Week 1 T1.3

Barbara Piccininni

ECON 101-04

Week 1 – Task 3

            In this report, referring to Chapter 1, I will be referencing process, knowledge and characteristics of valuable information.  Process is taking data that you have collected and turning it into information.  Knowledge is taking that information and using it to complete a task.   Characteristics of valuable information has many different qualities but I will be touching on accurate, complete, timely and verifiable aspects in this report.

When planning a meeting through Microsoft Outlook for “Quarter 4 financial planning” for a department there are many things needed to complete this task successfully.  One must collect the data regarding all attendees’ availability then work with specific dates and times that have been specified by the manager that would work best for his/her calendar.  These two would be considered process.

 “Process or processing typically describes the action of taking something through an established and usually routine set of procedures or steps to convert it from one form to another, such as processing paperwork to grant a mortgage loan, processing milk into cheese, or converting computer data from one form to another. A process involves steps and decisions in the way work is accomplished, and may involve a sequence of events.

The process that one follows is as important as the results that are produced by the process. Without understanding the underlying process, it is difficult to know how a certain set of results were achieved, or why they were good or bad. So, if results are viewed as the "destination", then process can be viewed as the "vehicle" that gets you there (and ideally, you should be able to use the same "vehicle" for many trips...with a few modifications based on the desired destination!)” 1

Taking the information of each individual’s availability and checking the time and date everyone would be available for a meeting, via outlook, is knowledge; this would help complete the task.   But you would also have taken into consideration possible holidays or vacation that that attendee’s might take and thus would not be available. 

Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something, that can include facts, descriptions, information, and/or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. It can be implicit (as with practical skill or expertise) or explicit (as with the theoretical understanding of a subject); and it can be more or less formal or systematic.^[1] In philosophy, the study of knowledge is called epistemology, and the philosopher Plato famously defined knowledge as "justified true belief." There is however no single agreed upon definition of knowledge, and there are numerous theories to explain it.” 2

            Characteristics of Valuable Information would now play a role in planning this meeting successfully.  In figuring out date and time that was requested by the manager, and planning the Q4 departmental review, is the information collected accurate?  Looking at the calendars in outlook, do those attendees have their calendars up to date with available time?  If not, this would not be an accurate account of availability.   Complete information is essential, as you would have to take into account the location of such a meeting.   If you find time/date, attendee’s availability and managers’ approval of the event, and there is no location for this meeting to take place, then the task at hand would therefore not be complete.   If this meeting is not scheduled prior to Q4 then it would not be timely.  This meeting would have to take place prior to Q3 ending.   When checking outlook calendars, booking a location or obtaining approval from managers regarding the meeting, this information is still not verifiable until all attendees accept this outlook invite.

“well there can be a number of characteristics but to name a few are

it should be timely; anything that you get in time save money and help timely decisions

accuracy; relevance to the subject under consideration helps you take proper decisions

economical; cost benefit analysis has to be conducted

based on current information aimed at projection for the future

relevant; to the current market situations

hope will help you.” 3

1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process

2- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge#cite_ref-1

3 - http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_characteristics_of_valuable_information_in_business_research

Value Chain - Week 2 T2.3

Week 2 – T2.3

In describing the value chain for a new business in buying and selling CD’s to new students on a new website there are many aspects of this.  Raw materials, inbound logistics, warehouse and storage, production, finished product storage, outbound logistics, marketing & sales and customer services.   All these will be touched on in the following paragraphs.

Raw materials would obviously refer to the CD’s, although this might become a larger endeavor with DVD’s and software programs.   Let’s just go with the understanding that the students would be able to download the CD’s or get a “hard copy”.   The downloadable version might not necessarily be considered a raw material as there is nothing physical about it but it would be something that would bring in revenue.  But the hard copy would definitely be considered a raw material.

Inbound logistics in this case would pertain to having a tracking system on the website (like FedEx, Amazon, etc) to keep track of all the CD’s for inventory purposes.  This would have to be included on the website for purchasing CD’s would depend on when it would they would be received in the warehouse/storage and consequently would depend on when the purchaser would have the product; although that would not apply to the downloadable version as this would be available directly.   The company would have to still keep track of the downloadable versions as this would go towards company spend and profits.

Production would be dependent on a third party, sellers of used CD’s, and record companies for the hard copy and electronic version.  The only production that would need to be done by my company would be labels, shipping boxes, invoicing; basically anything that would need my company logo on it.

