MGT300 Chapter 7 - Storing Organizational Information - Database

RELATIONAL DATABASE FUNDAMENTALS
-Information is everywhere in an organization
- Information is stored in databases
>Database – maintains information about various types of objects (inventory), events (transactions),        people (employees), and places (warehouses)

-Database models include:-
>Hierarchical database model – information is organized into a tree-like structure (using parent/child         relationships) in such a way that it cannot have too many relationships.




>Network database model – a flexible way of representing objects and their relationships





> Relational database model – stores information in the form of logically related two-dimensional tables

ENTITIES AND ATTRIBUTES

- Entity – a person, place, thing, transaction, or event about which information is stored
>The rows in each table contains the entities

- Attributes (fields, columns) – characteristics or properties of an entity class
> The columns in each table contain the attributes


KEYS AND RELATIONSHIPS

-    Primary keys and foreign keys identity the various entity classes (tables) in the database
>   Primary key – a fields (or group of fields) that uniquely identities a given entity in a table
>   Foreign key – a primary key of one table that appears an attribute in another table and acts to provide      a logical relationships among the two tables

RELATIONAL DATABASE ADVANTAGES

-    Database advantages from a business perspective include;

• Increased flexibility
• Increased scalability and performance
• Reduced information redundancy
• Increased information integrity (quality)
• Increased information security

1. INCREASED FLEXIBILITY

-     A well-designed database should;

•  Handle changes quickly and easily
•  Provide users with different views
• Have only one physical views > Physical view – deals with the physical storage of information on a storage device
• Have multiple logical views > Logical view – focuses on how users logically access information

     2.  INCREASED SCALABILITY AND PERFORMANCE

-      A database must scale to meet increased demand, while maintaining acceptable performance levels

• Scalability – refers to how well a system can adapt to increased demands
• Performance – measures how quickly a system performs a certain process or transaction

      3.  REDUCED INFORMATION REDUNDANCY

-      Databases reduce information redundancy

• Redundancy – the duplication of information or storing the same information in multiple places

-      Inconsistency is one of the primary problems with redundant information

      4.  INCREASED INFORMATION SECURITY

-      Information is an organization asset and must be protected
-      Databases offer several security features including;

• Password – provides authentication of the user
• Access level – determines who has access to the different types of information
• Access control – determines types of user access, such as read-only access

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

-     Database management systems (DBMS) – software through which users and application programs interact with a database

DATA-DRIVEN WEB SITES

-       Data-driven Web sites – an interactive Web site kept constantly updated and relevant to the needs of its   customers through the use of database

> DATA-DRIVEN WEB SITE BUSINESS ADVANTAGES

-         Development

-         Content Management

-         Future Expandability

-         Minimizing Human Error

-         Cutting Production and Update Costs

-         More Efficient

-         Improved Stability

> DATA-DRIVEN BUSINESS INTELLIGENT

-         BI in a data-driven Web site

INTEGRATING INFORMATION AMONG MULTIPLE DATABASES

-      Integration – allows separate systems to communicate directly with each other

• Forward integration– takes information entered into a given system and sends it automatically to all downstream systems and processes

•   Backward integration– takes information entered into a given system and sends it automatically   to all upstream systems and processes

 -      Building a central repository specifically for integrated information

MGT300 Chapter 6 – Valuing Organizational Information

ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION

• Information is everywhere in an organization
• Employees must be able to obtain and analyze the many different levels, formats and granularity of organizational information to make decisions
• Successfully collecting, compiling, sorting and analyzing information can provide tremendous insight into how an organization is performing
•  Levels, formats and granularity of organizational information

THE VALUE OF TRANSNATIONAL AND ANALYTICALLY INFORMATION

• Transaction information verses analytically information

THE VALUE OF TIMELY INFORMATION

-   Timeliness is an aspect of information that depends on the situation
-   Real-time information – immediate, up-to-date information
-   Real-time system – provides real-time information in response to query requests


THE VALUE OF QUALITY INFORMATION

-    Business decisions are only as good as the quality of the information used to make the decisions
-   You never want to find yourself using technology to help you make a bad decision faster
-   Characteristics of high-quality information include;

-   Low quality information example;





UNDERSTANDING THE COSTS OF POOR INFORMATION

1. The four primary sources of low quality information include;-

- Online customers intentionally enter inaccurate information to protect their privacy
- Information from different systems have different entry standards and formats
- Call center operators enter abbreviated or erroneous information by accident or to save time
- Third party and external information contains inconsistencies, inaccuracies and errors


      2.  Potential business effects resulting from low quality information include;

- Inability to accurately track customers
- Difficulty identifying valuable customers
- Inability to identify selling opportunities
- Marketing to nonexistent customers
- Difficulty tracking revenue due to inaccurate invoices
- Inability to build strong customer relationships


