Week 11 Chapter 11: Project Management

Explain the triple constraint and its importance in project management.
The triple constraint refer to the making and assessment time, cost and scope of project changes. Project management is essentially the art of making and assessing the time, cost and scope of project changes, so hence why the triple constraint is so important to project management. However each one of these factors needs to be equally balanced in order for project management to run effectively and efficiently, because if one of these factors changes or move then the others follow.

Figure 1: This is a diagram of triple constraint.

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

In a project plan each job is written down, resources are allocated and it works o3ut what tasks can be done at the same time.
The two primary diagrams most frequently used in project planning are PERT charts and Gantt charts.

PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) charts: "are a graphical network model that depicts a project's tasks and the relationships between those tasks." The red lines/boxes denote the critical path.

Figure 2: An example of a PERT chart.

Gantt chart: "Is a simple bar chart that depicts project tasks against a calendar. Tasks are listed vertically and the projects time frame is listed horizontally."

Figure 3: An example of a Gantt chart.

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

To ensure success a project manager must focus on the following three primary areas:
-Managing people
-Managing communications
- Managing change

Outline 2 reasons why projects fail and two reasons why projects succeed.

Figure 4: A comparison table I compiled outlining why project fail and succeed

References:

Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch, Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems, 1st Australian/New Zealand Edition, Mc Graw Hill, 2010.

TOMTSONGAS, 2011, Program Success Project & Program Management Success Factors, Scope, Time and Cost – Managing the Triple Constraint,  http://programsuccess.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/scope-time-and-cost-managing-the-triple-constraint/, Visited 6/6/2011

Week 10 Chapter 9: Customer Relationship Management and Business Intelligence

What is your understanding of CRM?

Customer relationship management (CRM) are systems that enable and manage the relationship between the business and the customer.They also allow for the business to individualise the services with their customers, in order to provide the best customer service.CRM's are used by sales and marketing.

Compare operational and analytical customer relationship management. 

Figure 1: This is a table I created outlining the difference between Operational and Analytical CRM

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

The marketing department uses a list generator, a campaign management system and cross-selling and up-selling technologies in order to sell many products to just one customer.
-List generators gather customer information from a range of sources and then divide the information for different marketing campaigns.
-Campaign management systems guide users through marketing campaigns.
-Cross-selling involves selling additional products or services.
-Up-selling involves increasing the value of the sale.

The sales department uses the three primary operational CRM technologies of sales management, contact management and opportunity management to increase customer satisfaction.
-Sales management automates each phase of the sales process, which helps individual sale representatives to coordinate and organise all of their accounts.
-Contact management allows for customer contact information to be maintained, as well as identifying prospective customers for future sales.
-Opportunity management targets sale opportunities by finding new customers for companies for future sales.

How could a sales department use operational CRM technologies? 

A sales department could use operation CRM technologies to;
-Identify prospective customers
-Identify types of customers
-Create individualises marketing campaigns to target a particular  group of prospective customers
-Understand and gain knowledge about customers buying behaviours
-Communicate with customers on an individual basis, allowing for the business to know exactly what each customer wants and needs

Describe business intelligence and its value to businesses.

Business Intelligence refers to applications and technologies that are used to gather, provide access to and analyse data and information support decision-making efforts, in order to find strategic and competitive advantages.

Nowadays businesses are discovering that they must meet and identify the constantly changing wants and needs of different customer groups, in order for them to still be a competitive positions in today's consumer-centric market. Business intelligence allows for companies to;
-Determine who are the best and worst customers thereby gaining insight into where it needs to concentrate more for its future sales
-Identify exceptional sales people
-Determine whether or not campaigns have been successful
-Determine in which activity they are making or loosing money

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

The problem associated with business intelligence is to do with the notion of "Data Rich, Information Poor".
Every single year the amount of data being generated is doubled and many think that it will begin to double every month. From here they are able to gain information, but first all the data must be analysed, however some of this data may be unable to be used. Hence the business having a lot of data ("Data Rich") and there being not as much information ("Information Poor").

