1. Explain the triple constraint and its importance in project management.
In all organisations there are constraints, the triple constraint refers to three primary variables in any project - time, cost and scope. These three constraints are common to all projects. This is important in project management because each of these three fields are interdependent, meaning that if there if a change in one, it is going to have an effect on the others. It is also important as a projects succes is often judged on these three variables: whether the project cam in on time, within budget and meets the requirements needed.
2. Describe the two primary diagrams most frequently used in project planning.
The two key components to a project plan are project charter and project plan. The charter is a document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that formally authorises the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organisational resources to project activities. It usually contains several sections including:
- Project scope: Defines what work must be completed to deliver a product with the specified features and functions.
- Project objectives: are quantifiable criteria that must be met for the project to be considered a success. Follows a SMART criteria: Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic, Time framed.
- Project constraints: Specific factors that can limit options
- Project assumptions: factors that are considered to be true, real, or certain without proof or demonstration.
The project plan is a formal, approved document that manages and controls project execution. It should include the project scope, a list of activities, a schedule, time estimates, risk factors, resources, assignments and responsibilities.
3. Identify the three primary areas a project manager must focus on managing to ensure success.
- People: Resolving conflicts within the team, dealing with both client and workers.
- Managing communications: The project management plan will include a communications plan. The project manager needs to communicate timely, accurate and meaningful information regarding project objectives that involve time, cost, scope and quality and the status of each.
- Managing Change: Whether or not change comes from a crisis or change in market in needs dealt with appropriately.
4. Outline two reasons why projects fail and two reasons why projects succeed.
Where appropriate time planning has not been put into place projects will often end in failure. For a time a project to come in on time, there needs to a detailed stage by stage time frame to work with not just a final deadline to go off. Another reason why projects fail is due to a breakdown in communication between those working on the site and those running the site, where parties are working from incomplete information it will lead to failure as assumptions will be made from a lack of information which will then lead to mistakes
Where a project has been correctly researched and in depth analysis of time and costs has been undertaken a project has a far greater chance of being a success. If a well planned budget and time frame are in place it is easy to fix problems as they occur, rather than trying to fix a problem once it has gotten out of hand. Another essential aspect of project management that will have an affect on the projects success is the change management system they have in place. No matter how much planning, organising and budgeting goes into a project things will still occur that you cannot plan for, a project managers ability to deal with this changes is essential to making project a success
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Week Ten - CRM & BI
1. What is your understanding of CRM?
CRM is concerned with any aspect of the business that will have an affect on the customer and all areas the customer has an affect on. Therefore it is important to see that CRM goes beyond just customer service systems. Whether directly or indirectly as the customer is seen as the most important person in business it is important to give them what they want, and the business should be designed to accomplish that.
2. Compare operational and analytical customer relationship management.
Operational CRM is concerned with the 'face' of the organisation, sections such as marketing, sales and customer service. Any section thathas direct contact with customers in the organisations day-to-day operations. Analytical CRM is more concerned with the collection of data from the operational sectors of the organisation, these back-office operations such as data warehousing and data mining are seen to include all systems that do not deal directly with customers. The division is shown in the diagram:
3. Describe and differentiate the CRM technologies used by marketing departments and sales departments.
Marketing success can be seen as being determined by the organisations ability to gather and analyse the right information, the three CRM technologies marketing uses are :
- List Generators: compiles a list of customer information from a number of sources and then segments the information for different marketing campaigns. The list is the reviewed for potential customers.
- Campaign Management: Guides users through the process of making a marketing campaign helps perform tasks such as definition, planning, scheduling, segmentation and success analysis, can be used to calculate return on investment for certain campaigns.
- Cross-selling/ Up-selling: Selling additional products to customers and increasing the value of a sale made by asking if they want and upgrade.
Sales CRM was the first developments of CRM as it was needed to streamline the process of dealing with customers, it was a method to make all accounts digital and have a storage lace for all customer information. sales also use three primary technologies:
- Sales Management CRM Systems: Automates each phase of the sales process, helping individual sales representatives co-ordinate and organise all of their accounts.
- Contact Management CRM system: maintains all current customer information and identifies prospective customers for future sales.
- Opportunity Management CRM Systems: targets sales opportunities by finding new customers or companies for future sales.
4. How could a sales department use operational CRM technologies?
Sales departments can use operational CRm technologies to maintain the relationship they have established with customers and by fostering the relationship it will lead to a more profitable relationship due to returned business. By using the information gathered sales can also determine the profitable prospective customers and tailor strategies to try and get more of those customers.
5. Describe business intelligence and its value to businesses.
Business intelligence is concerned with the applications and technologies that are used to gather, provide access to and analyse data and information to support decision-making efforts. Through a greater understanding of an organisation's strengths and weaknesses it will become more efficient. Business intelligence is essential to the success of an organisation as it is primarily concerned with having an understanding of the operations undertaken by the organsiation. The provided video gives a further detailed view of the value of business intelligence:
6. Explain the problem associated with business intelligence. Describe the solution to this business problem.
The general problem associated with business intelligence is that companies have invest so much money in to systems such as their customer relationship programs they have begun to have an excessive amount of data. While this collection of data is a good thing, the data is useless unless it is analysed and turned into meaningful information. While ever companies continue to have data being collected and not analysed it is a waste of a resource that should be getting used.
The Solution to this problem is to develop BI systems for workers to make better informed decisions in situations. Through doing this they create an agile intelligent enterprise. Examples of how companies can use BI to make informed decisions are:
- Retail and Sales: Predicting sales; determining correct inventory levels and distribution schedules among outlets; and loss prevention.
- Operations Management: Predicting machinery failure; finding key factors that control optimism of manufacturing capacity.
- Law Enforcement: Tracking crime patterns, locations and criminal behaviour; identifying attributes to assist in solving criminal cases.
7. What are two possible outcomes a company could get from using data mining?
From the use of cluster analysis it is possible for companies to have greater customer segmentation. It can allow a company to segment customer information for customer relationship management systems to help organisations identify customers with similar behavioural traits, such as clusters of best customers or one time customers.
Also by implementing statictical analysis it is possible for comapanies to offer knowledge workers a wide range of powerful statistical capabilities so they can quickly build a variety of statistical models, examine the models assumptions and validity, and compare and contrast the various models to determine the best one for a particular business issue.
CRM is concerned with any aspect of the business that will have an affect on the customer and all areas the customer has an affect on. Therefore it is important to see that CRM goes beyond just customer service systems. Whether directly or indirectly as the customer is seen as the most important person in business it is important to give them what they want, and the business should be designed to accomplish that.
2. Compare operational and analytical customer relationship management.
Operational CRM is concerned with the 'face' of the organisation, sections such as marketing, sales and customer service. Any section thathas direct contact with customers in the organisations day-to-day operations. Analytical CRM is more concerned with the collection of data from the operational sectors of the organisation, these back-office operations such as data warehousing and data mining are seen to include all systems that do not deal directly with customers. The division is shown in the diagram:
3. Describe and differentiate the CRM technologies used by marketing departments and sales departments.
Marketing success can be seen as being determined by the organisations ability to gather and analyse the right information, the three CRM technologies marketing uses are :
- List Generators: compiles a list of customer information from a number of sources and then segments the information for different marketing campaigns. The list is the reviewed for potential customers.
