MODEL QUESTION PAPER

INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT (MS-205)

Q1 What is Expert System? Explain the components and applications of Expert System along with the diagram. Q2 Explain SDLC life cycle in detail. Q 3 Differences between expert systems and decision support systems Q 4 Discuss the various classifications of information systems and their usefulness for supporting the diverse information requirements of various levels of management. Q5 Explain the following alongwith their relevance to information systems:(a) Competitive advantage and Strategic Advantage (b) Logical and Physical Design (c) Porters value chain model Q6 What are the various approaches to information system design and development? Explain them briefly stating the advantages and disadvantages of each. Q7 What is the different market forces in which an organization operates as per the theory of Michael Porter (Porters Model). Further explain how IT can be used as managers to implement suitable strategies under these market forces? Give suitable examples. Q8 What is hardware acquisition? What are the 2 aspects for hardware evaluation? Q9 Write Short Notes On The Following (A). CRM Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

(B) ERP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) (C) Data Warehousing & Data Mining (D). Supply Chain Management (E). Compare TPS And MIS (F) Risks In Information Systems

SOLUTION SET FOR THE MODEL QUESTION PAPER OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT (MS-205)

Q1 What is Expert System? Explain the components and applications of Expert System along with the diagram. Expert Systems An expert system is a programmed decision-making information system that captures and reproduces the knowledge and expertise of an expert problem solver or decision maker and then simulates the thinking or actions of that expert. Expert systems are implemented with artificial intelligence technology that captures, stores, and provides access to the reasoning of the experts. An expert system is a computer-based system that assimilates the reasoning and knowledge of experts to solve problems. The aim of developing an expert system is to transfer expertise (i.e. knowledge that is necessary to efficiently perform a task or solve a problem) from one or more experts to a computer system and then to untrained users. Why use Expert Systems? Experts are not always available. An expert system can be used anywhere, any time. Human experts are not 100% reliable or consistent Experts may not be good at explaining decisions Cost effective Problems with Expert Systems Limited domain Systems are not always up to date, and dont learn No common sense Experts needed to setup and maintain system Not widely used or tested Limited to relatively narrow problems Cannot readily deal with mixed knowledge Possibility of error Cannot refine own knowledge base Difficult to maintain May have high development costs Raise legal and ethical concerns

When to Use an Expert System Provide a high potential payoff or significantly reduced downside risk Capture and preserve irreplaceable human expertise Provide expertise needed at a number of locations at the same time or in a hostile environment that is dangerous to human health Provide expertise that is expensive or rare Develop a solution faster than human experts can Provide expertise needed for training and development to share the wisdom of human experts with a large number of people Components of an Expert System Knowledge base Stores all relevant information, data, rules, cases, and relationships used by the expert system Inference engine Seeks information and relationships from the knowledge base and provides answers, predictions, and suggestions in the way a human expert would Rule A conditional statement that links given conditions to actions or outcomes

 Explanation facility A part of the expert system that allows a user or decision maker to understand how the expert system arrived at certain conclusions or results Knowledge acquisition facility Provides a convenient and efficient means of capturing and storing all components of the knowledge base

Participants in Expert Systems Development and Use Domain expert The individual or group whose expertise and knowledge is captured for use in an expert system Knowledge user The individual or group who uses and benefits from the expert system Knowledge engineer Someone trained or experienced in the design, development, implementation, and maintenance of an expert system Applications of Expert Systems Credit granting Information management and retrieval AI and expert systems embedded in products Plant layout Hospitals and medical facilities Help desks and assistance Employee performance evaluation Loan analysis Virus detection Repair and maintenance

Q2 Explain SDLC life cycle in detail. Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a process used by a systems analyst to develop an information system, including requirements, validation, training, and user

(stakeholder) ownership. Any SDLC should result in a high quality system that meets or exceeds customer expectations, reaches completion within time and cost estimates, works effectively and efficiently in the current and planned Information Technology infrastructure, and is inexpensive to maintain and cost-effective to enhance Phases of Software Development Lifecycle are as follows:

