week 12 blog question's

Weekly Questions - Project Management

1.    Explain the triple constraint and its importance in project management.

Projects consume vast amounts of resources. Hence, it is imperative to understand how the organisation allocates its scarce resources in order to get the big picture. The figure below displays the relationship between the three primary variables in any project, they are time, scope and cost. The project management institute calls the framework for evaluating these competing demands the triple constraint. The relationship between these variable is such that if one of the three factors changes, at least one other factor is likely to be affected. For example, moving up a project's finish date could result in either increasing costs to hire hire more staff or decreasing the scope to eliminate features or functions. Hence it is imperative for project managers to understand this model and the affects a particular move may have on the outcome of the project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivVqUyenXTw



  

2.    Describe the two primary diagrams most frequently used in project planning

The two primary diagrams used in project planning are called Gantt and PERT charts. A PERT chart is a graphical network model that depicts a projects tasks and the relationships between those tasks. Similarly, a Gantt chart is a simple bar chart that depicts project tasks against a callendar. In a Gantt chart, tasks are listed vertically and the project's time frame is listed horizontally, as depicted below.

3.    Identify the three primary areas a project manager must focus on managing to ensure success

A project manager must focus on managing three primary areas to ensure success, they are; (a) people, (b) communications, and (c) change. the first of the three key elements, people, is one of the hardest and most critical tasks a project manager undertakes. resolving conflicts within the team and balancing the needs of the project with the personal and proffessional needs of the team are two of the challenges facing project managers. Secondly, communications, is key to excellent project management. It is extremely helpful if a project manager plans what and how he or she will communicate as a formal part of the project management plan. this is often reffered to as a communications plan. The last element change, whether it comes in the form of crisis, a market shift or a technological development, is challenging for all organisations. Successful organisations and successful people learn to anticipate and react to change which is key within any organisation.  

4.    Outline 2 reasons why projects fail and two reasons why projects suceed

       Projects fail and succeed for many different reasons, possibly the most substantial reason projects fail is due to the recklessness in failing to plan, as they say 'failing to plan is planning to fail' and vice versa. Hence by not formating a project plan based on the SMART criteria chances are the project will fail. secondly by engaging in a project with unrealistic and incoherent goals and ideas the project has set a level of standard much to high, ultimately leading a project failing.

Alternatively, two reasons why projects succeed are; the correct application of the SMART criteria integrated into the prject plan, thus enabling a formal approved document that manages and controls project execution. Secondly, by implementing realistic goals  and objectives for the project within the given time frame will hopefully ensure the project accomplishes its set objectives.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKCIal9R3Jo

week 11 blog questions

Week Eleven - Weekly Questions

Customer Relationship Management & Business Intelligence

1.   What is your understanding of CRM?

Customer Relationship management (CRM) involves managing all aspects of a customer’s relationship with an organisation to increase customer loyalty and retention as well as an organisations profitability.

2.    Compare operational and analytical customer relationship management.

Operational CRM supports traditional transactional processing for day-today front-office operations or systems that deal directly with the customers. Analytical CRM supports back-office operations and strategic analysis and includes all systems that do not deal directly with customers.

3.   Describe and differentiate the CRM technologies used by marketing departments and sales departments.

The three primary operational CRM technologies a marketing department can implement to increase customer satisfaction are: (1) list generator, (2) campaign management and (3) cross-selling and up selling. The first component, list generators, compiles customer information from a variety of sources and segment the information for different marketing campaigns. Secondly, campaign management systems guide users through marketing campaigns performing such tasks as campaign definition, planning, scheduling, segmentation and success analysis. Lastly, cross-selling is selling additional products or services to a customer. While up-selling is increasing the value of the sale. E.g. would you like fries with that (maccas).
 Alternatively, the three primary operational CRM technologies a sales department can implement to increase customer satisfaction are: (1) sales management CRM systems, (2) contact management CRM systems, and (3) opportunity management CRM systems. The first of the three elements, sales management CRM systems, automates each phase of the sales process, helping individual sales representatives co-ordinate and organize all their accounts. Secondly, contact management CRM systems, maintain customer contact information and identifies prospective customers for future sales. The last element, opportunity management CRM systems, target sales opportunities by finding new customers or companies for future sales. Opportunity management systems determine potential customers and competitors and define selling efforts, including budgets and schedules.  