Finished product storage/Automated storage and retrieval systems this is the most important of all.   This system would have to keep track of shipments (both coming and going), inventory, cost of product, cost to my company and profits.   This would all have to be in the system to retrieve at anytime if a question should arise.  Outbound logistics would be the shipment/electronic delivery of the CD.  

Marketing and Sales again could be outsourced to another company and handle.   Sales would be done almost totally online unless there is an issue and customer service is handling the order.   Adds that pop up when on a website, like face book, would be a wonderful marketing strategy.    Customer service would also have to be listed as a link on my company’s website but you would need a live person to discuss any issues – also a good item to outsource.

Upstream Management and Downstream Management had been touched in this paper.   I think having a website would differ a little from a company that has all raw materials to sell.

Systems - Week 2 T2.4

Barb Piccininni

Week 2 (T2.4)

For this task I will be referring to the system Oracle. “Many early systems theorists aimed at finding a general systems theory that could explain all systems in all fields of science. The term goes back to Bertalanffy's book titled "General System theory: Foundations, Development, Applications" from 1968.^[6] “[2]. Foundations, development and applications would reference back to the beginning of the Oracle system. Foundations can begin with the programming for a particular company and their needs. Development, pertaining to using those in HR or Management having input as to how Oracle would best suit their company. Applications of course would refer to Oracle, Kronos and other systems that fall under Oracle to assist with the final end of the company.

Oracle boost of how they benefit a company “Oracle is the only vendor able to offer a complete technology stack in which every layer is integrated to work together as a single system.”[3. A system like Oracle would be absolutely valuable to a company as this would save much time in accounting and with a system “figuring out” the payroll it would take out the chance or error as human factor. Humans would cost more money to complete these task, would probably create more errors and the process would take much longer. As with many other IS a system it allows for time otherwise spend on the old system to put human hours into other items of interest/needs of the company.

Oracle is a Business Information System that can have many parts to the whole. From Kronos, tracking of employees time, to MIS (Management Information Systems) assisting with budget planning there are many parts. “As reference the makeup, a functional information system consists of several smaller information systems that support specific activities performed in the functional area.” [ 1 ] Oracle can consist of employment details, personal details, benefits enrollment, pay statements to be viewed, W4 information, banking information all in one system. Transaction Processing System, of which Kronos would be a large part of, is very important in a company saving time and money.

Oracle can also host expense processing (i-expense) that would keep track of expenses any given employee would have week, month or year. These systems might not be accessible to view at the same time to the employee but would have a common database, MIS, where a manager would be able to access this information in one location without going through to many processes of obtaining information from Kronos or i-expense. Accessing information for any said cost center or employee number and have that information at hand is very valuable and time saving to a company.

Oracle would also be very good for a company in planning for future fiscal years or adjust time management or budget for this year to meet projected plans for the year. This would roll into rather smoothly, reference figure 1.19 [4], Three Stages in the Business Use of Information Systems. “Cost and productivity, competitive advantage, performance-based management” [4]. This would play a large part in the company and how they would succeed.

1 - Answers.com - (Turban et al., 2006, p. 248-249) Researched and posted by Bryan H.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/List_and_describe_the_information_system_of_the_major_functional_areas_of_a_business

2 – Wikipedia who (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_theory) who referenced - ^ ^{a b} 1968, General System theory: Foundations, Development, Applications, New York: George Braziller, revised edition 1976: ISBN 0-8076-0453-4

3 – Oracle website - http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/index.html

4 – Fundamentals of Information Systems 6E, figure 1.19

Piccininni – Week 3 T3.4 #2

http://sheet.zoho.com/public/barb_p.2/piccininni-montly-profit

In this spreadsheet I created a very basic outlook for a company selling CD’s new, used and MP3 downloads. Listed below is a description of columns and how they relate. I was trying to capture some of the cost that could be in a value chain manufacturing company including raw material, inbound/outbound logistics, overhead cost and the final monthly profit for the company. As stated it is a very basic look monies coming in and going out.

· Column A - Artists – This is the artists of the CD

· Column B - Title – Title of the CD

· Column C - New – Listed price charged for a new CD (if available)

· Column D – Amount ordered for new cd’s

· Column E - Total Amount of that individual cd’s. This is simple formula of specified row, Column C multiplied by column d.