The solution to this notion of "Data Rich, Information Poor", is for business executives to properly equip their employees with business intelligence tools and systems. These will enable for the not only the business to run effectively and efficiently, but will also allow for employees to make better, and more informed decisions.

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.

Two possible outcomes of data mining are cluster analysis and statistical analysis,
Cluster Analysis-"is a technique used to divide a set of information into mutually exclusive groups, such that the members of each group are as close together as possible to one another and the different groups are as far apart as possible. ... It is also constantly used to divide customer information for customer relationship management systems to help organisations identify customers with similar behavioural traits. ... Cluster analysis has the ability to uncover naturally occurring patterns in information"

Figure 2: This is an example of cluster analysis

Statistical Analysis-"performs such functions as information correlations, distributions, calculations and variance analysis. Data mining tools give workers a wide range of powerful statistical capabilities so they can quickly build a variety of statistical models, examine the models' assumptions and validity, and compare and contrast the various models to determine which one is best suited for a particular issues within a business."

References:

Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch, Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems, 1st Australian/New Zealand Edition, Mc Graw Hill, 2010.

Week 9 Chapter 8: Operations Management and Supply Chain

Define the term operations management 

Operations management is the management of turning raw inputs and resources into goods and services.

Explain operations management’s role in business 

Operations management's role in business is to direct the main processes and measures, which are used to produce manufactured goods, products and services.

Other roles include:

-Forecasting

-Capacity Planning

-Scheduling

-Managing Inventory

-Motivating and Training Employees

-Assuring Quality

-Locating Facilities

Describe the correlation between operations management and information technology 

In order for operations management to operate properly, operation's managers must oversee IT departments, which bring in information from all over the world in order for products to be produced effectively and efficiently. Managers use IT to heavily influence Operational Management decisions. To do this they follow and answer 5 key questions;

-What: What resources will be needed and in what amounts?
-When: When should the work be scheduled?
-Where: Where will the work be performed?
-How: How will the work be done?
-Who: Who will perform the work?

As well as this Information Technology makes sure that the competitive operational management decisions run according to plan. They are used to describe various processes to which a company is able to add value to these decisions. These decisions being; 

-cost

-quality

-delivery

-flexibility

-service

So in saying all of this all the decisions listed result in the many options being available and that they generate influence on profits and costs.

Explain supply chain management and its role in a business 

Supply chain management refers to the management of information flow between and among the stages in a supply chain to maximise total supply chain effectiveness and profitability. It's role in business is significant in that it manage's raw materials, productions, the change in supply and goods and services.

List and describe the five components of a typical supply chain

Plan- The plan is the strategic portion of the supply chain and is essential in making sure that the supply chain is efficient, cost effective and delivers high quality and value to its customers.

Source- It's important that companies choose reliable suppliers, who will deliver the goods and services that are required for making products. It is also essential that companies create a set of pricing, delivery and payment processes with their suppliers, as well as creating metrics which monitor and improve their relationship.

Make- Companies manufacture their product or services in this step. Quality levels, product outputs and worker productivity are measured by this metric intensive portion of the supply chain. Scheduling activities which are required for testing, production, packaging and preparing for delivery are also covered in this step.

Deliver- This stage is usually 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 the suppliers to the customers. Companies must be able to receive orders from customers, fulfil orders, pick transportation companies to deliver the products, as well as implement a billing and invoicing system to assist with payments during this stage of the supply chain. 

Return- This is typically the most problematic stage. Companies need to create a network for receiving defective and excess products, as well as being able to support customers who have problems with delivered products.

Figure 1: A diagram I made demonstrating the 5 components of supply chain management

Define the relationship between information technology and the supply chain.

Information technologies main role in supply chain management is creating integrations, tight process and information linkages between functions within a company and between companies. This allows a smooth and organised flow of both information and product between customers, suppliers and transportation providers across the supply chain. 

References:

Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch, Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems, 1st Australian/New Zealand Edition, Mc Graw Hill, 2010.

Week 8 Chapter 7: Networks and Wireless

Explain the business benefits of using wireless technology. 