- Campaign Management: Guides users through the process of making a marketing campaign helps perform tasks such as definition, planning, scheduling, segmentation and success analysis, can be used to calculate return on investment for certain campaigns.
- Cross-selling/ Up-selling: Selling additional products to customers and increasing the value of a sale made by asking if they want and upgrade.
Sales CRM was the first developments of CRM as it was needed to streamline the process of dealing with customers, it was a method to make all accounts digital and have a storage lace for all customer information. sales also use three primary technologies:
- Sales Management CRM Systems: Automates each phase of the sales process, helping individual sales representatives co-ordinate and organise all of their accounts.
- Contact Management CRM system: maintains all current customer information and identifies prospective customers for future sales.
- Opportunity Management CRM Systems: targets sales opportunities by finding new customers or companies for future sales.
4. How could a sales department use operational CRM technologies?
Sales departments can use operational CRm technologies to maintain the relationship they have established with customers and by fostering the relationship it will lead to a more profitable relationship due to returned business. By using the information gathered sales can also determine the profitable prospective customers and tailor strategies to try and get more of those customers.
5. Describe business intelligence and its value to businesses.
Business intelligence is concerned with the applications and technologies that are used to gather, provide access to and analyse data and information to support decision-making efforts. Through a greater understanding of an organisation's strengths and weaknesses it will become more efficient. Business intelligence is essential to the success of an organisation as it is primarily concerned with having an understanding of the operations undertaken by the organsiation. The provided video gives a further detailed view of the value of business intelligence:
6. Explain the problem associated with business intelligence. Describe the solution to this business problem.
The general problem associated with business intelligence is that companies have invest so much money in to systems such as their customer relationship programs they have begun to have an excessive amount of data. While this collection of data is a good thing, the data is useless unless it is analysed and turned into meaningful information. While ever companies continue to have data being collected and not analysed it is a waste of a resource that should be getting used.
The Solution to this problem is to develop BI systems for workers to make better informed decisions in situations. Through doing this they create an agile intelligent enterprise. Examples of how companies can use BI to make informed decisions are:
- Retail and Sales: Predicting sales; determining correct inventory levels and distribution schedules among outlets; and loss prevention.
- Operations Management: Predicting machinery failure; finding key factors that control optimism of manufacturing capacity.
- Law Enforcement: Tracking crime patterns, locations and criminal behaviour; identifying attributes to assist in solving criminal cases.
7. What are two possible outcomes a company could get from using data mining?
From the use of cluster analysis it is possible for companies to have greater customer segmentation. It can allow a company to segment customer information for customer relationship management systems to help organisations identify customers with similar behavioural traits, such as clusters of best customers or one time customers.
Also by implementing statictical analysis it is possible for comapanies to offer knowledge workers a wide range of powerful statistical capabilities so they can quickly build a variety of statistical models, examine the models assumptions and validity, and compare and contrast the various models to determine the best one for a particular business issue.
Week Nine - Operations Management and Supply Chain
1. Define the term operations management.
operations Management refers to the management systems in place that convert or transform resources into goods and services. It involves the management of all the core processes that go into manufacturing the goods.
2. Explains operations management's role in business.
Operations management is concerned with all goings on within the business that have affect on the production of the goods, its activities within the business can include:
- Forecasting: Estimating the demand that will be required of the product, whether there will be other circumstances that will have an affect on business.
- Capacity Planning: This is essential to maintain cash flow and increase revenues. If planning is done incorrectly it will cause a shortage or surplus in goods which will have a negative affect on profits.
- Scheduling: The need for the to be a clear understanding of what is to be done and when and by whom.
- Managing Inventory: managing when the goods will be needed, as well as the quantity that will be required.
- Assuring Quality: Maintaining the level of quality needed is essential in all industries
- Motivating and training employees: Making sure goals that are set can be attained and that all employess have necessary training.
- Locating facilities: Where would the correct place for the facility exist, do you want a snow ski hire shop in Cairns.
3. Describe the correlation between operations management and information technology.
IT is relied on by management to give them the needed information to make the correct decisions. By helping operations management make the correct decisions IT helps the business realise its goals and objectives. IT supplies operations management with the necessary to make important decisions within an organisation such as:
- What: What resources will be needed and in what amounts?
- When: When will each resource be needed? When should the work be scheduled? When should material be ordered?
- Where: Where will the work be performed?
- How: How will the product or service be designed? How will the work be done?
- Who: who will perform the work?
4. Explain supply chain management and its role in a business.
Supply chain deals with all of the parties involved, directly or indirectly, in the procurement of a product or raw material. Supply management is concerned with the flow of information between the stages in supply chain and trying to maximise total supply chain effectiveness and profitability.
5. List and describe the five components of a typical supply chain.
- Plan: A startegic section, which deals with the planning of resources needed to meet customer demand.
- Source: The finding of reliable suppliers of goods who are also competitively priced.
- Make: The stage of actual manufacturing of goods and services.
- Deliver: Also known as logistics, plans the effective and efficient delivery of goods and services.
- Return: A problematic stage that must deal with defective goods or returned goods due to excess order returns.
6. Define the relationship between information technology and the supply chain?
The primary role of IT on supply chain management is creating the integrations or tight process and information technology and information linkages between functions within a from such as marketing, sales, finance and between firms, which allows for smooth, synchronised flow of both information and product between customers, suppliers and transportation providers across the supply chain. through the use of IT by supply chain management it integrates planning, decision-making processes, business operating processes and information sharing for business performance management.
operations Management refers to the management systems in place that convert or transform resources into goods and services. It involves the management of all the core processes that go into manufacturing the goods.
2. Explains operations management's role in business.
Operations management is concerned with all goings on within the business that have affect on the production of the goods, its activities within the business can include:
- Forecasting: Estimating the demand that will be required of the product, whether there will be other circumstances that will have an affect on business.
- Capacity Planning: This is essential to maintain cash flow and increase revenues. If planning is done incorrectly it will cause a shortage or surplus in goods which will have a negative affect on profits.
- Scheduling: The need for the to be a clear understanding of what is to be done and when and by whom.
- Managing Inventory: managing when the goods will be needed, as well as the quantity that will be required.
- Assuring Quality: Maintaining the level of quality needed is essential in all industries
- Motivating and training employees: Making sure goals that are set can be attained and that all employess have necessary training.
- Locating facilities: Where would the correct place for the facility exist, do you want a snow ski hire shop in Cairns.
3. Describe the correlation between operations management and information technology.
IT is relied on by management to give them the needed information to make the correct decisions. By helping operations management make the correct decisions IT helps the business realise its goals and objectives. IT supplies operations management with the necessary to make important decisions within an organisation such as:
- What: What resources will be needed and in what amounts?
- When: When will each resource be needed? When should the work be scheduled? When should material be ordered?
- Where: Where will the work be performed?
- How: How will the product or service be designed? How will the work be done?
- Who: who will perform the work?
4. Explain supply chain management and its role in a business.
Supply chain deals with all of the parties involved, directly or indirectly, in the procurement of a product or raw material. Supply management is concerned with the flow of information between the stages in supply chain and trying to maximise total supply chain effectiveness and profitability.
5. List and describe the five components of a typical supply chain.
- Plan: A startegic section, which deals with the planning of resources needed to meet customer demand.