4.   How could a sales department use operational CRM technologies?

The three primary operational CRM technologies a sales department can implement are: (1) sales management CRM systems, (2) contact management CRM systems, and (3) opportunity management CRM systems. The first of the three elements, sales management CRM systems, automates each phase of the sales process, helping individual sales representatives co-ordinate and organize all their accounts. Secondly, contact management CRM systems, maintain customer contact information and identifies prospective customers for future sales. The last element, opportunity management CRM systems, target sales opportunities by finding new customers or companies for future sales. Opportunity management systems determine potential customers and competitors and define selling efforts, including budgets and schedules.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgVJHCQ5_0A&feature=pyv&ad=7061151011&kw=CRM

5.   Describe business intelligence and its value to businesses

Business Intelligence (BI) refers to applications and technologies that are used to gather provide access to and analyse data and information to support decision-making efforts. BI is a valuable attribute to business due to its roles in:

·         Collecting information

·         Discerning patterns and meaning in the information

·         Responding to the resultant information

6.   Explain the problem associated with business intelligence. Describe the solution to this business problem

The problem stated simply is data rich, information poor. With all the data available in business nowadays, it is surprising how difficult it is for managers to get a clear picture of fundamental business information, such as inventory levels, orders in the pipeline or client history. As a result, information has to be requested from different departments or IT, who must then dedicate staff, resources and time trying to find and decipher data to provide rich information that is helpful to the manager of the business. With this knowledge, it can then be conveyed to employees whom gain knowledge that can be leveraged to increase company profitability.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqpMyQMi0to

7.   What are two possible outcomes a company could get from using data mining?

Data mining is the process of analysing data to extract information not offered by the raw data alone. Data mining approaches decision making with a few different activities in mind, including: (a) Classification, in which records are assigned to one of a predefined set of classes. (b) Estimation, where values are determined for an unknown continuous variable behaviour or estimated future value. (c) Affinity grouping, basically determines which things correlate with each other. (d) Clustering, involves segmenting a heterogeneous population of records into a number of more homogeneous subgroups.



week 9 blog questions

1.) Define the term operations management

Operations management (OM) is the management of systems or processes that convert or transform resources (including human resources) into goods and services. Operations management is responsible for managing the core processes used to manufacture goods and produce services.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1U12X-husI

       2.) Explain operations management’s role in business

The scope of OM ranges across the organisation and includes many interrelated activities, such as forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, managing inventories, assuring quality, motivating employees, deciding where to locate facilities and more.

3.) Describe the correlation between operations management and information technology

Managers can use IT to heavily influence OM decisions including productivity, costs, flexibility, quality and customer satisfaction. One of the greatest benefits of IT on OM is in making operational decisions because OM exerts considerable influence over the degree to which the goals and objectives of the organisation are realised. Most OM decisions involve many possible alternatives that can have varying impacts on revenues and expenses. OM information systems are critical for managers to be able to make well-informed decisions.

4.) Explain supply chain management and its role in a business

Supply chain management (SCM) involves the management of information flows between and among stages in a supply chain to maximise total supply chain effectiveness and profitability.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi1QBxVjZAw

5.) List and describe the five components of a typical supply chain.