Wireless Technology enables businesses to reach and connect with their customers and employees all over the globe, it allows for faster, better and more efficient services and it has the capacity to communicate and share information all over the world to all different technologies and resources.

Describe the business benefits associated with VoIP. 

The benefits for businesses associated with VoIP are:

-It reduces costs and saves money for the company

-Increases the speed of the business

-Easier application integration
-It increases restoration and response times

-Easier to exchange and use information with systems  

Compare LANs and WANs. 

Local Area Network (LAN)- connects a series of computers on one geographical location. e.g. school, home, office

Figure 1: Diagram of a Local Area Network (LAN)

Wide Area Network (WAN)- connects a series of computers on many different geographical locations. e.g. interstate, province, nationally

Figure 2: Diagram of a Wide Area Network (WAN)

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

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) refers to the technologies which use active or passive tags that are in the form of chips or smart labels. These chips and smart labels can store unique identifiers, which relay this information to electronic readers.

Passive RFID tags have no internal power, however they are able to pick up a very faint signal from an antenna and then are able to power up just enough to transmit data back to the antenna. An example of this is  a passport.

Active RFID tags on the other hand have internal power and are able to transmit mush stronger and more accurate data. An example of this being toll cards.

A supply chain can be made more effective if business use RFID technologies in regards to planning, performance and operation. A business can put these tags on their products, as well as things like, boxes, packages or pallets, which are sent from the warehouse manufacturer to the supplier, being the distributor and then to the actual retailer being the shopkeeper, who would then sell the goods and products to the customer. By an organisation implementing tags, it enables not only the business, but also the distributors to monitor and track the distribution and travels of the goods and products. It also allows for the organisation to monitor the supply chain, as well as making sure that there are enough supplies on the shelves.

Figure 3: A video explaining RFID

Identify the advantages and disadvantage of deploying mobile technology

Figure 4: A table I compiled of the advantages and disadvantages of deploying mobile technology

Refernce's:

Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch, Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems, 1st Australian/New Zealand Edition, Mc Graw Hill, 2010.

T1 Town, 2010, Data Town, LAN/WAN, http://t1town.com/data-services/lanwan/, Visited 27/5/2011

austlo, RFID - Technology Video, YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zj7txoDxbE, Visited 27/5/2011

Week 7 Chapter 6: Databases and Data Warehouses

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

Are all values of information correct?

For example the spelling of someone's name

Completeness

Are any of the values of information missing?

For example a street address. It the postcode missing?

Consistency

Is the summary information provided in agreement with the detailed information?

For example do the total of all fields equal the true total of the individual fields?

Uniqueness

Is each piece of information represented only once?

For example are there duplicates of events, transactions??

Timeliness

Is the information current and up to date?

For example is the information regularly updated?

Define the relationship between a database and a database management system.
A database is an organised set of data. A database management system is a collection of programs which work together to manipulate and manage the database itself. This system also provides a boarder between the database and its users and other programs.

Describe the advantages an organisation can gain by using a database.
These advantages are:
-Increased Flexibility
-Increased Scalability and Performance
-Reduced Information Redundancy
-Increased Information Integrity (Quality)
-Increased Information Security

Define the fundamental concepts of the relational database model.

Entities and Attributes:
Entities- are people, places, things, transactions or events about information which is stored.

Attributes- are characteristics or properties of an entity class and are also known as columns or fields.

Keys and Relationships:
Primary Key- is a field which individually identifies a given entity in a table. These provide a way of distinguishing between each entity in a table.

Foreign Key- this is a primary key that is found in one table which appears as an attribute in another. It acts in a way which provides a logical relationship between the two tables.

Describe the benefits of a data-driven website.

These Benefits Include:
-Development
-Content Management
-Future Expandability
-Minimising Human Error
-Cutting Production and Update Costs
-More Efficient
-Improved Stability
-Increased Customer Satisfaction
-Information is able to Studied Efficiently and Effectively

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

Data Warehouse- is a large collection of data from sources for query, reporting and analysis, which supports business analysis activities and decision-making tasks. A Data Warehouse mainly addresses the needs of a company or business as a whole.

