless competes by offering a specific product, shoes, at low prices. Its business strategy is to be the low cost provider of shoes. payless competes with Walmart which also sells low cost shoes by offering far bigger selection of sizes and styles. b. Narrow market and high cost: tiffany & co. competes by offering a differentiated product, jewerly, at high prices. Its business strategy allows it to be a high-cost provider of premier designer jewerly to affluent consumers

Demonstrate the value of business process modeling, and compare As-Is and To-Be models.

Business process model - graphic description of a process, showing the sequence of process tasks, which is developed for a specific purpose and from a selected viewpoint. o Expose process detail gradually and in a controlled manner o Encourage conciseness and accuracy in describing the process model. o Focus attention on the process model interfaces o Provide attention on the process model interfaces o Provide a powerful process analysis and consistent design vocabulary As-is process model - the current state of the operation that has been mapped, without any specific improvements or changes to existing processes. What the process problem is. To-be process models - shows the results of applying change improvement opportunities to the current (as-is) process model. How the process problem will be solved or implemented

Explain why competitive advantage is temporary

Competitive advantage is a feature of a product or service on which customers place a greater value than they do on similar offerings from competitors. CA's are usually temporary, because competitors often quickly seek ways to duplicate them. In turn organizations must develop a strategy based on a new competitive advantage. Ways companies duplicate CA include aquiring the new technology, copying the business operations, and hiring away key employees.

Define critical success factors (CSFs) and key performance indicators (KPIs), and explain how managersuse them to measure the success of MIS projects.

Critical success factors (CSFs)- crucial steps companies perform to achieve their goals and objectives and implement their strategies. o Create high quality products o Retain competitive advantages o Reduce product costs o Increase customer satisfaction o Hire and retain the best business professionals Key performance indicators (KPIs) - the quantifiable metrics a company uses to evaluate progress toward critical success factors. More specific than CSFs o Turnover rates of employees o Percentage of help desk calls answered in the first minute o Number of product returns o Number of new customers o Average customer spending o Market share - is a common external KPI, or the proportion of the market that a firm captures. o Return on investment - is a common internal KPI, which indicates the earning power of a project.

Explain the value of business processes for a company, and differentiate between customer-facing process and business-facing process

Customer facing process- results in a product or service that is received by an organization's external customer, examples order processing, customer service, sales process, customer billing, and order shipping. business-facing process - invisible to the external customer but essential to the effective management of the business, examples strategic planning, tactical planning, budget forecasting, training, purchasing raw materials

Define data mining, and explain the three common forms for mining structured and unstructured data.

Data Mining - the process of analyzing data to extract information not offered by the raw data alone. - Structured data - data already in a database/spreadsheet - Unstructured data - data does not exist in a fixed location (text documents, PDFs, emails): text mining and web mining 1. cluster analysis- divides an information set into mutually exclusive groups such that the members of each group are as close together as possible to one another and the different groups are as far apart as possible 2. association detection - reveals the relationship between variables along with the nature and frequency of the relationships ex: market basket analysis 3. statistical analysis - functions such as information correlations, distributions, calculations, and variance analysis ex: forecast, time-series information

Data

Data: Raw facts that describe the characteristics of an event or object.

Describe the information age and the differences between data, information, business intelligence, and knowledge.

Information age: When infinite quantities of facts are widely available to anyone who can use a computer. The impact of technology on the global business environment is equivalent to the printing press's impact on publishing and electricity's impact on productivity. Data: Raw facts that describe the characteristics of an event or object. Information: data converted into a meaningful and useful context. Having the right information at the right moment in time can be worth a fortune. Business Intelligence: information collected from multiple sources such as suppliers, customers, partners, and industries that analyzes patterns, trends, and relationships for strategic decision making. Knowledge: includes skills, experience, and expertise, coupled with information and intelligence that creates a person's intellectual resources. Knowledge workers are individuals valued for their ability to interpret and analyze information.

Explain the four primary traits that determine the value of information.

Information is data converted into a meaningful and useful context. Information can tell an organization how its current operations are performing and help it estimate and strategize about how future operations might perform. The four primary traits that help determine the value of information, which include: (1) Information Type: transactional-encompasses all of the information contained within a single business processor unit of work and its primary purpose is to support daily informational tasks analytical-encompasses all organizational information, and its primary purpose is to support the performing of managerial analysis tasks (2) Information Timeliness: real time information-immediate, up-to-date information real time systems-provide real-time information in response to requests (3) Information Quality: data inconsistency-occurs when the same data element has different values (marriage causes a person's last name to change and be updates in the system) data integrity issues-occur when a system produces incorrect, inconsistent, or duplicate data (4) Information Governance: data governance- refers to the overall management of the availability, usability, integrity, and security of company data

Explain the different wireless network business applications.