- Source: The finding of reliable suppliers of goods who are also competitively priced.
- Make: The stage of actual manufacturing of goods and services.
- Deliver: Also known as logistics, plans the effective and efficient delivery of goods and services.
- Return: A problematic stage that must deal with defective goods or returned goods due to excess order returns.
6. Define the relationship between information technology and the supply chain?
The primary role of IT on supply chain management is creating the integrations or tight process and information technology and information linkages between functions within a from such as marketing, sales, finance and between firms, which allows for smooth, synchronised flow of both information and product between customers, suppliers and transportation providers across the supply chain. through the use of IT by supply chain management it integrates planning, decision-making processes, business operating processes and information sharing for business performance management.
Week Eight - Networks & Wireless
1. Explain the business benefits of using wireless technology.
Wireless technology now allows business quick and easy access to a greater volume of information than previously possible. Through the implementation of a wireless infrastructure companies have the ability to increase productivity, speed delivery to market and a reduction in operating costs.
2. Describe the business benefits of VoIP.
Voice over IP allows for companies to utilise there internet connection by using them to transmit voice calls. As VoIP makes use of existing technology within companies it allows them to make call more efficiently and more inexpensively than traditional methods. This then gives the company significant cost savings, productivity gains and service enhancements. one of the most popular VoIP options for consumers has been Skype recognisable by there symbol seen below, this service not onlt allows for cheap calls but also video confrencing as well a number of other features.
3. Compare LANs and WANs.
A LAN or Local Area Network is designed to give connectivity to a group of computers that operating within a close proximity of each other such as those at a hospital or university, it is useful for the sharing of files, printers or games. A WAN or Wide Area Network allows ofr connectivity between computers that are spread over a large area such as cities, states or countries. WANs can also be used to connect a number of LAns. In this regard LAns are more approriate for smal business where there is only one location compared to WANs which are more appropriate for organisations that which have a number of locations around the country.
4. Describe RFID and how it can be used to help make a supply chain more effective.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) uses technology that gives active or passage tags in the forms of chips or smart labels that store unique identifiers for that product which is then relayed to electronic readers. This technology improves the effectiveness of supply chains by having all the information products already stored as electronic data allowing for greater accuracy and understanding of inventory and where products are located through the availability of tracking. through implementation of RFID companies in the future will have much greater access to more detailed and accurate information. The video below discusses the effect of RFID and where RFID may go in the future:
5. Identify the advantages and disadvantages of deploying mobile technology.
Mobile technology gives organisations a range of advantages such as greater accuracy and availability of information. Through the implementation of mobile technologies business wil ocntinue to be competitive as they will have the benefit of greater efficiency and a greater level of communication within the organisation. As well as greater ability for planning the through use of tracking tracking technologies available today.
Disadvantages of mobile networks are that they do allow for greater exposure to other security threats that would not have existed otherwise. Some concerns regard to the ability for people to gather personal information on people including there physical location, which is seen as a risk to their personal safety. Governments have enacted laws to try and protect users auch as the privacy act which exist in Australia.
LINKS
- This links takes you to the Privacy Act of Australia, it shows some of the lengths the government has gone to try and protect users of mobile technology:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/pa1988108/
Wireless technology now allows business quick and easy access to a greater volume of information than previously possible. Through the implementation of a wireless infrastructure companies have the ability to increase productivity, speed delivery to market and a reduction in operating costs.
2. Describe the business benefits of VoIP.
Voice over IP allows for companies to utilise there internet connection by using them to transmit voice calls. As VoIP makes use of existing technology within companies it allows them to make call more efficiently and more inexpensively than traditional methods. This then gives the company significant cost savings, productivity gains and service enhancements. one of the most popular VoIP options for consumers has been Skype recognisable by there symbol seen below, this service not onlt allows for cheap calls but also video confrencing as well a number of other features.
3. Compare LANs and WANs.
A LAN or Local Area Network is designed to give connectivity to a group of computers that operating within a close proximity of each other such as those at a hospital or university, it is useful for the sharing of files, printers or games. A WAN or Wide Area Network allows ofr connectivity between computers that are spread over a large area such as cities, states or countries. WANs can also be used to connect a number of LAns. In this regard LAns are more approriate for smal business where there is only one location compared to WANs which are more appropriate for organisations that which have a number of locations around the country.
4. Describe RFID and how it can be used to help make a supply chain more effective.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) uses technology that gives active or passage tags in the forms of chips or smart labels that store unique identifiers for that product which is then relayed to electronic readers. This technology improves the effectiveness of supply chains by having all the information products already stored as electronic data allowing for greater accuracy and understanding of inventory and where products are located through the availability of tracking. through implementation of RFID companies in the future will have much greater access to more detailed and accurate information. The video below discusses the effect of RFID and where RFID may go in the future:
5. Identify the advantages and disadvantages of deploying mobile technology.
Mobile technology gives organisations a range of advantages such as greater accuracy and availability of information. Through the implementation of mobile technologies business wil ocntinue to be competitive as they will have the benefit of greater efficiency and a greater level of communication within the organisation. As well as greater ability for planning the through use of tracking tracking technologies available today.
Disadvantages of mobile networks are that they do allow for greater exposure to other security threats that would not have existed otherwise. Some concerns regard to the ability for people to gather personal information on people including there physical location, which is seen as a risk to their personal safety. Governments have enacted laws to try and protect users auch as the privacy act which exist in Australia.
LINKS
- This links takes you to the Privacy Act of Australia, it shows some of the lengths the government has gone to try and protect users of mobile technology:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/pa1988108/
Week Seven - Databases and Data Warehouses
1. List, Describe and provide an example of each of the five characteristics of high quality information.
- Accuracy: Is all the information provided correct? For the information to be accurate it must have all the correct information, such as the correct spelling of names and correct numbers used.
- Completeness: Is all teh information needed, provided? Are all the numbers provided for a phone number including area codes, does the address have all the relevant information.
- Consistency: Is all the information consistent throughout the form? Do totals correctly represent the total of individual amounts.
- Uniqueness: Are all the transactions recorded only once or are there duplicates? Has a customer been entered into the system twice?
- Timeliness: Is the information provided up to date with the requirements of the business? does the information need to be updated daily or weekly etc.
2. Define the relationship between a database and a database management system.
The relationship between databases and a database management system (DBMS) is wht allows the raw data from the databases to be turned into meaningful information which can be used to answer queries and manage the database. This information and organisation of databases allows for greater informed business decisions.
3. Describe the advantages an organisation can gain by using a database.
The availability of high quality information greater increase the chances of making a good decision for the organisation as there is a greater understanding of the operations of the organisation. While it cannot guarantee that all decisions will be the a good one, it does ensure that the basis from which decisions are made is accurate. One way of getting such information is by having automatic database storage, the advantages of a system such as this is discussed by the Vice-president of Oracle in the video below:
4. Define the fundamental concepts of the relational database model.
The fundamental concepts or relational database models are entities, entity classes, attributes, keys and relationships. The entity within a relational database model is a person, place or transaction, a table consists of a number of these entities. Entity classes are simply the grouping of similar entities. Attributes or fields refer to the properties of an entity class, for example the attributes of a customer would be their Customer DI and Customer Name. There are two types of keys; primary keys which refer to a field that uniquely identifies a given entity within a table; And a foreign key which in a relational database model is teh primary key of a certain table which appears as another entity within another table. An example of a relational database model can be seen below:
5. Describe the benefits of a data-driven website.
Where a website will be continually and frequently updated and will have a number of contributors a data-driven website is the most appropriate structure. Some advantages include:
- Development: Allows the website owner to make updates/changes at anytime.