Data Mart- is a subset of data from a data warehouse. A Data Mart predominately addresses specific functions and/or department's needs. These are most suitable for smaller organisations.

Reference's:

Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch, Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems, 1st Australian/New Zealand Edition, Mc Graw Hill, 2010.

Week 6 Chapter 5: Enterprise Architectures

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

Information Architecture recognises how and where important information is maintained and secured. For example customer records.

Information Infrastructure consists of hardware, software and telecommunications equipment, that when combined, provides the underlying foundation to support the organisation's goals.

These two terms differ because information architecture is a plan, whereas information infrastructure is when the plan is out into action.

Information architecture and information infrastructure relate to each other because they rely on each other and without one you cannot have the other.

Describe how an organisation can implement a solid information architecture.
An organisation can implement solid information architecture by:

-Backup and Recovery
Backup is an exact copy of a systems information and data.
Recovery is the ability for the system to be up and running if the system was to crash or fail, this also includes the ability to restore the information.

-Disaster Recovery
This consists of a disaster recovery plan, business continuity planning and a disaster recovery cost curve.
A disaster recovery plan is a list of tasks which allow for computer systems and data to be recovered  and for access to be regained after a disaster has occurred.
Business continuity planning is a plan that addresses how an organisation is going to recover and restore partially or completely interrupted critical functions within a specific time frame after a disaster or prolonged disruption.
A disaster recovery cost curve shows the amount it will cost for your company to recover from a disaster, as well as how much it will cost  your organisation for the unavailability of information and technology.

Figure 1: This is a diagram of a disaster recovery cost curve.

-Information Security

Information security enables the protection of all information and data from accidental or intentional misuse or disaster made by a person, object or event inside or outside an organisation. Information security also involves the managing of user access and also the keeping up-to-date of antivirus software and patches.

List and describe the five requirement characteristics of infrastructure architecture.

Flexibility- This is in relation to how well a system is able to adapt in order to meet the different changes a business may face.

Scalability- This refers to how well a system is able to adjust in relation to increased demands.

Reliability- This makes sure that all systems are function correctly , as well as providing accurate information.

Availability- This refers to when the systems are able to be accessed by the users.

Performance- This measures how quickly and efficiently a systems is able to perform certain processes and/or transactions.

Describe the business value in deploying a service oriented architecture.

A service orientated architecture is the means of meeting different demands by using different systems. A business would value this because a service such as this does repeats the same task over and over and it is able to be applied to many different situations.

What is an event?

Events are the expressions of business technology. They identify threats and opportunities and inform the appropriate people who are able to act upon this information.

What is a service?

Services are software products, which just appeal to a broad audience. They must also be reusable if they intend on having an impact on the productivity. Examples which new services describe include; credit check, customer information and process payment.

What emerging technologies can companies can use to increase performance and utilise their infrastructure more effectively?
The two ways in which a company can increase performance and utilise their infrastructure more affectively are by visualisation and grid computing.
Visualisation is 'a framework for diving the resources of a computer into multiple execution environments.'It allows for physical resources to be increased in order to maximise the investment in hardware. People, processes and technology are able to work together in a more efficient manner thanks to visualisation, which allows for them to meet increased service levels.
Grid Computing on the other hand is the combination of geographically detached computing, storage, and network resources, which are coordinated for benefit of delivering improved performance, higher quality service, better utilisation, and easier access to data. Companies are achieving both business and technological benefits through the implementation of grid computing.

Reference's:

Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch, Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems, 1st Australian/New Zealand Edition, Mc Graw Hill, 2010.

Week 5 Chapter 4: Ethics and Security

Explain the ethical issues surrounding information technology.
Intellectual Property- a person's right to protect their creative and intellectual efforts.

Copyright- the exclusive right to perform certain actions with a piece intangible property, such as songs, books, movies, etc.

Fair Use Doctrine- the legal right to use copyrighted material, but not make a profit on it.

