Define SCM

What are the objectives of SCM

What is the bullwhip effect
How can this be eliminated

Define Enterprise Resource Planning

Name four benefits of Enterprice Resource Planning
Name 3 disadvantages

What is the difference between collaborative commerce and Private Industrial Networks.

In the digital firm how is this model modified?

How can the Internet help the firm to differentiate; provide a low cost; focus on target
market
How can a firm build switching cost.

Define the value chain

How can the Internet extend the value chain
What are the benefits of value webs

Define network economics.

What are some benefits of the internet to ecommerce

Define Clicks and Mortar

Essays
Digital Firm
Positive/Negative Impact of IS
Chapter 4: Ecommerce and EBusiness

Internet Technology and the Digital Firm

Benefits:

Reduces Costs:
• Offers businesses easier way to link with other business at lower costs [extranets,
industrial networks]
• Reduces transaction and agency cost by eliminating intermediaries;

Makes information widely available; information is not limited to traditional physical

models of delivery.

Can help businesses create profits by adding extra value to existing products[value chain]

Provides the infrastructure for ebusiness by allowing information to flow seamlessly

Internet Business Models:

Pure Play Model: based purely on internet

Examples:
Virtual storefront – sells physical products directly to consumers e.g amazon
Clicks and Mortar – a traditional business which uses the website

Types of Electronic Commerce:

B2C: selling products and services to individual shoppers. Used by virtual storefronts.
 B2B: sale of goods and services among businesses; concern with channel
conflict. The Internet allows many smaller companies to participate in government and private
bids they otherwise would be locked out of by bigger competitors.
C2C: consumers selling directly to consumers via auction process
MCommerce: use of handheld devices for purchasing goods and services; Challenges:
cells phone tiny and awkward; data transfer speed low

Ecommerce payment Systems:

Digital credit card: use of credit cards for online shopping
Digital wallet: Encryption software that works like a physical wallet during electronic
commerce transactions. A wallet can hold a user's payment information
Digital cash - A system that allows a person to pay for goods or services by transmitting a
number from one computer to another. Like the serial numbers on real dollar bills, the digital
cash numbers are unique.

Intranet: internal network based on intenet technology and WWW.

Benefits
Connectivity: A very nice feature of Intranets in organizations is their ability to connect
different types of computers with different operating systems. Now it doesn't matter what type of
computer hardware or operating system is being used: they can all communicate through Web
sites.
 An Intranet can drastically reduce an organization's supply chain costs and management
through improved coordination between various departments.
 Outside suppliers have an advantage if they have access to the company's Intranet
because they stay up-to-date on the latest design changes.
Reduce Costs:
Businesses can defray lots of the cost of establishing an Intranet because they don't have to create
the interface programs for users.

Intranets are especially useful for allowing geographically separated collaborative teams to work
together
Provide instant connectivity, inexpensive
Easily accessible from most platforms -.
Help organization to be more responsive to customers
Allows companies to manage business processes electronically
- HRM: used for publishing HR Manuals, telephone directories
- Coordinates the activities of the sales force

Management Challenges of ECommerce

Security and Privacy Issues:
• information en route to user could be monitored, captured and stored at any point.
• Through the use of Web site monitoring software and other technology for
tracking Web visitors, companies can gather detailed information about
individuals without their knowledge. Learning about individuals can undermine
individual privacy

Channel Conflict – Using the Web for on-line sales and marketing may create channel
conflict with the firm’s traditional channels. Channel conflict arises when there is
competition between two or more different distribution chains used to sell the products of the
same company.
Chapter 5:

Challenges to Privacy:

Through the use of profiling, which uses computers to combine data from multiple
sources and create electronic dossiers of detailed information on people. This
information collected could be sold to other companies in order to help them target their
web ads more precisely.

Challenges to IPRS

The internet has made it difficult to protect intellectual profity. Information can be easily
copied and disseminated to other networks. Websites may also be constructed from
information that come from many different sources.

Social Costs of Internet

Family Life: One quality of life issue that affects more and more people personally is the ability
to work from home. Most telecommuters used to have a "regular day job" 9 to 5, five days a week
in a typical office setting. If they didn't get their work done today, they would wait until they
were back in the office tomorrow or Monday. Now because of technology they can work seven
days a week, all hours of the day, at home. And sometimes they do. The impact on personal and
family life can be considerable.