- Content Management: Content is easily changeable, which is important when content is being changed regularly
- Future Expandability: It allows for quicker growth and allows other functions or layouts to be changed easily.
6. Describe the roles and purposes of data warehouses and data marts in an organisation.
A data warehouse provides a structure that allows for a logical collection of information gathered from a number of operation databases. It provides organisations with more information to support decision making and business analysis. The data warehouse provides the organisation with a element of summary for the business as instead of showing unnecessary details it may just provide totals and averages.
LINKS
- The link below takes you to an example of a data warehouse, it is the 'Australian Tourism Data Warehouse';
www.atdw.com.au/
- Accuracy: Is all the information provided correct? For the information to be accurate it must have all the correct information, such as the correct spelling of names and correct numbers used.
- Completeness: Is all teh information needed, provided? Are all the numbers provided for a phone number including area codes, does the address have all the relevant information.
- Consistency: Is all the information consistent throughout the form? Do totals correctly represent the total of individual amounts.
- Uniqueness: Are all the transactions recorded only once or are there duplicates? Has a customer been entered into the system twice?
- Timeliness: Is the information provided up to date with the requirements of the business? does the information need to be updated daily or weekly etc.
2. Define the relationship between a database and a database management system.
The relationship between databases and a database management system (DBMS) is wht allows the raw data from the databases to be turned into meaningful information which can be used to answer queries and manage the database. This information and organisation of databases allows for greater informed business decisions.
3. Describe the advantages an organisation can gain by using a database.
The availability of high quality information greater increase the chances of making a good decision for the organisation as there is a greater understanding of the operations of the organisation. While it cannot guarantee that all decisions will be the a good one, it does ensure that the basis from which decisions are made is accurate. One way of getting such information is by having automatic database storage, the advantages of a system such as this is discussed by the Vice-president of Oracle in the video below:
4. Define the fundamental concepts of the relational database model.
The fundamental concepts or relational database models are entities, entity classes, attributes, keys and relationships. The entity within a relational database model is a person, place or transaction, a table consists of a number of these entities. Entity classes are simply the grouping of similar entities. Attributes or fields refer to the properties of an entity class, for example the attributes of a customer would be their Customer DI and Customer Name. There are two types of keys; primary keys which refer to a field that uniquely identifies a given entity within a table; And a foreign key which in a relational database model is teh primary key of a certain table which appears as another entity within another table. An example of a relational database model can be seen below:
5. Describe the benefits of a data-driven website.
Where a website will be continually and frequently updated and will have a number of contributors a data-driven website is the most appropriate structure. Some advantages include:
- Development: Allows the website owner to make updates/changes at anytime.
- Content Management: Content is easily changeable, which is important when content is being changed regularly
- Future Expandability: It allows for quicker growth and allows other functions or layouts to be changed easily.
6. Describe the roles and purposes of data warehouses and data marts in an organisation.
A data warehouse provides a structure that allows for a logical collection of information gathered from a number of operation databases. It provides organisations with more information to support decision making and business analysis. The data warehouse provides the organisation with a element of summary for the business as instead of showing unnecessary details it may just provide totals and averages.
LINKS
- The link below takes you to an example of a data warehouse, it is the 'Australian Tourism Data Warehouse';
www.atdw.com.au/
Week Six - Enterprise Architectures
1. What is information architecture and what is information infrastructure and how do they differ and how do they relate to each other?
A. Information architecture is used to identify where and how imporatant information is stored. Businesses use information architecture to easily store information such as customer records, it is the method used to keep information maintained and secured. The three primary fields that information architecture is concerned with is Backup recovery, Disaster recovery and Information security.
Infrastructure architecture includes the hardware, software and telecommunications equipment that when combined, provides the underlying foundation to support the organisations. Without these systems in place an organisation efficiency would suffer greatly due to lack of necessary technology to get tasks completed. Characteristics of a reliable infrastructure architecture are:
- Flexibility: The ability to adapt to new scenarios and challenges of tomorrow.
- Scalability: Estimating the growth rate of the organisation.
- Reliability: The systems in place are operating correctly.
- Availability: The way in which customers can access the system.
- Performance: The rate at which the system performs certain processes or transactions.
An example of this can been seen in this picture
These two systems differ in that information architecture is primarily concerned with just the processes in place not hardware that is necessary for those systems which is what information infrastructure is concerned with. However, both these systems are dependent on each other, an organisation cannot be up to date with it busness practice if it does not have the necessary technology in place as well as the correct operating systems in place.
2. Describe how an organisation can implement a solid information architecture.
By taking the necessary steps to set up systems such as backup recovery, disaster recovery and information security organisation will have the necessary protection required for their information. By having a backup recovery system in place the organisation has the ability get a system up and running after a system crash. It makes this possible by making a copy of the systems information stored at a separate location. Through the implementation of a disiater recovery plan a company can minimise the amount of damage caused by soem kind of disaster such as floods, power outages etc. This plan allows companies to efficiently take action to make steps back towards normal operations again. Information security while being difficult to maintain is extremely important to a businesses success. All organisations need a certain level of protection for there information and hardware. Organisations achieve this through managing user access to system, they do this through the creation of security measures such as usernames and passwords. They also maintain a level of security by having Up-to-date antivirus software and patches.
3. List and describe the five requirement characteristics of infrastructure architecture.
- Flexibility: The ability to adapt to new scenarios and challenges of tomorrow. As well as adapting to business markets the organisation may enter.
- Scalability: Estimating the growth rate of the organisation, and having the ability to adapt to those changes and planning what It requirement will be needed in the future.
- Reliability: The systems in place are operating correctly and only contain correct and accurate information.
- Availability: The way in which customers can access the system, also taking the amount users can access system, whether it is continuosly available or only at certain times.
- Performance: The rate at which the system performs certain processes or transactions. It is also concerned with the being able to adapt the performance changes of the organisation in the future.
4. Describe the business value in deploying a service oriented architecture.
Where an organisation implements a service oriented architecture it allows for greater efficiency. It enables It systems to adapt quickly, easily and economically to support the changes within the business. It allows for communications between different sections of organisation to happen effortlessly, which in turns harbors greater communication between sections of the company. This then adds value to the business by increasing the productivity of the organisation.
5. What is an event?
An event involves the monitoring of the business processes for events that occur which will have some kind of an effect on the organisation such as low inventory warnings or over due shipping order alerts. By doing the correct people are informed automatically when the event occurs.
6. What is a service?
Is a product which has the ability to check information across a number of applications, the product needs to be reusable and also have the ability to be used by a large number of people if it is to have an affect on an organisation.
7. What emerging technologies can companies use to increase performance and utilise their infrastructure more effectively?
One technology that companies are are utilising is 'system virtualisation' by doing this it allows companies to view the material available on one computer as if it were a collection of seperate computers. By doing this businesses have the ability to reduce hardware infrastructure needed which in turn means the company uses less power, making the company 'greener' as well as reducing the companies expenses.