Mobile and wireless business applications and services are using satellite technologies. These technologies are GPS, GIS, and LBS. GPS is a satellite-based navigation system providing extremely accurate position, time, and speed information. GIS is location information that can be shown on a map. LBS are applications that use location information to provide a service used by both GPS and GIS.

Explain the importance of decision making for managers at each of the three primary organization levels along with the associated decision characteristics.

Operational decision making -Employees develop, control, and maintain core business activities required to run the day-to-day operations Structured decisions - Situations where established processes offer potential solutions Managerial decision making -Employees evaluate company operations to identify, adapt to, and leverage change Semistructured decisions - Occur in situations in which a few established processes help to evaluate potential solutions, but not enough to lead to a definite recommended decision Strategic decision making - Managers develop overall strategies, goals, and objectives Unstructured decisions - Occurs in situations in which no procedures or rules exist to guide decision makers toward the correct choice

Describe Porter's Five Forces Model and explain each of the five forces.

Porter's Five Forces Model analyzes the competitive forces within the environment in which a company operates to assess the potential for profitability in an industry. Its purpose is to combat these competitive forces by identifying opportunities, competitive advantages, and competitive intelligence. If forces are strong they increase competition, if weak, they decrease competition. Helps managers set business strategy by identifying the competitive structure and economic environment of an industry. Five forces: Buyer power is the ability of buyers to affect the price they must pay for an item. Factors used to assess buyer power include number of customers, sensitivity to price, size of orders, differences between competitors, and availability of substitute products. If buyer power is high, customers can force a company and its competitors to compete on price, which typically drives prices down. Supplier power - is the suppliers ability to influence the price they charge for supplies (including materials, labor, and services). Factors used to appraise supplier power include number of suppliers, size of suppliers, uniqueness of services, and availability of substitute products. If supplier power is high, the supplier can influence the industry by: charging higher prices, limiting quality or services, shifting costs to industry participants. Threat of Substitute Products or Services is high when there are many alternatives to a product or service and low when there when there are few alternatives from which to choose. Companies can reduce the threat of substitutes by offering additional value through wider product distribution. Threat of new entrants is high when it is easy for new competitors to enter a market and low when there are significant entry barriers to joining a market. An entry barrier is a feature of a product or service that customers have come to expect and entering competitors must offer the same for survival. Rivalry among existing competitors is high when competition is fierce in a market and low when competitors are more complacent. Although competition is always more intense in some industries than in others, the overall trend is toward increased competition in almost every industry. The retail grocery industry is intensively competitive.

Demonstrate how a company can add value by using Porter's value chain analysis.

Porter's Value Chain Analysis: views a firm as a series of business processes that each add value to the product or service. The goal is to identify processes in which the firm can add value for the customer and create a competitive advantage for itself, with a cost advantage or product differentiation. When performing a value chain analysis, a firm could survey customers about the extent to which they believe each activity adds value to the product or service. Then the competitive advantage decision for the firm is whether to (1) target high value-adding customers to further enhance their value (2) target low value-adding activities to increase their value or (3) perform some combination of the two Supports both primary and support value added activities. Primary Example: The development of a marketing campaign management system that could target marketing campaigns more efficiently, thereby reducing marketing costs. The system would also help the firm better pinpoint target market needs, thereby increasing sales. Support Value Activity: The development of a human resources system that could more efficiently reward employees based on performance The system could also identify employees who are at risk of quitting, allowing manager's time to find additional challenges or opportunities that would help retain these employees and thus reduce turnover cost.

Explain systems thinking and how management information systems enable business communications.

Systems thinking is a way of monitoring the entire system by viewing multiple inputs being processed or transformed to produce outputs while continuously gathering feedback on each part. Feedback helps the system maintain stability. ST provides an end-to-end view of how operations work together to create a product or service. Consider entire process not just a single component. Management information systems is a business function, like accounting and human resources, which moves information about people, products, and processes across the company to facilitate decision making and problem solving. Incorporates systems thinking to help companies operate cross-functionally. MIS can be an important enabler of business success and innovation. MIS is a tool that is most valuable when it leverages the talents of people who know who to use and manage it effectively.

Primary Example

The development of a marketing campaign management system that could target marketing campaigns more efficiently, thereby reducing marketing costs. The system would also help the firm better pinpoint target market needs, thereby increasing sales.

Business intelligence

information collected from multiple sources such as suppliers, customers, partners, and industries that analyzes patterns, trends, and relationships for strategic decision making.

Management information systems

is a business function, like accounting and human resources, which moves information about people, products, and processes across the company to facilitate decision making and problem solving. Incorporates systems thinking to help companies operate cross-functionally. MIS can be an important enabler of business success and innovation. MIS is a tool that is most valuable when it leverages the talents of people who know who to use and manage it effectively.