Pirated Software- the unauthorised and illegal use of copyrighted material e.g. duplicating, selling, downloading

Counterfeit Software- the selling of copied software to look like the original e.g claiming copied software as your own

Describe a situation involving technology that is ethical but illegal.
Hiring a DVD from a video shop and loving it so much that you make a copy of it for yourself, so that you won't have to re-hire it later and that you can watch it as much as you want, also saving you from having to spend money to purchase your own copy.

Figure 1: This is a commercial which is usually shown in the previews before a movie or DVD starts.

Describe and explain one of the computer use policies that a company might employ.
An Internet use policy provides the user with rules and guidelines outlining how to use the Internet in a appropriate and proper manner. This policy applies to all employers within a company who have access to the Internet through any multimedia device and it is expected that the employee's adhere to the policy.

Some terms and conditions that an Internet use policy may include are:

-Describing the available Internet services.

-Defining the companies position on the purpose of Internet access and the restrictions.

-This should compliment the ethical computer use policy.

-Describe the users responsibility for citing sources, properly handling offensive material and protecting the companies good name.

-Should clearly state the consequences if the policy is violated.

What are the 5 main technology security risks?

-Human Error

-Natural Disasters

-Technical Failures

-Deliberate Acts

-Management Failure

Figure 2: This is a diagram which demonstrates the 5 main technology security risks.

Outline one way to reduce each risk.
Human Error- Stronger passwords that are frequently changed to ensure strong security, providing information to prove a person's identity, as well as better training for employers

Natural Disasters- Main hard drive which constantly stores and saves information from the network onto an online storage space, so that all folders and files are able to be found, recovered and kept in a safe and easily accessible place.

Technical Failures- Install and use high profile firewalls and anti-virus programs to prevent unauthorised external access.

Deliberate Acts- Use programs which track and screen a person's actions and activities on a computer and highlight and alert if there is inappropriate use happening.

Management Failure- Provide regular training which allows for refreshment on basic skills, introduces new skills, teaches them important skills that are necessary and relevant to their job, etc. 

What is a disaster recovery plan, what strategies might a firm employ?
A disaster recovery plan is a list of tasks which allow for computer systems and data to be recovered  and for access to be regained after a disaster has occurred.

Strategies for a disaster recovery plan include:

-Back-up of files, folders, procedures

-Backed-up material to be moved off site

-Off site material to be kept up-to-date

-Hot or warm back-up sites

-Well documented procedures

-Regular recovery testing

Reference's:

Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch, Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems, 1st Australian/New Zealand Edition, Mc Graw Hill, 2010.

kubusclem,  Movie Piracy - it's a crime, YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5SmrHNWhak&feature=related, Visited 8/4/2011

Week 4 Chapter 3: E-Commerce

What is an IP Address? What is it’s main function?
An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a unique number which identifies each machine which uses the Internet. It is also known as TCP (Transmission Control Protocol). An IP addresses main function is allowing the communication between computers.


What is Web 2.0, how does it differ from 1.0?
Web 2.0 also referred to as 'The Live Web' allows multiple users to add, tag, comment, collaborate and share knowledge with one another instantaneously. Some examples of this are facebook, myspace, wikipedia, google blogger, itunes, YouTube and tumblr.

Web 1.0 is a one way web. This means that these websites are not interactive at all. As well as this Web 1.0 is also very static which means that once users visit the website for mainly information purposes there is really no need for them to return back to it.

Figure 1: A video explaining differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0

What is Web 3.0?
Web 3.0 is the future and it looks at the concept that changes the world wide web into a database and uses it as a path for artificial intelligence. The main features of Web 3.0 is it being a semantic web, its improved functionality and its ability to personalise.

An example of this is that on facebook when you 'tag' photo's of yourself or others in pictures, 'like' certain groups and/or pages or insert hyperlinks to video's or websites, then facebook will remember this. This allows facebook to post adds and suggestions of things that you might like or be interested in in-relation to the things that you have tagged, liked or inserted. So essentially Web 3.0 tailors the Internet to the users specific wants or needs via recognition of the users previous activity.