LINKS:
- Some of the key principles of infrastructure architecture:
www.ewita.com/EWITA%20Tools/Strawdogs/SD%20Principles.doc
A. Information architecture is used to identify where and how imporatant information is stored. Businesses use information architecture to easily store information such as customer records, it is the method used to keep information maintained and secured. The three primary fields that information architecture is concerned with is Backup recovery, Disaster recovery and Information security.
Infrastructure architecture includes the hardware, software and telecommunications equipment that when combined, provides the underlying foundation to support the organisations. Without these systems in place an organisation efficiency would suffer greatly due to lack of necessary technology to get tasks completed. Characteristics of a reliable infrastructure architecture are:
- Flexibility: The ability to adapt to new scenarios and challenges of tomorrow.
- Scalability: Estimating the growth rate of the organisation.
- Reliability: The systems in place are operating correctly.
- Availability: The way in which customers can access the system.
- Performance: The rate at which the system performs certain processes or transactions.
An example of this can been seen in this picture
These two systems differ in that information architecture is primarily concerned with just the processes in place not hardware that is necessary for those systems which is what information infrastructure is concerned with. However, both these systems are dependent on each other, an organisation cannot be up to date with it busness practice if it does not have the necessary technology in place as well as the correct operating systems in place.
2. Describe how an organisation can implement a solid information architecture.
By taking the necessary steps to set up systems such as backup recovery, disaster recovery and information security organisation will have the necessary protection required for their information. By having a backup recovery system in place the organisation has the ability get a system up and running after a system crash. It makes this possible by making a copy of the systems information stored at a separate location. Through the implementation of a disiater recovery plan a company can minimise the amount of damage caused by soem kind of disaster such as floods, power outages etc. This plan allows companies to efficiently take action to make steps back towards normal operations again. Information security while being difficult to maintain is extremely important to a businesses success. All organisations need a certain level of protection for there information and hardware. Organisations achieve this through managing user access to system, they do this through the creation of security measures such as usernames and passwords. They also maintain a level of security by having Up-to-date antivirus software and patches.
3. List and describe the five requirement characteristics of infrastructure architecture.
- Flexibility: The ability to adapt to new scenarios and challenges of tomorrow. As well as adapting to business markets the organisation may enter.
- Scalability: Estimating the growth rate of the organisation, and having the ability to adapt to those changes and planning what It requirement will be needed in the future.
- Reliability: The systems in place are operating correctly and only contain correct and accurate information.
- Availability: The way in which customers can access the system, also taking the amount users can access system, whether it is continuosly available or only at certain times.
- Performance: The rate at which the system performs certain processes or transactions. It is also concerned with the being able to adapt the performance changes of the organisation in the future.
4. Describe the business value in deploying a service oriented architecture.
Where an organisation implements a service oriented architecture it allows for greater efficiency. It enables It systems to adapt quickly, easily and economically to support the changes within the business. It allows for communications between different sections of organisation to happen effortlessly, which in turns harbors greater communication between sections of the company. This then adds value to the business by increasing the productivity of the organisation.
5. What is an event?
An event involves the monitoring of the business processes for events that occur which will have some kind of an effect on the organisation such as low inventory warnings or over due shipping order alerts. By doing the correct people are informed automatically when the event occurs.
6. What is a service?
Is a product which has the ability to check information across a number of applications, the product needs to be reusable and also have the ability to be used by a large number of people if it is to have an affect on an organisation.
7. What emerging technologies can companies use to increase performance and utilise their infrastructure more effectively?
One technology that companies are are utilising is 'system virtualisation' by doing this it allows companies to view the material available on one computer as if it were a collection of seperate computers. By doing this businesses have the ability to reduce hardware infrastructure needed which in turn means the company uses less power, making the company 'greener' as well as reducing the companies expenses.
LINKS:
- Some of the key principles of infrastructure architecture:
www.ewita.com/EWITA%20Tools/Strawdogs/SD%20Principles.doc
Monday, April 5, 2010
Week Five Questions - Ethics and Security
1. Explain the ethical issues surrounding information technology.
A.
When information technology is used in a business it faces many of the same ethical issues as the rest of the business, including privacy, accurate data records and property. However they do need to be put into an information technology realm. Examples of ethical issues involving information systems include; Intellectual property, where an employee designs and develops an idea or product for a company, who owns the intellectual property of the idea? It also includes the monitoring of employees while at work to make sure that only properly licensed software is being used by the company, or if they are using someone else's intellectual property there are proper ways for the use to be reported. This monitoring of employees can however cause problems with employee privacy.
2. Describe the relationship between an 'email privacy policy' and 'internet use policy'
A.
A privacy policy that a company has in place describes how certain systems are to be used and the right of the company to have access to your information at work. A clear example of this would be the policy a company has in place in regard to emails at work, for example a companies policy may outline that they have the right to check your emails at anytime, although it will not be done unless suspicion has been raised. The policy may also go into details such as forbidding employees from using internal mail lists for spam emails, for things such as goods for sale.
The 'internet use policy' on the other hand regulates the way in which employees use the internet while they are at work. This policy may forbid employees from looking at non-work related websites or from using social networking websites for personal use. The policy may also go into detail forbidding employees from using the internet at work to run their own online business.
3. Summarise the five steps to creating an information security plan.
A.
- Develop the information security policies
Identifies who is responsible and accountable for designing and implementing the organisation's information security policies. This can include implementing rules such as mandatory logging off for breaks or putting in an automatic sign off after 5 minutes of inactivity.
- Communicate the information security policies.
Train all employees on the policies and establish clear expectations for following the polices. An example of this can be the issuing reprimands to employees who leave computers unsecure.
- Identify critical information assets and risks.
Require the use of user IDs, passwords and anti-virus software on all systems. Also have necessary firewalls on all computers that have external links. The inclusion of intrusion detection software allows for attacks to be identified quickly and responded to.
- Test and re-evaluate risks.
Continually perform security reviews, audits, background checks and security assessments. This testing can be done by a third party company, who can then continue with the on-going maintenance of the system.
- Obtain stakeholder support
Gain the approval and support of the information security policies from the board of directors and all stakeholders.
4. What do the terms; authentication and authorization mean, how do they differ, provide some examples of each term.
A.
Authentication refers to proving who you are. It can be either something the user is such as facial recognition or retina scans, something the user knows such as a user ID and password or something that the user has such a smart card or token card.
Authorization is concerned with the level of access you have once you are within the system. Once you have authenticated who you are then you will have a level of authorization which determines what you are allowed to have access to. Examples of this would be those that are not in the accounting department may not have authorization to have access to he financial records.
5. What are the Five main types of Security Risks, suggest one method to prevent the severity of the risk?
A.
- Human error.
To minimise the damage that can be done from this risk a company should put in the necessary training programs for all employees that could possibly use the system.
- Technical failure.
Where a technical failure occurs have adequately trained professionals on hand to deal with the problem. This will minimise the time the system is down and decrease the cost as well as the amount of time the system is unprotected.
- Natural disaster.
Where an unforeseeable natural disaster occurs a company should have the necessary back ups and disaster recovery systems in place to minimise the damage.
- Deliberate act.
