• Literacy: knowing how to use a computer.
• Fluency: the ability to independantly learn new technologies as they emerge and assess their impact on your work and life.

• Economic Changes: increase in international trade, in the development of financial systems and currency, and in the outsourcing of labor.
• Cultural changes: Increases in the availability of multiculturalism through television and movies; the frequency of international travel and tourism, and immigration; the availability of ethnic foods and resturaunts; and the frequency of world wide fads and phenomena like facebook and twitter.
• Thechnological changes: development of low cost computing platforms, the availability of low cost communication systems such as email, the nature of low cost global telecommunications infrastructure like the internet; and enforcement of global copyrights and patents to spur further innovation.

The fall of the berlin Wall

(Globalization/flattner #1)

Release of the Netscape Web Browser

(globalization/Flattener #2)

Work flow software

(globalization/flattner #3)

Uploading

(globalization/flattner#4)

the ability of individuals and companies to activley participate in content generation on the web, enabling everyone to be a producer of information insted of just a consumer. Catalyst for the populariaty of open source software like firefox and wikipedia.

Outsourcing

(globalization/flattner #5)

Offshoring

(globalization/flattner #6)

Supply chaining

(globalization/flattening #7)

In-sourcing

(globalization/flattner #8)

In-forming

(globalization/flattener #9)

the steroids

(globalization/flattner #10)

• Political system: political instibility
• regulatory: taxes tariffs
• data sharing: data protection directive
• Standards: differences in measurement units
• Internet access and individual freedom: internet censorship in various countries

• Working with different cultures: difference in power distance, uncertainty avoidance, COM 245 stuff.
• Challanges of offering products or services in diff cultures: naming and advertising for products.

support the unique business processes of specific functional areas. provide value through automation, learning and executing strategys.  EX:

• accounting and finance
• human resources
• marketing
• production and operations

1. the rivalry among competing sellers in your indudsrty
2. threat of new entrants
3. barganing power that customers have
4. the barganing power that suppliers have
5. the potential for substitutes products

• economic value: contribution an investment makes toward enhancing profitability.
• Archetectural value: investsments ability to extend infrastructures capabilities to meet business needs today and in the future.
• operational value: investments impact on meeting business processing requirements.
• regulatory and compliance value: investments ability to meet requirements for control, security, and integrity by a governing body or key customer.

1. choosing: conveying new insights.
2. matching: match to economic oppertunities
3. executing: business innovation and growth
4. assessing: external customer value and internal client value.

 the interconnection of various structural elements to support an overall entity, such as an organization, city, or country

cities with good infrastructure are the most livable

employees pick firms with better facilities, management, and business processes.

challenges include power sources, but this can be fixed form using a dam or something like that.

used by organizations to support their decision making, business processes, and competitive strategy

• Consists of hardware, software, communication and collaboration networks, databases, facilities, and human resources
• 3 basic capabilities: processing, storage, and transmission of data

• input(used to enter information into a computer a keyboard and mouse on your computer, a fingerprint reader to let someone in a secure room, RFID scanners to track inventory in a warehouse) 

• processing (transform inputs into outputs
  - mobile computer devices and supercomputers)
• output technologies: deliver information to you in a useable format

  - computer monitor and printer

computers brain, called microprocessor. 

• performs operations of computer.
• responsible for llloading the operating system.
• all imputs digitalized and converted to binary code and processed by CPU
• 3 factors influence speed: system clock system, registers, and cache speed.

Temporary storage for current calculations

• RAM(random access memory) volatile= memory that loses its contents when turned off.

methods for permanently storing data to a large capacity storage component.

 EX: hard drive, flash drive

nonvolitile memeory; memory that does not lose its data after powering off.

collection of programs that control the basic operations of computer hardware.

• operating system: coordinates the interaction between hardware devices, users, software, and peripherals; written in programming language; makes computer operations unobtrusive; performs day-to-day simple tasks

software used to perform specific tasks that the user needs to accomplish; interacts with systems software and hardware.

• personal productivity software-microsoft office
• supply chain managment systems
• consumer management systems

software for which the source code is freely available for use and/or modification. Example: Linux.

1. Super computer: 1.   = the most expensive and powerful; primarily used to assist in solving massive research and scientific problems.
2. Mainframe: 1.   very lg. computer that is used as the main, central computing system by major corporations and government agencies.
3. Server:   any computer on the network that enables access to files, databases, communications, and other services available to users of the network; it typically has a more advanced microprocessor, more memory, a larger cache, and more disk space than a single user computer.
4. Workstation:computers with lower performance than mainframes but higher performance than microcomputers that are designed for medical, engineering, or animation and graphic design uses, and are optimal for visualization and rendering of 3D models.
5. microcomputers:   used for personal computing, for small business computing, and as workstations attached to lg. computers or other sm. computers in the network.

a secondary storage device usually located inside the system unit of a computer for storing data “hard disk”.

• fast speeds and used for data that is accessed frequently.

collections of related data organized in a way that facilitates data searches, are vital to an organization’s operations and often are vital to competitive advantages and successes

the physical pathway used to carry network information (wires/cables)

the transmission capacity of a computer or communications channel measured in bits per second. 

made up of servers, clients, and peers.