· Column F – Used CD’s – Listed price charged for used CD (if available)

· Column G – Amount of used CD’s ordered

· Column H – total amount of this individual used cd’s. Again simple formula specified row, column f multiplied by column g

· Column I -Shipping Cost – Basic listing of shipping amount of ONLY new and used cd’s

· Column J – MP3 Download charge

· Column K – amount of cd’s downloaded to MP3

· Column M – Overhead cost. This is only charged to New and Used CD’s at a price of $2 per cd. This would be sum of (D2 plus G2) multiplied by $2.

· Column N – Is the profit listed for the month of each individual CD and Total for the month below double lines. Sum (E2plusH2plusL2)-M2.

Week 3, Task 3 (T3.3)

There are many hardware/software items that a company can use to extend the use of their information system into the mobile regime of work. iPad is a huge favorite with companies and is now coming out with the Ipad 2, already on the market, that contains a camera for employees to participate in live meetings such as WebEx. “Web conferencing lets you connect with anyone, anywhere, in real time. WebEx combines desktop sharing through a web browser with phone conferencing an video, so everyone sees the same thing while you talk.” [2] Keynote is another app on the iPad that is becoming popular as it is a mobile equivalent to Microsoft PowerPoint for presentations in meetings. Beneficial for employees in not carrying around a large laptop you can carry a light iPad with a small power cord to connect and present. “Create your presentation in Keynote, and you’ll be a hard act to follow. Powerful yet easy-to-use tools and dazzling effects put the show in slideshow.” [5]

For an employee to connect remotely to their own desktop there are many products that would assist with this one of them is VPN (virtual private network). VPN by Cisco – is a secure way for an employee to connect their laptop and to their company’s files, emails, etc. In VPN’s terms “Virtual Private Network (VPN) software enables private communications over wireless / computer networks via a technology called tunneling.” [1]

Some companies work with Apple, like Stryker, to create business specific apps. There is an app created by Stryker that doctors can show a patient, instead of a handout, a 3D view of an artificial knee or hip. This type of application would be priceless to a company in keeping up or jumping ahead of the competition. “The apps are the company's first to be specifically aimed at surgeons."Stryker Flipchart," was designed to help orthopedic specialists explain joint replacement procedures to patients. "OpTech Live" is a guide to Stryker Orthopaedics' products and surgical protocols.” [3]

SharePoint software is Microsoft mobile answer to a company share drives. So many people now work remotely and need to have instant access to company files, projects, calendar’s, etc. SharePoint permits an employee to still be in touch without having to come into the office. “Microsoft SharePoint 2010 makes it easier for people to work together. Using SharePoint 2010, your people can set up Web sites to share information with others, manage documents from start to finish, and publish reports to help everyone make better decisions.” [4]

1 - Free VPN Software Downloads By Bradley Mitchell, About.com Guide - http://compnetworking.about.com/od/vpn/tp/vpnsoftwarefree.htm

2 - http://www.webex.com (overview tab)

3 - http://www.massdevice.com/news/stryker-orthopaedics-launches-ipad-apps-surgeons

4 - http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/product/capabilities/Pages/default.aspx

5 - http://www.apple.com/iwork/keynote

Week 4 – T4.4 Research

There are many software models that can assist a company in becoming wireless. “Software as a Service (SaaS) is a software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over a network, typically the Internet.” [1] I will be touching on Teamlab a Saas company and Tidewell Hospice who implemented the use of Saas. Cloud service has also been touched on in this report.

Teamlab is a Saas company that provides many services. “TeamLab is a corporate collaboration platform for document and project management that integrates a number of online organization, management and communication tools.”[3] Project management, business collaboration, document management (import documents from Google docs, Zoho, Box.net), instant messaging, mobile full version, calendar, customer relationship management, and email management would make them a one stop shop for any company using their service. Just within project management Teamlab offers milestones, task, ARM (access right management), time tracking, reporting, discussions and helps build your team. These features that Teamlab offers would be invaluable to those using their service, no more searching for the company server as all docs would be available on Teamlab for the group to pull from. Teamlab is already looking to improve their system as they have on boarded Avangate for ecommerce - “SaaS Vendor TeamLab Selects Avangate As eCommerce Provider”. [3]

A Saas can help with so many things a company might want to accomplish, some need to concentrate on one specific thing as in the case of Tidewell Hospice and their use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). “Tidewell uses Salesforce's SaaS-based CRM, integrated with its internal electronic medical record (EMR) system.” [2] Tidewell was looking to come out of the dark ages "Our liaisons were going from account to account with their own little binders, spreadsheets and rolodexes. We had a typical offline, manual, decentralized, zero-visibility situation,". [2] They needed to have all this information in one location so all employees could have contacts and needed information at their fingertips. Tidewell Hospice might think of looking outside of the box for only what they needed at this specific time. They would probably benefit from using more services on a Saas.

