MGIS 3310: Exam 3

SDLC (Systems Developmental Life Cycle)

Also known as the "waterfall model" • A series of well-defined phases performed in sequence • Serves as a framework for developing a system or project • Each phase's output becomes the input for the next phase • Suitable for an information system that needs to be designed from scratch

CIO: This lack of standardization is costing us a lot of money. I understand we have to outsource, but how can we manage those processes consistently across so many cultures and locations? You: Clearly, we need to make some systemic changes, which is never easy across such a large organization. The _____, as I see it, are to create a local team that travels to various locations to implement changes, or create a global team where members can handle changes locally with proper guidance from the home office.

Alternatives

CIO: That's a lot of different time zones to manage for each meeting. You: True. Our task management and content management tools, however, will allow for more convenient, ____ communication.

Asynchronous

All of the following are true about data-driven decision making except: a. It starts with asking the right questions b. It does not require analytical tools to interpret gathered data c. It involves the use of visual reporting tools d. It involves getting information from systems at the right level, in front of the right people, to inform decisions

B. It does not require analytical tools to interpret gathered data.

All of the following are true in agile approach for systems development except: a. It is responsiveness to users' needs b. It does not provide collaboration among team members c. It is interactive d. It is incremental

B: It does not provide collaboration among team members

Which ERP component provides the benefits described: Luis watches large screens showing multiple dashboards that monitor KPIs for various marketing campaigns.

BI (Business intelligence)

Which ERP component provides the benefits described: Meryl checks the conversation history with a customer before calling to discuss a new product line she thinks they might be interested in.

CRM (Customer relationship management)

CIO: Is this going to take a lot of time to train your team on how to use all these tools? You: No, I found a full suite of collaboration tools that offers all these features, so there's more _____ across the toolkit and the look and feel of each tool's user interface.

Consistency

Which SCM activity is being used: Kirsty implements a feature on her company's Website that reports the inventory of a particular item currently in stock so customers can decide how soon they want to place an order for an item.

Customer service

All of the following is true about CRM, or Customer Relationship Management except: a. Accounting department uses it to facilitate billing b. It is the processes a company uses to track and organize all aspects of customer encounters c. It is an enterprise software d. It is replacing the human resource department

D: It is replacing the human resource department

Tasha: Okay, let's work with that. First, we need to develop a picture of what all is happening in this system to show the various subprocesses and the data involved. I don't think any of us has a clear vision of the scope of this project yet. You: Yes, I'll start working up a _____, and you can help me fine-tune it as I get into areas I'm not as familiar with.

Data flow diagram

CIO: What ideas do you have for that? We place orders as soon as we know we need more parts. You: Right, but our ordering system is inefficient, requiring a lot of human intervention both on our side and our suppliers' side. It takes too long, but a(n) ____ system would really speed things up.

EDI (Electronic data interchange)

What kind of information system will best give Dominique a big picture view of the organization and its various processes, standards, and projects, including internal and external data?

EIS (Executive information system)

Formation of the Task Force: Internal Users

Employees who use the system regularly • Offer feedback on the system's strengths and weaknesses

Which type of DSS interaction is being used: Britt looks for the lowest error rate among the data entry technicians on her team.

Exception reporting analysis

Co-worker: It's not just the problems they're trying to solve. It's even the how-to for doing everyday tasks. A couple of people keep coming back to me to explain a process again and again. You: These processes feel natural to us because we've done this work for so long. We should really invest some time into make that knowledge more ____, though, not just for training, but you know, in case anything ever happens to one of us.

Explicit

Tasha has been with this company long enough to have observed the failure of more than one system development project in the past. One particularly frustrating and costly experience involved the implementation of an expensive, fully developed custom system that didn't perform the business functions it was commissioned to do. Tasha invests significant time during the planning phase to schedule various _____ to prevent these kinds of problems in this project.

Feasibility checkpoints

Which type of DSS interaction is being used: Emanuele experiments with various pricing models to determine what approach will most likely achieve a 62% markup rate on an established product line.

Goal seeking analysis

Which ERP component provides the benefits described: Gerri runs a report showing all payroll direct deposits automatically generated for each pay period in the past six months.

HR (Human resources)

Insourcing:

Happens when an organization's team develops the system internally.

Co-worker: Does that mean we need to put together a handbook or something? I'd hate to think about how long a book that would be, and how long it would take to print out every time we make updates. You: We don't have to print it. We can post all the information to a(n) _____ so everyone can make additions and updates as we go.

