MIS Test #2

What are response lag drivers?

-Response-lag drivers are defined as the characteristics of the technology, the firm, its competitors, and the value system in which the firm is embedded that combine to make replication of the IT-dependent strategic initiative difficult and costly

Explain the build phase.

-System design: the team identifies what hardware will be used, what languages will be adopted, what data structures are needed -Programming: translating the abstract software design into a set of commands or instructions that can be executed by the hardware -Testing: objective is to release the application when it is good enough, not when it is flawless

Can the Use of IT Decrease Buyers' Bargaining Power?

-The Internet has reduced firms bargaining power toward customers

Explain the allocation approach

-The allocation approach calls for direct billing of IS resources and service -Based on fairly stable indicators such as size, revenues, and number of users -Seeks to strike a balance between pay-per-use fairness and the high cost of the chargeback method. -The allocation approach creates more predictable department expenses

Can the Use of IT Change the Basis of Industry Competition?

-The introduction of a new information system by a firm, whether an incumbent or a new entrant, sometimes spurs a revolution that forces competitors to take notice and react

What is portfolio management in terms of risk?

-The leadership must determine the appropriate level of aggregate risksthe organization will accept -Uses individual project risk profiles -Must be informed by the firms overall strategic information systems plan and vision

Explain the overhead approach

-The overhead approach treats information systems as a shared expense to be drawn from the organization's overall budget rather than to be paid for by each unit o This is the simplest approach to funding information systems, since decisions are made once a year during the budget approval process o The main drawback of the overhead approach is a lack of accountability for both the functional areas and the IS department

What are characteristics of a mobile platform?

-Ubiquity • Ubiquity represents the idea that users of the device can access needed resources from (in theory) anywhere o Mobile devices offer the highest level of potential ubiquity among commercially available IT because they marry portability with connectivity -Identifiability • Identifiability represents the idea that mobile devise uniquely identify their user o In order to access the data grid, both smartphones and tablets utilize the cellular network and use a subscriber identification model -Context Awareness • Context awareness is enabled by the fact that mobile devices can be geolocated; in other words, modern smartphones that incorporate a GPS receiver can communicate their position to any software application running on them

What is Value appropriation ?

-Value appropriation is the process by which the total value created in the transaction is split among all the entities who contributed to creating it ( suppliers, the firm and the customer) -When a firm appropriates value it does so in the form of higher profits -When a customer appropriates value it does so in the form of savings

How do you apply the sustainability framework?

-We can use the sustainability framework to determine when to pursue an IT-dependent strategic initiative -Ask two types of questions: 1. Prerequisite questions 2. Sustainability questions

Can the Use of IT Decrease Suppliers' Bargaining Power?

-With the emergence of the Internet and its related technologies as viable business tools, examples abound of information systems that have contributed to shift power away from suppliers and toward buyers

What is the degree of Customizability?

-represents the extent to which the product or service your firm offers can be tailored to the specific needs and requirements of individual customers or a segment of the customer base

What is the IT project barrier ?

-• The response-lag drivers of the IT project barrier are driven by the characteristics of the technology and the implementation process

What are the limitations to the prototyping approach?

The software is more likely to be lacking from a :-Security -Robustness -Reliability •Often less thoroughly tested and documented •May lead to unreasonable expectations •May lead to scope creep

What are the two advantages of custom design and development?

Unique Tailoring • The defining characteristics of custom-developed software applications is that they are molded to fit the unique features of the firm that commissions them Flexibility and Control • Custom-developed software applications offer the highest degree of flexibility and control to the organization • This level of control is not achievable with software purchased from vendors, since software houses need to develop applications that serve the needs of a large number of buyers

What is complementary resources barrier?

• To implement an IT-dependent strategic initiative, the firm must develop or acquire the necessary complementary resources • As an initiative becomes more reliant on distinctive complementary resources, the complementary resource barrier to imitation strengthens, and replication of the strategy becomes slower, costlier, and more difficult

What is the holistic approach?

• When thinking about value creation appropriation, you must think holistically • The combination of IT and organizational resources creates a system that often has properties of neither IT alone nor the organizational resources individually, but rather the system emerges from the combination

What are the advantages of the SLDC approach?

•Provides a systematic approach to software development •Identifies roles and expectations of team members •Best-suited for large-scale projects •Designed for cost control •Enforces a means of communication between the project team and the project stakeholders

What is prototyping?

•Rooted in the notion that it is impossible to clearly estimate and plan complex information systems projects •Allows for flexibility and iteration in the design process •Enabled by tools that speed up the development process •Can be used internally within the SDLC as a way to seek input user input

What are the advantages of the prototyping approach?

•Speed •Closer to the users expectations: -The process require more user involvement -Multiple iterations structure user feedback •Enables the firm to experiment with new technologies •Best suited to smaller-scale projects

What is a Digital Data Stream?