In an article in eweek, Greg Schultz showed some reservations a company might have regarding taking that leap of faith to “cloud computing’s software-as-a service model”[4]. There are many things a company needs to consider when debating on moving from the old fashion servers to cloud. Although a company would have a competitive advantage to using cloud with the speed and dependability it is said to have, some companies might pull the more conservative card and see how things go. “Companies are going to go with what works. If a client-server system installed seven years ago still works and gets the job done, they will stay with it but keep a close eye on it at the same time. If the budget opens up, a refresh is needed and the tech is there, then they may make a change. But the conditions all have to be right,” as stated by Greg Schulz in article of eweek. [4] Many companies have already jumped on the band wagon, so to speak, but some are holding off seeing how the technology will show with time and dependability. “IT leaders express continuing reservations about data security, 24/7 access to data in a public cloud, and whether a provider will still be here years from now. If it’s outside the firewall, it’s not completely controllable, and IT managers tend to like complete control.” [4] In a case like this of a company holding off on using Cloud the answer to this “problem” would be when the company is ready for use they will take that leap and use the service.

In essence for a company to use a Saas and to what degree it would depend on if they are ready to use this service, only one small portion of it or the full Monty.

1 - http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/definition/Software-as-a-Service

2- http://www.networkworld.com/supp/2011/enterprise3/060611-ecs-saas-hospice.html

3- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/09/22/prweb8811545.DTL

4- http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Applications/Waiting-for-the-World-to-Awaken-to-SAAS-Potential-625846

Week 2 - T2.1

Barb Piccininni

Week 2 (T2.4)

For this task I will be referring to the system Oracle. “Many early systems theorists aimed at finding a general systems theory that could explain all systems in all fields of science. The term goes back to Bertalanffy's book titled "General System theory: Foundations, Development, Applications" from 1968.^[6] “[2].   Foundations, development and applications would reference back to the beginning of the Oracle system.   Foundations can begin with the programming for a particular company and their needs.  Development, pertaining to using those in HR or Management having input as to how Oracle would best suit their company.  Applications of course would refer to Oracle, Kronos and other systems that fall under Oracle to assist with the final end of the company. 

Oracle boost of how they benefit a company “Oracle is the only vendor able to offer a complete technology stack in which every layer is integrated to work together as a single system.”[3. A system like Oracle would be absolutely valuable to a company as this would save much time in accounting and with a system “figuring out” the payroll it would take out the chance or error as human factor.   Humans would cost more money to complete these task, would probably create more errors and the process would take much longer.   As with many other IS a system it allows for time otherwise spend on the old system to put human hours into other items of interest/needs of the company. 

Oracle is a Business Information System that can have many parts to the whole.   From Kronos, tracking of employees time, to MIS (Management Information Systems) assisting with budget planning there are many parts.   “As reference the makeup, a functional information system consists of several smaller information systems that support specific activities performed in the functional area.” [ 1 ]   Oracle can consist of employment details, personal details, benefits enrollment, pay statements to be viewed, W4 information, banking information all in one system.  Transaction Processing System, of which Kronos would be a large part of, is very important in a company saving time and money.

Oracle can also host expense processing (i-expense) that would keep track of expenses any given employee would have week, month or year.   These systems might not be accessible to view at the same time to the employee but would have a common database, MIS, where a manager would be able to access this information in one location without going through to many processes of obtaining information from Kronos or i-expense.   Accessing information for any said cost center or employee number and have that information at hand is very valuable and time saving to a company.

Oracle would also be very good for a company in planning for future fiscal years or adjust time management or budget for this year to meet projected plans for the year.  This would roll into rather smoothly, reference figure 1.19 [4], Three Stages in the Business Use of Information Systems.  “Cost and productivity, competitive advantage, performance-based management” [4]. This would play a large part in the company and how they would succeed.

1 - Answers.com - (Turban et al., 2006, p. 248-249) Researched and posted by Bryan H.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/List_and_describe_the_information_system_of_the_major_functional_areas_of_a_business

2 – Wikipedia who (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_theory) who referenced - ^ ^{a b} 1968, General System theory: Foundations, Development, Applications, New York: George Braziller, revised edition 1976: ISBN 0-8076-0453-4

3 – Oracle website - http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/index.html

4 – Fundamentals of Information Systems 6E, figure 1.19