UNDERSTANDING THE BENEFITS OF GOOD INFORMATION

-   High quality information can significantly improve the chances of making a good decision
-   Good decisions can directly impact an organization’s bottom line

MGT 300 Chapter 5 – Organizational Structures that Support Strategic Initiatives

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES

Organizational employees must work closely together to develop strategic initiatives that create competitive advantages.
Ethics and security are two fundamental building blocks that organizations must base their businesses upon.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Information technology is a relatively new functional area, having only been around formally for around 40 years.
Recent IT – related strategic positions:

•               Chief Information Officer (CIO)
•               Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
•               Chief Security Officer (CSO)
•              Chief Privacy Officer (CPO)
•              Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO)

Chief Information Officer (CIO) – oversees all uses of IT and ensures the strategic alignment of IT with business goals and objectives.

Broad CIO functions include;

•  Manager – ensuring the delivery of all IT projects, on time and within budget.
• Leader – ensuring the strategic vision of IT is in line with the strategic vision of the organization.
• Communicator – building and maintaining strong executive relationships.

  

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) – responsible for ensuring the throughput , speed, accuracy, availability and reliability of IT
Chief Security Officer (CSO) – responsible for ensuring the security of IT systems
Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) – responsible for ensuring the ethical and legal use of information
Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) – responsible for collecting, maintaining and distributing the organization’s knowledge.



THE GAP BETWEEN BUSINESS PERSONNEL AND IT PRSONNEL
Business personnel possess expertise in functional areas such as marketing, accounting and sales
IT personnel have the technological expertise.This typically causes a communications gap between the business personnel and IT personnel


IMPROVING COMMUNICATIONS

1. Business personnel must seek to increase their understanding of IT
2. IT personnel must seek to increase their understanding of the business
3.  It is the responsibility of the CIO to ensure effective communication between business personnel and IT personnel

ORGANIZATIONAL FUNDAMENTALS – ETHICS AND SECURITY

Ethics and security are two fundamental building blocks that organizations must base their businesses on to be successful.In recent years, such event as the 9/11 have shed new light on the meaning of ethics and security


ETHICS 

Ethics – the principles and standards that guide our behavior toward other people
Privacy is a major ethical issues;
Privacy – the right to be left alone when you want to be to have control ever your own personnel possessions and not to be observed without your consent
Issues affected by technology advances

Intelligent property	Intangible creative work that is embodied in physical form
Copyright	The legal protection afforded an expression of an idea, such as a song, video game and some types of proprietary documents
Fair use doctrine	In certain situations, it is legal to use copyrighted material
Pirated software	The unauthorized use, duplication, distribution or sale of copyrighted software
Counterfeit software	Software that is manufactured to lock like the real thing and sold as such

One of the main ingredients in trust is privacy
Primary reasons privacy issues lost trust for e-business

1.	Loss of personnel privacy is a top concern for Americans in the 21st century
2.	Among Internet users, 37 percent would be “a lot” more inclined to purchase a product on a websites that had a privacy policy
3.	Privacy/security is the number one factors that would convert Internet researchers into Internet buyers

SECURITY – HOW MUCH WILL DOWNTIME COST YOUR BUSINESS??

Sources of Unplanned Downtime
Bomb threat	Hacker	Snowstorm
Burst pipe	Hail	Sprinkler malfunction
Chemical spill	Hurricane	Static electricity
Construction	Ice storm	Strike
Corrupted data	Insects	Terrorism
Earthquake	Lightning	Theft
Electrical short	Network failure	Tornado
Epidemic	Plane crash	Train derailment
Equipment failure	Frozen pipe	Smoke damage
Evacuation	Power outage	Vandalism
Explosion	Power surge	Vehicle crash
Fire	Rodents	Virus
Flood	Sabotage	Water damage (various)
Fraud	Shredded data	Wind

·         

How much will downtime cost your business??




PROTECTING INTELLECTUAL ASSETS

• Organizational information is intellectual capital – it must be protected
•  Information security – the protection of information from accidental or intentional misuse by persons inside or outside an organization
•  E-business automatically crates tremendous information security risks for organization

MGT 300 Chapter 4 – Measuring the Success of Strategic Initiatives

MEASURING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY’S SUCCESS

-          Key performance indicator – measures that are tied to business drivers

-          Metrics are detailed measures that feed KPIs

-          Performance metrics fall into the nebulous area of business intelligence that is neither technology, nor business centered, but requires input from both IT and business professionals

EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS

-          Efficiency IT metric – measures the performance of the IT system itself including throughput, speed, and availability

-          Effectiveness IT metric – measures the impact IT has on business processes and activities including customer satisfaction, conversion rates, and sell-through increases

BENCHMARKING – BASELINE METRICS

-          Regardless of what is measured, how it is measured, and whether it is for the sake of efficiency or effectiveness, there must be benchmarks – baseline values the system seeks to attain

-          Benchmarking – a process of continuously measuring system results, comparing those results to optimal system performance (benchmark values), and identifying steps and producers to improve system performance.

