What is Information System?- definition & what do they support
-A set of procedures that provides essential data and information to the management for making an informed decision.
-It helps in strategic planning, management control, operational control and transaction
2. Means to achieve competitive advantage - Cost leadership, differentiation, focus- definition
-Cost Leadership: providing the same value as competitors but at a lower price
-differentiation: charging higher prices for providing products that are perceived by the customer as being better
-focus: understanding and servicing a target market better than anyone else
Leavitt’s Diamond; Know what it is
Types of Information systems;
a. Personal
b. Workgroup
c. Enterprise
d. Inter-organizational
Define Information Age and the Digital Revolution:
a. Information Age is the idea where production, distribution, and the control of
information were the primary economic drivers. Similar to the industrial
revolution, this time period in history allocated an increased use in technological
devices that aimed to control and take over the economy.
b. The Digital Revolution was the idea where we had a transition from
analog/mechanical devices to more digital. This “revolution” changed the way
people kept data and changed the way in how they processed the data.
6. Types of IS reports in Business:
a. Scheduled (a report that is generated at a regular interval such as weekly or daily)
b. Ad-hoc (reports that are generated at an as needed basis and they are one off
reports that are used to answer questions)
c. Real-time (the idea of gathering a ton of data at every minute or hour and relaying
the data in order to compare and contrast various trends in the data)
7. What is Governance and who should care about this?
-A formal framework to ensure IT investments support business needs. IT governance framework is the structure for leadership, organizational, and business processes with regard to information technology.
a. Organizations or businesses that are subject to regulatory compliance
b. Businesses or that have business models driven by efficiency and Optimization
c. Organizations that have demonstrated mature IT operations
8. Difference between Governance & Management
-Governance consists of strategies for organizational success and mitigates risk, while Management involves daily actions and decisions, and works on upholding company objectives
1. Features of an Organization
i. Routines and Business Processes
ii. Organizational Politics
iii. Organizational Culture
iv. Organizational Environments
v. Organizational Structure
2. Organizational Structures
i. Entrepreneurial structure - Young small firms in fast environment (start ups)
ii. Machine bureaucracy - Large bureaucracy producing standard products (midsize manufacturer)
iii. Divisionalized bureaucracy - Combination of multiple machine bureaucracies (Fortune 500/ big companies)
iv. Professional bureaucracy - Knowledge based systems (school, law firms, hospitals)
v. Adhocracy - Organizations that respond to changing environments (consulting firms)
3. What is the impact of information systems on organizations?
i. Economic Impact - transaction cost theory
ii. Organizational Impact - Fewer managers are needed due to IT enabling faster decisions
iii. Behavioral Impact - Decision making is pushed to lower levels
4. Transaction cost theory- definition
Through technology, businesses can reduce their cost of processing transactions with the same emphasis that they try to reduce their production costs
1. What is a business process? Define process/business process
a. A process is a series of tasks that are completed in order to accomplish a goal
b. A business process is a process that is focused on achieving a goal for a business
2. Know the difference between Structured/Dynamic Process
a. Structured Process:
i. Supports operational and managerial tasks
ii. Standardized
iii. Usually formally defined
iv. Exceptions rare and NOT tolerated
v. Structure changes slowly with agony
b. Dynamic Processes:
i. Supports strategic and less structured activities
ii. Fluid
iii. Usually informal
iv. Exceptions are frequent
v. Adaptive processes and changes
7. Improving Process Quality (organization) efficiency/effectiveness how can
process be improved
a. Process Efficiency:
i. Ratio of outputs to inputs
b. Process Effectiveness:
i. How well a process achieves organizational strategy
c. How can processes be improved?
i. Change structure
ii. Change resources
iii. Change both
Basic shapes of BPM
9. Business Process Reengineering; be able to give me an example
Business process management (BPM)
-Variety of tools, methodologies to analyze, design, optimize processes
-Used by firms to manage business process redesign
Steps in BPM
i. Identify process for change
ii. Analyze existing processes
iii. Design the new process
iv. Implement the new process
v. Continuous measurement
Example: Company changing purchases from in person to online in order to increase efficiency and turnover time.