• Server = computer on the network that access files, prints, communicates, and provides other services to users.
• Client = any computer that uses services provided by the server.  

   

• peer:= any computer that may both request and provide services

• Private branch exchange = (within a business) a telephone system connecting one telephone extension to another within the system and connecting the internal extensions to the outside telephone network.  
• Personal area network = (under 10 meters) wireless network used to exchange data b/w computing devices using short-range radio communication.
• Local area network= (In a building) allows computer users to connect w/ each other to share info and peripheral devices like printers.

   

• Campus area network= (multiple buildings) used at universities

   

• Metropolitan area network = (area of a city) limited geographic scope, combines LAN and high speed fiber-optic technologies

• Wide area network = (worldwide) connects two or more LANs.

Wireless local area networks = local area network using a wireless transmission protocol

Wi-Fi networks = wireless LAN based on 802.11 family of standards

Internet = global network; type of wide area network

defense advance research project acency: researched ways to interconnect networks of various kinds.

advanced reasearch projects agency network: wide are networks linking universitys and research facilities. 

• Packet switching: allows millions of users to send large and small data across the internet concurrently.
• networks limit the amt of data that can be trasferred each turn to minimize delays.
• Each packet is headed with the address of the sender and receiver.
• many packets to deliver a document are sent different ways and are reassembled at destination.

transmission control protocol/ internet protocol

(TCP/IP)

• Protocol used to sent data around the internet, efficient and reliable way to send data.
• Router: forewards the packets.
• IP Datagram: data packet that conforms to the internet protocol specification.
• IP address: number address assigned to all computers and routers connected to internet, acts as destination address of the device and allows the network to route messages to the proper destination.
• TCP: guarantees IP delivery by checking to see if datagrams got lost in route, collects datagrams and reassembles them in order, and gets rid of any duplicates.

text-based, menu-driven interface that enables users to access a lg number of varied internet resources as if they were in folders and menus on their computer

 text in a web doc. that is linked to other text or files.

web page is a form of hypertext

= standard regulating how servers process user requests for web pages

used to locate web pages

• Three parts: 
• Domain: term that helps identify the company (google)
• top level domain: .edu, .gov, .com, .org, .net
• Host name: www.

1. Vacuum tubes (1946-1958) = mainframe era starts; ENIAC and UNIVAC developed.
2. Transistors (1958-1964) = mainframe grows; UNIVAC grows.
3. Integrated circuits (1964 – 1990) = personal computer era; IBM 360; microprocessor rev. (Intel, Apple, Micro., IBM PC)

    

4. Multimedia PCs (1990 – 2000) = interpersonal computing era; high speed networks/microprocessor; more storage; low cost; better video/audio.

    

5. Widespread internet (2000 – now) = internetworking era; prices drop more; performance expands; unlimited access to internet

organizations “rent” resources such as processing, data storage, or networking from an external provider on a as-needed basis; organization pays for the services used.

• good for maintaing changing demand
• good for controlling cost.

• Benefits of scalability = the ability to adapt to increases/decreases in demand for processing or data storage.

enables convenient access to shared pool of computing resources that can be released with minimal effort.

• Helps transform IT services from capital expenditure to operational expenditure.  
• resources added on as needed basis
• data can be processed, transmitted and stored on the cloud.

1. on demand self service- access on demand just need a credit card.
2. rapid elasticity: can be scaled up or down instantly with out expensive equipment.
3. ubiquitous network access: accessable from anywhere.
4. resource pooling: many resources to many customers.
5. measured service: pay for what you use
6. service models: many services on the cloud, you pick what you want access to.
7. software as a service: uses aplication via cloud infrastructure, google mail.
8. platform as a service: control over app but not the infrastructure under it.
9. infrastructure as a service: 1.   only the basic capabilities of processing, storing, and networking are provided; customer has most control over resources; greatest flexibility (Amazon Web Services)

offered on a commercial basis by the cloud service provider

Operational expenditures, flexible, standardized, elastic, fast and easy setup, pay per use

internal to an organization

Availability, capital expenditures, increased efficiency, privacy, standardized, control, security, centralized

• Scalability – will they be able to meet needs of storage size
• Viability – will they survive in the long run
• Diversity of Offerings – will they offer services that are needed
• Support Policies – how will issues be resolved
• Availability/reliability – efficient backups, sufficient bandwidths
• Security – will data be secure from intruders
• Compliance – do services comply with standards/rules
• Privacy – will customer data be protected
• Openness – is it easy to move data b/w service providers

combining the computing power of a lg. number of sm. independent networked computers into a cohesive system in order to solve problems that only supercomputers were previously capable of solving.

• Used to overcome cost of using a supercomputer
• Makes used of distributed resources like cloud computing does
• Resources in a grid are applied to a single large problem
• Large computing tasks are broken into sm. chunks that are completed by individual computers and the calculations are made during each computers idle time
• Useful for companies on a global scale b/c computers are idle at different times in the different time zones

= the location of relatively sm. servers close to the end users to save resources in terms of network bandwidth and provide improved access time.

• Moves data away from central location of a network to the “edges”
• Improves speed of online sites
• Saves bandwidth and offers better performance with less wait time

the exchange of goods, services, and money among firms, between firms and their customers, and between customers, supported by communication technologies and, in particular, the Internet.