The five basic components of supply chain management are: plan, sources, make, deliver and return. The first of the five-component theory, plan, is the strategic portion of supply chain management. A company must have a plan for managing all the resources that go toward meeting customer demand for products or services. A big piece of planning is developing a set of metrics to monitor the supply chain so that it is efficient, costs less, and delivers high quality and value to customers. The second element, source, states that companies must carefully choose reliable suppliers that will deliver goods and services required for making products. The third component in the five-component theory, make, is the step where companies manufacture their products or services. This can include scheduling the activities necessary for production, testing, packaging, and preparing for delivery. Fourthly, deliver, is a step commonly referred to as logistics. Logistics is the set of processes that plans for and controls the efficient and effective transportation and storage of supplies from suppliers to customers. The last component, return, is typically the most problematic step in the supply chain. In this instance companies must create a network for receiving defective and excess products and support customers who have problems with delivered products.

6.) Define the relationship between information technology and the supply chain.

Information technology’s primary role in SCM is creating the integrations or tight process and information linkages between functions within a firm, such as marketing, sales, finance, manufacturing and distribution between firms, which allows the smooth, synchronised flow of both information and product between customers, suppliers and transportation providers across the supply chain. Information Technology integrates planning, decision-making processes, business operating processes and information sharing for business performance management. 

week 8 weekly I.T questions

1.Explain the business benefits of using wireless technology

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The benefits of employing wireless technology within a business include; (a) direct and instantaneous communication to suppliers, customers and any associates relevant to business operations, (b) increasing the speed of business overall, (c) payments for goods and services can be made electronically as opposed to ordinary face-to-face transactions, (c) using wireless technology to advertise the business and provide incentives to potential buyers, (d) increasing business market share.

2.Describe the business benefits associated with VoIP.

The first of the four key elements, voice over IP or VoIP uses TCP/IP technology to transmit voice calls over Internet technology. The telecommunications industry is experiencing great benefits from combining VoIP with emerging standards that allow for easier development, interoperability among systems and application integration. Since VoIP uses existing network and Internet infrastructure to route telephone calls more efficiently and inexpensively than traditional telephone service, VoIP offers businesses significant cost savings, productivity gains and service enhancements.

3.Compare LANs and WANs.

A LAN or local area network is designed to connect a group of computers in close proximity to each other such as in an office building, a school, or a home. A LAN is useful for sharing resources such as files, printer’s games or other applications. A LAN in turn often connects to other LANs and to the Internet or wide area network. Alternatively, a WAN or wide area network spans a large geographic area, such as a state province or country. WANs often connect multiple smaller networks such as local area networks. Hence it should be noted that direct data communication links between employees of a business, or a company and its suppliers or customers, or both have been successfully used to give companies a strategic advantage.

4.Describe RFID and how it can be used to help make a supply chain more effective.

RFID or radio frequency identification technologies use active or passive tags in the form of chips or smart labels that can store unique identifiers and relay this information to electronic readers. RFID tags, often smaller than a grain of sand, combine tiny chips with an antenna. When a tag is placed on an item, it automatically radios its location to RFID readers on shop shelves, checkout counters, loading-bay doors and shopping carts. With RFID tags, inventory numbers and information is taken automatically and continuously. RFID tags can cut costs by requiring fewer workers for scanning items; they can also provide more current and increasingly accurate information to the entire supply chain. For instance, manufacturers and retailers can monitor their entire supply chain effectively using RFID technology minimising costs and resources in the process. Manufacturers can effectively monitor their products whereabouts, if its going to arrive on time, if the number of items in that shipment is correct and if it’s being sent to the correct location, all this without tying up labour, costc, resources and time. 

5.  Identify the advantages and disadvantage of deploying mobile technology

Advantages of mobile technology within business include: (a) universal access to information and applications; (b) the automation of business processes; (c) user convenience, timelessness and ability to conduct business 24/7, 365 days a year. The first of the 3 elements, universal access to information and applications insinuates how people are mobile and have more access to information than ever before, but they still need to get to the point where they can access all information anytime anywhere, hence mobile devices help persons engage in such actions. Secondly, the automation of business processes describes how wireless technologies have the ability to centralise critical information and eliminate redundant process. The last of the 3 major advantages of deploying mobile technologies includes user convenience, timelessness and ability to conduct business 24/7, 365 days a year. This means that people delayed in airports no longer have to feel cut off from the world or their office. Through wireless tools and wireless solutions such as blackberry RIM or Iphone device, people can access information anytime, anywhere.

