MIS Assignment 5

At the computer company the technical coordinators are volunteer users who spend five percent of their time making sure the workgroup near them has the latest software and a functioning network. They are considered part of the virtual support center and are the first line of support for all employees with computer problems.

They are trained and certified as system experts. They mainly use self-paced training, often during off hours. But, in addition, they attend brown bag lunches billed as a “feast for your brain.” They also have an annual conference, funded by the IS department. It is both a reward and training experience.

The technical coordinators are given a lot of recognition. They receive a banner in their cube with a designation of their skill level: Apprentice, Certified Technical Coordinator, or Champion.

7. What are the four types of Internet communities?

The four types of Internet communities are as follows:

· Communities for transactions

· Communities of interest

· Communities of relationships

· Communities of fantasy

9. What are the two uses of multimedia that help people deal with complexity? Give an example of each.

The two uses of multimedia that help people deal with complexity are as follows:

· To help people cope with a more complex environment, e.g., interactive Web sites.

· To create more knowledgeable users, e.g., on-demand training.

10. What are on-demand training and training by simulation?

On-demand training is when people can access training whenever they need it via their PC. Training by simulation is stand-alone, not embedded in an application, using multimedia.

11. What are four implications for IS management of this expanding world of computing?

Four implications for IS management of this expanding world of computing are as follows:

· These new technological developments are causing computer use to take another great leap forward, as it did with the Internet. With the explosion of types of wireless devices, multimedia, and telecom options, information executives can take advantage of this more versatile computing environment in ways not previously envisioned. Therefore teams should be formed to study ways to take advantage of wireless computing, instant messaging, rich media, and the wireless Internet.

· Use of these technologies should not go unguided. IS management needs to be out in front, not ignoring or disregarding these technologies.

· These technologies can be used to record corporate memory. Laptops and handhelds can be used for a quick task when on the move. Therefore, they lend themselves to people entering or retrieving small pieces of data and information. If entering information is quick and easy and provides benefits to users, corporations will finally have a way to tap into the corporate knowledge that is going unrecorded.

· These technologies may need some new corporate guidelines. Corporations need policies about which information should not be recorded and routed electronically. Encryption may become an important weapon in safeguarding sensitive electronic information.

Task 1.2: Discussion Questions 1, 3, and 4 on p. 363.

1. IS departments should only address clusters of employees and customers who are receptive to new information technology. They should forget about the late majority and technology adverse, because it is not worth the effort. Agree or disagree? Discuss.

IS departments need to address all clusters of employees and customers whether or not they are receptive to new information technology. Each group needs to be addressed in a different manner because they all have something to bring to the IS experience.

There are five groups that have been identified on how they view contemporary technology. These are as follows:

· Eager beavers

· Early adopters

· Early majority

· Late majority

· Technically averse

IS departments can learn from the eager beavers because they have a passion for everything new. The early adopters are not too far behind the eager beavers. Both the early and the late majority groups are willing to use new technologies, while the late majority is also concerned with costs and risks. The technically adverse are concerned about loss of privacy; security, control, and possible exposure to competition override any perceivable benefits of technology.

IS departments need to recognize and acknowledge each cluster’s concern about new technology, and then develop a multi-tiered approach to respond to the diverse concerns.

3. All that cyberspace stuff about Internet communities has nothing whatsoever to do with “real” business. We can ignore all that chatter. Discuss.

It would not be prudent to ignore the chatter about Internet communities and their relationship with “real” business. Millions of Web surfers are approaching the Internet in an altogether new way. Instead of going from site to site, this new class of Netizen is settling in, staying put, and making a home away from home.

Today, people of like minds and interests are establishing Internet communities. Early signs show they may also provide the profits. Netpreneurs are finding they can turn the intrinsic cultural appeal of communities into a real business proposition.

4. The only technology IS departments should promote in dealing with consumers is the Internet, specifically the Web. Agree or disagree? Discuss.

We disagree. Technologies that business can use to maintain visitors on their site longer are as follows:

· Chat

· Bulletin boards

· Discussion Forums

Task 1.3: Additional Questions.

1. What is your perception of the computer literacy or competency level of today's end user?

Computer literacy does not mean you need to know how to use every single piece of software you may encounter. You just need to know some basics -- how to save and open a file, how to use a word processing program, and how to send and receive e-mail -- for starters. It means having some sort of level of comfort around computers rather than a look of fear and a feeling of foreboding.

When one team member recruits personnel for her company, she finds that about 45% of the people interviewed are not computer literate. As a consequence, the organization must invest and train personnel in order for them to become computer literate.

In most places of business, a computer is standard. Banks use computers to look up account information. Auto repair shops use computers to analyze cars. You can no longer find books in the library by looking in a card catalog -- you must use a computerized database. Doctors' offices utilize computers to store patient information. The point is, no matter where you find employment, there is a good chance a computer will be a basic tool you will have to use.

8. It is suggested that a firm form teams to study ways to take advantage of the newer technologies. How should IS go about staffing such teams -- internally, externally, or a mixture of both?

IS departments should staff teams to study ways to take advantage of newer technologies with a mixture of both internal and external personnel. This is the best approach because sometimes corporations and their respective departments can get caught up in the philosophy “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.” Bringing somebody from outside the organization can provide IS with new ideas on how to use these new technologies.