• anyone can set up a consumer account online

• largest form of EC in terms of revenue
• business to suppliers and intermediaries

• benefits to employees can be changed over the web

the use of the internet as an inexpensive means for distributing an organization’s information.  

Virtual storefronts are availiable everywhere.

outline of business's strategic direction that shows how objective will be achived.

• what company does
•  how company uniquely does things
• how does the company get paid
• revenue model: how firm generates revenue
• value proposition: utility the product has to offer
• competetive environment: exisiting players in market
• marketing strategy: promotion plan
• management team: background

• affiliate marketing: paying business's that refer customers to you.
• subscription based: monthly fee, Netflix
• transaction fees: commishion is paid in aiding the transaction
• traditional sales: just buying from a web site
• web advertising: free product or servince but it is supported through advertising.

B2B electronic commerce.

computer to computer communication following standards set by american national standards institute.

• only used in large businesses because it is expensive.
• secure comunication of propriatary info in B2B. better than internet because there is more security.

private websites used by companies for B2B activities, expecially for managing supply chain.

• only authorized users can access it.
• uses internet to connect and firewalls to protect information.
• benefits companies by improving timelyness and accuracy of information.

access points through which a business partner can access secure and propriatary information from an organization.

• consumer portal: automate processes that occur before, during and after transactions have been made.
• Supplier portal:same as consumer but with supplier.

B2E electronic commerce. 

• an internal, private network using web technologies to facilitate the secured transmission of proprietary information within an organization, thereby limiting access to authorized users within the organization.

• ·       Benefit companies for spreading company information, employee training, project management, collaboration, administering benefits, retirement plans and other human resource applications

  ·       Used to facilitate the transmission of info within an organization

  ·       Benefits: timely and accurate info, global reach, cross-platform integration, low-cost deployment, positive return on investment

  ·       All intranets are behind firewalls of the company

  ·       Users access them on the company web browsers

  ·       Communication on intranets do not travel across the internet; confined to the companies boundaries

  ·       Employees can access them using VPNs when they are traveling/working out of the office

online sale of goods or services.

• Reverse pricing systems:customers state the product they are looking for and the price they are willing to pay. (priceline.com)
• Menu-driven pricing: companies set the prices for products. consumers can accept or reject them.
• no physical shelf space, comparison is esay on internet, can conduct business anywhere.
• negative efects are the time for delivery and people cannot try out products like in a real store.

• tools allowing users to send files, documents, and pictures.
• fax, email, voice mail, blogs, wikis, and static websites.

• tools allowing users to have rich interactions. 
• instant messaging, internet forums, and video confrencing.

• tools used to facilitate virtual meetings and manage group activities.
• electronic calandars, knowledge management systems, intranets, online document systems.

a family of syndication feeds used to publish the most current blogs, podcasts, video and news stories. Pretty much the most recent info all in one area of a web site.

the use of information systems to gather and analyze information from internal and external sources in order to make better decisions

·       To stay ahead of their competition

·       Information gained from the use of systems: How effective was this year’s promotion, which customer segments should we focus on, which customers are most likely to switch to competitor

·       Allows businesses to respond to threats and plan for future

·       Helps organizations make choices in complex, changing market

·       Provides quick return to react to problems quickly

collections of related data organized in a way that facilitates data searches --- vital to success

·       Databases are used to track inventory/transactions, used in electronic commerce, used to communicate w/ customers

·       Product information is pulled from a database and displayed online for the customer ordering it/ shipping information is pulled from database if you order off the same site

·       The key to effectively designing online commerce is the effective management of online data

Database Management Systems = software application in which you create, store, organize, and retrieve data from a single database or several databases

·       Example: Microsoft Access

·       Entity = something you collect data about (people/classes) musts entities are in tables; each row = record; each column = attribute

·       Record = a collection of related attributes about a single entity

·       Attribute = individual piece of information about an entity in a database (name and social sec # = attributes of a person)

Most databases under a DSMS consist of multiple tables or entitles organized in several files – can manage thousands of tables at the same time by linking tables in a single system  --- makes it easier to find data to change, delete, access

·       People used to have redundant databases with different files containing the same info so if info changed it was tedious to change all the files with that info

·       DSMS prevents unnecessary and problematic redundancies of the data and keeps data separate from the applications programming code --- database doesn’t have to change if application changes

Advantages to Database Approach:

·       Program-data independence – easier to evolve/change software

·       Minimal data redundancy – single copy of data; less storage needed

·       Improved data consistency – reduces inconsistencies

·       Improved data sharing – deploy and control data across central system

·       Increased productivity of application development – data standards make it easier to build and modify applications

·       Enforcement of standards – central system makes it easy to enforce rules

·       Increased security – enforce access restrictions

·       Improved data quality

·       Improved data accessibility – for people within and outside of organization

·       Reduced program maintenance – data changed in central database is replicated through all applications

Risks/Costs of Database Approach:

·       New, specialized personal – hiring new personal

·       Installation and management cost and complexity – high front-up cost

·       Conversion costs – converting existing systems (legacy systems) to new database approach

·       Need for explicit backup and recovery

·       Organizational conflict – ownership of the data (creating, naming, modification, and deletion) can create conflict

the type of a attribute in a database. helps organize data, complete calculations and allocate storage space. 

