MIS Assignment Summary Chapter 12

This assignment is due at 23 May 2014 , it's about summary in chapter 12 the title is :

"System Investigation and Analysis"

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ENHANCING DECISION MAKING

1. What are the different types of decisions, and how does the decision-making process work?

The different levels in an organization (strategic, management, operational) have different decision-making requirements. Decisions can be structured, semistructured, or unstructured, with structured decisions clustering at the operational level of the organization and unstructured decisions at the strategic level. Decision making can be performed by individuals or groups and includes employees as well as operational, middle, and senior managers. There are four stages in decision making: intelligence, design, choice, and implementation. Systems to support decision making do not always produce better management and employee decisions that improve firm performance because of problems with information quality, management filters, and organizational culture.

2. How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making?

Early classic models of managerial activities stress the functions of planning, organizing, coordinating, deciding, and controlling. Contemporary research looking at the actual behaviour of managers has found that managers’ real activities are highly fragmented, variegated, and brief in duration and that managers shy away from making grand, sweeping policy decisions. Information technology provides new tools for managers to carry out both traditional and newer management roles, enabling them to monitor, plan, and forecast with more precision and speed than ever before and to respond more rapidly to the changing business environment. Information systems have been most helpful to managers by providing support for their roles in disseminating information, providing liaisons between organizational levels, and allocating resources. However, information systems are less successful at supporting unstructured decisions. Where information systems are useful, information quality, management filters, and organizational culture can degrade decision making.

3. How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making?

Business intelligence (BI) and business analytics (BA) promise to deliver correct, nearly real-time information to decision makers, and the analytical tools help them quickly understand the information and take action. A BI environment consists of data from the business environment, the BI infrastructure, a BA toolset, managerial users and methods, a BI delivery platform (management information systems [MIS], decision support systems [DSS], or executive support systems [ESS]), and the user interface. There are six analytical functionalities that BI systems deliver to achieve these ends: predefined production reports, parameter-driven reports, dashboards and scorecards, ad hoc queries and searches, the ability to drill down, and the ability to model scenarios and create forecasts.

4. How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence?

Operational and middle management are generally charged with monitoring the performance of their firm. Most of the decisions they make are fairly structured. MIS producing routine production reports are typically used to support this type of decision making. For making unstructured decisions, middle managers and analysts will use DSS with powerful analytics and modelling tools, including spreadsheets and pivot tables. Senior executives making unstructured decisions use dashboards and visual interfaces to display key performance information affecting the overall profitability, success, and strategy of the firm. Balanced scorecard and business performance management are two methodologies used in designing ESS.

5. What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently?

Group decision support systems (GDSS) help people working together in a group arrive at decisions more efficiently. GDSS feature special conference room facilities where participants contribute their ideas using networked computers and software tools for organizing ideas, gathering information, making and setting priorities, and documenting meeting sessions.

Business value of improved decision making

Improving hundreds of thousands of “small” decisions adds up to large annual value for the business

Types of decisions:

Unstructured: Decision maker must provide judgment, evaluation, and insight to solve problem

Structured: Repetitive and routine; involve definite procedure for handling so they do not have to be treated each time as new

Semistructured: Only part of problem has clear-cut answer provided by accepted procedure

Senior managers:

Make many unstructured decisions

E.g. Should we enter a new market?

Middle managers:

Make more structured decisions but these may include unstructured components

E.g. Why is order fulfillment report showing decline in Minneapolis?

Operational managers, rank and file employees

Make more structured decisions

E.g. Does customer meet criteria for credit?

INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS OF KEY DECISION-MAKING GROUPS IN A FIRM

The 4 stages of the decision making process

Intelligence

Discovering, identifying, and understanding the problems occurring in the organization

Design

Identifying and exploring solutions to the problem

Choice

Choosing among solution alternatives

Implementation

Making chosen alternative work and continuing to monitor how well solution is working

Business intelligence and analytics capabilities

Goal is to deliver accurate real-time information to decision-makers

Main functionalities of BI systems

Production reports

Parameterized reports

Dashboards/scorecards

Ad hoc query/search/report creation

Drill down

Forecasts, scenarios, model

Decision-support for senior management (cont.)