-A Digital Data Stream (DDS) is a continuous digital encoding and transmission of data describing a related class of events -Human-generated -Machines-generated

What is added value?

-A firm's added value is defined as that portion of the total value created that would be lost if the firm did not take part in the exchange -Added value is 0, if a competitor has the same cost structure and can produce the same product where the CWP is the same as your product -Added value = Competitive advantage

What is Asset stock accumulation?

-Asset-stock accumulation represents the process by which a firm accrues or builds up a resource over time; assets of this kind must be built up and developed as a result of a consistent process of accumulation

What are the three approaches to funding information systems?

-Chargeback: -Allocation: -Overhead:

What is the value matrix?

-Combining the traditional (physical) value chain and the virtual value chain offers a cohesive framework, termed the value matrix, that general and functional managers can use to seek and exploit opportunities for the deployment of IT-dependent strategic initiatives in their organizations

What are the three IT project Barrier Characteristics?

-Complexity: Function of the bundle of skills and knowledge necessary to effectively design, develop, implement and use it -Uniqueness: Degree of tailoring of the core IT -Visibility: Extent to which competitors can easily and directly observe the enabling technology

What is the IT project Barrier Implementation process?

-Complexity: a function of the project size and scope, number of functional units involved complexity of user requirements - Degree of process change: A function of the far reachingness of the IT core

What are the benefit categories for the business case?

-Financial benefits: Computed by applying cost/price metrics or other recognized financial formula to measure the benefit -Quantifiable benefits: Computed by gathering metrics, expressed in number form, that provide evidence of change univocally attributable to the project. -Measurable benefits: A measure is available to monitor a given benefit, but changes in such metrics cannot be univocally tied to the project. -Observable benefits: There exist agreed upon criteria, albeit not quantifiable, to evaluate the impact of the project on this class of benefits

What are the five categories of risk in regards to IT risk governance?

-IT competence risk: board members should be able to follow IT discusions -Infrastructure risk: -IT project risk: The board of directors must ensure that the appropriate guiding framework for IT projects is put in place -business continuity risk: acticities a business performs to ensure that criticial functions of a business remain operational in a cris -information risk: The risk associated with collecting data, such as customer data.

What is the preemption barrier?

-In some cases, the IT-dependent strategic initiative pioneered by the first mover creates a preferential relationship with customers or other members of the : -value system -introduces substantial switching costs

Explain the implementation phase

-Installation: the system is loaded on the production hardware and the databases are populated -Operations: the system is up and running, and the organization begins to use it; the project team is disbanded and the new system becomes a permanent asset of the firm to be maintained and managed -Maintenance: is the process of compiling information, prioritizing requests, and implementing both fixes and improvements

Explain the definition phase.

-Investigation: must identify what business issues the system will pertain to -Feasibility: In order to ensure that scarce organizational resources put to best use, the project team must heavily scrutinize the proposed project prior to giving the formal go-ahead. Specifically, the team must evaluate the technical, operational, and economic feasibility of the project -System analysis:Once a decision has been made that the system is worth pursuing, the project team needs to identify and articulate the system requirements

Can the use of IT Raise or Increase Barriers to Entry in the Industry?

-Investment in information systems may be such that they reduce the threat of new entrants

Explain the two internal threats

-People who have direct access to firms it infrastructure. Two types: 1).Intentional Malicious Behaviour • This type of threat is typically associated with disgruntled or ill-willed employees and is a particularly troublesome threat because it is almost impossible to prepare for 2).Careless Behaviour • This type of threat is typically associated with ignorance of, or disinterest in, security policies

What is the Theoretical Repurchase Frequency?

-Represents the regularity with which the average customer acquires goods and services offered by the firms in the industry or segment of interest

What is response lag?

-Response lag, the time it takes competitors to respond aggressively enough to erode a firm's competitive advantage, is a measure of the delay in competitive response

What are the principal phases of the systems development life cycle ?

1). Definition -Investigation -Feasibility -System analysis 2). Build -System design -Programming -Testing 3). Implementation -Installation -Operations -Maintenance

What are the three stages of Digital Data Stream (DDS) creation?

1). Generate; this is the stage at which DDG happens and the digital information of the event occurs - when such a DDG even is not isolated but rather is part of a series of DDG events, there is an opportunity for DDS generation 2). Stream; when data are available, channeled, and transmitted as a continuous flow, they are referred to as a DDS - the streaming phase concerns the manner and format in which the data becomes available The stream is characterized by (1) the type of technologies used to create the channel, (2) the nature of the content, (3) the source, and (4) the legal status of the data contained in the stream or derived from it 3). Harvest; at this stage, an organization taps into the DDS and extracts some or all of the data being streamed The harvest stage is described in terms of the technologies adopted to perform the data harvesting

What are the stages for acquiring the needed data/ crafting data driven strategic initiatives ?