Computer Crime and abuse: use of hacking, computer viruses, spamming

Reeginerring – could potentially cause middle mangers and clerical workers to lose their jobs.

Health Risks:
Repetitive Stress Injury – occupational disease when muscle groups are forced repetitive actions.
E.g. CTS
Computer Vision Syndrome – Eyestrain condition related to the display screen
Techno Stress – stress induced by computer use causing aggravation, hostility towards humans.
Chapter 7:

Database: group of related files.

DBMS: software that permits the organization to centralize the data. It has three
components: data dictionary holds the entire information about the database,

1Discuss the traditional file environment, stating clearly three problems

organizations may have in using this approach to data management.

Within the traditional filing environment, each department tended to develop systems to
fit their individual needs. Also, each function area required its own computer equipment
and resources. The traditional filing environment led to data redundancy which occurs
when different functional areas collect the same piece of information, the traditional
system was unable to respond to unanticipated information required in a timely fashion.
Also, there was no way of knowing who is accessing or making changes to the
organizaiton’s data. Lastly, because information was fragmented different parts of the
organization it could not flow freely.

Describe data warehouses, data marts, and data mining. What is a major concern
connected with the use of these tools?

- Data warehouse - collection of data , both current and historical, that is designed to
support management decision making. They are huge computer files that store old
and new data about anything and everything a company wants to maintain
information on.
- Data marts – Since the data warehouse can be cumbersome, a company can break the
information into smaller groups called data marts. small datawarehouse containing
only a portion of the organization’s data for a specific function or population of users.
- Datamining – analyzing large pools of data to find patterns and rules that can be used
as a guide for deicison making. For example, data mining software can help retail
companies find customers with common interests

Major Concern: undermine privacy of individuals

Describe one type of distributed database. Give one reason why a company would
use the distributed database described.
Describe three basic operations of the relational database.

Relational Database:
Feature: data appears to be stored in two separate tables; tables have a common element
Advantage:
Flexible: can handle adhoc request
Easy for users and programmers tto work with
Dis: processing efficiency is low
Hierarchial
Presents data to users in a treelike structure
Uses one to may relationships

Object oriented databse

Uses objects as data elements
Adv: handles complex types of data
Easy to use, more flexible
DIS: Slow

Hypermedia: linking the database with the web

Describe three database models that would likely be implemented in the present
business environment and give a reason why a company would choose a particular
model.

Describe two ways in which the web and the internet can be used in the
management of databases.

Companies also use the internet technology to link their internal databases such as personnel, e-
mail. This network is known as Intranet. Intranet is protected by software known as fire wall to
protect ii from access by people outside the company.

Using the internet, companies can develop Extranet to exchange data with their suppliers and
other companies, known as business-to-business (B to B).
Chapter 8:

Protocols are used to tell the hardware components how to transmit data within a network
and between networks. They can also be thought of as a set of rules and procedures for
exchanging information between computers in networks.
 1• File Transfer Protocol or FTP, used to transfer files between one computer and
another computer
2• Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol or TCP/IP, used to connect networks
TCP/IP is the protocol that allows you to access the Internet itself through your Internet
service provider or a direct connection through your school or workplace.
 VAN - VANs offer the processing capabilities and latest technologies on a contract, pay-
as-you-go basis. They are private, multipath, data-only, third-party managed networks used by
many organizations.

Packet switching is a method of breaking large blocks of text into smaller chunks of data
and routes them in the most economical way through whichever communication channel is
available.
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) which will increase the capabilities of the regular telephone lines
to process more than just voice data. DSL will be able to carry voice, data, graphics, and video at
a greater capacity than the current ISDN lines.