Possible disadvantages of deploying mobile technology include: (a) increased security risks, i.e. potential alleyway for hackers and violation and extraction of private information, (b) increased room for human error, i.e. decreased use of trained personal monitoring all business actions, hence increased responsibility of the employee to ensure that they are correctly doing their job whilst on a mobile device. (c) Increased fluctuation and volatility, i.e. companies should not assume that once created, a mobile strategy is a fixed and/or finished product. With the high rate of change in the marketplace (e.g. devices, connection types, applications), it could prove very problematic for the organisation to constantly monitor, update and modify the policy.

week 7 weekly I.T. questions

1.        List, describe, and provide an example of each of the five characteristics of high quality information.

Five characteristics of high quality information include: (a) accuracy; (b) completeness; (c) consistency; (d) uniqueness; and lastly (e) timeliness. The first of the five key elements, accuracy, questions whether all the values are correct, for example, is the name spelled correctly? Is the dollar amount recorded properly? Secondly, completeness questions if all the relevant information is present, i.e. are any of the values missing? An example includes; is the address complete? Does the address have street, city, state and postcode components filled in? The third characteristic, consistency, questions if aggregate or summary information is in agreement with detailed information? For example, do all total fields equal the true total of the individual fields? Fourth in the list is, uniqueness, this characteristic questions if each transaction, entity and event represented only once in the information? For example, are there any duplicate customers? Finally, the last of the five characteristics, timeliness, questions if the information is current with respect to the business requirements? For example, is information updated weekly, daily, or hourly?

2.        Define the relationship between a database and a database management system. 

A database maintains information about various types of objects (inventory), events (transactions), people (employees), and places (warehouses). Typically, a given database has a structural description of the type of facts held in that database: this description is known as a schema. Alternatively, a database management system is the computer program used to manage and query a database. Hence they are both interlinked as the both interact with one another.

3.        Describe the advantages an organisation can gain by using a database.

By using a database in an organisation, businesses can easily maintain and access information as well as accurately and rapidly dispatching orders, increasing flexibility within the firm, increasing scalability and performance; reducing information redundancy; increasing information integrity (quality); and increasing information security.

4.        Define the fundamental concepts of the relational database model.

The fundamental concepts in this instance include; entities, entity classes, attributes, keys and relationships. An entity in the relationship database model is a person, place, thing, transaction or event about which information is stored. A table in the relationship database model is a collection of similar entities. Secondly an entity class is the collection of similar entities, and is stored in a different 2d table. Thirdly, attributes, also called fields or columns, are characteristics or properties of an entity class. Each specific entity in the entity class occupies one row in its respective table. The columns in the table contain the attributes. The fourth element, keys, refers to primary and foreign keys. A primary key is a field that uniquely identifies a given entity in a table. For example in customer, the customer ID uniquely identifies each entity in the table and hence is the primary key. On the other hand, a foreign key in the relational database model is a primary key of one table that appears as an attribute in another table and acts to provide a logical relationship between the two tables. 

5.        Describe the benefits of a data-driven website.

The benefits of a data-driven website include: development; content management; future expandability; minimising human error; cutting production and update costs; more efficient; and improved stability. Firstly, development allows the website owner to make changes any time-all without having to rely on a developer or knowing HTML programming. Content management refers to the fact that a in a data-driven website a programmer is not needed to make updates unlike a static website. Future expandability is enabled through a data-driven website, this means that site can grow faster than would be possible with a static site. Minimising human error, a well designed data=driven website will have ‘error trapping’ mechanisms to ensure that required information is filled out correctly and that content is entered and displayed in the correct format. Cutting production and update costs, a data-driven website can be updated and ‘published’ by any competent data entry or administrative person. More efficient, with a data driven solution, the system keeps track of the templates, so users do not have to. Lastly, in terms of improved stability in a data-driven website, there is piece of mind, knowing the content is never lost- even if your programmer is.  