1). Identify Relevant Transaction Processing Systems: focus on the systems with the relevant data 2). Inventory the Data Currently Available: 3). Conceptualize Initiatives: 4). Prioritize Incentives

What are the two ways to create new value?

1). Increasing customer willingness to pay -Differntiation 2). Decrease supplier opportunity cost -Work with the firm's suppliers and create incentives for them to supply you with needed resources for less money

What are the three analytical tools used to search for strategic information system opportunities ?

1). Industry analysis: Five Forces: new entrants, subs, power buyers, power suppliers, rivalry among compeitors, 2.) Value chain analysis: 3). Customer life cycle analysis

What are the four smart device capabilities that can be captured within IOT devices?

1). Monitoring: the ability of smart objects to detect and sense the physical world - they can measure data about themselves and the surrounding environment 2). Control: refers to the possibility to set product functions and personalize user experience either directly from the device interface or remotely through the Internet 3). Optimization: monitoring and control enable functionalities to optimize product operations to enhance performance and to enable predictive diagnostic, service, and repairs 4). Autonomy: the combination of previous capabilities allows for autonomous product operations, enhancement and personalization, self-coordination of operation with other devices, as well as self-diagnostics

What are the four general customer data strategies based on the specific theoretical repurchase frequency of an organization and the degree of customizability of the product and services it offers?

1). Personalization Strategy -product customization strategy is most appropriate for firms competing in industries characterized by both a high theoretical repurchase frequency and a high degree of customizability 2). Rewards Strategy -is predicated on the notion that the firm's product and service will be purchased frequently; yet these same products are fairly standardized, and it is difficult for the organization's managers to tailor them to specific customer requests -High repurchase low degree of custimizability 3). Acquisition Strategy -the firm collects exhaustive data about its current customers in an effort to profile them and develop predictive models to identify and attract new profitable customers while avoiding unprofitable -High custimizability -Low theoretical repurchase 4). No potential -When a firm is in an industry characterized by low theoretical repurchase frequency and relatively low degree of customizability, there seems to be little potential for crafting a strategy around customer data -Low on both

What are the two types of activities in the value chain model?

1). Primary activities: Directly related to value creation. Inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales and service 2) Support activities: firms infrastructure, HR, tech development, and procurement

What are the three classes of strategic Initiatives that frims create once the adopt VVC thinking?

1). Visibility -the firm uses the sequential activities in the VVC to "see through" organizational processes that it was previously treating as a black box 2). Mirroring capabilities: consists of shifting some of the economic activities previously completed in the physical value chain to the information-defined world of the VVC 3). New digital value: • New digital value is concerned with the organization's relationship with the customer and the firm's ability to increase customers' willingness to pay

How do you make the decisions using the sustainability framework?

1).Develop the IT-Dependent Strategic Initiative Independently • Independent development is warranted if the analysis suggests that strong barriers to erosion exist and the firm foresees the ability to appropriate the value created by the initiative over the long term • Note once again that focus should be on the IT-dependent strategic initiative as a whole 2).Develop the IT-Dependent Strategic Initiative as Part of a Consortium • When the initiative is unlikely to yield a sustainable competitive advantage for the innovator but, even after replication by competitors, will improve the overall profitability of the industry, the firm should attempt to create a joint venture with competitors or engage them in a consortium 3).Shelve the IT-Dependent Strategic Initiative • When the analysis suggests that the initiative will not offer strong barriers to erosion, and retaliation by competitors will degrade the average profitability of the industry, the firm should shelve the proposed initiative

Explain the five external threats

1).Intrusion Threat -An unauthorized attacker gains access to organizational IT resources 2).Social Engineering -Lying to and deceiving legitimate users so that they divulge restricted or private information 3).Phishing -Sending official sounding spam from known institutions and asking individuals to confirm private data in an effort to capture the data 4).Security Weaknesses -Exploiting weaknesses in the software infrastructure of the organization under attack -Example: Bugs that enable unauthorized access 5). Backdoors -Code expressly designed into software programs to allow access to the application by circumventing password protection 6) Malicious code -Any software code expressly designed to cause damage to IT assets 7)Virusus -Malicious code that spreads by attaching itself to other, legitimate, executable programs

What are the Digital Data Genesis (DGG) opportunities? (4Us)

1).Ubiquity • Information access that is unconstrained by time and space ranks high on the ubiquity scale o Ubiquitous information provides opportunities for rationalizing the use of resources 2).Uniqueness • Information access that is personalized and individually tailored to the needs of a person or other entity ranks high in uniqueness 3).Unison • Information that is consistent and devoid of redundancies ranks high in unison o At a procedural level, unison translates into the standardization of the activities necessary to perform an activity 4). Universality • Information that is standardized and easily sharable across platforms ranks high in universality

What are the stages for building off the shelf applications?