EFFICIENCY IT METRIC

measure the performance of the IT system itself including throughout,speed and availability.

lots of useful information

EFFECTIVENESS IT METRIC

measure the impact it has on business processes and activities including customer satisfaction, conversation rates, and sell-through increases.

the extent to which our services are prefer by many consumers.

METRICS FOR STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

-          Metrics for measuring and managing strategic initiatives include;

·         Website metrics.

·         Supply chain management (SCM) metrics

·         Customer relationship management (CRM) metrics

·         Business process reengineering (BPR) metrics

·         Enterprise resource planning (ERP) metrics 

WEBSITE METRICS

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT METRICS 

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT METRICS

BPR and ERP Metrics

 The balanced scorecard enables organizations to measure and manage strategic initiatives. 

MGT300 Chapter 3 – Strategic Initiatives for implementing Competitive Advantages

STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
Organization can undertake high-profile strategic initiative including:-

Supply chain management (SCM)
- Involves the management of information flows between and among stages in a supply       chain to maximize total supply chain effectiveness and profitability

Wal Mart And Procter & Gamble (P&G)




- Four basics component of supply chain management include:-

• Supply chain strategy is the strategy for managing all the resources required to meet customer demand for all products and services. 
• Supply chain partners are the partners chosen to deliver finished products, raw materials, and services including pricing, delivery, and payment processes along with partner relationship monitoring metrics. 
• Supply chain operation is the schedule for production activities including testing, packaging, and preparation for delivery. 
• Supply chain logistics is the product delivery processes and elements including orders, warehouses, carriers, defective product returns, and invoicing.

Effective and efficient SCM systems can enable an organization to;

o      Decrease the power of its buyers

o      Increase its own supplier power

o      Increase switching costs to reduce the threat of substitute products or services

o     Create entry barriers thereby reducing the threat of new entrants

o    Increase efficiency while seeking a competitive advantages through cost leadership

Customer relationship management (CRM)

-Involves managing all aspects pf a customer's relationship with an organization to increase customer loyalty and retention and an organization's profitability

-CRM is a strategy, process and business goal that an organization must embrace on an       enterprisewide level

-CRM enable an organization to identify types of customers, design individual customer marketing campaign, treat each customer as an individual and understand customers buying behaviors






Business process re-engineering (BPR)
- Business Process is a standardized set of activities that accomplish a specific task.

- Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is the analysis and redesign of workflow within and between enterprises

• An organization can improve the way it travels the road by moving from foot to horse and then horse to car. BPR looks at taking a different path such as an airplane which ignores the road completely.

• Progressive Insurance Mobile Claims Process

Types of change an organization can achieve along with the magnitudes of change and the potential business benefit:

Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
 -ERP is an integrates all department and functions throughout an organization into a single IT system so that employees can make decision by viewing enterprise wide information on all business operation

-EPR system collect data from across an organization and correlates the data generating     an enterprise wide view

MGT300 TUTORIAL CHAPTER 2

TRUE/FALSE
1) True
2) True
3) True
4) False
5) True
6) False
7) True
8) True
9) True


LONG ESSAY

1. Three Porter Generic Strategies are cost leadership, differentiation and focused strategy.

Cost leadership
-         Becoming a low-cost producer in the industry allows the company to lower prices to customers. Competitors with higher costs cannot afford to compete with the low-cost leader on price. For example, company A sold its goods RM10 but company B sold its goods more cheaper on the same goods. This will make customer more prefer to buy goods from company B.
Differentiation
-         Create competitive advantage by distinguish their products on one or more features important to their customers. Unique features or benefits may justify price differences and stimulate demand. For example, i-care by proton.
Focused strategy
-         Target to a niche market. Concentrates on either cost leadership or differentiation. Focused of what we really good at it. For example, if we good in making dress we can making income by do so.

2. Five forces in Porter’s Five Forces are buyer power, supplier power, threat of substitute products and services, threat of new entrants and rivalry among existence competitors.

Buyer power
-         It will be high when buyers have many choices of whom to buy. It becomes low when their choices are few. To reduce buyer power, an organization must take it more attractive to buy from the company not from the competitors.
Supplier power
-         It will be high when buyers have few choices of whom to buy from. It becomes low when their choices are many. For example, if the supplier do not have the goods we can exchange to another supplier or if the prices is expensive we can transfer to another supplier that is more cheaper.
Threat of substitute products and services
-         It will be high when there are many alternatives to a product or service. It becomes low when there are few alternative from which to choose. Ideally, an organization would like to be on a market in which there are few substitutes of their product or services.
Threat of new entrants
-         It will high when it is easy for new competitors to enter a market. It becomes low when there are significant entry barriers to entering a market. Entry barriers is a product or service feature that customers have come to expect from organizations and must be offered by entering organization to compete and survive.
Rivalry among existence competitors
-         It will high when competition is fierce in a market. It becomes low when competition is more complacent. For example, Wal-mart and its supplier using IT-enabled system for communication and track product at aisles by effective tagging system.