Internal wiki

Which SCM activity is being used: Chanel analyzes last year's sales numbers during the holidays to help organize ordering and delivery schedules for the coming months.

Inventory management

Co-worker: I never realized how much time goes into training people. One person at a time wouldn't be that bad, but several at once is tough. You: I've been thinking about that. This shows the critical importance of keeping our ____ up-to-date with documentation on how we've handled problems in the past. If people can look up solutions to the problems they encounter, it won't take so much time away from the rest of us.

Knowledge base

Tasha: Now that we've got a working understanding of the big picture, we need to start making some hardware and software decisions. You: Great, I'll get to work with our CASE tools to start developing the _____ and check in with you as questions come up.

Logical design

Brody already collects customer information in his company's CRM with every order placed, such as contact information and delivery address. However, he'd like to target the top 20-30% of his customer base to develop more extensive data on these customers and cultivate a more durable relationship. What tool can best help Brody collect this kind of information on his most frequent customers?

Loyalty program

Formation of the Task Force: External Users

Not employees but do use the system • Customers, contractors, suppliers, and other business partners • Not part of the task force but their input is essential

Which type of DSS interaction is being used: Jocelyn experiments with several key variables to determine how best to minimize the impact of increasing fuel costs on her company's bottom line.

Optimization analysis

Which conversion method is being used: Brenden enters orders in the old system and again in the new system.

Parallel

As Brody explores the kinds of information he can collect on customers, he starts brainstorming ways to use this information to better meet customer needs. One idea he has is to incorporate _____ technology that will make restaurant recommendations tailored to customer preferences.

Personalization

Which conversion method is being used: Janine updates student data in the old system and switches to the new system to enter data on next semester's courses.

Phased

Which conversion method is being used: Lacey offers incentives and coupons for customers who try out the new, self-serve order kiosk.

Pilot

As Dominique digs into sales and other departmental statistics, she realizes she's not getting a full picture of the aspects of the company that she really needs in order to fully identify the core problems and understand what kinds of changes she should recommend. What kind of dashboard interaction will best help her examine the data from alternate perspectives?

Pivot analysis

Which conversion method is being used: Alberto pulls reports from the new customer feedback system.

Plunge

Which SCM activity is being used: Tobin negotiates with a supplier for faster shipping on circuit boards. He wants to fine-tune order scheduling to reduce the backlog of in-stock supplies while avoiding manufacturing delays.

Procurement

Tasha: Chet is concerned the new system might have problems interfacing with our accounting system, which has also been around a while. What do you think? You: Clearly, that functionality is an important technical feature. My team will put together a _____ to see if it'll work, given the design decisions we've made so far.

Proof-of-concept

Which development method is being used: Lorenzo uses drag-and-drop modules to build a travel request app based on input and frequent feedback from the HR department on the needed workflow.

RAD

CIO: Can we do that on the distributor side, too? You: Oh sure. We could also implement ____ technologies to track our warehouse inventory levels more closely and monitor outgoing shipments to retailers.

RFID (Radio-frequency identification)

CIO: That's a good point—recruiting team members from various locations could give this change initiative a boost towards rallying local support. What kinds of _____ would you need to make that work? You: It will require adjustments in how we train, communicate, and monitor team activities. Let me think about what technologies would make this feasible.

Resources

Tasha: That's good. I'll check back in with Chet when it's ready and we'll see what he thinks. You: Yes, he'll have some good insights, then we can _____ as necessary.

Revise

Which ERP component provides the benefits described: Alamgir analyzes real-time sales data to adjust production quotas for the next two weeks.

SCM (Supply chain management)

Which development method is being used: Verity's team is developing an app that will rely on the existing GPS function built into smartphones.

SOA

Which development method is being used: Logan selects the most important item from the current backlog to guide his work for the next two-week sprint.

Scrum

Which decision type is being used: Remy refers to state and local guidelines, area maps, and school enrollment statistics as he determines available school bus stops for the coming school year.

Semistructured

Which decision type is being used: Willow analyzes historical sales data from her store's customer loyalty program to help her determine which products to feature on aisle endcaps during the coming holiday.

Semistructured

Which type of DSS interaction is being used: Ravi calculates the maximum shipping rates his company can afford to pay suppliers without having to raise prices on their products.

Sensitivity analysis

Brody also wants to implement ____ to make his business more accessible to customers through social media and other channels.

Social CRM

Which decision type is being used: Justin configures his cloud servers to auto-scale according to traffic characteristics placing demands on server resources.