• normalization: makes sure there is no duplications and that the data is related to the entity.
• most data is now entered automatically instead of by a clerk.

a compilation of data from the database that is organized and produced in printed format 

most common language used to interface with databases --- requires time and practice to write complex queries 

·       a simpler way of interfacing with the database; enable us to fill out a grid or template; allows data to be requested by providing a sample or description of the types of data the user would like to see (uses drag-and-drop) 

the systems used to interact with customers and run a business in real time

·       Examples: sales order processing, reservation systems

·       Fast customer response --- fundamental to having a successful internet-based business

the immediate automated responses to the requests of users

·       Designed to handle multiple simultaneous transactions from customers

·       Transactions have a fixed number of inputs (name, card info, address)

·       OLPT is primarily used to gather new info, transform info, update info

·       Common transaction: receive personal info, process order, generate sale receipts

·       System performance --- based on which technology is chosen to process transactions and how the data is organized

·       Real power of an organization comes from analyzing the aggregation of data from data systems (data mining) using methods like online analytic processing 

systems designed to support decision making based on stable point-in-time or historical data

·       Many companies replicate all transactions on a second database server so that analytical processing does not slow customer transactions; replication takes place during off-peak hours

·       the data deemed the most important in the operation of a business; shared among multiple units; the “actors” in an organizations transactions

·       Master data management is a management issue, not technology

·       Deciding the master data is a challenge, but once agreed upon, applications can be based on the same version of the truth --- a data warehouse is used to integrate data from various operational systems

·       an integration of multiple, large databases and other information sources into a single repository or access point that is suitable for direct querying, analysis, and processing

o   Stores and distributes data from internal and external sources

o   Supports online analysis of sales, inventory, and other data

o   Purpose: put key business info in hands of decision makers

o   Can use up to hundred of gigabytes or terabytes of data

o   Run on mainframes and cost millions of dollars

·       Extraction, transformation, and loading are used to consolidate data from operational systems into a data warehouse

o   Extraction – from various different systems

o   Transformation – data is cleansed and manipulated to fit the needs of the analysis

§  Data cleansing – process of standardizing the format of data retrieved from different systems and removing inaccurate records

o   Loading --- into the warehouse

·       Cloud computing allows data warehousing to be offered as a service

a data warehouse that is limited in scope

·       Many organizations have created multiple data marts instead of having one data warehouse to store all data

·       Popular in small and medium sized business and departments of large businesses because developing own data warehouse is too pricey

·       Contains ten of gigabytes instead of hundreds of gigabytes that data warehouse hold

·       Can be used on less powerful hardware

·       Cost of 1 million instead of cost of 10 million for data warehouse

·       Business need information presented to them as the right time --- this info is presented as reports based on the data stored in the database

Scheduled Reports = reports produced at predefined intervals to support routine decisions (daily, weekly, monthly)

Drill-down reports = reports that provide greater detail, so as to help analyze why a key indicator is not at an appropriate level or why an exception occurred

Exception reports = reports that highlight situations that are out of the normal range

Key-indicator reports = reports that provide a summary of critical info on a recurring schedule

·       If decision makers have needs that are unforeseen --- use ad hoc query

Ad hoc queries = queries answering unplanned info requests to support a non routine decision; typically not saved to be run again

·       Provide easy to use interface; allows managers to run queries and reports w/o having to know the query language or the structure of the data

process of quickly conducting complex, multidimensional analyses of data stored in a database that is optimized for retrieval, using graphical software tools; designed to retrieve data fast

·       Analyze data on different dimensions

·       OLAP server = chief component --- understands how data is organized in the database and has special functions for analyzing the data

·       Increase retrieval of data speed

·       OLAP preaggregate data so only the subset of data necessary for the queries is extracted --- greatly improves performance time

·       Data is organized in measures and dimensions

·       --- complements OLAP by discovering “hidden” predicative relationships in the data

o   Data mining applications can analyze data to identify characteristics of customers, purchasing patterns, and fraudulent card transactions through multiprocessor computers and complicated algorithms

o   Algorithms search for patterns, trends, rules

o   important step before algorithms run because it reduces the complexity of data to be analyzed; done by:

§  Roll data cube into smallest level needed

§  Reduce the dimensionality

§  Divide continuous measures into small intervals

o   an application of data mining used commonly; a technique used to find associations or correlations among sets of items

§  Usually contains a percentage indicating support of the item and a confidence level indicating the reliability 

uses predictive analysis to help identify trends or predict business outcomes; whereas business intelligence is good for knowing what is, predictive analysis is good for knowing what will be

·       predictive analysis is dependent on stat models and their assumptions

·       many users today are able to get self-service answers w/o relying on support staff with business analytics solutions

special purpose information system designed to support organizational decision making related to a particular reoccurring problem

·       Used by managerial level employees – solve semi structured problems

·       Uses “what-if” analysis = allows for hypothetical changes to the data associated with a problem and observe how they can influence the results

·       Microsoft Excel

·       Data fro DDS comes from TPSs

·       Uses models to manipulate data --- example: a formula to calculate average it a model; linear regression is a model