6. Describe the roles and purposes of data warehouses and data marts in an organisation.

A data warehouse is a logical collection of information- gathered from many different operational databases- that supports business analysis activities and decision-making tasks. The primary purpose of a data warehouse is to aggregate information throughout an organisation into a single repository in such a way that employees can make decisions and undertake business analysis activities. Therefore, while databases store the details of all transactions and events, data warehouses store that same information but in an aggregated form more suited to supporting decision-making tasks.

week 6 weekly I.T. questions

1.        What is information architecture and what is infrastructure architecture and how do they differ and how do they relate to each other?

Information architecture identifies where and how Important information, such as customer records, is maintained and secured. A single backup or restore failure can cost an organisation more than time and money; some data cannot be re-created, and the business intelligence lost from that data can be huge. On the other hand, infrastructure architecture includes the hardware, software and telecommunications equipment that, when combined, provides the underlying foundation to support the organisation’s goals. Both information and infrastructure architecture relate to each other because information architecture is the micro side of storing information, i.e. the physical information itself, and infrastructure architecture is the macro side of things, i.e. the physical makeup of the software and hardware that stores the data, the difference that they are both specify in different fields of the same element.

2.        Describe how an organisation can implement a solid information architecture

To implement a solid information architecture organisations should satisfy the 3 primary areas of information architecture, they are: backup and recovery, disaster recovery and information scrutiny. The first of the three elements; backup and recovery, can be satisfied by backing up all necessary data, files, software and any other cyber data of the business and making sure that it is regularly updated and kept neat and tidy in a backup system, organisations should feel safe from any threats to their businesses data, these threats mainly include system crashes and failures, particularly in the case of data that cannot be re-created. Recovery is the ability to get a system up and running in the event of a system crash or failure and includes restoring the information backup. Secondly, disaster recovery is a detailed process for recovering information or an IT system in the event of a catastrophic disaster such as a fire or flood. A comprehensive disaster recovery plan considers the location of the backup information; in most cases this is an off-site facility. This plan also considers the impact of the building in such a catastrophe and as such suggests the use of a hot site, (a separate and fully equipped facility where business can start up without hassle) in these types of situations. Lastly, information scrutiny is concerned with the regulatory requirements to safeguard data, not only in business organisations but the data of remote users, partners, customers and mobile phones, PDAs and other mobile devices. Also its concerns about identity theft are at an all time high. 

3.        List and describe the five requirement characteristics of infrastructure architecture. 

The five required characteristics of information architecture include: flexibility; scalability; reliability; availability; and performance. The first of the five, flexibility discusses how organisations must watch today’s business, as well as tomorrow’s, when designing and building systems. Also considering that systems need to be flexible enough to meet all types of business changes. Secondly, scalability refers to how well a system can adapt to increased demands. Thirdly, reliability talks about ensuring all systems are functioning correctly and providing accurate information. Fourthly, availability discusses when users can access systems. Note that high availability refers to a system or component that is continuously operational. Lastly, performance measures how quickly a system performs a certain process or transaction (in terms of efficiency IT metrics of both speed and throughput).

4.        Describe the business value in deploying a service oriented architecture

Service orientated architecture (SOA) is a business-driven IT architectural approach that supports integrating a business as linked, repeated tasks or services. SOA helps today’s businesses innovate by ensuring that IT systems can adapt quickly, easily and economically to support rapidly changing business needs. SOA helps businesses increase the flexibility of their processes, strengthen their underlying IT architecture, and reuse their existing IT investments by creating connection among disparate applications and information sources.  

5.        What is an event?

An event is a business event, and can happen at any particular place or time, and is usually under special circumstances.