INITIAL INVESTIGATION It is the first step in SDLC and it is used to define and resolve the problem in a clear way. Here need is identified. Its objective is to determine whether the request is valid and feasible before any recommendation is made to do nothing, improve or modify the existing system, or build a new one. Success of a system depends largely on how accurately a problem is identified, thoroughly investigated. Output of this stage is Project Proposal. System investigation includes 2 sub-stages: Problem Definition This is the most frequently by passed step in the entire SDLC. First thing is to prepare a written statement of the objectives and scope of the problem. Based on interviews with the user, the analyst writes a brief description of his/her understanding of the problem. Proper understanding and definition of the problem is essential to discover the cause of the problem and to plan a directed investigation. E.g.: The existing system has a poor response time, i.e. it is slow. Here system is working slow is a problem and it is defined in detail

 Feasibility Study Establishes a high-level view of the intended project and determines its goals. This study is undertaken to know whether the system will be useful to the organization. It should be relatively brief. Objective of this is only to get an idea of the scope. The aim is to assess alternative system and to propose the most feasible and desirable system for development. It provides an overview of the problem and acts as an important check point that should be completed before committing more resources. The feasibility of a proposed system can be assessed in 4 major categories: - Organizational Feasibility: The extent to which a proposed information system supports the objective of the organizations strategic plan for information systems determines the organizational feasibility of the system project. - Economic Feasibility: In this costs and returns are evaluated to know whether returns justify the investment in the system project. - Technical Feasibility: Whether reliable hardware and software capable of meeting the needs of the proposed system can be acquired or developed by the organization in the required time. - Operational Feasibility: The willingness and ability of the management, employees, customers, suppliers, etc. to operate, use and support proposed system come under operational feasibility. SYSTEM ANALYSIS Analysis is a detailed study of the various operations of a business activity along with its boundaries and it is used to determine exactly what must be done. System Analysis involved a detailed study of: - The information needs of the organization and its end users - Existing information systems ( their activities, resource and products) - The expected information system The analysis phase provides the analyst with a clear understanding of what is to be done. The final product of this system analysis is a set of system requirements of a proposed information system SYSTEM DESIGN It specifies HOW the system will accomplish the goal of meeting the information need of users. It basically refers to the technical specifications that will be implied in constructing the system. It should stress on 3 activities mainly: - User interface In this interface design activity focuses on designing the interactions between users and computer systems. - Data design

This activity focuses on the design of the logical structure of database - Process design This activity focuses on the design of the software resources, that is, the programs and procedures needed by the proposed information system CONSTRUCTION AND TESTING Once the system specifications are understood, the system is physically created. The construction of the system takes place on the basis of system specification. The required programs are coded, debugged and documented. The system should be tested with some test data to ensure its accuracy and reliability. Methods of testing are: - Alpha testing Alpha testing is actual operational testing by potential users/customers or an independent test team at the developers' site. - Beta testing Beta testing can be considered a form of external User Acceptance Testing. Versions of the software, known as Beta Versions, are released to a limited audience outside of the programming team. The software is released to groups of people so that further testing can ensure the product has few faults - White box testing This type of testing is done when the tester has access to the internal data structures and algorithms including the code that implement these. - Black box testing This type of testing treats the software as a "black box"without any knowledge of internal implementation. IMPLEMENTATION The system implementation stage involves hardware and software acquisition, site preparation, user training and installation of the system. MAINTAINENCE: System maintenance involves the monitoring, evaluating and modifying of a system to make desirable or necessary improvements. Software needs to be maintained not because some of it modules or programs wear out and need to be replaced, but because there are often some residual errors remaining in the system that have to be removed as soon as they are discovered.

Deliverables of the SDLC

Q 3 Differences between expert systems and decision support systems Role. ESs assist or replace decision makers. DSSs only assist decision makers (they never replace them). Thus, in DSS technologies the decision maker is always a person whereas in ESs the decision maker is either a system or a person. Problem domain. ESs provide decision support in narrow domains whereas DSSs can provide support in a wide range of applications. Models and knowledge representation. ESs use rules or heuristics to solve problems (qualitative knowledge representation). DSSs use sound mathematical models (quantitative knowledge representation). Queries. ESs ask queries to individuals to elicit knowledge/preferences. DSS users ask all the questions. Focus. In ESs the main focus is on transferring expertise from one or more experts to the system. In DSSs the main focus is on decision making.
Q 4 Discuss the various classifications of information systems and their usefulness

for supporting the diverse information requirements of various levels of management. Ans. T y p e s o f i n f o r m a t i o n s y s t e m For most businesses, there are a variety of requirements for information. Senior managers need information to help with their business planning. Middle management need more detailed information to help them monitor and control business activities. Employees with operational roles need information to help them carry out their duties.