This is caused by spam, spyware or sabotage by an employee. This can be dealt with by giving employees the necessary training on how to handle spam and spyware on their computer. Companies can try to avoid sabotage by employees by running background checks as well on-going monitoring of employee activities.
- Management failure.
By enforcing that all the necessary training is done down the management hierarchy, it will limit the damage that will be done by management failure. By also having an adequate reporting system to clearly show when the necessary training has been done.
A.
When information technology is used in a business it faces many of the same ethical issues as the rest of the business, including privacy, accurate data records and property. However they do need to be put into an information technology realm. Examples of ethical issues involving information systems include; Intellectual property, where an employee designs and develops an idea or product for a company, who owns the intellectual property of the idea? It also includes the monitoring of employees while at work to make sure that only properly licensed software is being used by the company, or if they are using someone else's intellectual property there are proper ways for the use to be reported. This monitoring of employees can however cause problems with employee privacy.
2. Describe the relationship between an 'email privacy policy' and 'internet use policy'
A.
A privacy policy that a company has in place describes how certain systems are to be used and the right of the company to have access to your information at work. A clear example of this would be the policy a company has in place in regard to emails at work, for example a companies policy may outline that they have the right to check your emails at anytime, although it will not be done unless suspicion has been raised. The policy may also go into details such as forbidding employees from using internal mail lists for spam emails, for things such as goods for sale.
The 'internet use policy' on the other hand regulates the way in which employees use the internet while they are at work. This policy may forbid employees from looking at non-work related websites or from using social networking websites for personal use. The policy may also go into detail forbidding employees from using the internet at work to run their own online business.
3. Summarise the five steps to creating an information security plan.
A.
- Develop the information security policies
Identifies who is responsible and accountable for designing and implementing the organisation's information security policies. This can include implementing rules such as mandatory logging off for breaks or putting in an automatic sign off after 5 minutes of inactivity.
- Communicate the information security policies.
Train all employees on the policies and establish clear expectations for following the polices. An example of this can be the issuing reprimands to employees who leave computers unsecure.
- Identify critical information assets and risks.
Require the use of user IDs, passwords and anti-virus software on all systems. Also have necessary firewalls on all computers that have external links. The inclusion of intrusion detection software allows for attacks to be identified quickly and responded to.
- Test and re-evaluate risks.
Continually perform security reviews, audits, background checks and security assessments. This testing can be done by a third party company, who can then continue with the on-going maintenance of the system.
- Obtain stakeholder support
Gain the approval and support of the information security policies from the board of directors and all stakeholders.
4. What do the terms; authentication and authorization mean, how do they differ, provide some examples of each term.
A.
Authentication refers to proving who you are. It can be either something the user is such as facial recognition or retina scans, something the user knows such as a user ID and password or something that the user has such a smart card or token card.
Authorization is concerned with the level of access you have once you are within the system. Once you have authenticated who you are then you will have a level of authorization which determines what you are allowed to have access to. Examples of this would be those that are not in the accounting department may not have authorization to have access to he financial records.
5. What are the Five main types of Security Risks, suggest one method to prevent the severity of the risk?
A.
- Human error.
To minimise the damage that can be done from this risk a company should put in the necessary training programs for all employees that could possibly use the system.
- Technical failure.
Where a technical failure occurs have adequately trained professionals on hand to deal with the problem. This will minimise the time the system is down and decrease the cost as well as the amount of time the system is unprotected.
- Natural disaster.
Where an unforeseeable natural disaster occurs a company should have the necessary back ups and disaster recovery systems in place to minimise the damage.
- Deliberate act.
This is caused by spam, spyware or sabotage by an employee. This can be dealt with by giving employees the necessary training on how to handle spam and spyware on their computer. Companies can try to avoid sabotage by employees by running background checks as well on-going monitoring of employee activities.
- Management failure.
By enforcing that all the necessary training is done down the management hierarchy, it will limit the damage that will be done by management failure. By also having an adequate reporting system to clearly show when the necessary training has been done.
Week Four Questions - eBusiness
1. What is an IP Address? What is it's main function?
A.
An IP address is a unique number assigned to each individual computer. It can be used either public or private. IP address now consist of both letters and numbers, this means there is enough possible combination's for the future. It's main function is that is the method in which computers 'talk' to each other.
2. What is Web 2.0, how does it differ from 1.0?
A.
Web 2.0 refers to the current form of the internet. One which allows us to read/write on the web and makes available technology for social networking, blogs etc. 2.0 has been referred to as the 'business revolution in the computer industry' as reliance on the internet has increased so much.
It differs from 2.0 in the level that it allows users to interact with a website and have an effect on its content. This view shows 2.0 as being interactive, while 1.0 was seen as a more passive system.
3. What is Web 3.0?
A.
Web 3.0 is the what they are calling the evolution of the web and what it will become. One of the focuses of 3.0 is to make the internet more of a database using metadata, making more information more available from non-browser applications. It is also the development of artificial intelligence. With 3.0 it could become possible to search for a video using only a photo with no description.
4. Describe the different methods an organisation can use to access information.
A.
Four different methods that can be used to access information are:
INTRANET
This is a portion of the internet a company uses privately. It is there for internal use use, this allows companies to give their employees access to applications over the internet, while still having the information protected from the general public.
EXTRANET
This is the same as an Intranet in that allows some users to access to information while still having it protected from the general public. The difference is that the information is now made available to not employees, but also strategic allies such as customers, parent companies, strategic partners. This technology allows for the easier communications between the parties concerned.
PORTAL
A portal is a website that allows access to a broad array of information. Through this combination of services it allows easier access to things such as emails, updates, events etc. Examples of portals are ninemsn and the university homepage. The aim of the portal is to be tailored to the needs of each person coming into the portal.
KIOSK
A kiosk is a publicly accessible computer system that has been set up to allow users to access information through interactive browsing. Examples of these are the computers that are made available within libraries to search databases as well as library content.
5. What is eBusiness, how does it differ from eCommerce?
A.
eBusiness is a term that refers to the conducting of business over the internet. It is different to eCommerce, as eCommerce only refers to buying and selling of goods and services over the internet. eBusiness however has a much broader meaning, as it not only means buying and selling of goods over the internet, but it also takes in serving customers and collaborating with other businesses.
6. List and describe the various eBusiness models?
A.
BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS (B2B)
This refers to businesses buying from and selling to each other over the internet. Electronic marketplaces have caused an increase in the amount of B2B transactions
BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMERS (B2C)
This applies to any business that sells its products or services to consumers over the internet. An example of this is the Apple online store.
CONSUMER-TO-BUSINESS (C2B)
This refers to any consumer that sells a product or service to a business over the internet. An example of this would be a photographer selling his/her photos online to other companies.
CONSUMER-TO-CONSUMER (C2C)
This applies to sites primarily offering goods and services to assist consumers interacting with each other over the internet. A clear example of this is eBay, this site links like minded buyers and sellers.
7. List 3 metrics you would use if your were hired to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of an eBusiness web site?
A.
Metrics that could be used to analysis the effectiveness of a site could be; The number of page views, this shows the whole number of people visiting the site. Time spent on the site, this will show if once people are on the site they are finding it useful/interesting. The number of abandoned shopping carts the site has, this could show that the purchasing process in place is to difficult or intrusive by asking to many questions. Another method could be analysing the type of the visitors the site is receiving, this could be done by analysing cookies or surveys.