Task Set 2.0: MUST READ: Chapter 14: Leveraging the World of Information, pp. 420-452.

Task 2.1: Review Questions 2, 7, 8, 11, and 12 on p. 451.

2. What are the roles that documents play in organizations? Give an example of each.

Documents play a variety of roles in most organizations. These roles include the following:

· Documents used as a product or support for a product: In this sense, a magazine is a document that is also a product. A user manual would support a product. In many instances, a Web page can fill either role. The Web site for the LeConte Lodge in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Retrieved June 1, 2002, from http://www.leconte-lodge.com/home.html) is a document that supports a product, the LeConte Lodge, by allowing site visitors to find or ask for information. Google’s Web site (Retrieved June 2, 2002, from http://www.google.com) is a product. The product is a Web-based search engine.

· Documents used as basic communication devices between people and organizations: The Master’s forums on Nova’s Web site (Retrieved June 1, 2002, from http://forums2.scis.nova.edu/) are an excellent example of this. E-mail (Retrieved June 1, 2002, from http://www.hotmail.com) is another example of documents being used as communication devices.

· Documents are used as the primary vehicle for business processes: An example of this would be an accounting firm’s spreadsheets that detail the financial picture of another company. These spreadsheets are used to make decisions and plot courses of action by both the external accounting firm and the company using their services.

· Documents are used to store an organization’s past: This could include job applications, past financial results, and company newsletters. This role is also beginning to include e-mails and other electronic documents.

7. What are some valuable applications of document mining?

Some valuable applications of document mining are as follows:

· Support of the discovery process in litigation: Litigation often involves reviewing large numbers of documents. Document mining can save time and money by looking for specific words, phrases, or ideas that could be used in a trial. Dennis Kennedy (2001) emphasizes this benefit on his Web site about law practices and trends.

· Managing intellectual property: An example of this would be looking for similar music to avoid charges of plagiarism. If Paul McCartney had document mining capability, the successful lawsuit by The Chiffons’ producers claiming Paul McCartney copied the song “She’s So Fine” in writing “My Sweet Lord” (BBC News, 2001) might never have happened.

· Managing internal research and development: By looking for patterns, previous failures can be avoided and previous successes can be enhanced.

· Managing knowledge: This knowledge could be from both inside a company, such as training documents or presentations, or from outside a company, such as white papers on products that a company sells or services.

· Managing business intelligence: By looking at large numbers of documents that span types from Web sites to newspapers, companies can anticipate and plan for trends in the marketplace.

· Organizing complex information: Relationships (or lack of relationships) between numerous documents can be established.

8. What are some of the functions of document mining?

Some functions of document mining are as follows:

· Document mining can be used for enhanced search and retrieval (McNurlin & Sprague, 2002).

· Document mining can be used for summarization. The lists of abstracts that are available through Nova’s library are a good example.

· Document mining can be used for visualization. One way to visualize data is a three dimensional picture which includes spikes and valleys to represent data. A more detailed look at this approach can be found at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Information Visualization Web site (Retrieved June 2, 2002, from http://www.pnl.gov/infoviz).

· Document mining can be used for clustering. Documents are grouped according to their content and labeled according to key terms.

· Document mining can be used for genre identification. This process would determine the type of genre of a document and group documents accordingly. A news article would be viewed differently than a research article.

· Document mining can be used for metadata extraction. This method identifies key parts of a document and extracts them to form a record. Robots that search the Web looking for information such as e-mail addresses or online resumes are one form of metadata extraction.

· Document mining can be used for language identification. This process identifies documents or parts of documents based upon the language, such as English, in which they are written.

11. What is the importance of an action plan for EDM? What are the steps?

The following lists some steps for an EDM action plan and the importance of such a plan:

· A Document Council should be formed. Each group that provides support for documents should be involved. Mission critical documents should be identified and user input should be sought. Documents important to each group must also be found.

· A Document Technology Group should be formed. This group needs the technical expertise to track and forecast emerging document technologies.

· Applications should be prioritized. Long-range as well as short-range views should be considered. The ability of applications to work together is essential in prioritization.

· An EDM plan should be developed as a result of the group’s work. A timeline that includes the technology and applications needed for EDM is a necessary part of this plan. Like other planning documents, the EDM plan is subject to alteration as the needs of the company or the available technology changes.

12. What are the four phases of GIGA’S knowledge management model?

The four phases of GIGA’s knowledge management model are as follows:

· Knowledge creation and capture: This deals with generating knowledge. As part of the human side of the equation, a management style that allows for idea sharing and innovation enhances this phase.

· Knowledge organization and categorization: Using high tech approaches, the knowledge that was generated in the previous phase is changed into a form that can be used by others.

· Knowledge distribution and access: This phase gives the knowledge to users and allows those users to access other repositories of knowledge.

· Knowledge absorption and reuse: The final phase of GIGA’s knowledge management model focuses on getting people to use the acquired knowledge in a way that enhances the company. As this knowledge becomes an integral part of the corporate culture, its use will lead the company back to the first phase, this time starting from a higher plane.