·       Input (data and models) Þ Process (interactive processing of data and models; simulations; forecasts) Þ Output (graphs and textual reports; feedback) 

science of enabling info technologies to stimulate human intelligence as well as gaining sensing capabilities

·       Great strides have been made --- the development of several different intelligence systems for various applications, the systems emulate and enhance human capabilities

3 types: expert systems, neural networks, intelligent agents

·       uses reasoning methods based on knowledge about a specific problem domain in order to provide advice --- human expert advice is encoded; asks you a series of questions and matches responses with a solution; rules are classified in “if-then” format; used when expertise about a particular problem is rare/expensive

o   Inputs: request for help/answers to questions

o   Processing: pattern matching/inferencing

o   Outputs: recommendation/advice

o   Users: midlevel managers

o   Fuzzy logic --- allows ES rules to be represented in subjective values to handle a problem with incomplete info

·       composed of a network of processing neurons/elements that work in parallel to complete a task, attempt to approximate the functioning of the human brain and can learn by example

o   Gives ability to adapt to different circumstances and deal with noisy data; compare new data to these learned patterns to make a recommendation

o   Trained by categorizing a large database of past info for patterns

·       bot) =  program that works in the background to provide some service when a specific event occurs

o   User agents = automatically perform a task for the user

o   Buyer agents = search to find best price for a product

o   Monitoring/sensing agents = track key info and notify user when condition changes

o   Data mining agents = constantly analyze data warehouses to detect changes and notify users when change occurs

o   Web crawlers = constantly browse web for specific info

o   Destructive agents = designed by spammers to farm email addresses off websites 

the processes an organization uses to gain the greatest value from its knowledge assets; understand relationships b/w different pieces of information

collection of technology tools that include communication technologies as well as info storage and retrieval systems to enable the generation, storage, sharing, and management of tacit and explicit knowledge assets

all the underlying skills, routines, practices, principles, formulas, methods, heuristics, intuitions, databases, manuals, textbooks, diagrams, displays, computer files, proposals, etc. 

knowledge that can be documented, archive, and codified often with the help of info systems; much of what is stored in DSMS

processes and procedures that are located in a person’s mind on how to effectively perform a particular task

·       Reflect an organization’s best practices = procedures/processes that are widely accepted as being among the most effective/efficient 

Benefits of Knowledge management systems:

·       Enhanced innovation/creativity

·       Improved customer service, shorter product development, streamlined operations

·       Enhanced employee retention

·       Improved organizational performance

Challenges:

·       Getting employee buy-in

·       Focusing too much on technology

·       Forgetting the goal

·       Dealing with knowledge overload and obsolesce

·       People using it will be working in completely different locations

·       Goal: to facilitate the exchange of needed knowledge between separate parties who are located in different areas but working to solve same problem

·       used to connect with people in other locations---- attempts to find groups of people who work together, find people who don’t collaborate but should, and find experts in particular subjects

·       specific portal used to share knowledge collected into a repository with employees (intranet), with customers (extranet), and public (internet)

= display of complex data relationships using a variety of graphical methods, enabling managers to quickly grasp the results of the analysis

used to present key performance indicators and other summary info used by managers/executives to make decisions

·       Push reporting, exception reporting and alerts, and pull reporting

·       Provide decision makers with overview of key performance indicators/stats/trends (push) but also alert user of items that need immediate attention (alerts) and ability to examine root causes (pull)

·       Soft data = textual news stories and other non analytical info (involves text mining or input from personal)

·       Hard data = facts and numbers

: the combination of various analysis techniques and interactive visualization to solve complex problems

·       Strengths of human mind/reasoning and machine’s retrieval and analysis are combined

type of visualization system growing in popularity and used in digital dashboards

·       Creating, storing, analyzing, and managing geographically referenced info

·       Google maps

·       Help to create models to tell where business should locate themselves

·       Combine geographic, demographic, and other data to target customers

·       Layers = can represent specific info (roads, traffic patterns, weather, houses, etc.) so you can add or remove layers to see what is relevant

·       Thematic maps --- color code based on trends (rate of crime in an area)

·       GISs are used by government and organizations to communicate with stakeholders; include map on a company’s website and communicate to stockholders about expansion plans/store density

involved in generating revenue. 

• order to cash
• procedure to pay
• made to stock 
• made to order

·      amazon, sales are convenience stores)

Create customer record Þcheck creditÞcreate orderÞallocate stockÞpick, pack, and shipÞprepare and send invoiceÞcollect payment

·      Errors in this can result in: manual errors when inputting info leading to a high rate of disputes, ineffective collection process, and defecting customers 

·      = processes involved with purchasing goods from external suppliers/vendors  (amazon)

Prices and terms negotiation Þ issue purchase order Þreceive goods Þ receive invoice Þ settle payment

·      Errors in this can result in: from errors in purchase orders and invoice processing which inhibits close relationships with vendors, and can increase cost per transaction

Made to Stock: procure inputs Þschedule productionÞproductionÞquality controlÞstock product

·      Goods are produced based on forecasts and are stocked in a warehouse (push-based approach)

·      Mass produced goods (tvs and home appliances)

·      Hold the stock items and push out to customers when needed

Made to Order: process sales order Þdesign/engineer productÞprocure inputs Þschedule productionÞproductionÞquality controlÞship product