Larger organizations, such as universities and corporations, can afford a T1 line, which support
extremely high rates of data transmission. These lines are capable of carrying voice and data
transmissions over 24 channels, which makes them ideal for larger networks.
Electronic Data Interchange and Electronic Commerce Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
allows two businesses to send documents to each other electronically instead of using the old-
fashioned paper trail. While EDI does decrease the cost of manual systems and greatly reduce the
chances of error, it is more expensive to set up than a Web-based system. Both ends of the EDI
must have the equipment and software to handle the system and people must be trained in its use.
These requirements have made EDI cost-prohibitive for small companies: they are essentially
locked out of the opportunity to do business electronically with customers and suppliers. Web-
based commerce is much easier for smaller companies because of the use of standard software
and because they don't necessarily have to purchase special equipment or software. We'll look at
Web-based or Internet-based E-commerce more closely in the next lesson. The cost of doing
business on the Internet is not easily apparent. Many organizational changes must be made which
add to the bottom line. E-commerce and E-business involve more technologies than just
computers: tele-, data-, and videoconferencing are vital elements of doing business electronically.
Email is the most widely used service on the Internet. Businesses must consider using all
available technologies and resources when tackling E-commerce and E-business.
Chapter 9:

Organizational Benefits of the Internent and Web

Global Reach – easily and inexpensively connecting may people from all over the globe.
Reduce communication Costs: through internet telephoney companies can use the
internet for tephone voice transmission. VPN can ebe used to providea secure connect to
transmit corporate data over internent
Allows rapid access to information

Challenges of Managing New Information Technology Infrastructure

Loss of Managmenet control – as a result of distributed databases, due to the internet

many users store information throughout the organization

Organization change requirements – changes in business models, culture,

Challenge of Implementing Global Systems:

Global Software Challenge – finding applications that are user friendly

Hardware – finding some way to standardize the hardware platform

Telecommunications – making data flow seamlessly across networks

Managing Implementation:

Managing Technical Complexity – project leaders and administrators need to be

experienced. Team should operate as a cohesive unit

Use Formal Planning and Control Tools

Increase user Invovlmenet

Designing for the Organization

Ergonomic issues, impact of system on job dimensions

ESSAYS:

A digital firm is one where nearly all of its significant relationships with customers,
suppliers and employees are digitally enabled and mediated. The core businesses of the
digital firm are accomplished through digital networks. Two capabailities of the digital
firm is that they are able to engage in mass customization rather than mass production
and also, they are able to respond to changes as a result of a turbulent environment.

Instead of selling its products physically to customers, Dell sells most of its computers
via website. Customers can create their own Dell home page and track their orders online, to
see if they are in production, or already on the shipping track.

Until 1997, Dell operated its assembly lines in traditional fashion, with each worker performing a
single operation. Of special interest is a computerized manufacturing system introduced in 1997,
which tightly links the entire demand and supply chains from suppliers to buyers. This system is
the foundation on which the "building-to-order" strategy rests.

Dell’s build-to-order, sell-direct strategy meant, of course, that Dell had no in-house stock of
finished goods inventories and that, unlike competitors using the traditional value chain model

System Life Cycle

Advantages:

1. All necessary activities are accomplished in the correct or desired sequence.

2. The documentation developed as a result of any given project is consistent and
comparable with the documentation developed from any other project.
3. The documentation developed as a result of a given project contains adequate,
understandable information.
4. Appropriate reviews and approvals are obtained at the appropriate points in the project

Disadvantages
 Costly and time consuming
 Inflexible and discourage change
 Ill-suited to decision oriented applications

Advantages of Outsourcing
1. Economies of scale
2. Service quality
3. Predictability
4. Flexibility
5. Making fixed costs variable
6. Freeing up human resources for other projects
7. Freeing up financial capitals

Disadvantages of Outs.
 1. Loss of control
2. Vulnerability of strategic information
3. Dependency

List four positive and negative impacts of information systems

List the benefits and challenges of the Internet

C – reduces the cost of communications. Through the use of telephony firms can communicate
with each other in over the intenet.
Connectivity – allows computers from anywhere to connect with each other without human
intervention
R – Global Reach: persons can connect with each other irrespective of
CRM – allows firm to

Describe the traditional file environment

In a traditional file environment, procedures were developed in isolation of each other. Also,
each functional area had its own equipment. This led to problems of data redundancy, the
information did not flow seamlessly throughout the organization and there were poor security
problems.

List three things that would cause IS systems to fail

User-Designer Communication Gap – the user may have different needs than that of the

List theree challenges of implementing global systems

Haw can system quality be assured