Task 2.2: Discussion Questions 1, 2, and 3 on p. 451.

1. Do you agree that the IS department should take the lead in developing EDM? Why or why not?

Yes, the IS department needs to take the lead in developing EDM. The IS department has the expertise to help wade through all of the new hardware and software that can be used for EDM. As part of taking the lead, the IS department needs to get users involved and give those users enough information so they can provide essential input into the finished product. Without the expertise of the IS department, EDM could end up being a haphazard process at best. Without the IS department stepping up to the plate and getting the EDM development process started, EDM may not come in time to keep a company in a competitive position.

2. If your answer to question 1 was yes, how can IS motivate the other departments? If no, who do you think should coordinate the development of the systems and how?

Unfortunately, it is a difficult task for IS to motivate other departments since many IS departments are still somewhat removed from the end user. Bridging that gap would make EDM a reality in a much shorter timeframe. One way of doing this would be to encourage other department heads to make more frequent visits to the IS department, perhaps with donuts and coffee in the morning. Inviting key people to lunch could encourage further interaction. With the gap lessened, the IS department can begin to show the other departments the benefits of EDM, including either cost savings or increases in profit. At this point, it is essential for the IS department to listen to the needs of the other departments and begin to incorporate those needs into the end product. As other departments begin to see the importance of their inputs and their real-life benefits, motivation should become less of an issue.

3. Should IS take the lead in the development of knowledge management and sharing? Why or why not?

The IS department should be taking the lead in the development of knowledge management and sharing. The department should realize that knowledge management and sharing are crucial in today’s economic atmosphere. This area shows why IS people need to stay up-to-date in their field in order to provide the best services to their company. The IS department also has the technical expertise to determine what knowledge management practices can result in shared and stored knowledge, and which practices could result in large expenditures with few positive results.

Task 2.3: Additional Questions.

1. Why hasn't the "paperless office" become a reality?

The main reason the paperless office has not become a reality is because people are more comfortable reading a piece of paper than they are reading a screen. An informal poll of one team member’s coworkers supports this position. In addition, Hurwicz (2002) felt that document storage and retrieval were part of the problem. It is relatively easy to find a document in a file cabinet assuming that it has been filed in a logical manner. The same is not necessarily true for an electronic document that may even have a cryptic name whose meaning has been long forgotten. If storage, and more importantly, retrieval could be made easier, then a paperless office would have a chance. Using modalities similar to the Meta tags in an HTML document for storage and retrieval can go a long way in bringing the paperless office to reality.

10. Given the price of hardware storage continues to decline dramatically, it should be possible to put all of an organization's documents on-line for ready accessibility. Thus, all information would be "life" and there would be no more need for archival information. What are the merits or pitfalls of this argument?

Maintaining an organization’s documents online for ready accessibility has many merits. It would definitely make life easier to be able to just go to an HTML or similar page and pull up the production reports from yesterday or to be able to access those same reports from a year ago. Being able to view a subordinate’s file online with links to attendance and disciplinary issues would offer significant time savings. Comparing information from other operating locations using Web retrieval methods would be indispensable. In each case, having the accessibility can increase productivity because of the ability to retrieve information in a very short period of time.

Conversely, difficulty can arise when too much information can be retrieved. At what point do users become so overwhelmed with the amount of available information? Do employees really need the minutes from the coffee committee meeting in May of 1998 to be readily available? Wading through several thousand documents to find pertinent ones can be extremely time-consuming. Obviously, some of this can be avoided by properly storing the documents under keyword, topic, and so on. However, as the number of documents continues to grow exponentially, this method will probably prove inadequate. Archival storage will still be a necessity, but it no longer means that document retrieval needs to be time consuming or difficult. By using the same methodology for archival storage and live storage, documents could be made available to those who need them without bogging down those people who don’t need them.

References:

Harrison's sweet music. (2001, November 30). BBC News. Retrieved June 1, 2002, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/music/newsid_1430000/1430358.stm

Hurwicz, M. (2002). The paperless office. Network Computing. Retrieved June 1, 2002, from http://www.networkcomputing.com/609/609feature2.html

Kennedy, D. (2001). Legal technology primer: An online book about technology in the practice of law consisting of Dennis Kennedy's articles. Denniskennedy.com. Retrieved June 1, 2002, from http://www.denniskennedy.com/lo2001.htm

McNurlin, B. C. & Sprague R. H. (2002). Leveraging the world of information. Prenhall.com

Retrieved June 1, 2002, from http://www.prenhall.com/divisions/bp/app/mcnurlin/5e/ppts/ch14.ppt

Task Set 3.0: MUST READ: Chapter 15: The Challenges Ahead, pp. 455-480.

Task 3.1: Review Questions 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 13, 14, 15, and 16 on p. 479.

1. According to Hammer, how does measurement of a task differ from measurement of a process?

Michael Hammer did extensive research on business process re-engineering for corporations. The measurement of a task concentrates on individual performance or productivity. Essentially, this is the measurement of one person doing one specific job. An example of task measurement is the number of calls a customer service representative handles each hour.