As a result, businesses tend to have several "information systems" operating at the same time. The main kinds of information systems in business are described briefly below:

1. Operations support systems process data generated by business operations Major categories are: i) Transaction processing systems ii) Process control systems iii) Office automation systems 2. Management Support Systems provide information and support needed for effective decision making by managers Major categories are I. II. III. Management Information System Decision Support Systems Executive Information System 1. Operations Support System i) Transaction processing systems - As the name implies, Transaction Processing Systems ("TPS") are designed to process routine transactions efficiently and accurately. A business will have several (sometimes many) TPS; for example:

Billing systems to send invoices to customers - Systems to calculate the weekly and monthly payroll and tax payments - Production and purchasing systems to calculate raw material requirements - Stock control systems to process all movements into, within and out of the business ii) Process control systems monitor and control industrial processes. iii) Office automation systems - Office Automation Systems are systems that try to improve the productivity of employees who need to process data and information. Perhaps the best example is the wide range of software systems that exist to improve the productivity of employees working in an office (e.g. Microsoft Office XP) or systems that allow employees to work from home or whilst on the move.

2. Management support systems - provide information and support needed for effective decision making by managers Major categories are: Management information systems- A management information system ("MIS") is mainly concerned with internal sources of information. MIS usually take data from the transaction processing systems (see below) and summarise it into a series of management reports. i) MIS reports tend to be used by middle management and operational supervisors. Routine information for routine decisions Operational efficiency Use transaction data as main input Databases integrate MIS in different functional areas Decision Support System

Decision-support systems ("DSS") are specifically designed to help management make decisions in situations where there is uncertainty about the possible outcomes of those decisions. DSS comprise tools and techniques to help gather relevant information and analyse the options and alternatives. DSS often involves use of complex spreadsheet and databases to create "what-if" models. iii) Executive information systems An Executive Support System ("ESS") is designed to help senior management make strategic decisions. It gathers, analyses and summarises the key internal and external information used in the business. For e.g- Imagine the senior management team in an aircraft cockpit - with the instrument panel showing them the status of all the key business activities. ESS typically involve lots

10

of data analysis and modelling tools such as "what-if" analysis to help strategic decisionmaking. Other categories of information systems:1. Knowledge based systems - Knowledge Management Systems ("KMS") exist to help businesses create and share information. These are typically used in a business where employees create new knowledge and expertise - which can then be shared by other people in the organisation to create further commercial opportunities. Good examples include firms of lawyers, accountants and management consultants. KMS are built around systems which allow efficient categorisation and distribution of knowledge. For example, the knowledge itself might be contained in word processing documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations. internet pages or whatever. To share the knowledge, a KMS would use group collaboration systems such as an intranet. 2. End user computing systems - End user computing systems support the direct, hands on use of computers by end users for operational and managerial applications 3. Business information systems Business information systems support the operational and managerial applications of the basic business functions of a firm 4. Strategic information systems - Strategic information systems provide a firm which strategic products, services, and capabilities for competitive advantage Q5 Explain the following alongwith their relevance to information systems:(d) Competitive advantage and Strategic Advantage (e) Logical and Physical Design (f) Porters value chain model Ans ) (a) Competitive advantage An advantage that a firm has over its competitors, allowing it to generate greater sales or margins and/or retain more customers than its competition. There can be many types of competitive advantages including the firm's cost structure, product offerings, distribution network and customer support. Competitive advantages give a company an edge over its rivals and an ability to generate greater value for the firm and its shareholders. The more sustainable the competitive advantage, the more difficult it is for competitors to neutralize the advantage. There are two main types of competitive advantages: comparative advantage and differential advantage. Comparative advantage, or cost advantage, is a firm's ability to produce a good or service at a lower cost than its competitors, which gives the firm the ability sell its goods or services at a lower price than its competition or to generate a larger margin on sales. A differential advantage is created when a firm's products or services differ from its competitors and are seen as better than a competitor's products by customers.