1)Definition -System Analysis • During the system analysis stage, the selection committee focuses on eliciting the specific functionalities required of the proposed system o The objective here is to have enough of an understanding of the systems requirements to formulate evaluation criteria -Formulate Evaluation Criteria • A common approach is to use the system requirements document to identify the features that appropriate applications should have and group them into three categories: o Essential features; those capabilities that the system must have o Value-adding features; those capabilities that, while not essential, offer significant advantages for which the firm would be willing to pay a premium o Nonessential features; those capabilities that are "nice to have" but produce small tangible advantages for which the firm is not willing to pay a premium -Compile Short List of Vendors • This stage is important for two reasons: o First, creating targeted RFPs that yield high-quality responses, and then evaluating those responses, is time consuming o Second, products that fail to meet necessary requirements can be identified fairly quickly, and vendors will appreciate not being asked to respond to RFPs that they have no chance of fulfilling Compile and Distribute the RFP • The RFP is the formal communication document used to elicit substantial, detailed information from the short-listed vendors; most organizations have a template for such documents Evaluate Alternatives • Once all interested vendors have responded to the RFP, the competing solutions are evaluated using the criteria developed earlier o The outcome of this stage in the selection process is a rank-ordered list of the acceptable candidates Negotiate Contract • Negotiations can be relatively quick and simple, or they can be a very involved process requiring input from professionals and legal counsel 2)Build • The build phase in the system selection process mirrors that of the SDLC but is much narrower in scope • To the extent that customization is necessary, the firm will engage in system design and programming of the required enhancements 3)Implementation • The implementation phase is also quite similar to the one described earlier regarding the SDLC; installation is performed following one of the approaches described earlier

What are the stages of the prototyping life cycle?

1)Requirements Definitions • At this stage, the development team seeks basic requirements; the degree of precision needed is much less than that needed in the SDLC because requirements are not frozen at this point 2)Initial Prototype • Armed with the basic requirements, the team develops a first iteration of the system 3)Evaluation • At this time the stakeholders review the prototype and provide feedback on the current design as well as requests for enhancements and new functionality 4)Revision • Based on the feedback generated through the during the evaluation stage, the development team designs and codes the requested changes o This phase leads to a new prototype to be submitted to the stakeholders for evaluation 5)Completion • Once the stakeholders and the development team are satisfied with the functionalities of the system, the iterative evaluation/revision process stops and the development team finalizes the system

What is the threefold process of digital data genesis capability?

1. Choosing IT to generate and capture data in native digital form 2. Integrating IT in the business processes that generate the data of interest 3. Managing the digital data produced

What are the three approaches to the acquisition of information processing functionalities

1. Custom design and development; with this approach the organization implements a software application that is expressly made, whether internally or through outsourcing, for the unique needs of the firm 2. System selection and acquisition; with this approach the organization implements an off-the-shelf software application that is mass-produced by a vendor 3. End-user development; with this approach the organization uses a software application created by its end users, rather than the firm's information systems professionals

What are the steps to develop a business case?

1. Define business drivers and investment objectives; if the firm has engaged in the strategic IS planning process, much of the wok underlying this first stage has already been completed 2. Identify benefits, measures, and owners; business case writers should then identify all the potential benefits accruing to all stakeholders if the project is successfully implemented 3. Structure the benefits; the value, and challenge, of business cases revolves around the ability to accurately assess the actual realizable benefits of the project 4. Identify organizational changes enabling benefits 5. Determine the explicit value of each benefit; it is important to specify the extent to which a benefit is measurable in order to ensure the maximum degree of precision in their estimation - benefits can be classified as follows: a. Financial benefits; computed by applying cost/price metrics or other recognized financial formula to measure the benefit b. Quantifiable benefits; computed by gathering metrics, expressed in number form, that provide evidence of change univocally attributable to the project c. Measurable benefits; a measure is available to monitor a given benefit, but changes in such metrics cannot be univocally tied to the project d. Observable benefits; there exist agreed-upon criteria, albeit not quantifiable, to evaluate the impact of the project on this class of benefits 6. Identify costs and risk; a complete case concludes with an estimation of the costs the firm will incur to see the project through to completion, as well as the degree of uncertainty and risk surrounding successful completion

What are the five associated activities of the Virtual Value chain model (VVC)?

1. Gather; the firm collects information from transaction processing systems and any other sources - both internal and external 2. Organize; the firm stores the gathered data in a way that makes later retrieval and analysis simple and effective 3. Select; users identify and extract the needed data from the data repository created in the previous step 4. Synthesize; the firm packages the selected information so that it can be readily used by the intended consumer for the specific purpose to which it is directed 5. Distribute; the firm transfers the packaged information to its intended user or customer

What are the three characteristics of an It dependent strategic initiative?

