Blog

Step 1: Compose two to three sentences about yourself (or more if you wish!) and post it to the discussion.  Change the title of your Response to reflect your name and location (ex: Jenny from Guam) and consider including such things as your major, how long you have been a university student, how many online classes you have taken, where you live, what you do for a living, passions/hobbies, kids, pets, etc.

Step 2: Please compose three or more sentences describing a library you have visited recently, either in person or virtually. The library can be on your base, college campus, or hometown.

What services does the library offer? Does it have an OPAC, Online Public Access Catalog? Does it lend materials; if so, what sort of materials? Does the library offer “reference” service; is there someone to answer questions? Does the library offer access to databases? Which databases? Can you access the databases from your home computer or only if you physically go to the library?

Since this is a university course, please be sure to use complete sentences, correct spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Berkeley Elementary School new information system
Paper , Order, or Assignment Requirements

Specific Tasks and Deliverable:

Use the background information you have gathered, along with some creative writing based on research you conduct on other private schools, to develop a business profile for Berkeley School.
Create an organization model of Berkeley School’s paid staff. Make sure you include not only the title/position, but the person’s name if known. You must create the chart using Microsoft Visio.
Generate a simple business process model to represent a process of Berkeley Elementary School. The model should include events, processes, and results.
Based on the organization chart that you created, give examples of information or reports that each person or position will need from a business support system. Place this information in a two-column table for easy identification and viewing.
At the conclusion of the preliminary investigation, you will deliver a written summary of the results and deliver a brief presentation to Berkeley School’s administration and probably its executive board. Prepare a list of recommendations that will help make your written and oral communications more effective. Put your list in priority order, starting with what you consider to be the most important suggestions.
Create a list of tasks that need to be completed for the new information system based on the information given in the case. Organize your list by estimating how long it will take to complete each task, and list each task’s predecessor task or tasks
Assign a personal resource (labor) to each task
Using the task list you developed, create a Gantt chart using Microsoft Project.
Create a PERT chart (called a network diagram in Microsoft Project) based on your task list.
Identify the critical path for the project.
List the system requirements with examples for each category. Review the information that you gathered, and assume that you will add your own ideas to achieve more effective outputs, inputs, processes, performance, and controls.
Draw an FDD that shows the main operations described in the fact-finding summary.
Prepare a context diagram for the new system.
Prepare a diagram 0 DFD for the new system.
Prepare a list of data stores and data flows needed for the system. Under each data store, list the data elements required.
Design all the necessary class objects for Berkeley’s new system including attributes and methods
Create an object relationship diagram for the system classes that you identified in Task 15 (above).
Design a use case model for a method in the new system. You will be presenting the system requirements document to Berkeley Elementary. Prepare the written documentation. Your oral and written presentation must include the following tasks:
Provide an overview of the proposed system, including costs and benefits, with an explanation of the various cost-and-benefit types and categories.
Develop a cost-benefit analysis, using payback analysis, ROI, and present value (assume a discount rate of 6 percent).
Provide a brief explanation of the various alternatives that should be investigated if development continues, including in-house development and any other possible strategies.
Design a Web portal with control buttons that lead to system components of your choosing. The design can be done using a Web development tool or Microsoft Visio. Components may include students, staff, classrooms, after-care, payments and any other area you think should be in a working system of your own design.
Design your own(do not use an existing form) a source document that parents would use to register their children for classes.
Suggest at least six types of data validation rules for data entry screens, explain how Berkeley Elementary should use each rule.
Create an ERD for the Berkeley School’s information system with relationship or cardinality notation.
Use realistic, sample data to populate the fields for at least three records in each table.
Design a system architecture for Berkeley Elementary School. Draw the design with Microsoft Visio.
Based on your chosen architecture from task 24, what physical and logical network topology would you recommend for Berkeley School?
Now that you have developed a systems architecture and physical topology for the network, make a list of the hardware that will be required for Berkeley
Write a system design specification document for Berkeley’s new information system.
Compile all your documents and drawings in a single report and submit the report. Make sure to justify all your design decisions with the material you reviewed to produce your annotated bibliographies.
Add a paragraph explaining the ethical implications of your project.

Operational Process Flow

Process improvement requires the analysis of processes and of data. In this Assignment, you will develop a process flow for an operational activity that takes place in your organization, whether or not you work in the field of health care.

To prepare for this Assignment:

Read the articles and watch the videos on process mapping and critical path. Identify an operational activity within your organization, or an organization with which you are familiar. These activities could include business planning, staff training initiatives, changes in case management, etc.