8. Outline 2 opportunities and 2 challenges faced by companies doing business online?
A.
Opportunities that eBusiness allows for:
- Business remain open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, allyear round with no extra cost. This availability can only increase business.
- If the site is efficient, has good services and is reliable, it will increase customer loyalty.
- It allows another method of getting information on your customers and allows greater on-going access to them.
Challenges that eBusiness can cause:
- The protection of your consumers against unsolicitated goods, illegal or harmful goods must be established and maintained as the business continues to operate.
- Companies must have greater protection of their assets as the internet provides universal access. However this security must still allow the site to work properly and efficiently without causing excessive complexity.
A.
An IP address is a unique number assigned to each individual computer. It can be used either public or private. IP address now consist of both letters and numbers, this means there is enough possible combination's for the future. It's main function is that is the method in which computers 'talk' to each other.
2. What is Web 2.0, how does it differ from 1.0?
A.
Web 2.0 refers to the current form of the internet. One which allows us to read/write on the web and makes available technology for social networking, blogs etc. 2.0 has been referred to as the 'business revolution in the computer industry' as reliance on the internet has increased so much.
It differs from 2.0 in the level that it allows users to interact with a website and have an effect on its content. This view shows 2.0 as being interactive, while 1.0 was seen as a more passive system.
3. What is Web 3.0?
A.
Web 3.0 is the what they are calling the evolution of the web and what it will become. One of the focuses of 3.0 is to make the internet more of a database using metadata, making more information more available from non-browser applications. It is also the development of artificial intelligence. With 3.0 it could become possible to search for a video using only a photo with no description.
4. Describe the different methods an organisation can use to access information.
A.
Four different methods that can be used to access information are:
INTRANET
This is a portion of the internet a company uses privately. It is there for internal use use, this allows companies to give their employees access to applications over the internet, while still having the information protected from the general public.
EXTRANET
This is the same as an Intranet in that allows some users to access to information while still having it protected from the general public. The difference is that the information is now made available to not employees, but also strategic allies such as customers, parent companies, strategic partners. This technology allows for the easier communications between the parties concerned.
PORTAL
A portal is a website that allows access to a broad array of information. Through this combination of services it allows easier access to things such as emails, updates, events etc. Examples of portals are ninemsn and the university homepage. The aim of the portal is to be tailored to the needs of each person coming into the portal.
KIOSK
A kiosk is a publicly accessible computer system that has been set up to allow users to access information through interactive browsing. Examples of these are the computers that are made available within libraries to search databases as well as library content.
5. What is eBusiness, how does it differ from eCommerce?
A.
eBusiness is a term that refers to the conducting of business over the internet. It is different to eCommerce, as eCommerce only refers to buying and selling of goods and services over the internet. eBusiness however has a much broader meaning, as it not only means buying and selling of goods over the internet, but it also takes in serving customers and collaborating with other businesses.
6. List and describe the various eBusiness models?
A.
BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS (B2B)
This refers to businesses buying from and selling to each other over the internet. Electronic marketplaces have caused an increase in the amount of B2B transactions
BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMERS (B2C)
This applies to any business that sells its products or services to consumers over the internet. An example of this is the Apple online store.
CONSUMER-TO-BUSINESS (C2B)
This refers to any consumer that sells a product or service to a business over the internet. An example of this would be a photographer selling his/her photos online to other companies.
CONSUMER-TO-CONSUMER (C2C)
This applies to sites primarily offering goods and services to assist consumers interacting with each other over the internet. A clear example of this is eBay, this site links like minded buyers and sellers.
7. List 3 metrics you would use if your were hired to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of an eBusiness web site?
A.
Metrics that could be used to analysis the effectiveness of a site could be; The number of page views, this shows the whole number of people visiting the site. Time spent on the site, this will show if once people are on the site they are finding it useful/interesting. The number of abandoned shopping carts the site has, this could show that the purchasing process in place is to difficult or intrusive by asking to many questions. Another method could be analysing the type of the visitors the site is receiving, this could be done by analysing cookies or surveys.
8. Outline 2 opportunities and 2 challenges faced by companies doing business online?
A.
Opportunities that eBusiness allows for:
- Business remain open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, allyear round with no extra cost. This availability can only increase business.
- If the site is efficient, has good services and is reliable, it will increase customer loyalty.
- It allows another method of getting information on your customers and allows greater on-going access to them.
Challenges that eBusiness can cause:
- The protection of your consumers against unsolicitated goods, illegal or harmful goods must be established and maintained as the business continues to operate.
- Companies must have greater protection of their assets as the internet provides universal access. However this security must still allow the site to work properly and efficiently without causing excessive complexity.
Week Three Questions - Strategic Decision Making
1. Define TPS & DSS, and explain how an organisation can use these systems to make decisions and gain competitive advantages.
A.
Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) are concerned with the fundamental operations a business undertakes. Examples of these operations are sales, reciepts, payroll and credit decisions. Two ways these transactions can be managed is by the Batch or Online methods. Batch processing is where data is collected and then prepared periodically such as nightly or hourly. Online processing sorts and prepares data in real time as it happens. The information from TPS is then used for all other information systems.
Decision Support Systems (DSS) use the data provided from the TPS to inform manages so as they can make better decisions. This is particularly helpful when managers are dealing with complex unstructured problems such as estimating the future cash flows from long-lived assets. The DSS summarises the information provided from a range of TPS, this assists manager by giving them a greater understanding of the business activities.
Both the TPS and DSS should be used by managers so as they can make better decisions as both systems give information on the current operations of the business. Through having a better understanding of the business managers will be in a better situation to make informed decisions, which would be more likely to yield a better result.
2. Describe the three quantitative models typically used by Decision Support Systems (DSS).
A.
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
Studies the effect that changes in one (or more) part of the model will have on the rest of the model. This shows how different sections of a business, will affect other sections.
WHAT-IF ANALYSIS
Checks the impact of a change in an assumption on the proposed solution. Such as what would happen if sales increased or decreased from what is predicted.
GOAL-SEEKING ANALYSIS
Shows what inputs will be needed to achieve a goal. This helps to outlay the cost a certain goal may have for a company.
3. Describe a business process and their importance to an organisation.
A.
A business process is a standardised set of activities to complete a procees within a company. A business process would be used to process a customers order. Business processes can used in variety of situations such as accounts payable, hazardous waste management and health care benefits.
Through implementing businesses process a company can become more efficient and cut costs. They will also help streamline and minimise costs of a business. For these reasosns alone it is important for businesses to have good business processes.
4. Compare business process improvement and business process re-engineering.
A.
Business process improvement is crucial for a business to stay competitive in today's ever evolving marketplace. Business process improvement attempts to comprehend and measure current processes in place and determine what improvements are necessary.
Business Process Re-Engineering (BPR) differs from business process improvement as it assumes the current process is irrelevant. This allows designer to seperate themselves from current operating methods and create something from the beginning. This method of analysis and redesign of work flow allows for a system that may be better capable of demand in the future.
5. Describe the importance of business process modelling (or mapping) and business process models.
A.