6.        What is a service?

A service is simply a business task, such as checking a potential customer’s credit rating when opening a new account.

7.        What emerging technologies can companies can use to increase performance and utilise their infrastructure more effectively?

Emerging technologies include what is known as grid computing; at its core grid computing is based on an open set of standards and protocols that enable communication across heterogeneous, geographically dispersed environments (as implemented by google). Grid computing goes far beyond sheer computing power. Today’s operating environments must be resilient, flexible and integrated as never before. Grid computing enables this to take place, and organisations around the world are experiencing substantial benefits by implementing grids in critical business processes to achieve both business and technology benefits.

week 5 weekly I.T. questions.

Explain the ethical issues surrounding information technology.

Ethical issues surrounding I.T. such as copyright infringement and intellectual property rights are consuming the e-business world.  Other forms of ethical issues in the I.T. world include fair use doctrine, pirated software, and counterfeited software. In this instance, intellectual property is the collection of rights that protect creative and intellectual effort. Secondly, copyright is the exclusive right to do, or omit to do, certain acts with intangible property such as a song, video game and some types of proprietary documents. Alternatively, fair use doctrine states that in certain situations, it is legal to use copyrighted material. Pirated software is the unauthorized use, duplication, distribution, or sale of copyrighted software. Lastly counterfeited software refers to software that is manufactured to look like the real thing and sold as such.

 Describe a situation involving technology that is ethical but illegal.

A situation which is ethical but illegal is using information on customers that is owned by the business to generate extra revenue, it seems like a good business strategy, using information on customers that a business already owns to generate additional revenue but this methodology is in fact illegal under the fair credit reporting act and under the privacy act 1988.  

Describe and explain one of the computer use policies that a company might employee

One computer user policy includes an ethical computer use policy, I this instance it contains general principles to guide computer use behaviour. For example, the ethical computer use policy might explicitly state that users should refrain from playing computer games during working hours. This policy ensures the users know how to behave at work and the organization has a published standard by which to deal with user infractions.

What are the 5 main technology security risks?

The five main security risks in business are (a) human error, (b) natural disasters, (c) technical failures, (d) deliberate acts, and lastly, (e) viruses. The first element, human error, is farley self explanatory, human error occurs when incorrect data or information is loaded onto the organizations computer system, this incorrect information may be detrimental to other figures and can completely mess up an organizations results or statistics when trying to find specific data. Examples include typos, misreading material or placing a piece of information where it wasn’t supposed to go. Secondly, natural disasters can be highly detrimental to technology, natural disasters can completely destroy businesses buildings in which case the company may have to temporarily relocate, examples include floods, earthquakes and terrorist attacks. Thirdly, technical failures are where the Internet system has crashed or is down for some reason i.e. software bugs, or the company’s intranet system is mucking up, these can all be major security risks because both time and resources are need to reestablish them. Fourthly, deliberate acts such as   sabotage and white-collar crime are also security risks, in this instance sabotage could be covert in which someone who is unhappy within the business is trying to ruin the productivity of that company. Lastly viruses are software written with malicious intent to cause or annoyance and/or damage; there are many types of viruses, some of the more common ones include; worms, Trojan-horses and backdoor programs.

Outline one way to reduce each risk.

·         Firewall

·         Strong passwords, i.e. letters and numbers.

·         Changing of passwords more often, i.e. every 60 days

·         Social engineering

·         Content filtering

·         Encryption

·        Implementing a disaster recovery plan

·        System audits to track down malicious activity

·        Strong penalties for misuse of data

What is a disaster recovery plan, what strategies might a firm employee?

Disaster recovery is the process of regaining access to computer systems and data after a disaster has taken place. All firms should have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan in place. The plan should incorporate the following elements:

• Communications plan                                            
• Alternative sites- hot or warm sites
• All firms must have Business continuity plans that outline exactly what happens in a disaster.
• Location of backup data, note this data should be kept in order 
• Well-documented, tested, and established procedures in the chance of a disaster.