The Assignment:

Using what you have learned about process mapping in this week’s resources, create a process mapping flowchart to measure operational data of the activity using Microsoft PowerPoint or Microsoft Visio. Identify the important measurements within your process which provide operational data. Then, based on the process map you have created, list and describe these measurements and the critical path within your process, utilizing any additional process improvement tools necessary. Your completed Assignment should include the flowchart, a description of process measurements, the critical path analysis, and a 1- to 2-page summary.

Cost Accounting Systems
Paper , Order, or Assignment Requirements

Consider the places of employment of the team members or businesses with which the team is familiar and the industries in which they operate.

Create a 12-slide presentation, including detailed speaker notes that act as the script of the presentation or a voiceover, of an analysis of cost accounting systems. Include the following in the presentation:

Describe the purpose and elements of an effective cost accounting system.
Differentiate the 3 types of cost accounting systems (job order, process, and hybrid). Include detailed descriptions of each.
Determine when and why it is appropriate to use each type of system and include an explanation.
Recommend the best accounting system for the team members’ respective places of employment or a business where they are interested in pursuing employment. Provide a rationale for the recommendations. If not enough information is available for all companies, provide suggested considerations needed to make the determination.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSYTEMS
Paper , Order, or Assignment Requirements

True/False Questions (25 Points)

Instructions: Select True or False for each question

1. Developing a new product, fulfilling an order, and hiring a new employee are

examples of business processes.

2. Information technology (IT) consists of all the hardware that a firm needs to use in

order to achieve its business objectives, whereas information systems consist of all the

software and business processes needed.

3. Knowledge workers assist with paperwork at all levels of the firm.

4. A network requires at least two computers and a shared resource, such as a printer.

5. Intranets allow firms to work easily with third-party suppliers and vendors.

6. In the behavioral approach to information systems, technology is ignored in favor of

understanding the psychological, social, and economic impacts of systems.

7. Operational management is responsible for directing the day-to- day operations of the

business and therefore needs transaction-level information.

8. Deciding whether to introduce a new product line is the responsibility of an operational

manager.

9. Transaction processing systems are most commonly used by the senior management

level of an organization.

10. A hotel reservation system is a typical example of a management information

system.

11. Functional systems that support business processes within a single functional group,

such as human resources, are being phased out in favor of cross-functional systems.

12. Decision-support systems use internal information as well as information from

external sources.

13. Supply chain management systems are more externally oriented than enterprise

systems.

14. From the point of view of economics, information systems technology can be viewed

as a factor of production that can be substituted for traditional capital and labor.

15. In an efficient customer response system, digital answering systems are used to

monitor and respond to customer inquiries.

16. Mass customization is a form of mass production.

17. The effect of the Internet has been to raise bargaining power over suppliers.

18. In the age of the Internet, Porter's traditional competitive forces model is still at work,

but competitive rivalry has become much more intense.

19. In network economics, the more people that use Microsoft Office software and

related products, the greater its value.

20. The term business ecosystem describes the interplay between the various

organizational forces within a firm.

21. The use of Internet technologies allows companies to more easily sustain

competitive advantage.

22. Advances in data storage have made routine violation of individual privacy more

difficult.

23. Web sites use "cookies" in order to obtain the names and addresses of their visitors.

24. Spyware is software that comes hidden in downloaded applications and can track

your online movements.

25. The key concepts in patent law's determination of non-obviousness are originality,

novelty, and value.

Section B

Multiple Choice Questions (25 Points)

Instructions: Select the most suitable answer to each question

1. The six important business objectives of information technology are new products,

services, and business models; customer and supplier intimacy; survival; competitive

advantage; operational excellence; and

A) improved flexibility.

B) improved decision making.

C) improved business practices.

D) improved efficiency.

2. Dell Computer's use of information systems to improve efficiency and implement

"mass customization" techniques to maintain consistent profitability and an industry lead

illustrates which business objective?

A) improved flexibility

B) improved business practices

C) competitive advantage

D) survival

3. The move of retail banking to use ATMs after Citibank unveiled its first ATMs

illustrates the use of information systems to achieve which business objective?

A) improved efficiency

B) customer and supplier intimacy

C) survival

D) competitive advantage

4. The three activities in an information system that produce the information

organizations use to control operations are

A) information retrieval, research, and analysis.

B) input, output, and feedback.

C) input, processing, and output.

D) data analysis, processing, and feedback.

5. The fact that online advertising revenues are growing at 25 percent a year, while

offline traditional advertising revenues are growing at about 5 percent a year, suggests

that

A) Internet advertising is very inexpensive.