11

Strategic Advantage Strategic advantage is the most fundamental and persistent advantage that the target companies possess over it's competitors over the very long term. These advantages or disadvantages are generated by the companies actions. For Example: Wal-Mart strategic advantage is their low prices. Their always have the lowest prices, which puts any competitor at a disadvantage when compared directly to Wal-Mart (aka: Kmart). Coca-Cola has their brand name, which always them to charge higher prices for similar products. An example of a strategic disadvantage is the travel brokerage industry after the development of online travel services. Travel services are cheaper and more convenient for most people; therefore, the traditional travel brokers were at a strategic disadvantage to low cost online alternatives. Short term advantages or disadvantages are not useful for a long-term investor. Additionally, externally-generated advantages or disadvantages are better categories as price triggers (opportunities or threats), because they can move the stock price over the short-term, but not the long-term. (b) Logical and Physical Design Logical design: Logical design deals with the logical relationships between objects. Entity-relationship (ER) modeling technique can be used for logical design of data warehouse. ER modeling involves identifying the entities (important objects), attributes (properties about objects) and the relationship among them. An entity is a chunk of information, which maps to a table in database. An attribute is a part of an entity, which maps to a column in database. A unique identifier can be used to make sure the data is consistent. Physical design: Physical design deals with the effective way of storing and retrieving the data. In the physical design, the logical design needs to be converted into a description of the physical database structures. Physical design involves creation of the database objects like tables, columns, indexes, primary keys, foreign keys, views, sequences etc. (c) Porters value chain model The idea of the value chain is based on the process view of organisations, the idea of seeing a manufacturing (or service) organisation as a system, made up of subsystems each with inputs, transformation processes and outputs. Inputs, transformation processes, and outputs involve the acquisition and consumption of resources - money, labour, materials, equipment, buildings, land, administration and management. How value chain activities are carried out determines costs and affects profits. Most organisations engage in hundreds, even thousands, of activities in the process of converting inputs to outputs. These activities can be classified generally as either primary or support activities that all businesses must undertake in some form. 12

According to Porter (1985), the primary activities are: 1. Inbound Logistics - involve relationships with suppliers and include all the activities required to receive, store, and disseminate inputs. 2. Operations - are all the activities required to transform inputs into outputs (products and services). 3. Outbound Logistics - include all the activities required to collect, store, and distribute the output. 4. Marketing and Sales - activities inform buyers about products and services, induce buyers to purchase them, and facilitate their purchase. 5. Service - includes all the activities required to keep the product or service working effectively for the buyer after it is sold and delivered. Secondary activities are: 1. Procurement - is the acquisition of inputs, or resources, for the firm. 2. Human Resource management - consists of all activities involved in recruiting, hiring, training, developing, compensating and (if necessary) dismissing or laying off personnel. 3. Technological Development - pertains to the equipment, hardware, software, procedures and technical knowledge brought to bear in the firm's transformation of inputs into outputs. 4. Infrastructure - serves the company's needs and ties its various parts together, it consists of functions or departments such as accounting, legal, finance, planning, public affairs, government relations, quality assurance and general management.

Q6 What are the various approaches to information system design and development? Explain them briefly stating the advantages and disadvantages of each.

13

Ans : There are three different approaches to information system design and development:

Prototyping Model
In this model the developer and client interact to established the requirements of the software. Define the broad set of objectives. This is follow up by the quick design, in which the visible elements of the software, the input and the output are designed. The quick design stresses the clients view of the software . The final product of the design is a prototype. The client then evaluates the prototype and provides its recommendations and suggestion to the analyst. The process continues in an iterative manner until the all the user requirements are met. Phases of Prototyping Model:

1. Identification of Basic Information Requirements- the system designer works with users to understand their basic requirements. 2. Developing the Initial Prototype- based on the understanding of the user requirements the system developer develops the initial prototype. 3. Using the Initial Prototype- after the initial prototype is ready, it is put to operation to determine what refinements are required. Users are encouraged to use the prototype and give their suggestions for further processing.