Conversely, the measurement of a process concentrates on group performance, essentially, measuring the outcome of a process. The measurement includes how long it takes to complete the process, as well as its accuracy and cost. Most processes have a sense of urgency. They are completed in a team; therefore, they are more intense, allowing for very little slack time.

2. What elements of a football team make it a process-centric organization?

According to Michael Hammer there are several elements that make a football team process-centric. The first element is the fact that a football team has two processes: offense and defense. Both these processes have two process owners: offence coordinators and defense coordinators. They select the players, train them, and script them. These process owners’ main concern is the performance of the process.

Another element of process-centric organization that is incorporated in a football team is a “position coach.” An example of this is a line coach, who trains and develops the athletes for specific tasks. The position coaches are concerned with the performance of the team members.

A final element is the head coach. This coach creates the organization and names the coaches and coordinators. He or she also creates the team culture, motivates players to play their best, and calls the plays during the game. The football team then plays the game in a self-directed manner.

4. According to Kelly, what were the three rules given to the computer-generated bats in Batman Returns? What was the effect of these rules?

Kevin Kelly, executive director of Wired magazine has tried to explain the concept of self-organization with the example of the movie Batman Returns, in which computer-generated bats were to flock through Gotham City. The following three rules were given to them:

· Don’t bump into another bat.

· Keep up with your neighbors.

· Don’t stray too far away.

The effect of these rules was amazing. When the computer simulation of the mob of bats ran, they flocked just like real bats.

6. According to Kelly, what is the only way to create truly complex systems?

According to Kelly, the only way to create truly complex systems is to use biology’s logic of self-governance, self-replication, and partial learning and some self-repair. He thinks that the mechanical and biological worlds are merging, leading to bionic systems.

10. According to Gage, how does he really know about the hot work being performed at Sun?

John Gage, chief scientist at Sun Microsystems, thinks there is a virtual organization within existing companies, and these organizations are created through networks. He uses Sun’s master list of its e-mail distribution list to keep attuned to developments at Sun. When a new e-mail distribution list is generated, he knows that a new project has started. Furthermore, when he sees a list balloon, from say 35 to 200, he knows some important work is being performed at Sun.

13. Why should companies invest in making their customers smart?

According to Kelly, the companies with smarter customers win. One example Kelly gives is Amazon.com and their use of a recommendation system. This type of system recommends to the current customer other books that have been bought by other customers who bought the same book the current customer is buying. The power of this system is that it lets a person know of others who have similar interests, which creates new communities among Amazon’s customers. This helps to increase loyalty to the company and increases the knowledge base and expertise of the company’s customers. Kelly suggests that companies should invest in encouraging affinity groups and create a group of loyal customers who have a trusting relationship with the company. This group can become a company’s best ambassador to the outside world, increasing product marketing exponentially.

14. What two meanings does “follow the free” have?

One meaning of “follow the free” lies in the important aspect of the networked economy that “The best gets better and cheaper.” This inverted pricing principle applies in the networked economy; so smart corporations anticipate cheapness and offer products for free. Any item, soft or hard, that can be copied adheres to this inverted pricing principle. Technology creates an opportunity for demand, and then fulfills it.

A reverse meaning of “follow the free” is the process of seeing what is free today that could have value and a price in the future. A product that is free today will be shared with many. This can lead to predominance, which in turn may lead to having a valuable item.

15. What does “feed the web first” mean?

In the statement “feed the web first,” the meaning of “the web” is the platform or standards within which a company chooses to operate. The prosperity of a company is linked with the prosperity of its platform or web. Therefore, it becomes a necessity for a company to ensure that its network is growing and having a sustained growth. To accomplish this, companies must invest in their network; they must feed their network to have a large community within which they will operate and then reap the benefits from this network.

An example of this is the software industry, where companies pay as much attention to their web as they do to their software. Ways in which software companies feed the web that surrounds their products include holding conferences for developers who use their software, providing tools for these developers, and education for consultants. Moreover, software companies that give away their products to schools promote their name to future customers.

16. List the roles executives need to play in managing the use of IT.

Senior executives need to play the following crucial roles in managing the use of IT:

· Setting the tone of the organization towards technology.

· Using IT to promote business change.

· Guiding technology introductions.

· Envisioning how IT can serve business strategy.

· Aligning IT with business objectives.

· Assessing costs and benefits.

· Using systems with comfort.

Task 3.2: Discussion Questions 1 and 2 on p. 479.

1. Giving employees and small work groups the authority to make most of their own decisions seems to be of obvious benefit to companies. Why do you think this type of on-the-job self-management is not more prevalent? And what are the drawbacks?

Giving employees and small work groups the authority to make their own decisions seems to be of obvious benefit to companies, but unfortunately this type of on-the-job self-management is not prevalent. The main reason for this lack of strategic initiative is top management’s culture. Many of the top company executives would like decision making to remain centralized to retain better control of company operations.

There are other important factors that may affect the decision of a company in this management area. These factors could include the following:

· The size of the company.

· The availability of technology to guide this decision making through top management controls.

· The industry norms within which the company operates.

· Access to a business intelligence system to keep track of this decision-making.