·      Raw materials, subcomponents, and accessories are procured based on forecasts but the actual manufacturing doesn’t start until sale orders are received (pull-based approach)

·      Customized goods, expensive, low-volume goods

performed by the functional areas of business that process inputs and produce outputs

·      Inbound logistics (receiving), operations and manufacturing (transform from input to output), outbound logistics (shipping), marketing and sales (presales), customer service 

activities that enhance core activities to take place

·      Administrative activities (systems and processes), infrastructure (hardware and software), human resources, technology development, procurement (purchasing of goods and services that are required as inputs to the primary activities)

connections of internal value chains

·      information flows from one company’s value chain to another value chain

·      information systems can be used to streamline an organization’s internal value chain as well as coordinate one company’s value chain with another company’s

·      supply chain = a “river” where physical goods flow from a source to a destination

·      upstream information flow = information that is received from another organization

·      downstream information flow = information that is produced by a company and sent along to another organization 

systems that focus on the specific needs of individual departments are typically not designed to communicate with other systems in the organization

·      Run on a variety of computing hardware platforms (mainframe/midrange computers)

·      Not very helpful when people need to communicate info between different systems in the business

·      Happens when applications are running on different computing platforms that are hard to integrate together – communication is too difficult

·      Consolidated info storage for different business activities

·      Enterprise systems allow companies to integrate info across operations on a company-wide basis

·      Enterprise – wide info systems = an integrated suite of business applications for virtually every department, process, and industry, allowing companies to integrate info across operations on a company-wide basis using one large database

other applications either fast approaching or beyond end of their useful life within the organization

·      Can be problematic when info from multiple departmental systems is required to support business processes and decision making

·      If inventory and order-entry systems are not integrated personal will have to access two separate applications

·      If inbound logistics and operations depend on different legacy systems, info cannot readily flow from one activity to another

Separate info storage files for different business activities

support financial, business processes, and decision making within an organization

coordinate business processes with customers, suppliers, business partners, and others who operate outside an organization’s boundaries

·      Interorganizational system (IOS) = communicates across organizational boundaries; streamlines the flow of info from one company’s operations to another

·      Sharing info between companies helps companies adapt more quickly to changing market conditions

·      applications written by a third-party vendor for the needs of many different users and organizations (Microsoft Office)

o   Vendor can make changes and distribute new versions to all the customers

·      applications that are designed for a specific organization

o   Developmental costs are higher because of time, money, and resources that go into design and development

components that can be selected and implemented as needed; Microsoft, SAP, and Oracle offer different modules

·      Each module is designed to replace a legacy system (finance, human resources, etc.

·      Modules by different vendors may vary in business processes and what they are called

·      Vanilla version = features and modules that an enterprise system comes with out of the box

o   New vanilla version must be constantly upgraded to accommodate the company-specific customizations --- can take a lot of time and money

·      Customization = provides either additional software that is integrated with the enterprise system or consists of direct changes to the vanilla application

·      Modules have similar designs, screens, layouts etc. but their functions are different

the systematic, structured improvement approach by all or part of an organization whereby people critically examine, rethink, and redesign business processes in order to achieve dramatic improvements in one or more performance measures such as quality, cycle time, or cost

--- BPM is similar to quality improvement approaches like total quality management and continuous process improvement because it is intended to be cross-functional

Basic steps in BPM:

·      Develop a vision for the organization that specifies business objectives, such as reducing costs, shortening the time it takes to get products to the market, improving quality etc.

·      Indentify the critical processes that need to be redesigned

·      Understand/measure the existing processes as a baseline for improvements

·      Identify ways that information systems can be used to improve processes

·      Design and implement a prototype for new processes

Conditions that lead to a successful business process improvement effort:

·      Support by senior management

·      Shared vision by all organizational members

·      Realistic expectations

·      Participants empowered to make changes

·      The right people participating

·      Sound management practices

·      Appropriate funding

When companies realize that legacy systems can create dramatic inefficiencies within their business, they must integrate legacy information on a company-wide basis --- convert info into a large centralized database --- gives personnel access to accurate up to date info --- info can be shared throughout the organization across different platforms with ERP (enterprise resource planning)

ERP Core Components = support the internal activities of the organization for producing their products and services; typically implemented using a building-block approach through a series of modules

·      Financial management

·      Operations management

·      Human resource management

ERP Extended Components = support the primary external activities of the organization for dealing with suppliers and customers --- focus primarily on customer relationship management and supply chain management

Any organization considering the installation of a ERP system must consider the different options available in terms of systems offered by different vendors and in terms of industry-specific solutions offered by software vendors; consider:

·      How far the different modules can support existing business processes

·      Which modules may have to be added

·      The extent to which existing business processes have to be modified to fit the modules

Configuration = activity to be performed during any ERP implementation

·      Widely underestimated

·      System must be configured to the way the company does business and the associated business rules

ERP limitations:

·      Not well suited for managing value system activities

·      Designed primarily to service internal business activities

·      Other systems are needed if a company wants to integrate their value chains with the business activities of their partners, suppliers, and customers

40 – 60 percent of companies that take on enterprise system implementations do not fully realize the results that they had hoped for