14

4. Refining and Enhancing the Prototype- if the initial prototype is not acceptable, it is treated as a working prototype requiring further enhancement. And step 3 is repeated until accepted. Advantages of Prototyping Model The following are the advantages of Prototyping model: Due the interaction between the client and developer right from the beginning , the objectives and requirements of the software is well established. Suitable for the projects when client has not clear idea about his requirements. The client can provide its input during development of the prototype. The prototype serves as an aid for the development of the final product. Disadvantages of Prototyping Model The prototyping model has the following disadvantages. The quality of the software development is compromised in the rush to present a working version of the software to the client. The client look at the working version of the product at the outset and expect the final version of the product to be deliver immediately. This cause additional pressure over the developers to adopt shortcut in order to meet the final product deadline. It becomes difficult for the developer to convince the client as why the prototype has to be discarded.

The Spiral Model

The spiral model is a software development process combining elements of both design and prototyping in stages, in an effort to combine advantages of top down and bottom up concepts. Also known as the spiral lifecycle model, it is a systems development method (SDM) used in information technology (IT). This model of development combines the features of the Prototyping Model and The Waterfall Model. The spiral model is intended for large, expensive and complicated projects. The spiral model developed by Barry Boehm in 1988 who combines the philosophy of INM, RAD and LSM models with the use of prototyping. The spiral model is recommended where the requirements and solution call for developing full-fledge, large, complicated system with lots of features and facilities from the scratch. It is used when experimenting on technology , trying out new skills and when the user is not able to offer requirements in clear terms. It emphasis at the quick development of the software, which is released in increments. 15

Boehm proposed a spiral model where each round of spiral: Identifies the sub-problem which has the highest risk associated with it and Finds a solution for that problem This model consists of a number of activities called task regions. The number of task regions varies from three to six. A spiral model consist of the following task regions. Communication Planning Risk analysis Engineering Construction and release Evaluation

Advantages of Using Spiral Model The spiral model has the following advantages : This model is more in tune with large real-life project development. Prototyping can be applied at any level in evaluation process. This helps to reduce technical risk. It is suitable for application that can be use an object oriented approach to develop software. Disadvantages of Using Spiral Model The spiral model has the following disadvantages: It can cause problems in negotiating a development contract with the client. It requires considerable experience in risk management for the project to be successful. It requires a lot of patience and time in years before this models effectiveness can be assessed accurately.

End-user development (EUD)

16

 End-User Development can be defined as a set of methods, techniques, and tools that allow users of software systems, who are acting as non-professional software developers, at some point to create, modify or extend a software artifact End-user development (EUD) is a research topic within the field of computer science and human-computer interaction, describing activities or techniques that allow end-users to program computers. People who are not professional developers can use EUD tools to create or modify software artifacts (descriptions of automated behavior) and complex data objects without significant knowledge of a programming language. The most popular EUD tool is the spreadsheet.

Advantages
Frees IS resources for higher priority projects May help reduce the hidden backlog Faster design/implementation cycle More acceptable to users Reduces communications problems between users and IS Encourages innovation and creative solutions Duplication or effort and waste of resources Greatly increased costs Loss of control over data Loss of control of quality in both programs and data Incompatibles prevent sharing Can be used to circumvent control processes, such as the steering committee Generally produces narrow, inflexible systems with short lives

Disadvantages

Q7 What is the different market forces in which an organization operates as per the theory of Michael Porter (Porters Model). Further explain how IT can be used as managers to implement suitable strategies under these market forces? Give suitable examples. Answer: Competitive Advantage To assure positioning for profit, a company must maintain competitive advantage. Methods that are achievable and sustainable, Work smarter, Assess whether Information Systems are appropriate to gaining a competitive advantage? The Porter Competitive Model Used to understand and evaluate the structure of an industrys business environment and the threats of competition to a specific company.