1. Initiative: IT-dependent strategic initiatives consist of specific projects with clear boundaries that define what the initiative is designed to achieve as well as what it is and is not designed to do. For example, a freight shipper's package tracking initiative has very clear boundaries. It is designed to allow customers to gain visibility with respect to the current location of their parcels by logging onto a website. 2. Strategic: The firm introduces IT-dependent strategic initiatives with the definite objective of producing new value that the IT can appropriate. In other words, the firm seeks to create competitive advantage through the initiative. 3. IT Dependent: IT Dependent strategic initiatives cannot be feasibly created and executed without the use of breakthrough technology at their core.

What are the thirteen stages of the customer life cycle framework?

1: Requirement: customer identifies a need for the firm's product or service 2: Specify: Customers specify the characteristics of that product or service in order to know which particular one to acquire 3: Select a source 4: Ordering: the primary objective of the firm is to make it as easy as possible for clients to do business with it 5: Authorize and pay for it: 6. Acquire: the customer takes possession of the product or begins to use the service 7. Evaluate and accept: they may rest it out to verify that it works as expected 8. Integrate: the customer must add it to his or her existing inventory of resources 9. Monitor use and behavior: Customers must ensure that resources remain in acceptable stage of operation while they are in use of during the time they receive service 10: Upgrade: When customers are using the product or service, it may become necessary to modify or improve it so that it will better fit their unique needs 11. Maintain: Helping the customer analyze, diagnose, and repair the product or service, or suggesting solutions to problems as they occur 12. Transfer or dispose: Customers will eventually, transfer, resell, return, or dispose of the product or service 13. Account for: focuses on evaluation and accounting of the experience

Define Firm Cost

Actual cost to acquire resources needed to create the product

Define Total Value Created

CWP - SOC

What are the four advantages of purchasing?

Faster Roll-out • An organization that purchases new software is typically interested in the information processing functionalities it enables, not in IT itself Knowledge Infusion • Because software programs can enable and constrain the manner in which users complete a task or execute a business process, an organization that purchases prepackaged software also acquires a "way of doing business" Economically Attractive • While it is always difficult to generalize when it comes to system design and development costs, purchasing off-the-shelf applications typically allows the firm to capitalize on the economies of scale achieved by the vendor High Quality • A great deal of debate surrounds the issue of software quality, with the skeptics pointing to the many examples of prepackaged applications that have significant bugs

Define Customer Willingness to Pay (CWP)

Is the maximum amount a consumer is willing to pay for a product

Define Supplier Opportunity Cost

Is the minimum amount of money suppliers are willing to accept to provide the firm with the needed resources

What are the four phases in the customer life cycle framework?

Phases:Have empathy for customers when they are each stage. -Requirement stage: develops needs looks for specific attributes. (what are my requirements ?) -Acquisition stage: -Ownership stage: customer has the product or is receiving the service and must deal with issues regarding its efficient and effective use -Retirement stage: the customer may begin to think about repurchasing, trading in, or dismissing old products

What are the five drivers of outsourcing?

Reduced Cost • Perhaps the primary driver for the outsourcing decision is the intention to capitalize on the provider's ability to create economies of scale in the production of IT services Access to Superior Talent • Many organization find it difficult to attract top IT talent; the reason is simple: top IT graduates want to be challenged and want to remain on the cutting edge of technological development Improved Control • In many organizations that resort to outsourcing, particularly full outsourcing, the driving force for the decision was an attempt to reclaim control over the IT function when it was perceived to be inefficient and unable to provide the appropriate level of service to the organization Improved Strategic Focus • For many organizations, information systems operations are considered a nuisance rather than a core strength of the firm Financial Appeal • Outsourcing arrangements where the service provider acquires the infrastructure and IT professionals of the outsourcing organization liquidate some of the tangible and intangible assets tied up in the IT infrastructure

What are the four barriers to erosion?

Response-lag drivers can be grouped into one of the following four barriers of IT-dependent competitive advantage: -IT resources barrier -Complementary resources barrier -IT project barrier -Preemption barrier

How do you respond to an internal security threat?

Security Policies • A security policy spells out what the organization believes are the behaviours that individual employees and groups within the firm should follow in order to minimize security risks • Beyond having comprehensive security policies in place, the organization must audit them to ensure compliance

What are the three models for open source?

Sponsored Open Source • A number of not-for-profit foundations provide support and coordination to open source efforts • Some corporation also sponsor their own open source projects, typically "opening" their own software products by releasing the source code Open Source Service • The open source service model emerged in the late 1990s with increasing attention being garnered by the Linux operating systems Professional Open Source • This label refers to organizations that, while being part of the open source movement and subscribing to the open source licensing terms, maintain fairly tight control over the software programs they sell

What are the risks of outsourcing?