More than 85 percent of IT executives of companies who have installed ERP systems regard the system as core to their business – cannot live without it

Recommendations for implementing a ERP system:

·      Secure executive sponsorship

·      Get help from outside experts

·      Thoroughly train users

·      Take a multidisciplinary approach to implementations

·      Look beyond ERP

A recent trend is to move away from such large, comprehensive systems to service – oriented architecture (SOA) = business processes are broken down into individual components that are designed to achieve the desired results for the service consumer

·      More quickly react to changing business needs

·      Services must have:

o   Reusability – usable in many different application

o   Interoperability – work with any other service

o   Componentization – simple and modular

a collection of companies and processes involved in moving a product from the suppliers of raw materials to the suppliers of intermediate components to final production, and ultimately, to the customer

·      Collaborating and sharing info with suppliers has become a strategic necessity for business success

·      Companies get materials/components from “upstream” suppliers

·      Those suppliers work with their own suppliers --- the supply chain goes on and on with more suppliers getting involved

·      The “downstream” side of the chain moves products to many different customers

·      Important to constantly monitor the extended supply chain because if one supplier has an issue, it effects everyone else : could be a shortage of supply or a natural disaster that prohibits exchange

Supply network = more accurate way to describe the flow of materials from suppliers to customers because of the various interrelated parties involved in moving raw materials in intermediate products to finished products

Example: An iphone is not manufactured by Apple --- the different components of the phone are sourced from many different companies in the supply network and the final product is assembled in a factory and then they are shipped out

·      Foxconn = largest electronics manufacturer in the world (China)

o   The factory has high suicide rate from workers

·      only order raw materials when they are needed for production because keeping inventory that is not being used in costly and does not add value; smaller orders in higher frequency --- investment in storage space and inventory is minimized

o   Heavily dependent on tight cooperation between all partners on the supply network

·      suppliers to a manufacturer manage the manufacture’s inventory levels based on pre-established service rates

o   manufacturer allows supplier to monitor stock levels and ongoing sales data

o   manufacturer shares real time sales data with their suppliers who maintain inventory levels based on pre-established agreements

·      = transparency and accountability within the supply chain can help organizations save costs and create a good image

o   Can lead to negative effects of product recall and sustainable business practices

ripple effects, forecast errors and safety stocks multiply when moving up the supply chain such that a small fluctuation in demand for an end product can make a tremendous change in demand for materials further up the supply chain

shortcuts can be taken or standards may not be being met --- some issues are caught along the supply chain and some can go unnoticed

·      may regard treatment of employees or environmental practices --- Foxconn is one of the few factories that can meet the high demand for products like iphones but they have a high suicide rate because of working conditions

o   HP is one of the first to take a green approach to supply chain and reduce greenhouse gas emissions 

systems that improve the coordination of suppliers, product or service production, and distribution

·      Helps in reducing inventory costs

·      Enhancing revenue through improved customer service

·      SCM is often integrated with ERP

·      SCM is delivered in the form of modules --- companies can select and implement the modules that they need for their own business requirements

·      Examples of modules: demand planning and forecasting, safety stock planning, distribution planning, supply network collaboration, materials management, manufacturing execution, order promising, transportation execution, warehouse management, supply chain analysis

·      Difference between SCM and ERP: ERP are used to optimize business processes within organizations, SCM improve business processes that span the organizational boundaries

·      SCM is used mostly by large organizations with complex supplier network  --- but to improve business companies should extend the system to include all trading partners regardless of size in order to provide a central location for info integration

·      Companies are getting reluctant to share data along the supply chain --- intellectual property theft, revealing strategy, etc.

·      SCP = Supply Chain Planning = development of various resource plans to support efficient and effective production of goods/services

·      Modules in SCP/SCM must support one of the following:

o   Demand planning and forecasting – use historical data to create forecasts; leads to the development of the overall demand forecast

o   Distribution planning – leads to the development of the overall transportation schedule

o   Production scheduling – leads to the development of the production plan

o   Inventory and safety stock planning – leads to the development of the sourcing plan

the execution of SCP

·      Puts SCM planning into motion

·      Involves the movement of: product flow, info flow, financial flow

·      Product flow = movement of goods from the supplier to production, production to distribution, distribution to consumer

o   Refers to forward flow but also backwards if defective products are returned

·      Information flow = movement of info along the supply chain (order processing, delivery status)

o   Requires complete removal of paper info

·      Financial flow = movement of financial assets throughout the supply chain; payment schedules; consignment

o   Links between electronic banking and financial institutions

ability to track products as they move through the supply chain; also to foresee external events

·      External event examples: extreme weather, political issues, location of factory, labor contracts expires

= use of key performance indicators to monitor the performance of the entire supply chain including sourcing, planning, production, and distribution

extent to which a company’s supply chain is focusing on minimizing procurement, production, and transportation costs; sometimes at the price of customer service 

extent to which a company’s supply chain is focusing on maximizing customer service regardless of the costs

·      Supply chain strategy requires a balance of efficiency and effectiveness

a data presentation standard first specified by the World Wide Web Consortium; purpose to develop open standards for the web

·      Allows designers of web documents to create customized tags

·      Enables definition, transmission, validation, and interpretation of data b/w applications and organizations

·      Many people think XML is becoming the standard for automating data exchange --- holds promise with ability to inject more info into the process

·      XML does not specify a specific formatting, it specifies the rules for tagging electronic documents

·      XBRL = extensible business reporting language = XML based specification for publishing financial information

o   There are many variation of XML like XBRL

·      XML is complicated and requires specific knowledge and expertise

starting to replace the standard bar codes you find in many products

·      Uses electromagnetic energy to transmit info between a reader and a processing device (RDID Tag)

·      Used on clothing, pets, cars, keys, missiles, etc.