Structured

Tasha: This system is deeply integrated with other systems in our company. I think we need a very clear picture of the processes involved that our new system will need to handle before we move into designing that system. You: It's a little old-fashioned, but let's take the _____ approach to ensure we complete the analysis phase before moving into the design phase of our project.

Structured systems

Tasha: Do you think we can have the _____ documentation ready before the holidays? You: That's a tight time-frame, but it would be nice to have it finished before the next scheduled task force meeting so they can review the documentation and hopefully give approval to move this project to design.

System specifications

Staff in several departments interact with the order processing system and will be affected by any changes. Tasha's team needs to gather feedback from representatives of all these user groups to ensure users are involved with the system's design without requiring large chunks of their time away from normal operations. She's decided to form a ______ for this purpose.

Task force

Which of the following statements most clearly and thoroughly defines the current problem that Tasha's team needs to solve by developing a new system?

The current system requires unacceptable investments of time and resources in order to complete required business processes.

Which SCM activity is being used: Austen helps design a cross-docking strategy for his distribution company to combine products from various vendors for shipping to each retail customer.

Transportation

Which decision type is being used: Tawni assigns development team members for three new software projects her company has been hired to produce.

Unstructured

CIO: Sales are up, but our performance numbers this month show increased delays and other red flags. You: We've seen this trend worsening over the past several months. When our supplies start running low, we place orders right away. But it takes too long for those orders to be processed and shipped, so then there are delays in arrivals, which slows down manufacturing. Clearly, we need to do some _____ optimization

Upstream

CIO: I guess I'm a little concerned about how you'll achieve any kind of standardization campaign across the company when your team will be spread out around the world. Are you going to do everything by email, or travel a lot to meet with everyone? How do you get everyone on the same page? You: Remote team management is going to require a mindset shift. We'll rely heavily on ____ for real-time communication during weekly meetings, and I'll plan on annual face-to-face meetings with each team member to build the relationships even further.

Video conferencing

Which type of DSS interaction is being used: Rory explores whether increasing sales commissions by 10% will likely result in higher sales revenues.

What-if analysis

Which development method is being used: Willow takes the keyboard from Savannah so she can type out the next section of code to implement the solution to a problem the two just brainstormed.

XP

Dominique discovers there's a wide discrepancy in performance between sales teams in different areas of the country. She wants to evaluate which sales regions perform best in comparison to population density. Which type of chart is best suited to this type of analysis?

XY (Scatter) chart

Proof-of-concept Prototype:

shows users how a particular task that was not technically feasible can be done.

Selling Prototype:

used to sell a proposed system to users or management by showing some of its features.

Request for Proposal Advantages:

• All vendors get the same information and requirements, which aid in fair evaluation of bids • Useful to narrow down the list of prospective vendors

Request for Information (RFI):

• Alternative to an RFP • Screening document for gathering vendor information and narrowing the list of potential vendors • Helps manage selection of vendors by focusing on the project requirements crucial to selecting vendors

Phase 3: Design

• Analysts choose the most realistic solution that offers the highest payoff for the organization • Details of the proposed solution are outlined • Output is a document with exact specifications for implementing the system • Files and databases • Forms and reports • Documentation and procedures • Hardware and software • Networking components • General system specifications • Design phase consists of three parts: • Conceptual design: overview of the system and does not include hardware or software choices • Logical design: makes conceptual design specific by indicating hardware and software • Physical design: created for specific platforms

Phase 2: Requirements- Gathering and Analysis

• Analysts define the problem and generate alternatives for solving it • Team attempts to understand the requirements for the system • Analyzes requirements to determine the main problem with the current system or processes • Looks for ways to solve problems by designing the new system • Analysis and design approaches • Structured systems analysis and design (SSAD) • Sequential approach that treats process and data independently • Object-oriented • Combines process and data analysis • Models created during the analysis phase constitute design specifications

Economic Feasibility:

• Assesses a system's costs and benefits • Tangible development and operating costs for the system have to be itemized • Leads to the creation of a budget • Tangible and intangible benefits have to be identified and measured • Challenge: accurately assessing intangible costs and benefits • Cost-effectiveness analysis has to be conducted • Methods: payback, net present value (NPV), return on investment (ROI), and internal rate of return (IRR) • Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) report • Used to sell the system to top management

Technical Feasibility:

• Assessing whether the technology to support the new system is available or feasible to implement • Organizations that lack the expertise, time, or personnel to implement the new system might lack technical feasibility • Steps should be taken to address shortcomings and consider the new system