17

Competitive Strategies What is driving competition in my current or future industry? , What are my current or future competitors likely to do and how will we respond? , How can we best posture ourselves to achieve and sustain a competitive advantage? Primary and Supporting Strategies Differentiation Strategy (Primary) , Low Cost Strategy (Primary) , Innovation (Supporting) , Growth (Supporting) , Alliance (Supporting) Rivalry Likelihood Profit margins, Industry growth rate and potential , Fixed costs ,Competitor concentration and balance, Diversity of competitors, Existing brand identity, Exit barriers. A Buyer Has Power If: 1. It has large, concentrated buying power that enables it to gain volume discounts and/or special terms or services. 2. What it is buying is standard or undifferentiated and there are multiple alternative sources. A Supplier Has Power If: 1. There is domination of supply by a few companies. 2. Its product is unique or at least differentiated. 3. It provides benefits through geographic proximity to its customers. 4. A long time working relationship provides unique capabilities. New Entrant: An existing company or a startup that has not previously competed with the SBU in its geographic market. It can also be an existing company that through a shift in business strategy begins to compete with the SBU. Substitute Product or Service:

18

An alternative to doing business with the SBU. This depends on the willingness of the buyers to substitute, the relative price/performance of the substitute and/or the level of the switching cost.

EXAMPLE

19

Q8 What is hardware acquisition? What are the 2 aspects for hardware evaluation? Answer: HARDWARE ACQUISITION The type of hardware that is required for implementing a system is specified in system analysis and design documentation. After the specification are made available, the particular type of computer may be chosen for acquisition. There are three type of computers Mainframe Minicomputer Microcomputer HARDWARE EVALUATION For acquiring a computer hardware , two aspects are evaluated h/w capability and vendor capability.For evaluating hardware information be collected from different sources vendors catalogues . other publication and current users of the same hardware. After collecting the information from different sources the evaluation is generally made by committee consisting of technical experts and users. Ad hoc approach:This is the last methodological and use personal opinions. Including biases to a particular hardware of evaluation committee members. Member may be inclined to a particular h/w based on their observation of functioning of same h/w hearsay Scoring approach:-

20

The characteristics of each h/w are listed and each characteristic is given a score in relation maximum rating points. Scoring approach for h/w evaluation Elements Maximum points 80 5 15 20 5 20 10 50 12 8 100 Hardware A 63 3 12 16 4 17 7 4 10 7 80 Alternatives B 60 4 8 18 3 15 8 4 9 7 76 Alternatives C 52 2 10 12 7 12 6 3 11 6 69

Cpu capability: Arithmetic Main memory capacity Secondary storage capacit I/O capacity communication capability multiprogramming cap.. environmental requirement Maintenance ease Operation ease Total score

Based on the scoring approach . h/w a may be selected as it the maximum score. An alternative to the above scoring method is assign point based on the characteristics of each element of h/w alternative. Cost value approach In the scoring approach only characteristics of different h/w alternatives have been taken into consideration and not their while price may be an important consideration in selecting a h/w . the total of these values assigned to different h/w alternative is compared to their price and the alternative which gives the highest value in comparison to its price is selected. Vendor capability There must be evaluation of vendors too h/w who are likely to supply the h/w . In evaluation vendors . Various criteria, such as delivery time performance records . Quality of serivece ,maintenance charges, user training and number of hardware installed should be taken into consideration. Hardware acquisition method The acquisition of h/w has financial implications .an organisation may adopt any of three methods: Rental directly from the manufacturer. Leasing through a third party Outright purchase RENTAL OPTION