Business performance management (BPM)

Translates firm’s strategies (e.g. differentiation, low-cost producer, scope of operation) into operational targets

KPIs developed to measure progress towards targets

Data for ESS

Internal data from enterprise applications

External data such as financial market databases

Drill-down capabilities

Journal "The Performance of Information System Through Organization Culture"

This assignment is due at 23 May 2014 , it's about to review a journal with the title is "The Performance of Information System Through Organization Culture".

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The Performance of Information System through

Organization Culture

· Background

In a firm , informations system , informations technology , and organizational culture now have become one of important point that must be noted , not only in an organization but even a nation / country.

· Problem Identification

There are many peoples still have a wrong perceptions about what is the differentiation between informations system and information technology and its role for organizational structure.

· Research Purpose

To knowing mutual relationships among information technologies , informations system and organizational culture.

· Research Benefits

- It allows us to know if the implementation of IT / IS will be satisfactorily accepted.

- It lays down the patterns for the usage of information. Thus , it helps identify which information is important , where it may be obtained and , above all , to whom it must be supplied.

- It is an important means of communication , both inside and outside the firm ( schein , 1992) and it allows us to assess the effectiveness of IT applied to telecommunications (grote and baitsch , 1991 ; kanungo , 1998).

- It creates cohesion among the members of a firm , as it explains “the way things are done in a firm”.

- It allows the creation of social control within a firm. For instance , the implementation of an IS , and the correct predisposition of corporate members towards such IS , is hardly controlled merely by means of formal measures. Cultural rules are also very important in this respect.

· Theory

- Anderson et al. (1992) , “an IS is a system which collects , records , stores and rearranges the data on the operations of a business , and then offers the results of this process to the suitable personnel of a corporation under the shape of informational this information will be used to facilitate an efficient management of the said business, to control its operations and as basis for efficient action. In a nutshell , an IS must help corporations to make decisions”.

“According to my opinion this theory is accordance with the concept of research it self , it describe about the important thing to running the information system by the suitable personnel so the main purpose of information system it self can be achieved.”

· Various Concepts

- Does the organizational culture lay down the guidelines for the acquisition and usage of IT ?

Answer :

several authors have supported this view , including Allard (1998) ; Brown and Starkey (1994); Gordon and Gordon (1992); Katz and Townsend (2000); Moorman (1995); Poole and DeSanctis (1990); Thompson and Wildavsky (1986) and Tolsby (1998).

The basis for this opinion is that , if the members of an organization share the view that IT , and its correct usage within an IS , entails competitive advantages for a firm and a personal or group satisfaction , which would be acknowledged , for instace , through a rewards policy , then its acquisition and usage will be part of the firm’s values , and also the opposite may happen.

- Does IT/IS is the one that establishes the specific character of an organizational culture ?

Answer :

The justification for this view is that , due to the specific weight IT/IS is progressively gaining in all areas of business , and given its adaptability to all the departments of a corporation , IT / IS will influence the firm’s personality to such an extent that they will create a shared , common vision which becomes a cultural value.

· Previous Research

Conducted by Weber and Pliskin , (1996).

Their research is about the relationship between the investment in informations system (IS) and a firm’s performance continues to be important ; conclusive evidence that information technology (IT) contributes to a firm’s effectiveness is rare.

The result it there is a positive relationship between IS integration and effectiveness only when controlling for IT intensity , and organizational culture differences between the joining firms.

My opinion about the previous research , that is clear enough to describe the relationship between each variable and the researcher also give the direct relationship in their conclusion.

· Theoretical Framework

Show when an efficient transformation of IT into a suitable IS cannot take place without changing the informatics culture into an informational one. More specifically , it should be said that , more than changed , the set of values should be expanded , in such a way that an informational culture , in addition to informatics beliefs , should also have its own concept of support to IS in the process of supplying decision-making information.

· Research design : Descriptive research

· Research methodology : this journal wasn’t mentioned the research methodology that they use.