Formation of the Task Force: Joint application design (JAD)

• Collective activity involving users, top management, and IT professionals • Centered on a structured workshop where users and system professionals unite to develop an application • Helps ensure that collected requirements are not narrow and one-dimensional in focus

Computer- Aided Systems Engineering (CASE):

• Computer-Aided Systems Engineering (CASE) tools automate parts of the application development process • Helpful for investigation and analysis in large-scale projects • Help analysts: • Keep models consistent with each other • Document models with explanations and annotations • Ensure that models are created according to specific rules • Create a single repository of all models related to a single system • Track and manage design changes • Create multiple versions of the design • CASE tools are similar to computer-aided design (CAD) tools • Capabilities vary; depend on the product • Create output in the form of: • Specifications documents • Documentation of the analysis • Design specifications • Logical and physical design documents • Code modules

Rapid Application Development (RAD):

• Concentrates on user involvement and continuous interaction between users and designers • Combines the planning and analysis phases to develop a prototype of the system • Uses an iterative process • Design, development, and testing steps are repeated as needed based on feedback • Problems: narrow focus and potentially low quality

Legal Feasibility:

• Concerned with legal issues • Addresses questions such as: • Will the system violate any legal issues in the country where it will be used? • Are there any political repercussions? • Is there any conflict between the proposed system and legal requirements?

Scheduling Feasibility:

• Concerned with whether the new system can be completed on time • Failure to deliver in time leads to loss of customers • Problem can be minimized by using project management tools

Steps in Prototyping:

• Define initial requirements • Develop the prototype • Review and evaluate the prototype • Revise the prototype

Prototyping Development Tools:

• Development tools used in constructing a system prototype • Spreadsheet and database management packages • Visual Basic • CASE tools and third- and fourth-generation programming languages • User interface design tools

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI):

• Enables business partners to exchange information on business transactions • Expedites the delivery of accurate information • Traditional EDI: • Uses proprietary protocols and networks to transmit documents • Cost per partner is higher when the number of partners is small • Reduced popularity • Web-based EDI or Open EDI: • Uses the Internet and Web protocols to transmit documents • Lowers cost of transmitting documents • Platform independent and easy to use

Self-Sourcing:

• End users develop their own information systems with less or no formal assistance from the information systems (IS) team • Use off-the-shelf software to produce custom-built applications • Helps reduce the backlog in producing information systems • Improves flexibility in responding to users' information needs • Organizations should develop guidelines for end users • Criteria for evaluating, approving or rejecting, and prioritizing projects • Data administration should be enforced • Ensures integrity and reliability of information

Agile Methodology:

• Focuses on an incremental development process and timely delivery of working software • Less emphasis on team coding and more emphasis on limiting the project's scope • Sets a minimum number of requirements and turns them into a working product • Goals of the step-by-step approach: • Respond to changing needs instead of sticking to a plan • Develop working, high-quality software • Strives to deliver software quickly and better meet customer needs • Two popular frameworks: • Scrum • Kanban

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA):

• Focuses on development, use, and reuse of small, self-contained blocks of codes • Attempts to solve software development issues by recognizing, accepting, and leveraging existing services • Blocks of codes are reused in different applications • Allow new business processes to be created from a pool of existing services • Benefits • Reduced application development time • Greater flexibility • Improved return on investment

Internet-Enabled SCM:

• Improves information sharing throughout the supply chain • Reduces costs for information transmission and improves customer service • Improves several SCM activities: • Purchasing, procurement and scheduling • Inventory management • Transportation • Order processing and customer service • Production scheduling

IT Project Management:

• Includes activities required to plan, manage, and control the creation and delivery of an information system. • Gantt chart • Constructed using the critical path • Allows the systems analyst to monitor the progress of the project • Helps detect delay in the daily operation of the project

Phase 5: Maintenance

• Information system is operating • Enhancements and modifications to the system have been developed and tested • Hardware and software components have been added or replaced • Performance data and information is gathered and assessed • Feedback from users, customers, and other people affected by the new system is collected • Corrective action is taken if the system's objectives are not being met

Supply Chain:

• Integrated network consisting of an organization, its suppliers, transportation companies, and brokers • Used to deliver goods and services to customers

Outsourcing Advantages:

• Less expensive • Quick delivery • Helps organizations concentrate on core functions and other projects

Outsourcing Disadvantages:

• Loss of control • Dependency • Vulnerability of strategic information

SCM Technologies:

• Major tools in implementing an SCM system • Information technologies • The Internet