This type of self-management could have some drawbacks. Competition between work groups within the company could develop into cutthroat rivalries that could eventually damage the company as a whole. In the case example of Semco, it was noted, “things are rather messy.” In the US, this might lead to problems with government agencies such as OSHA. Additionally with each group making its own decisions, it is easy for the groups to go their own separate ways, losing sight of the overall focus of the company.

2. Kelly, Wheatley, and Kellner-Rogers talk about self-organizing systems. These ideas will not work in organizations because they need defined structure, defined jobs, and limits. Agree or disagree? Describe your reasoning.

Most companies work in a traditional way, meaning they are designed to operate in a particular fashion. There is the organizational culture, which influences the company operation. Top management of a company may not want to delegate power to down-the-line groups. This may be due to a feeling in top management that to fulfill their organizational duties, their own decisions must be the ones followed by the company. The concept of self-organization may lead to inconsistent business decisions, as each group may determine their own course of action without considering the global view. In large multi-national organizations, there is a need to establish standards across the globe to ensure proper functioning of the organization. In this scenario, the organization needs to come out with a global framework, within which all employees should operate.

The concept of “self-organizing,” as stated by Kelly, Wheatley, and Kellner-Rogers, is an emerging concept, which needs an organizational infrastructure. This infrastructure includes well-defined business processes, job definitions, and limits. Therefore, this team agrees with the argument that self-organizing will not work in organizations because they need a defined structure, defined jobs, and limit.

Task 3.3: Additional Questions.

2. What are your thoughts about Senge's premise that learning is the only sustainable competitive advantage?

Peter Senge, director of the System Thinking & Organizational Learning Program at Sloan School of Management has clearly stated that learning is the only sustainable competitive advantage. He believes organizations must become learning organizations if they are to survive. To become a learning organization, an enterprise must create new learning and thinking behaviors in its people. He believes that an organization and its people must master the five basic learning disciplines:

· Personal mastery

· Mental models

· Shared vision

· Team learning

· System thinking

Senge used the example of the Royal Dutch/Shell Company to prove his point. This company was the first to understand the importance of mental models. Shell was able to accelerate its organizational learning process and spur the managers to investigate alternative futures by using scenarios. This benefited them very positively, and they were able to show their competitive advantage during the oil crisis in 1974. Shell’s managers were able to react more appropriately, since they had already explored the possibility of such crisis.

Increasingly, technology is influencing the business environment in the areas of growth and profitability. Because technology is changing so rapidly, it becomes very important for the whole organization to keep up with this fast-changing technology. The only way to do this is to learn and adopt new technology. Furthermore, the Internet has changed the ways people do business. Business equations now change very fast and become extremely volatile. To cope with this change, there is a great need for team learning as well as a common vision of goals for various teams within an organization. This will help a company to have an edge over its competitors.

10. Due to the frequent turnover of CIOs, this acronym has been referred to as "Career Is Over" and it is claimed that this is due to a lack of CIO selling skills at the top level. What is your opinion on the value of such selling skills for the CIO and other IS staff members?

The IT industry has seen very turbulent times during its existence. This lead to the fact that there is a frequent turnover of CIOs in many companies, and it is due to a lack of CIO selling skills at the top level. In this team member’s opinion, the basic reason for this situation is a lack of availability of benchmarks to grade the performance of CIOs or an enterprise’s IT organization in general. Consequently, the performance of an IT staff has always been a personal judgment of a C-level executive, to whom a CIO reports.

Likewise, finding an ROI (Return on Investment) on IT spending has been a tricky question each CIO tries to answer to C-level executives. Because of the lack of standard benchmarks available to calculate ROI, there has been no consistency in measuring the success of IT initiatives in a company.

Traditionally, IT has been a service organization to other business functions such as manufacturing, sales, marketing, and research and development. Thus, whenever any improvement or business value happens in those functions, the credit of success is given to a business organization rather than to an IT organization, which has enhanced the business values through technology.

In addition, the IT industry has not established any qualification standards or knowledge-level standards an individual should posses to climb to a higher level in the IT department. Other industries have these standards: a financial advisor must pass the Certified Financial Planner examination as a basic qualification to act as a financial planner; to act as an accounting professional, an accountant must pass the Certified Public Accountant examination. In the IT field, these types of widely accepted benchmarks are not available. The Certified Systems Auditors examination is a positive sign that such certifications are becoming available in IT field, but there is a long way to go before there is a global standard for most positions in the IT field.

As a consequence, this team believes it is extremely important for a CIO to have effective selling skills to top management for his or her growth in an organization. These skills are essential for other staff members as well. Because of the lack of benchmark standards, effective selling skills are the only means of advancement currently available to most people in the IT industry.

2. Internet Exploration Tasks

2.1. Internet Exploration Task #1

2.1.1. Search Term

Decision Support System

2.1.2. Web Address

· http://biology.usgs.gov/wfrc/jddss.htm

2.1.3. Summary

A decision support system (DSS) is an interactive computer-based system intended to help managers retrieve, summarize, and analyze decision relevant data. For that particular project, the DSS framework will help policy makers and resource managers by providing them with mapping capability of land and biological resources, a common digital database for information, a suite of spatial analysis tools, display of predictive population and predation models, and basis for land management alternatives. The system would provide for the integration of biological and physical themes so that decisions could be made on the best available science and data. The DSS will provide for the creation of a variety of digital and paper products.