·      Range in size

·      Can be as simple as the name of the owner to very complex info

·      Eliminate the need for line-in-sight reading

·      They are readable regardless of the objects location/ visible or not visible

·      Passive tags = small and inexpensive; range of a few feet

·      Active tags = include a battery, transmit hundreds of feet

– strategy to create and maintain lasting relationships with customers by focusing on the downstream information flows

·      Attract customers, create customer loyalty, portray a positive image

·      CRM can focus on driving revenue and cutting costs

·      Benefits of a CRM system:

o   Enables 24/7/365 operation

o   Individualized service

o   Improved information

o   Fast problem identification/resolution

o   Faster processes

o   Improved integration

o   Improved product development

o   Improved planning

·      CRM must include enterprise-wide changes:

o   Policy and business process changes

o   Customer service change

o   Employee training changes

o   Data collection, analysis, and sharing changes

·      Architecture of a CRM:

o   Operational CRM – systems for automating fundamental business processes to interact with customers: marketing, sales, support

§  Sales force automation (SFA) = systems that support day-to-day sales activities of an organization (order processing/tracking, account, opportunity, sales, territory, and contact management, customer preferences, sales forecasting) --- allows mangers to track sales performance measures

§  Customer service and support (CSS) = systems that automate service requests, complaints, product returns, and informational requests

ú  Use CIC = customer interaction center to have multiple communication channels b/w customers and company; allows customers to use variety of self-service and assisted technology to interact with organization

§  Enterprise marketing management (EMM) = improves the management of promotional campaigns – using many channels like FB, twitter, phone, email, to direct customers back to web sites

ú  Making sure that the right message is sent to the right group of people --- targeting your market

o   Analytical CRM – systems for analyzing customer behavior and perceptions in order to improve business intelligence; necessary to indentify new opportunities and provide superior customer service; increase cross-selling or up-selling (selling more profitable products or popular products to different markets)

§  Data warehouses

§  Data mining and visualization

§  Business intelligence

§  ERP systems

§  Sales trends are identified by zip codes, states, regions so those specific markets can be targeted

o   Collaborative CRM – systems for providing effective communication with the customer and the entire organization; facilitate the sharing of info across various departments of an organization

§  Sharing customer info on a company-wide basis

§  Flexible to support routine and non routine events

§  Improve info quality and identify products/services a customer may be interested in

§  Enhances communication with:

ú  greater customer focus

ú  lower communication barriers

ú  increased information integration

Goal of CRM: 360-degree view of the customer to maximize the outcome of sales and marketing campaigns and identify the most profitable customers

·      Digital dashboards allow key CRM performance indicators to be seen

Ethical Concerns with CRM:

·      Can be seen as invading customer privacy and coercive sales practices

·      Relies heavily on historical data to categorize customers

·      Is communication getting too personal?

·      If customers feel like a company knows too much about them, the personal communication goals can backfire on the company

software used to create design drawings and 3D models during product design process

software used to complement or replace the process of building prototypes during product development 

use of info systems to control the production process of a product

the process of identifying, qualifying and presenting the value provided by a system.

arguments made for BC:

• Faith: based on beliefs.
• Fear: based on if system not implemented firm will lose out.
• Fact: based on data and quantitative analysis. 

cost of acquisition and also all the costs of ongoing matinence and use of that system.  

two categories:

• nonreoccuring costs: one time costs.EX: site preperation and technology purchases.
• Reoccuring Costs: ongoing costs. EX: internet provider, salaries to people who maintain system.

a model describing the life of an information system from conception to retirement. SDLC has 5 stages:

1. systems planning and selection
2. Systems analysis
3. systems design
4. systems implementation and operation
5. systems maintenece

purchasing an existing system from an outside vendor such as IBM, HP or Enterprise Services. steps fo rexternal acquistion:

1. systems planning and selection
2. systems analysis
3. development of request for proposal
4. proposal evaluation
5. vendor selection 

a document that is used to tell vendors what your requirements are and to invite them to provide information about how they can meet those requirements. Areas covered by RFP:

• summary of existing system and applications
• system performance and features
• reliability, back up, and service requirements
• evaluation criteria
• timetable
• budget

• accidents and natural disasters
• outside intruders
• employees and consultants
• email with virisuses
• links to outside business associates

process in which you assess the value of the assets being protected, determine their likelyhood of being compromised, and compair the probable cost of their being compromised with the estimated costs of whatever protections you might have to take.  Three ways to react:

1. risk reduction: take counter measures to to protect your systems.
2. Risk acceptance:simply absorbing the damages and taking no counter measures.
3. risk trasferrence: having someone else absorb the risk, such as by investing in insurance or by outsourcing certian fucntions to another organization.