21

Rental option is a from of lease by the manufacturer. Rental may be payable monthly or any other period decided by the manufacturer and the user. Many computer users prefer renting a h/w because of the following reasons: With no investment required in procuring the h/w. the user is able to utilise the fund elsewhere profitable. This also eases the liquidity problem of the user. Rental makes it easier to change to other h/w system thereby protecting itself from the risk of technological obsolescence. Insurance, maintenance, and other expenses are included in the rental charge. Rental charge is tax deductible though the user loses the benefit of tax saving in the from of depreciation deduction. Lease option Instead of taking a h/w system directly from the manufacturer. It can be taken on lease from a third party. In this case, the lessor, usually a leasing company, remains the owner of the h/w charges lease rental from the user. There are several advantage lease options: No fund is required for acquiring h/w system and technological risk is borne by the lessor. Lease charges are generally lower as compared to rental charges the same period and are also tax deductible. Purchase option An user can purchase a h/w system outright purchasing means assuming all the risks of ownership including tax, insurance, and technological obsolescence. Purchase option has certain advantages over rental and lease options: There is a flexibility of modification of the h/w system at will Tax benefits are available in the from of depreciation . Residual value can be realized if the user disposes off the h/w system. Q9 Write Short Notes On The Following (A). CRM Customer relationship management (CRM) is a widely implemented strategy for managing a companys interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support. The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service. Customer relationship management describes a company-wide business strategy including customer-interface departments as well as other departments. Measuring and valuing customer relationships is critical to implementing this strategy.

22

Benefits of CRM A CRM system may be chosen because it is thought to provide the following advantages:

Quality and efficiency Decrease in overall costs Decision support Enterprise agility Customer Attention Increase profitability

(B) ERP Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application. Their purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders. ERP systems can run on a variety of computer hardware and network configurations, typically employing a database as a repository for information.

23

Characteristics ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems typically include the following characteristics:

An integrated system that operates in real time (or next to real time), without relying on periodic updates. A common database, which supports all applications. A consistent look and feel throughout each module. Installation of the system without elaborate application/data integration by the Information Technology (IT) department

Components

Transactional database Management portal/dashboard Business intelligence system Customizable reporting External access via technology such as web services Search Document management Messaging/chat/wiki Workflow management

(C) DATA WAREHOUSING & DATA MINING In computing, a data warehouse (DW) is a database used for reporting and analysis. The data stored in the warehouse is uploaded from the operational systems. The data may pass through an operational data store for additional operations before it is used in the DW for reporting. The typical data warehouse uses staging, integration, and access layers to house its key functions. The staging layer stores raw data, the integration layer integrates the data and moves it into hierarchal groups, and the access layer helps users retrieve

24

data. Data warehouses can be subdivided into data marts. Data marts store subsets of data from a warehouse. This definition of the data warehouse focuses on data storage. The main source of the data is cleaned, transformed, catalogued and made available for use by managers and other business professionals for data mining, online analytical processing, market research and decision support (Marakas & O'Brien 2009). However, the means to retrieve and analyze data, to extract, transform and load data, and to manage the data dictionary are also considered essential components of a data warehousing system. Many references to data warehousing use this broader context. Thus, an expanded definition for data warehousing includes business intelligence tools, tools to extract, transform and load data into the repository, and tools to manage and retrieve metadata. Data mining (the analysis step of the knowledge discovery in databases process, or KDD), a relatively young and interdisciplinary field of computer science is the process of discovering new patterns from large data sets involving methods at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics and database systems. The goal of data mining is to extract knowledge from a data set in a human-understandable structure and involves database and data management, data pre processing, model and inference considerations, interestingness metrics, complexity considerations, post-processing of found structure, visualization and online updating. (D). SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT Supply chain management is the systematic, strategic coordination of the traditional business functions and the tactics across these business functions within a particular company and across businesses within the supply chain, for the purposes of improving the long-term performance of the individual companies and the supply chain as a whole. Supply chain management software includes tools or modules used to execute supply chain transactions, manage supplier relationships and control associated business processes. Supply chain event management (SCEM) is a consideration of all possible events and factors that can disrupt a supply chain. With SCEM possible scenarios can be created and solutions devised. Activities/functions Supply chain activities can be grouped into strategic, tactical, and operational levels

Strategic level

Strategic network optimization, including the number, location, and size of warehousing, distribution centers, and facilities. Product life cycle management, so that new and existing products can be optimally integrated into the supply chain and capacity management activities. Where-to-make and make-buy decisions. Aligning overall organizational strategy with supply strategy. It is for long term and needs resource commitment.

25

Tactical level

Sourcing contracts and other purchasing decisions. Production decisions, including contracting, scheduling, and planning process definition. Inventory decisions, including quantity, location, and quality of inventory. Transportation strategy, including frequency, routes, and contracting. Focus on customer demand and Habits.