2.2. Internet Exploration Task #2

1. Select one of the products that interest you, i.e. Microstrategy Agent, or Microstrategy Web, or whatever (see the menu on the right of the page Customer Successes by Product).

The MicroStrategy 7.1 integrated business intelligence platform.

2. Read about the MicroStrategy product you selected so you know a little about its purpose and features. (See the Microstrategy Products page)

MicroStrategy 7i is the full-fledged software built for enterprise-class business intelligence. It presents five great innovative features:

A. Intelligent Cubes: This new technology combines the speed and interactivity of multi-dimensional OLAP analysis and the analytical power and depth of relational OLAP. It accomplishes this through intelligent cubes, which are user-created multi-dimensional cubes that operate within the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server.

B. Windows on the Web: MicroStrategy 7i's new Web interface provides the speed and features of a Windows client, including drag-and-drop report formatting, drop-down menu bars, and right-mouse click drill-down, without ActiveX or Java applet downloads. MicroStrategy Web users can also build their own reports, design reports for other users, and interactively analyze data, all through a secure zero-footprint Web client that is firewall-friendly.

C. Information Collaboration: MicroStrategy 7i is designed to simplify information sharing, and it is the only platform to provide a full capability to both create and share business intelligence insight. Users can analyze reports by drilling, pivoting, sorting, filtering, and subtotaling. Then users can e-mail reports to other users instantly with "Send Now." In addition, users can schedule reports for regular delivery, publish reports to their workgroups, and export reports in Excel, PDF, or HTML formats.

D. Portable Analytical Modules: A breakthrough in packaged analytic applications, MicroStrategy's Portable Analytic Modules contain predefined, business-oriented reports and business workflows with the unique additional ability to be fully customized and "ported" to existing databases and data warehouses. Unlike other packaged applications, MicroStrategy 7i Portable Analytic Modules are not tied to a pre-determined database schema. Instead, MicroStrategy's powerful logical modeling tool allows Portable Analytic Modules to be "wired up" to existing databases, eliminating costly data replication and ETL (extract, transform, and load) investments.

E. Portal Integration and Web Services: With the introduction of the MicroStrategy 7i Portal Integration Kit™, companies now have the capability to quickly include business intelligence into portal products like Epicentric, Hummingbird, and Plumtree. Similarly, with MicroStrategy 7i Web Services Development Kit, customers can access any MicroStrategy function through standard Web Services protocols (SOAP, UDDI) and techniques.

3. Select one of the cases in the product category and get to know that organization's application of the product. You may even want to see if you can find the case company's Web page for more background information on it.

Discover Financial Services chooses a scalable business intelligence platform, MicroStategy 7.1, for its query and reporting needs.

4. Write a paragraph or two indicating your perception of the match between the product and the case company, the features of the product that were utilized, and what characteristics the case company felt most met their needs (either about the product or MicroStrategy in general). Finally, indicate how this product could be applied in your organization.

Discover finds a perfect match in the MicroStrategy 7.1. This system is an integrated business intelligence platform built for any integration enterprise system. MicroStrategy 7i is a software system built to integrate the full range of reporting, analysis and information delivery capabilities into a single platform – providing central management of security, administration, development and deployment. Its functionality is delivered with revolutionary ease-of-use and performance at the lowest total cost of ownership.

Discover utilizes three important features of the MicroStrategy platform. First, the object management allows merchants to share objects such as reports and metrics. Second, the Web and desktop report will make it easier for end users to run reports rapidly and perform ad hoc analyses. Finally, once projects have been built, the Web-based architecture helps Discover to quickly and easily deploy them without downloading or installing software on client machines. Radiant, a telecom company, is a pioneer in the calling card business. Radiant can use this product to track and redeem all calling cards and integrated services enabled by banking companies, credit card processing servers, and telecommunication networks, and convert this data into valuable reporting systems located on a Web-based platform.

3. Reading Review

MMIS 620 Management Information Systems

Assignment #5 - The Dynamic Information Systems Environment

READING REVIEW

Exit competency addressed: Document management functions.

Team 6 Leader: Gene Quintanilla (quintani)

Team Members:  Kathy Nevels        (nevels)
Olga Kara             (olga)
Ed Ozols              (ozolsv)
Prasad Parab         (parab)
Patrick Casmir      (pcasimir)
Raquel Puente       (puente)
Jeff Morris            (morrisjd)

Heck, M. (2000, August 4). Document management fuels e-business. Infoworld.com. Retrieved May 30, 2002, from http://www.infoworld.com/articles/mt/xml/00/08/07/000807mtdoc.xml

Subject headings: Document management, optical character recognition, content management, knowledge management, collaboration.

3.1. Statement of the Problem

CIOs and technology executives are faced with a vast amount of unstructured information. Failure to effectively manage this information, which includes items such as everyday business documents as well as Web content, adversely affects a company’s bottom line. Costs for printing, mailing, and Web maintenance are higher if the information in the company remains unstructured, or if it is not structured in such a way as to facilitate efficient access. Additionally, a company will find it difficult to keep pace with the electronic marketplace if its information cannot be accessed in a timely manner.