10. Information Silos, what are the problems? How to avoid them?
a. What are the problems that are faced by Information Silos?
i. Data Duplication
ii. Data Isolation
iii. Disjointed Process
iv. Lack of integrated enterprise information
v. Inefficiency: decisions made in isolation
vi. Increased cost for organization
b. What do we do to SOLVE it?
i. Integrate into single databases
ii. Revise applications and processes
iii. Allows isolation, manage to avoid problems
Firm value Chain/Industry Value Chain Image; supportive/primary activities: know
which is support, which is primary
Supportive Activities
-Administration and Management
-HR
-Technology
-Procurement
Primary Activities
-Inbound and Outbound Logistics
-Operations
-Sales and Marketing
-Service
2. Porter's 5 forces: be able to tell me what each does
i. Competitive Rivalry - Number of Competitors
ii. Power of Suppliers - Number of Suppliers
iii. Power of Customers - Number of Customers
iv. Threat of Substitute Products - Substitute performance, cost of change
v. New Entrants into the Industry - Time and cost of entry, barriers of entry
Competitive Advantage--What is it? Know the definition, be able to give me an
Example
-factors that allow a company to produce goods or services better or more cheaply than its rivals
-Example: Access to new technology, better customer service
4. What is Social Media Information Systems? Know definition
i. The use of Information Technology to support the sharing of
content among networks of users.
5. What are the 3 SMIS roles?
i. Social media providers
ii. Users
iii. Communities
6. How does SMIS increase social capital? 3 types of capital?
i. Capital is the investment of resources for future profit
ii. Human capital is the investment in human knowledge and skills
for future profit.
iii. Social capital is the investment in social relations with the
expectation of returns in the marketplace.
a. Value of social capital: information, influence, social credentials, personal reinforcement
7. How do some companies earn money from social media?
i. Pay-per-click (advertising)
ii. Freemium
iii. Ad-blocking software
8. How do organizations develop and effective SMIS?
i. Define your goal
ii. Identify Success Metrics
iii. Identify Target Audience
iv. Define Your Value
v. Make Personal Connections
vi. Gather and Analyze Data
9. What are success metrics?
KPI’s
II. Leads
III. Reach
IV. Engagement
V. Conversion
Excel Basics:
a. Workbook - collection of one or more related worksheets contained within a single
file.
b. Worksheet - spreadsheet containing Descriptive labels,
Numeric values, Formulas,Functions, and Charts.
c. Spreadsheet - electronic file consisting of a grid of columns and rows that:
- Organizes related data
- Displays results of calculations
- Enables interpretation of quantitative data for decision making.
Excel Basic Commands
d. Sum - =SUM() → sums the range of cells.
e. Average - =AVG() → to calculate the average of a group of numbers.
f. Mean - =Mean() → finds the average of the terms in the excel sheet.
g. Median - =Median() → returns the median of the given
numbers. The median is the number in the middle of a set of
numbers.
h. Count - =COUNT() → counts the number of cells that contains numbers.
i. SD or Standard Deviation - =STDEV() → Standard Deviation is a
number that tells you how far numbers are from their mean.
j. Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Ctrl A → selects every cell in the Excel Worksheet.
- Ctrl Z → Undo the function
- Ctrl C → Copy the selected cells
- Ctrl V → Paste the copied cells.
k. =COUNTIFS() → counts based on multiple criteria.
l. =SUMIF() → sum cells based on 1 criteria.
m. =SUMIFS() → sum cells based on multiple criteria.
n. =SUMIF() → sum cells based on 2 criteria.
3. Conditional Formatting - definition & top 3 selected.
Definition → enables you to highlight cells with a certain color,
depending on the cell’s value.
-Top/Bottom rules lets you highlight top or bottom 3 cells in a range
4. Chart Type & Description: Know the definition and be able to know what they each look like
5. Element Chart: know the definition and be able to label a chart if asked
6. Pivot Table field area and description; be able to define