Figure 2: A video exploring the change to Web 3.0

Figure 3: A video showing the evolution from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 to Web 3.0

What is E-Business, how does it differ from E-Commerce?
E-Business is the process of doing business on the Internet. This includes, buying selling, serving customers and interacting with business partners. Whereas E-Commerce just consists of the buying and selling of goods over the Internet.

What is pure and partial E-Commerce?
Pure E-Commerce is to do with businesses whose transactions are largely performed via the Internet.

Partial E-Commerce is to do with businesses who carry out some of their E-Commerce tasks online, but their business is primarily done in the 'real world'.


List and describe the various E-Business models.
Business-to-Business (B2B)- This involves businesses buying from and selling to one another over the Internet.

Business-to-Consumer (B2C)- This involves businesses selling its products or services to the consumer via the Internet.

Consumer-to-Business (C2B)- This involves a consumer selling its products or services to a business over the Internet.

Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)- This involves the use of websites which primarily offer products and services which assist consumers when interacting with each other over the Internet.


List and describe the major B2B models. 
Sell-Side B2B- This is where there is one seller and many buyers.

Buy-Side B2B- This is where there is one buyer and many sellers.

Electronic Exchange- This is where buyers and sellers are able to connect with each other in large communities to exchange their products and services.

Collaborative Commerce- This is where there is online collaborations and interactions between employee's, employer's, business partners and customers who belong to trading communities.

Figure 4: These are diagrams of the Major B2B Models

Outline 2 opportunities and 2 challenges faced by companies doing business online?
Opportunities: 

-Increased convenience for both the seller and the buyer due to business being able to be accessed 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

-Increased accessibility for buyers, which means a global market is able to be reached.

Challenges:

-Protecting their customers from things such as illegal or harmful goods and services and invasion of privacy and cyberfraud.

-Providing security for its assets against accidental or spiteful misuse. 

Reference's:


Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch, Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems, 1st Australian/New Zealand Edition, Mc Graw Hill, 2010.

oneilinteraction, Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0, YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj3Maccx81s, Visited 8/4/2011

semantictechnology, The Future Internet: Service Web 3.0, YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=off08As3siM, Visited 8/4/2011

davidEPN, Evolution Web 1.0, Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsNcjya56v8, Visited 8/4/2011

Week 3 Chapter 2: Strategic Decision Making

Define TPS & DSS, and explain how an organisation can use these systems to make decisions and gain competitive advantages

TPS (Transaction Processing System) is a basic business system which serves and organisation at the operational level. e.g. an accounting system such as a payroll system.

DSS (Decision Support System) is an information systems which supports and assists managers and business professionals during the decision-making process.

These systems work together to allow employers to make efficient decisions in a business. This happens by the Transaction processing systems giving data to the decision support system to which the data is narrowed down into a simpler form hence helps employees to work efficiently and effectively.

Figure 1: This diagram shows how the TPS (Transaction Processing System) and the DSS (Decision Support System) works together.

Describe the three quantitative models typically used by decision support systems.

Sensitivity Analysis: is the study of the effect on a particular variable when one or more other variables are changed.

What-If Analysis: uses the process of changing values in cells to view how those changes are going to affect the outcome of formulas on one or more worksheets.

Formula: =IF(logical test, [true value], [false value])

E,g, =IF(C17>200,000, "Fantasic", "reasonable") This means that if cell (C17) is greater than 200,000 then it will read as "fantastic" and if it is less than 200,000 then it will read as "reasonable".

Goal Seeking Analysis: allows a value in a formula to be adjusted to produce a desired result or answer. 

Describe business processes and their importance to an organisation.

A business process enables specific tasks to be completed by the participation in a list of set activities. A business process allows a corporation to achieve a set number of goals as well as helping a business to eliminate replicated  and combined tasks and also to identify processes which are running smoothly.

Compare business process improvement and business process re-engineering.

Figure 2: This is a comparison table which I composed comparing Business Process Improvement and Business Process Re-engineering

Describe the importance of business process modelling (or mapping) and business process models.