3.2. Strategies or Techniques Used to Solve the Problem

CIOs and technology executives must attempt to manage this ocean of unstructured information, since customers and business partners expect to have up-to-date information at their fingertips. Effective document management can begin by simply taking paper documents out of filing cabinets and placing them on the company intranet. Using scanning and optical character recognition applications, a company can easily convert paper documents into searchable electronic formats.

Extending document management to a company’s Web content involves a content management solution. Although these products tend to be costly up front and usually need some continuing IT support, content management products can save a company time and money in the long run. These products allow employees throughout the company to create and update Web content from their desktops. Additionally, these products allow documents to be used in multiple ways, or even allow them to be completely repurposed.

If content management is taken a step further, knowledge management is the result. With a knowledge management product a company can encourage, and thereby increase, team collaboration. This, in turn, allows users to build knowledge bases around important documents.

3.3. Conclusion and Recommendations

In conclusion, document management systems are a must for today’s corporations to improve their bottom lines and to be competitive in their respective marketplaces. It is recommended that any company with an intranet and/or an Internet site go at least one extra step and implement a content management product. To get the maximum competitive advantage, a company should step all the way up to a knowledge management system.

3.4. Suggestions for Future Research

Use of content management products allows Web content to be kept up-to-date by allowing employees throughout the company to create and/or update Web pages for their particular area of responsibility. However, this capability for so many employees creates an enormous editing task. Some research should be done on finding or creating a system that could be programmed with desired parameters, which would allow this system to perform most of the needed editing.

3.5. Further References of Interest

Kaplan, S. (2002, January 15). Cool tool. CIO.com. Retrieved May 30, 2002, from http://www.cio.com/archive/011502/et_article.html

Kaplan, S. (2002, January 15). Management by any other name. CIO.com. Retrieved May 30, 2002, from http://www.cio.com/archive/011502/et_tools.html

Romberg, D. (1999, March 5). Cost-cutting is only one reason to integrate DM. Computing Canada. Retrieved May 30, 2002, from http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&sid=31939

4. CASE

4.1. The Main Problem That Was Or Is To Be Solved.

· What is the main problem in the case that reflects the hurt and the pain that led the organization to design the system or search for the solution?

The main problem for Tapiola Insurance Group was that they have hundreds of forms, two different languages to consider, and a need to become more human-orientated with their printed products. Being in Finland, all of their documents needed to be printed in Finnish and Swedish. The company had over 300 forms that had to be pre-printed into these two languages, with some of the forms being very large and bulky. Most of the printed products were the typical “green-bar” computer paper output, leaving the company to determine that their products were not very personable and left their customers feeling the company was not seeing them as individuals.

· What are some side issues in the case?

The side issues included time to convert over to the new system, what type of hardware/software to use, programming issues, and the need to insure the correct documents were included in the correct mailing. As with any large undertaking, the company had to carefully consider what mix of hardware and software to use. The company was using IBM mainframes to manage printing and documents and wanted to continue to use these legacy computers. During the conversion, Tapiola realized that 60 of its 300 documents were unnecessary and that they could convert the remaining 240 documents to 4 different document templates. It took almost 15 months to convert all the documents and programming had to done to make the IBM mainframes talk to the Xerox printers. One of the biggest concerns was making sure that the correct pages were mailed in each envelope. Due to privacy concerns, it was paramount that the correct documents were in each envelope. By using a small code printed on each page and an envelope-stuffing machine from Sweden, each envelope has the correct pages in it.

4.2. Recommendations.

· What are your comments or thoughts on the way the problem was approached in this case?

This was a classic example of how to do it right. The managers detailed the goals they wanted to achieve, created a plan to achieve these goals, and executed the standard desired. In the end, the conversion was successful; the company had reduced forms, converted over to plain white paper, and was able to print documents anywhere they were needed. As the case study points out, Tapiola has the best reputation among young people of all the insurance groups of Finland. This is where the company wanted to be as an end result.

· What additional resources need to be expended to do an even better job of resolving the problem?

Tapiola could concentrate on reducing the number of forms even more. With a concentrated effort on form reduction, there could be even fewer forms necessary for business. Eventually, the IBM mainframes will have to be replaced, and the company will need to start planning early to determine how to replace them and with what type of hardware.

· What are some of the "way out" things that the organization could have done? Dream a bit.

Tapiola could have gone to a completely Web-based system where all the forms were online with access to a customer database. This would allow the remote sites (offices) the ability to use any type of computer and printer to print. Then using XML, they can change and create forms easily, without the need to reprogram the mainframes.

4.3. Update.

· SHORT-TERM VIEW: State some recent changes that have occurred in the specific industry of the case organization that may have an impact on the organization in this case in the short-term (one year to 18 months out).

With the advent of the European Union, the need to be flexible with insurance laws and the reality of multiple languages may stress Tapiola’s ability to make changes. Due to the fact that the main printing applications are on a mainframe, changes will take time and money. With the rate of amalgamation in the EU increasing every year, Tapiola may have to make fundamental changes in their documents and printing system.

· LONG-TERM VIEW: What changes do you predict for this system? The industry is constantly changing and there will be areas that will be upgraded or made obsolete by new technology. Briefly describe what you think will happen to this system in the next 2-5 years.