Business process modelling allows a business to map out each process that it undertakes and identify all their outputs. A business process model is necessary as technology can make the processes invisible, so the business process model makes all the processes visible. Business process modelling shows the activities as a flowchart an example of this is the To-Be and As-Is model shown here:
Both business process modellling and business process models provide process anlaysis and information necessary for managers to make informed decisions and have an understanding of operations undertaken within the business.
A.
Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) are concerned with the fundamental operations a business undertakes. Examples of these operations are sales, reciepts, payroll and credit decisions. Two ways these transactions can be managed is by the Batch or Online methods. Batch processing is where data is collected and then prepared periodically such as nightly or hourly. Online processing sorts and prepares data in real time as it happens. The information from TPS is then used for all other information systems.
Decision Support Systems (DSS) use the data provided from the TPS to inform manages so as they can make better decisions. This is particularly helpful when managers are dealing with complex unstructured problems such as estimating the future cash flows from long-lived assets. The DSS summarises the information provided from a range of TPS, this assists manager by giving them a greater understanding of the business activities.
Both the TPS and DSS should be used by managers so as they can make better decisions as both systems give information on the current operations of the business. Through having a better understanding of the business managers will be in a better situation to make informed decisions, which would be more likely to yield a better result.
2. Describe the three quantitative models typically used by Decision Support Systems (DSS).
A.
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
Studies the effect that changes in one (or more) part of the model will have on the rest of the model. This shows how different sections of a business, will affect other sections.
WHAT-IF ANALYSIS
Checks the impact of a change in an assumption on the proposed solution. Such as what would happen if sales increased or decreased from what is predicted.
GOAL-SEEKING ANALYSIS
Shows what inputs will be needed to achieve a goal. This helps to outlay the cost a certain goal may have for a company.
3. Describe a business process and their importance to an organisation.
A.
A business process is a standardised set of activities to complete a procees within a company. A business process would be used to process a customers order. Business processes can used in variety of situations such as accounts payable, hazardous waste management and health care benefits.
Through implementing businesses process a company can become more efficient and cut costs. They will also help streamline and minimise costs of a business. For these reasosns alone it is important for businesses to have good business processes.
4. Compare business process improvement and business process re-engineering.
A.
Business process improvement is crucial for a business to stay competitive in today's ever evolving marketplace. Business process improvement attempts to comprehend and measure current processes in place and determine what improvements are necessary.
Business Process Re-Engineering (BPR) differs from business process improvement as it assumes the current process is irrelevant. This allows designer to seperate themselves from current operating methods and create something from the beginning. This method of analysis and redesign of work flow allows for a system that may be better capable of demand in the future.
5. Describe the importance of business process modelling (or mapping) and business process models.
A.
Business process modelling allows a business to map out each process that it undertakes and identify all their outputs. A business process model is necessary as technology can make the processes invisible, so the business process model makes all the processes visible. Business process modelling shows the activities as a flowchart an example of this is the To-Be and As-Is model shown here:
Both business process modellling and business process models provide process anlaysis and information necessary for managers to make informed decisions and have an understanding of operations undertaken within the business.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Week Two Questions - Information Systems in Business
1. Explain information technology's role in business and describe how you measure success?
A.
Information technology (IT) has a role to play in almost all functional areas of business. IT allows a greater understanding of a businesses practices through greater communication and providing more information for departments to work from. Through the use of this information a business can reduce costs, improve productivity and generate greater growth.
Measuring the success of IT can be very difficult. A standard measure of success is the return on investment (ROI) measure. This measure does not give an accurate value of IT as in some circumstances IT is used a precautionary device. Instead the success of IT can be measured by benchmarks, a goal which the system seeks to obtain or key performance indicators (KPIs) these can be used to evaluate current practices. It is also evaluated on wether the system is both efficient and effective, 4 areas that are considered when determining the effectiveness are Usability, Customer satisfaction, Conversion rates and Financial
2. List and describe each of the forces in Porter's Five Forces Model?
A.
1. Buyer Power: This refers to the range of suppliers available to a buyer. Where there are a number of suppliers for a buyer to choose, the buyer power is high
2. Supplier Power: This is affected by the power a supplier has over an industry, the supplier power is high where they have a direct influence over the industry.
3. Threat of Substitute Products or Services: This pressure is high when there are a wide range of alternatives available to a customer.
4. Threat of New Entrants:Where it is easy for a new competitor to enter the market the pressure is high, if there are barriers in place to restrict new competitors then the pressure is low.
5. Rivalry among existing competitors: Where the industry is intensively competitive the pressure is high.
3. Describe the relationship between business processes and value chains?
A.
Business processes and value chains are both inextricably linked together. A business process is an activity that is undertaken to complete a specific task. When are number of these activities are linked together to achieve a set goal they are referred to as a value chain. Micheal porter describes a value chain as series of activities, each adding value to the final product. This shows the relationship between that business process and value are interdependent as one goes into the other to complete the product or service.
4. Compare Porter's three generic strategies?
A.
1) Broad Cost Leadership: This strategies offers a wide range of products, that are targeted at a large low cost demographic.
2) Broad Differentiation: This strategy also targets a large market segment. However it offers a more selective product that usually come with specialised features and a higher price.
3) Focused Strategy: This strategy focus on a niche market either offering high end quality products or a cheaper product.
A.
Information technology (IT) has a role to play in almost all functional areas of business. IT allows a greater understanding of a businesses practices through greater communication and providing more information for departments to work from. Through the use of this information a business can reduce costs, improve productivity and generate greater growth.
Measuring the success of IT can be very difficult. A standard measure of success is the return on investment (ROI) measure. This measure does not give an accurate value of IT as in some circumstances IT is used a precautionary device. Instead the success of IT can be measured by benchmarks, a goal which the system seeks to obtain or key performance indicators (KPIs) these can be used to evaluate current practices. It is also evaluated on wether the system is both efficient and effective, 4 areas that are considered when determining the effectiveness are Usability, Customer satisfaction, Conversion rates and Financial
2. List and describe each of the forces in Porter's Five Forces Model?
A.
1. Buyer Power: This refers to the range of suppliers available to a buyer. Where there are a number of suppliers for a buyer to choose, the buyer power is high
2. Supplier Power: This is affected by the power a supplier has over an industry, the supplier power is high where they have a direct influence over the industry.
3. Threat of Substitute Products or Services: This pressure is high when there are a wide range of alternatives available to a customer.
4. Threat of New Entrants:Where it is easy for a new competitor to enter the market the pressure is high, if there are barriers in place to restrict new competitors then the pressure is low.
5. Rivalry among existing competitors: Where the industry is intensively competitive the pressure is high.
3. Describe the relationship between business processes and value chains?
A.
Business processes and value chains are both inextricably linked together. A business process is an activity that is undertaken to complete a specific task. When are number of these activities are linked together to achieve a set goal they are referred to as a value chain. Micheal porter describes a value chain as series of activities, each adding value to the final product. This shows the relationship between that business process and value are interdependent as one goes into the other to complete the product or service.
4. Compare Porter's three generic strategies?
1) Broad Cost Leadership: This strategies offers a wide range of products, that are targeted at a large low cost demographic.
2) Broad Differentiation: This strategy also targets a large market segment. However it offers a more selective product that usually come with specialised features and a higher price.
3) Focused Strategy: This strategy focus on a niche market either offering high end quality products or a cheaper product.
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