The Outsourcing Paradox • Organization that resort to information systems outsourcing often do so out of frustration with their current IT operations; yet if you have little faith in your ability to manage information systems internally, how can one expect them to be able to make sound outsourcing decisions? The Dark Side of Partnerships • While the outsourcing firm and the service provider are "partners," as they work together to ensure the success of the operation, each has responsibility to maximize its own performance o This conflict of interest sometimes leads to friction and court battles Changing Requirements • One of the primary dangers in an outsourcing relationship is given by the length of the contracts in relation to the speed of technological and business needs evolution Hidden Coordination Costs • One of the biggest surprises awaiting organizations that outsource information systems is the extent of coordination efforts needed to work with the provider The Deceptive Role of Information Systems • A lot of organization underestimate the critical role that information systems play as enablers of business success

What is the Systems Development Life Cycle?

The SDLC approach is predicated on the notion that detailed justification and planning will reduce risk and uncertainty in systems development -Critical: Involvement from end-users and functional managers -Requires considerable time analyzing requirements up front -Requires that changes after the project has started be kept to a minimum

Explain the chargeback approach

The chargeback approach calls for direct billing of information systems resources and services to the organization function or department that uses them o The main advantage of chargeback mechanisms is their perceived fairness and the accountability they create for both users and IS function o However, maintaining such detailed costing mechanisms can generate substantial direct and indirect expenses, including the cost of tracking and those for auditing and dispute resolution of charges

What are five types of Malicious Code

Trojan Horses • A Trojan horse is a computer program that claims to, and sometimes does, deliver some useful functionality; however, the Trojan horse hides a dark side and, like a virus, delivers its malicious payload o Unlike a virus, a Trojan horse does not self-replicate but is passed on by those who share it with others Worms • A worm is a piece of malicious code that exploits security holes in network software to replicate itself - a worm simply replicates itself and continues to can the network for machines to infect Spyware • The term spyware suggests that the software runs without the awareness of the user and collects information o Broadly speaking, spyware is software that monitors behavior, collects information, and either transfers this information to a third party via the Internet or performs unwanted operations Ransomware • Generally spread as innocuous attachment to e-mail messages, this malicious code limits the access to user's resources and system, demanding a ransom in exchange

What is the budgeting process ?

• The yearly budgeting process is a tool organizations use to communicate plans and enforce control systems o As a planning tool, the budget provides an assessment of what the firm believes future financial flows will be o As a control mechanism, the budget helps encourage and enforce specific behaviours

Define strategic information systems

as those information systems used to support or shape the competitive strategy of an organization

What are the risks and challenges of IOT?

o Focus on value; IoT projects are IT strategic dependent initiatives o Consider networks and ecosystems; IoT interconnectivity requires thinking in terms of the network and the ecosystem in which the smart devices will be deployed o Manage and analyze data; the quantity of data in a DDS is potentially infinite and the IoT is already generating a massive amount of data that need to be filtered and processes o Watch out for privacy and security; IoT could provide sensitive information about users and their behaviours o Prepare for the unexpected; the possible complexity of IoT systems requires managers to be prepared for systematic effects generated by the interaction of systems and systems' components that are either positive or negative

What are open source characteristics?

o Free distribution; the software can be freely given away or sold o Available source code; the source code is published and freely obtainable o Derived works; licensees can modify the software and redistribute it under the same license terms as the original o No discrimination; the license is available to any entity, including for-profit organizations and commercial users o Technology neutrality; the license, and all its provisions, must be free of restrictions tied to the use of any technologies or type of interface

What are the benefits of end user development?

o Increased speed of development; the user community typically must direct requests for new systems, and improvements to current ones, to the IS function o End-user satisfaction; one of the main problems with new systems is users' dissatisfaction or outright rejection o Reduced pressure on the IS function; end-user development can limit the number of requests the IS function receives, enabling them to be more focused on the projects that, because of their scope and complexity, really require their attention

What are the challenges of digital manufacturing ?

o Offering; accelerated product development cycles are the renewed benefits of 3D printing o Operations; as more products are manufactured through 3D printing, operations and supply chain management will need to change radically o Capabilities; organizations will need to refocus their skills to differentiate through their own design and product customizations in a fiercely competitive IT enabled digital space o New competitors and ecosystems; the impacts of the digitization of manufacturing may involve increased competition from new intermediaries

What are the two ways that organizations exploit Digital Data Stream (DDS) ?

o Process-to-actuate; occurs when a firm takes action based on real-time DDS processing o Assimilate-to-analyze; occurs when a firm merges multiple data streams and static databases in an effort to analyze the data

What are the advantages of open source?