Feasibility Study:

• Measure of how beneficial or practical an information system will be to an organization • Analysts investigate a proposed solution's feasibility • Determine how best to present the solution to management • Dimensions: economic, technical, operational, scheduling, and legal

Operational Feasibility:

• Measure of how well the proposed solution will work in the organization and how internal and external customers will react to it • Requires assessing the worth of implementing the information system

Extreme Programming (XP):

• Method for developing software applications and IS projects • Project is divided into smaller functions • Developers cannot move to the next phase until the current phase is finished • Each function is developed step-by-step • Advantages: • Delivers the system to users as early as possible • Makes changes that the user suggests

Advantages of Prototyping:

• Method for investigating an environment • Reduces the need to train information system users and costs • Increases the system's chance of success by encouraging users' involvement • Allows easy modification • Improves documentation and communication

Phase 1: Planning Phase

• One of the most crucial phases • Systems designer must define the problem the organization faces • Problem can be identified internally and externally • Analysts assess needs of the organization or a specific group of users • Organization's strategic goals • How proposed system can support goals • Factors critical to the system's success • Criteria for evaluating performance • Analysts must get feedback from users on the problem • At the end of the phase, users and top management should have a clear view of the why, who, when, and what of the problem

Outsourcing:

• Organizations hire external vendors or consultants who specializes in providing development services • Crowdsourcing: type of outsourcing traditionally performed by employees or contractors to a crowd through an open call • Outsourcing types • Onshore • Nearshore • Offshore

Self- Sourcing Disadvantages:

• Possible misuse of computing resources • Lack of access to crucial data • Lack of documentation • Inadequate security for the applications and systems • Applications may not be up to IS standards • Lack of support from top management • Lack of training for prospective users

Supply Chain Management (SCM):

• Process of working with suppliers and other partners in the supply chain • Aim is to improve procedures for delivering products and services • SCM coordinates several functions: • Procuring materials • Transforming materials into intermediate and finished products or services • Distributing finished goods to customers • Communication in a firm's SCM system: • Takes place among product flow, information flow, and finances flow • Key decisions in SCM related to manufacturing: • Location, inventory, production, and transportation • Green logistics and green SCM: • Includes all SCM activities while minimizing environmental impact • Growing trend

Disadvantages of Prototyping:

• Requires excessive support and assistance from users and top management • May not reflect the final system's actual operation • Misleading; working prototype may convince team the final system will work

Formation of the Task Force:

• Should consist of representatives from: • Different departments • Systems analysts • Technical advisors • Top management • Involves collecting user feedback and working toward getting users involved from the beginning

Prototyping:

• Small-scale version of the system is developed • Illustrates system benefits and allows users to offer feedback • Purposes • Helps in gathering system requirements • Helps to determine system requirements • Determines a system's technical feasibility • Sells the proposed system to users and management using a selling prototype

Phase 4: Implementation

• The solution is transferred from paper to action; the team configures the system and procures components for it • Tasks involved: • Acquiring new equipment • Hiring and training new employees • Planning and designing physical layout • Coding and testing • Designing security measures and safeguards • Creating a disaster recovery plan • Conversion options: • Parallel: old and new systems run simultaneously for a short time to ensure the new system works correctly • Phased-in-phased-out: as each module of the new system is converted, the corresponding part of the old system is retired • Process continues until the entire system is operational • Plunge (direct cutover): old system is stopped and the new system is implemented • Pilot: analyst introduces the system in a limited area of the organization • Implemented in the rest of the organization in stages or all at once if the system works correctly

E-Marketplaces:

• Third-party exchange (B2B model): • Provides a platform for buyers and sellers to interact and trade more efficiently online • Help maintain a competitive edge: • Provides opportunities for partnerships • Offers a single platform and reduces costs • Solves international time-constraint problems • Makes it easy to compare prices and products • Reduces marketing costs • An e-distributor is an e-marketplace owned and operated by a third party that provides: • Electronic catalog of products • Maintenance, repair, and operations (MROs) services • Fast delivery of a wide selection of products and services at lower prices • Assistance for companies to reduce the time and expense of searching for goods

Request for Proposal Disadvantages:

• Time consuming

Pair Programming:

• Two programmers participate in one development effort at one workstation • Each programmer performs the action that the other is not currently doing • Helps in quick detection and correction of programming mistakes

Request for Proposal:

• Written document with detailed specifications • Used to request bids for equipment, supplies, or services from vendors • Contains information on functional, technical, and business requirements of the proposed information system