B) offline traditional advertising is not very effective.

C) the Internet is transforming the traditional advertising business model.

D) new technologies are more efficient at selling to customers.

6. From a business perspective, raw data is transformed systematically during various

stages, transforming it into valuable information, in a process called

A) the information value chain.

B) the IT value chain.

C) information processing.

D) feedback.

7. Which type of system would you use to change a production schedule if a key supplier

was late in delivering goods?

A) ESS

B) TPS

C) MIS

D) DSS

8. Which systems are typically a major source of data for other systems?

A) transaction processing systems

B) management information systems

C) executive support systems

D) decision-support systems

9. A relocation control system that reports summaries on the total moving, house-

hunting, and home financing costs for employees in all company divisions would fall into

the category of

A) knowledge management systems.

B) transaction processing systems.

C) executive-support systems.

D) management information systems.

10. Executive support systems are information systems that support the

A) long-range planning activities of senior management.

B) knowledge and data workers in an organization.

C) decision-making and administrative activities of middle managers.

D) day-to- day processes of production.

11. What is the most important function of an enterprise application?

A) increasing speed of communicating

B) enabling business functions and departments to share information

C) enabling a company to work collaboratively with customers and suppliers

D) enabling cost-effective e-business processes

12. You manage the IT department at a small startup Internet advertiser. You need to

set up an inexpensive system that allows customers to see real-time statistics such as

views and click-throughs about their current banner ads. Which type of system will most

efficiently provide a solution?

A) CRM

B) enterprise system

C) extranet

D) intranet

13. The use of digital technology and the Internet to execute the major business

processes in the enterprise is called

A) e-commerce.

B) e-business.

C) enterprise applications.

D) MIS.

14. The interaction between information systems and organizations is

A) primarily guided by the decision making of middle- and senior-managers.

B) a complex, two-way relationship mediated by factors such as the environment and

organizational structure.

C) driven by the microeconomic forces of capital and labor.

D) successfully managed when the organization's existing culture and goals are

seen as the driving force.

15. All of the following are major features of organizations that impact the use of

information systems EXCEPT for

A) business processes.

B) environments.

C) goals.

D) agency costs.

16. The costs incurred when a firm buys on the marketplace what it cannot make itself

are referred to as:

A) switching costs.

B) transaction costs.

C) procurement.

D) agency costs.

17. Which of the following statements is NOT true about information technology's

impacts on business firms?

A) It helps firms expand in size.

B) It helps firms lower the cost of market participation.

C) It helps reduce internal management costs.

D) It helps reduce transaction costs.

18. A substitute product of most concern for a cable TV distributor is

A) satellite TV.

B) broadcast TV.

C) satellite radio.

D) the Internet.

19. Which of the following industries has a low barrier to entry?

A) automotive

B) computer chip

C) restaurant

D) airline

20. Amazon's use of the Internet as a platform to sell books illustrates a tactical use of

information services for

A) low-cost leadership.

B) product differentiation.

C) focusing on market niche.

D) strengthening customer intimacy.

21. An information system can enable a company to focus on a market niche through

A) complex trend forecasting.

B) tailoring products to the client.

C) intensive product trend analysis.

D) intensive customer data analysis.

22. To what competitive force did the printed encyclopedia industry succumb?

A) positioning and rivalry among competitors

B) low cost of entry

C) substitute products or services

D) customer's bargaining power

23. The Internet raises the bargaining power of customers by

A) creating new opportunities for building loyal customer bases.

B) making more products available.

C) making information available to everyone.

D) lowering transaction costs.

24. Advances in data storage techniques and rapidly declining storage costs have

A) been accompanied by relevant federal statutes protecting personal data.

B) made universal access possible.

C) doubled every 18 months.

D) made routine violations of privacy cheap and effective.

25. The use of computers to combine data from multiple sources and create electronic

dossiers of detailed information on individuals is called

A) profiling.

B) phishing.

C) spamming.

D) targeting.

Section C

Essay Questions

a) Discuss the following statements, clearly justifying your support for either

i. ‘Business needs drive IT and information strategy’

ii. ‘IT strategic planning is driving corporate planning’ (10 Marks)

b) The decision to use information technology as a tool for competitive

advantage can either build or destroy an organization.

i. Explain the concept Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) (5

Marks)

ii. Highlight any TWO opportunities enabled by BPR to an organization

(4 Marks)

c) Explain any THREE unique features that qualify organizations as systems

(6 Marks)

d) Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the ‘Payback Period’ as an

investment appraisal technique for a potential IS project

(4 Marks)