o Robustness; mature projects are more robust, more reliable, and generally higher quality than comparable proprietary applications o Creativity; open source software baronesses the creativity of thousands of developers around the world o Limited lock-in; open source software is not without switching costs, but supporters claim that such costs are much lower than those associated with proprietary software o Simplified Licensing; because of the structure of an open source license, customers need not worry about complex legal constraints o Free license; while not regarded as one of the chief benefits of open source by the open source movement, total cost of ownership is still an important factor to those firms that adopt open source applications

What are the disadvantages of open source software ?

o Unpredictable costs; recent studies suggest that while in 80% of cases open source software is deployed to reduce costs, in only 50% of them, savings can be proved o Support varies widely; depending on the product and where your firm acquired it, support can range from high quality to nonexistent, even in relation to the maturity - and widespread adoption - of the software o Security; skeptics claim that publishing source code gives an advantage to those who want to break its security o Compatibility; there is no guarantee that open source solutions will be compatible with one another and/or with proprietary software o The legal landscape; open source software requires that no portion of the code is protected by copyright

What are the risks of end user development?

o Unreliable quality standards; because of the limited skill set and knowledge of most end users, the quality of their work varies dramatically o High incidence of errors; audits of spreadsheet used in organizations show that a sizable percentage, between 20% and 40%, contain errors o Continuity risks; it may be difficult for anyone but the individual who wrote the program to understand it, enhance it, and support it o Increased pressure on the IS function; it often creates more requests for assistance during the development process and, over time, more requests for help managing the applications after release

Why is security not an IT problem?

• The pervasiveness and possible cost of security threats should suffice to convince general and functional managers that security is a matter of strategic interest, not something that "the IT people should worry about" • All the money spent on managing IT risk and securing the firm's IT infrastructure and the data repositories produces no revenue and creates no efficiencies - it has no ROI o Because security is the type of investment that is difficult to gain funding for, particularly when competing for limited resources with projects that promise big results, it is all the more critical that it is not left to the IT group to make the case

What is the resource based view?

when a firm controls resources that have the following characteristics, the advantage will be difficult for competitors to overcome: 1). Valueable 2). Inimitatable: 3). Rare: 4). Nonsubsituable

What is individual project risk?

• An important aspect of business case writing is the estimation of project risk • The risks associated with any one particular initiative can vary widely based on the following: o Project size; project size, expressed as the estimated monetary investment, is a proxy for project completion and the potential consequences of failure o Experience with technology; the degree of experience a firm has with technologies at the heart of the project is a primary determinant of risk o Organizational change; the degree of organizational change that the project requires is another important determinant of risk • A portfolio approach can be used to optimize the blend of projects under development and ensure a balance of the overall risk, as well as proactively manage the cost/benefits of the applications under development

What are the dynamics of sustainability?

• As high as the barriers to erosion may be, when launching IT-dependent strategic initiatives, a firm has an advantage, but still shouldn't "fall asleep at the wheel" • There are two main dynamics for rejuvenation and strengthening of barrier to erosion over time: capability development and asset-stock accumulation -Managers role is to remain a head of the competition and look for opportunities to reinvigorate and reinforce the existing barriers to erosion

What are Sustainability questions?

• Because it is important to understand when to avoid investing in expensive projects, the following questions can raise red flags before substantial resources are committed to the initiative What Competitors Are Appropriately Positioned to Replicate the Initiative? • Competitor analysis allows the innovator to identify sources of asymmetry that can be exploited and amplified through the deployment of the proposed initiative; the objective is to design the initiative so that it takes advantage of the existing sources of asymmetry and provides a basis to reinforce them over time through capability development and asset-stock accumulation How Long before Competitors Can Offer the Same Value Proposition? • This question is primarily concerned with the response lag associated with the creation, rollout, and infusion of the information systems at the head of the IT-dependent strategic initiative; this analysis yields an assessment of the strength of the IT project barrier Will Replication Do Competitors Any Good? • Armed with an understanding of which competitors will be in a position to respond to the innovator's IT-dependent strategic initiative and a general idea of how long it may take them to have the same functionality in place, the innovating firm must eliminate the magnitude of the preemption barrier to entry • No initiative is static and barriers to erosion decay over time as consumption runs its course; as a consequence, you should ask one more question to complete the analysis What Evolutionary Paths Does the Innovation Create? • Sheltered by its lead time, the innovator can and should seek ways to reinforce its barriers to erosion

What is capability development?

• Capability Development refers to the process by which an organization improves its performance over time by developing its ability to use available resources for maximum effectiveness • Note that capability development processes can only be set in motion once the IT-dependent strategic initiative is introduced

What are the limitations of a business case?

• The skeptics suggest that business cases strictly based on fact will often require so many assumptions and speculations that they will become based on fiction • Financial projections are also difficult to make for projects that have mostly "soft" benefits

What is outsourced development?

