MI375: Chapter 2

Business processes

Flows of material, information, knowledge Sets of activities, steps May be tied to functional area or be cross-functional

To monitor the status of internal operations and the firm's relations with the external environment, managers need which of the following types of system?

TPS

E-business

Use of digital technology and Internet to drive major business processes

E-government

Using Internet technology to deliver information and services to citizens, employees, and businesses

An example of a remote, synchronous collaboration too

a Skype conference call using VOIP and webcams.

Using the Internet to buy or sell goods is called:

e-commerce

Enterprise Systems

Collect data from different firm functions and store data in single central data repository Resolve problems of fragmented data enable coordination of daily activities.

Extranets

Company websites accessible externally only to vendors and suppliers

Non-typical business problems with causes and effects that are rapidly changing are typically handled by which of the following types of information system?

DSS

Example of ESS

Digital dashboard with real-time view of firm's financial performance

What is the most important function of an enterprise application?

Enabling business functions and departments to share information

Which of the following systems is designed to support organization-wide process coordination and integration?

Enterprise applications

What are the four enterprise applications?

Enterprise systems Supply chain management systems Customer relationship management systems Knowledge management systems

How Information Technology Improves Business Processes

Increasing efficiency of existing processes: Automating steps that were manual Enabling entirely new processes

Intranets

Internal company websites accessible only by employees

An ESS supports which of the following?

Long-range planning activities of senior management

Supply Chain Management (SCM) Systems

Manage firm's relationships with suppliers Share information about: Orders, production, inventory levels, delivery of products and services

Producing a bill of materials is a business process in which of the following functional areas?

Manufacturing and production

Examples of business processes

Manufacturing and production: assempling the product

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems

Provide information to coordinate all of the business processes that deal with customers Helps firms identify, attract, and retain most profitable customers

What is the goal of SCM systems?

Right amount of products to destination with least amount of time and lowest cost

Management Information Systems (MIS)

Serve middle management Provide reports on firm's current performance, based on data from TPS Provide answers to routine questions with predefined procedure for answering them Typically have little analytic capability

Decision support systems (DSS)

Serve middle management Support non-routine decision making May use external information as well TPS / MIS data

Transaction processing systems (TPS)

Serve operational managers and staff Perform and record daily routine transactions necessary to conduct business Allow managers to monitor status of operations and relations with external environment Serve predefined, structured goals and decision making

E-commerce

Subset of e-business Buying and selling goods and services through Internet

Knowledge Management Systems (KMS)

Support processes for capturing and applying knowledge and expertise Collect internal knowledge and experience within firm and make it available to employees Link to external sources of knowledge

Executive Support Systems (ESS)

Support senior management Address nonroutine decisions Incorporate data about external events (e.g., new tax laws or competitors) as well as summarized information from internal MIS and DSS

Enterprise Applications

Systems for linking the enterprise Span functional areas Execute business processes across the firm Include all levels of management Four major applications

A(n) ________ is typically a major source of data for other systems.

TPS

If your main supplier was late in delivering goods, which type of system would you use to update your production schedule?

TPS

You have been hired by a non-profit agency to implement a system to handle their donations. The system must be able to handle and record telephone, SMS, and Internet donations, provide up-to-the-minute reports, and create highly customizable mailing lists. In addition, event fundraisers need to be able to quickly access a donor's information and history. Which of the following systems will best meet these needs?

TPS with DSS capabilities

The term management information systems refers to a specific category of information systems serving

middle management functions

The ________ function is responsible for identifying customers.

sales and marketing

Which level of the organization is an ESS specifically designed to serve?

senior managment

All of the following are reasons for the increased business focus on collaboration and teamwork, except for:

the need for more efficient work hierarchies.

Collaboration

working with others to achieve shared and explicit goals.