· Research result

- Effectivity in IT / IS is not enough to generate positive result for organizational culture.

- Organizational culture is the important thing in success of information system.

· Research limitation

The limitation of these research is use quantitative method , so the data were collected from the empiris is has a chance to bias caused of the differentiation of time and condition from the pass time and research current time.

· Advice for the next research

For the next research better to use perspective from the newest companies / firms condition.

· When i will make those journal become my scription , the title that accordance is “ The Influence of Organizational Culture to Information System and Information Technology in the Company ”.

Norton

The picture above  is the example of  Legality of  Norton Internet Security,it is means that website that has the icon of norton and linked to the Norton Security Seal is worthy trust.

Norton Internet Security

Norton Internet Security fine-tunes its already-excellent protection. In addition, a new interactive panel makes the suite a clearinghouse for information from Norton's web-based services. Norton remains our Editors' Choice for security suite.

Norton Internet Security developed by Symantec Corporation  is a computer program that provides malware prevention and removal during subscription period and uses signatures and heuristics to identify viruses. Other features include a personal firewall, email spamfiltering, and phishing protection.

Symantec distributes the product as a download, a boxed copy, and as OEM software. Norton Internet Security held a 61% market share in the United States retail security suite category in the first half of 2007. In this study, competitors, in terms of market share, included security suites from CA, Inc., Trend Micro, and Kaspersky Lab.

Norton Internet Security is available on Symantec's Web site as a download, although users can opt for a physical version on a Compact Disc (CD) for a higher price. Stores may sell boxed copies of Norton Internet Security either on CD or USB flash drive. 

Sales==> Order=>filling the column=>Record...it wiil be clear when you watch the video

Systems Development

The development of effective information systems holds a number of challenges for small businesses. "Despite, or perhaps because of, the rapid development of computer technology, there is nothing easy or mechanical about building workable information systems, " Laudon and Laudon stated. "Building, operating, and maintaining information systems are challenging for a number of reasons." For example, some information cannot be captured and put into a system. Computers often cannot be programmed to take into account competitor responses to marketing tactics or changes in economic conditions, among other things. In addition, the value of information erodes over time, and rapid changes in technology can make systems become obsolete very quickly. Finally, many companies find systems development to be problematic because the services of skilled programmers are at a premium.

Despite the challenges inherent in systems development, however, MIS also offer businesses a number of advantages. "Today, leading companies and organizations are using information technology as a competitive tool to develop new products and services, forge new relationships with suppliers, edge out competitors, and radically change their internal operations and organizations, " Laudon and Laudon explained. For example, using MIS strategically can help a company to become a market innovator. By providing a unique product or service to meet the needs of customers, a company can raise the cost of market entry for potential competitors and thus gain a competitive advantage. Another strategic use of MIS involves forging electronic linkages to customers and suppliers. This can help companies to lock in business and increase switching costs. Finally, it is possible to use MIS to change the overall basis of competition in an industry. For example, in an industry characterized by price wars, a business with a new means of processing customer data may be able to create unique product features that change the basis of competition to differentiation.

The impetus to develop a new information system can grow out of end-user demands, the availability of new technology, or management strategy. A variety of tools exist for analyzing a company's information needs and designing systems to support them. The basic process of systems development involves defining the project, creating a model of the current system, deriving a model for the new system, measuring the costs and benefits of all alternatives, selecting the best option, designing the new system, completing the specific programming functions, installing and testing the new system, and completing a post-implementation audit.

Information systems designers, whether internal to the company or part of an outside firm, are generally responsible for assuring the technical quality of the new system and the ease of the user interface. They also oversee the process of system design and implementation, assess the impact of the new system on the organization, and develop ways to protect the system from abuse after it is installed. But it is the responsibility of small business owners and managers to plan what systems to implement and to ensure that the underlying data are accurate and useful. "The organization must develop a technique for ensuring that the most important systems are attended to first, that unnecessary systems are not built, and that end users have a full and meaningful role in determining which new systems will be built and how, " according to Laudon and Laudon.