• Custom-designed software programs are increasingly developed software houses that "fill in" for the firm's information systems professionals o These arrangements, typically called software development outsourcing, vary greatly, with some firms only outsourcing the programming and testing stages, while others resort to an external provider to see them through the entire system development life cycle • The outsourcing of software development projects has increased dramatically in popularity following the widespread adoption of the Internet • The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) ranks software development organizations according to their ability to produce quality software on a scale of 1 to 5 by evaluating a set of standard processes thought to determine software quality o The CMM is based on the core notion that reliable and consistent implementation of a specific set of processes represents a higher level of software development maturity and, as a consequence, ensures higher quality software products • One of the principal value propositions of custom software development outsourcing is in its superior cost/quality ratio

What is end user development?

• End-user development is an umbrella term capturing the many ways in which knowledge workers, not IT professionals, create software -Examples include spreadsheet models in excel

What is the IT resources barrier?

• IT-dependent strategic initiatives rely on access to assets and capabilities necessary to produce and use the technology at their core • Two classes of response-lag drivers contribute to the height of the IT-resources barrier; these are IT resources and IT capabilities -IT assests: what the firm has -IT capibilites: skills and abilities of the firms workforce

Explain the advent of supercrunchers.

• Ian Ayres argued that the future belongs to individuals who are both creative and quantitatively oriented - the so-called supercrunchers (more widely known as data scientists) o It is these individuals who will be able to exploit the availability of data to their advantage and the advantage of their organizations by quickly and effortlessly testing their hunches and intuitions with data • What sets the data scientist apart is strong business acumen, coupled with the ability to communicate findings to both business and IT leaders in a way that can influence how an organization approaches a business challenge

What is augmented reality?

• In its simplest form, augmented reality consist of superimposing an information layer on top of a real image o Current applications use the camera, GPS receiver, compass, and accelerometer of modern smartphones to identify a scene or objects and then, using a database of entries downloaded to the device, superimpose contextual information on recognized objects • Augmented reality is not confined to the mobile platform, however, on the mobile platform, augmented reality may be extremely disruptive

What is information systems governance?

• Information systems governance is generally defined as the set of decisions rights and the guiding accountability framework designed to ensure that IT resources are employed appropriately in the organization • IT governance in the modern firm has two principal aspects: the management of downside risk and the fostering of upside potential o IT risk governance is concerned with decisions for minimizing threats and failures o IT value governance is concerned with maximizing the value of IT investments and the firm's ability to leverage its information systems resources

What is open source software?

• Open source software is often confused with free software; rather, the term open source is used to differentiate it from close source, or proprietary, programs that prevent users from accessing and modifying the source code o The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in

What are prerequisite questions?

• Since the focus of the analysis here is on sustainability, you must assume that the IT-dependent strategic initiative under investigations does indeed create value and is consistent with the firm's priorities Is the Proposed Initiative Aligned with the Firm's Strategy? • This question is important because it is necessary for the proponents of the initiative to be able to formulate how the initiative advances the firm's positioning and strategy Is the Proposed Initiative Focused on Reducing the Firm's Cost or Increasing Customer' Willingness to Pay? What is the IS Design Underpinning the Proposed Initiative? • This question is designed to further formalize the analysis begun in the second question; the question is also crucial because it is the first step in evaluating the chances of implementation success of the needed information system

Define Tactical information system

• Tactical information systems: Systems that do not position the firm to create added value o I.e: Human resource management systems, POS, Email system • Implementing or updating a tactical system will not create or improve a competitive advantage

What is agile development?

• The agile manifesto clearly identifies the priorities and key characteristics of agile methodologies; first and foremost it is adaptability and speed • A second defining characteristic of agile development is teamwork in open space offices that facilitate communication • Scrum software development progresses via a series of iterations called sprints, lasting usually two to four weeks o Sprints generally begin with a brief planning phase and for the length of the sprint the team meets every day and with a review and retrospective

Explain making the budget

• The budgeting process requires trade-offs between diverging interests and the prioritization of projects under resource constraint • The budgeting process varies by organization, but there are typically two decisions to be made: determining the appropriate budget for ongoing operational expenses (e.g., maintenance) and evaluating large capital expenditures (e.g., new systems)

What is a business case?

• The business case is a formal document prepared and presented by the general or functional manager sponsoring the project o It provides the rational for pursuing the opportunity and its primary objective is to explain and provide evidence to convince the executive team, typically during the budgeting process, that the initiative will pay off and its funding is warranted

What is the Steering committe ?

• The steering committee brings together representatives from the various functional areas, the CEO, and key IS professionals who convene regularly to provide guidance to the IS function and share the responsibility for aligning its efforts with the larger business strategy • The steering committee is also the main recipient and evaluator of progress during system development and implementation efforts -It formalizes information systems involvement and decision making