3. Information technology can develop a competitive advantage for each force in Five Forces Model.

Buyer power
-         Customer can grow large and powerful as a result of their market share. Many choices of whom to buy from. Low when comes to limited items. For example, used loyalty programs such as jusco cards, tesco card to being a members to get the discount.
Supplier power
-         Supplier power is the converse of buyer power. Supplier – organization : organizations want supplier power to be low here. Organization – customer : organizations want supplier power to be high here.
Threat of substitute products and services
-         To the extent that customers can use different products to fulfill the same need, the threat of substitutes exists. For example, electronic product that have same function but different brands. Switching costs is the costs that can make customer reluctant to switch to another product or service.
Threat of new entrants
-         Many threats come from companies that do not yet exist or have a presence in a given industry or market. The threat of new entrants forces top management to monitor the trends, especially in technology, that might give rise to new competitors. For example, new bank such as online paying bills.
Rivalry among existence competitors
-         Existing competitors are not much of the threat : typically each firm has found its niche. However, changes in management, ownership can give rise to serious threats to long term survival from existing firms. For example, the airlines operating in bankruptcy, who do not pay on the debts while slashing fares against those healthy airlines who do pay on debt.

MGT300 Chapter 2 - Competitive Advantage

BRIEF OVERVIEW

Introduction

What is competitive advantage?

A product or services that an organization’s customers place a greater 

value on than similar offerings from a competitor. Unfortunately, CA 

is temporary because competitors keep duplicate the strategy.Then, 

the company should start the new competitive advantage.

Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model is useful tool to aid organization in 

challenging decision whether to join a new industry or industry segment

1.       Buyer Power

• High – when buyers have many choices of whom to buy
•  Low – when their choices are few
• To reduce buyer power (and create competitive advantage), an organization must make it more attractive to buy from the company not from the competitors
• Best practices of IT based - Loyalty program in travel industry, for example rewards on free airline tickets or hotel stays

Bargaining Power of Customers/Buyer Power

• Customers can grow large and powerful as a result of their market share
• Many choices of whom to buy from
• Low when comes to limited items
• Example, used loyalty programs (Jusco card, Tesco card, being a members to get the discount)

2.       Supplier Power

• High – when buyers have few choices of whom to buy from
• Low – when their choices are many
• Best practices of IT to create competitive advantage -  Example, B2B marketplace – private exchange allow a single buyer to posts it needs and then open the bidding to any supplier who would care to bid. Reverse auction is an auction format in which increasingly lower bids

An organization within the Supply Chain

-          Supplier power is the converse of buyer power

3.       Threat of Substitute products and services

•  High – when there are many alternatives to a product or service
• Low – when there are few alternatives from which to choose
• Ideally, an organization would like to be on a market in which there are few substitutes of their product or services
• Best practices of IT- Example, Electronic product – same functions different brands

Threat of Substitutes

• To the extent that customers can use different products to fulfill the same need, the threat of substitutes exists
•  Example, electrical product – same function different brands
•  Switching cost – costs can make customer reluctant to switch to another product or service

4.       Threat of new entrants

• High – when it is easy for new competitors to enter a market
• Low – when there are significant entry barriers to entering a market
• Entry barriers is a product or service feature that customers have come to except from organizations and must be offered by entering organization to complete and survive
• Best practices of IT-Example, new bank must offers online paying bills, acc. monitoring to compete

Threat of New Entrants

• Many threats come from companies that do not yet exist or have a presence in a given industry or market
• The threat of new entrants forces top management to monitor the trends, especially in technology, that might give rise to new competitors
•  Example, new bank (online paying bills, acc. monitoring)

5.       Rivalry among existence competitors

• High – when competition is fierce in a market
•  Low – when competition is more complacent
• Best practices of IT- Wal-Mart and its suppliers using IT – enabled system for communication and track product at aisles by effective tagging system. Reduce cost by using effective supply chain

Rivalry Among Existing Firms

• Existing competitors are not much of the threat: typically each firm has found its “niche”.
• However, changes in management, ownership, or “the rules of the game” can give rise to serious threats to long term survival from existing firms
• Example, the airline industry faces serious threats from airlines operating in bankruptcy, who do not the debts while slashing fares against those healthy airlines who do pay on debt. (MAS & AIR ASIA)

The Value Chains – Targeting Business Processes

• Supply Chain – a chain or series of processes that adds value to product and service for customer
•  Add value to its products and services that support a profit margin for the firm