It is likely the mainframe-based system will have to be replaced with a more flexible system based on Web servers using XML or another markup language. By using a Web-based system, the remote offices will have the choice of hardware to print, rather than using remote terminals, as is now the case.

· Find some recent advertising for the case organization and indicate what image are they trying to portray?

Team members were unable to locate any recent advertisement; however, the Tapiola Web site was viewed to gain insight. Not surprisingly, the site is not in English, but in Finnish or Swedish. There was a very small section in English giving an overview of the company. The company recently changed its brand, with a concentration on being human-centered and seeing the customer as the driving focus of the company.

4.4. Other.

· What other materials would you have liked to have about this case organization in order to review it more effectively?

Again, as with all of our case studies, knowing the timeframe of the case study would increase the “situational awareness” for students. By knowing when the actions took place, we would know what type of hardware and software was involved and if enough time has elapsed to determine whether the results actually were worth the effort (long-term effects.)

5. Review Question

· Develop a one-paragraph summary of your activities on this assignment indicating the key points that you learned.

In order to complete this assignment, team members carried out various tasks and activities. During this assignment, a team member read and did some research about Internet communities, learned more about the different approaches an IS department should take towards the different types of users and their receptiveness towards new technology. One team member worked on the reading material and questions for Chapter 14, Leveraging the World of Information. To do so, he went to the Web to get more information when he felt it was appropriate. In addition, he reviewed the assignment as a whole and took responsibility for reviewing and editing the Reading Review. As a result of this work, he gained a better understanding of the differences as well as the similarities between data mining and document mining. Another member started his activities by reading the complete Internet Exploration Tasks in order to choose a term that matches the overall segment. He selected decision support system (DSS). Next, he researched it on various search engines such as Google.com. While doing so, he visited many Web pages containing projects using the DSS technology. He was able to learn about different features and benefits of the DSS paradigm. Later, he went to the Microstrategy Web page. While there, he learnt about some Microstrategy’s products, their features, and how numerous companies have used them to improve productivity and enhance customer relationship. Another member worked on the ESET case study. After reading the required chapters and researching the case study, the member had a better appreciation of the problems of document processing. He was aware that there has been a move within business to tackle the problem of documents and document mining, but he now has a better idea of the structure of these programs. Finally, after extensive reading on document management, a team member learned that there was much more involved in that area than simply scanning business forms. She was quite interested in the content management and knowledge management aspects. Additionally, she was taught that document management is not just a matter or convenience for employees of a company; it is a matter of economics as well.

6. Embedded Evaluation

· What direct applications were you able to make to your job? If you do not have a job, indicate what concepts seem most practical to you.

As a teacher, a team member realized “that we need to do a better job in preparing children and adults in the use of computers and the different tasks they can accomplish through it’s use. We must have a computer for every child in the classroom and we must offer training to adults who are out of the educational system.” Another one, a member of our Armed Forces, was introduced to the concept of Self Organization, which was new to him. He is trying to study operations and business processes of his division, where they carry out various projects. He is trying to study the changes they may have to do within his division, so that they can try to complete a couple of projects using the principals of Self Organization. One member thinks that the only direct application of Microstrategy to his job would be in a near future. His company, a telecom company that wholesales calling cards, can use this product to track and redeem all calling cards and integrated services enabled by banking companies, credit card processing servers, and telecommunication networks to convert this data into valuable reporting systems located on a Web-based platform. One member gained a greater appreciation for the leadership role that IS needs to take in the organization as a whole. Much as the accounting department has standardized the bookkeeping methods within an organization, the IS department needs to do the same with document and knowledge storage and retrieval. Another member has a better understanding of the effort by the US Army to bring documents under control. No organization can produce forms like the military! The Army alone has thousands of forms and hundreds of regulations, field manuals, and technical manuals. In the past seven years, the Army has pushed to eliminate printing of forms and publications. Now, all forms and most publications are available over the Internet or on a set of five CD-ROMs that are updated quarterly and sent to each unit in the Army. Finally, points made about the cultural side of knowledge management apply quite directly to the job of one team member. As schoolteachers, she sees many in her profession who try to keep so much information to themselves as a type of job insurance. At faculty meetings, they are often asked to break into groups by grade levels or departments in order to share ideas, and unfortunately, there are few who are willing to participate. Additionally, in this assignment as well as the last assignment, working with the team approach has been very rewarding. This experience may well be one of the most applicable anyone could have for their jobs, since most jobs involve a great deal of teamwork.

· How could the existing objectives and tasks in this assignment be modified to make them more useful to you?

Every member of our team feels that all of the tasks were very useful and practical. The only way to make the tasks in this assignment more useful is to work on a real project such as a DSS paradigm or one of the Microstrategy products. One member would have liked to investigate more methods involved in using the Internet in handling documents. He read some literature on the push by several companies to put all documents and publications on the Internet. He would be interested in seeing what languages and hardware is used for this type of operation and conversion. Finally, one team member wished there had been more emphasis given to the virtual (rather than physical) organization. This seems to be the direction in which many things are headed. He feels a much more in-depth look at this type of organization would prove helpful in the future.