Operational level

Daily production and distribution planning, including all nodes in the supply chain. Production scheduling for each manufacturing facility in the supply chain (minute by minute). Inbound operations, including transportation from suppliers and receiving inventory. Production operations, including the consumption of materials and flow of finished goods. Outbound operations, including all fulfilment activities, warehousing and transportation to customers.

(E). Compare TPS and MIS MIS MIS, which stands for Management Information System, helps middle level management in monitoring, controlling, decision making and administrative activities. MIS provides managers with current performance of the organization. Managers make use of this information to monitor and control business and also to devise strategies to better the performance in future. The data which is available through MIS is summarized and presented in concise reports on a regular basis. MIS serves the interests of managers on weekly, monthly and yearly results though some MIS can produce results on a daily basis to be used by managers. A manager can get answers to predefined set of questions through MIS regularly. MIS is not very flexible and also does not have analytical capability. A vast majority of MIS systems make use of simple routines and stay away from complex mathematical models. TPS Another type of information system that has become very popular is TPS. It stands for Transaction Processing System and collects, stores, modifies and retrieves all information about transactions in an organization. A transaction here is referred to any event that generates or modifies the already stored information. If an organization is using both MIS and TPS, there is regular exchange of data among these systems. TPS becomes a major source of data for MIS. The data that is generated through TPS is on the level of operations such as payroll or order processing. TPS tracks

26

daily routine transactions that are essential to conduct business. MIS makes heavy use of data from TPS though it also utilizes data from other sources. (F) RISKS IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS Following are the risks in information systems in an organization: 1) Virus A computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer to another. The term "virus" is also commonly, but erroneously used, to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have a reproductive ability. Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by other computers. Worm A computer worm is a self-replicating malware computer program, which uses a computer network to send copies of itself to other nodes (computers on the network) and it may do so without any user intervention. This is due to security shortcomings on the target computer. Unlike a computer virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program. Worms almost always cause at least some harm to the network, even if only by consuming bandwidth, whereas viruses almost always corrupt or modify files on a targeted computer. Trojan A Trojan horse, or Trojan, is a standalone malicious program that does not attempt to infect other computers in a completely automatic manner without help from outside forces like other programs and human intervention. Trojan horses can make copies of themselves, steal information, or harm their host computer systems. The term is derived from the Trojan Horse story in Greek mythology because the first and many current Trojan horses attempt to appear as helpful programs. Others rely on drive-by downloads in order to reach target computers. Spam Email spam, also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email (UBE), is a subset of electronic spam involving nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by email. Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk. One subset of UBE is UCE (unsolicited commercial email). The opposite of "spam", email which one wants, is called "ham", usually when referring to a message's automated analysis (such as Bayesian filtering). Hackers Hacking means finding out weaknesses in an established system and exploiting them. A computer hacker is a person who finds out weaknesses in the computer and exploits it. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, such as profit, protest, or challenge. The subculture that has evolved around hackers is often referred to as the computer underground but it is now an open community.[2] While other uses of the word hacker

2)

3)

4)

5)

27

6)

exist that are not related to computer security, they are rarely used in mainstream context. Cyberterrorism Cyberterrorism is the use of Internet based attacks in terrorist activities, including acts of deliberate, large-scale disruption of computer networks, especially of personal computers attached to the Internet, by the means of tools such as computer viruses. Cyberterrorism is a controversial term. Some authors choose a very narrow definition, relating to deployments, by known terrorist organizations, of disruption attacks against information systems for the primary purpose of creating alarm and panic. By this narrow definition, it is difficult to identify any instances of cyberterrorism. DoS attack A denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) or distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack) is an attempt to make a computer or network resource unavailable to its intended users. Although the means to carry out, motives for, and targets of a DoS attack may vary, it generally consists of the concerted efforts of a person, or multiple people to prevent an Internet site or service from functioning efficiently or at all, temporarily or indefinitely. Perpetrators of DoS attacks typically target sites or services hosted on high-profile web servers such as banks, credit card payment gateways, and even root nameservers. The term is generally used relating to computer networks, but is not limited to this field; for example, it is also used in reference to CPU resource management.

7)

28