Business processes refer to the way in which work is coordinated, organised and focused in order to produce product and/or services that are valuable and reliable.

Business process modelling is the action of producing a work process map or a detailed flowchart. These allow for business process models to be read and interpreted easily, as well as keeping them accurate and factual.

Business process models are a graphic description of a process which shows specific tasks to be performed in correct chronological order. The importance of these are that they provide an easy-to-read model which can be effectively followed due to them being in sequential order. They also can be analysed so that the company can check to see if they are achieving their objectives and goals.

Figure 3: This is an example of a business Process Model

Reference's:

Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch, Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems, 1st Australian/New Zealand Edition, Mc Graw Hill, 2010.

Snell, James, 2001, The Web services insider, Part 5: Getting into the flow, IBM, http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-ref5/?dwzone=webservices, Visited: 8/4/2011

Week 2 Chapter 1: Business Driven Information Systems

Explain information technology’s role in business and describe how you measure success?

Information Technology's (IT) allow business' to operate effectively and efficiently. It can provide to opportunity for transformation within a business, by taking a small scaled business and turning them into an online and/or large scaled success, however it  can also provide challenges as well.

By using Information Technology's a business is able to access and connect to their customer's, employees, business partners and enterprises on a global scale. This allows them to become internationally recognised, which would boost their credibility and financial state.

Information Technology's enable employee's to better connect and work with each other along with others in different sectors of the company. Employee's are also able to benefit from Information Technologies better equipping them with programs and material that are better suited to their job. This results back to the business being able to operate efficiently and effectively.

The only measure that business' use to measure the amount of success lies within metrics. Metrics allows for a business' performance to be shown as a quantifiable source. These metrics include: Key performance indicators (KPIs), Efficiency and Effectiveness IT metrics and Benchmarking.

List and describe each of the forces in Porter’s Five Forces Model?

Buyer Power: This is where the buyers have many choices hence the buyer power is high, however if there are fewer choices then the buyer power is low.

Supplier Power: This is when the supplier raises prices the supplier power is high giving the buyer fewer choices making the buyer power low, however if the supplier lowers the prices the supplier power is low giving the buyer more choices making the buyer power high.

Threat of Substitute Products or Services: When there are many options to both the product or service the threat of substitute products or services is high, however if there are fewer options it is low.

Threat of New Entrants: When new competition enter's the marketplace easily the threat of new entrants is high, however if there is something stopping new competition entering the marketplace the threat of new entrants is low.

Rivalry Among Existing Competitors: Where there is extreme competition rivalry is high, however if the competition is at ease then rivalry is low.

Figure 1: Porters Five Forces Model
As shown above I have created a Five Forces Model to demonstrate the connection between the forces. 

Describe the relationship between business processes and value chains?

A business process enables specific tasks to be completed by the participation in a list of set activities, whereas a value chain is used to assess and view a business's operational process, as well as view the product or service to which vale has been added for the customer.

Figure 2: A business value chain (Baltzan, 2010, p33)

Compare Porter’s three generic strategies?


Cost Leadership: Low in cost to maximise profitability, as well as provide a product that is available to a broader range market.


Differentiation: Higher in cost due to extra features or services that provide the product with a unique quality which is different from others on the market. This product is available to a larger market due to it possessing qualities which lower cost items do not have. This makes the product more appealing to a larger market regardless of the fact that it is higher in cost.


Focused: Can either be low in cost or high in cost depending on whether the focus is on cost leadership or differentiation. However this product will only appeal to a small market, as the product will be designed specifically with a certain group of people in mind. 

Figure 3: A simplified table I put together to compare Cost Leadership, Differentiation and Focused Strategies

Reference's:


Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch, Blakey. Business Driven Information Systems. 1st Australian/New Zealand Edition. Mc Graw Hill. 2010. 


Internet Center For Management and Business Administration, Inc. "Porter Generic Strategies" QuickMBA:Strategic Management, 1999-2010, http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/generic.shtml