Introduction to Business Information Systems, Third Canadian Edition Solution Manual

Introduction to Business Information Systems, Third Canadian Edition By Norrie, Nanjad, Huber

Introduction to Business Information Systems Norrie, Nanjad, Huber

INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL and SOLUTIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1: IT for Business and Business Professionals INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Introduction to Chapter 1 The key learning themes of Chapter 1 are as follows: • The importance of information systems • How information systems relate to individuals, organizations and, society as a whole.

The materials below, in addition to those in the textbook and on the website, are provided as a way of reinforcing these themes with students. Below you will find suggested answers to the “What Do You Think?” boxes for each chapter, a suggested in-class exercise, and some other suggestions to generate in-class discussions that encourage learning and participation.

What Do You Think?

The “What Do You Think?” boxes are an opportunity to generate discussion with your class. Some can be discussed without prior preparation on the part of your students, but others will require students to do some research first.

What Do You Think? Page 14 1. What are the benefits to the user of an online information system versus a manual alternative?

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Online transactions are instantly recorded. Users do not have to wait to know if their enrolment or course selection was accepted or not; they know instantly and can make the appropriate adjustments. Users may not want to use an online system if it is overly complex or slower than a manual system.

In these cases, they might prefer human interaction to help them navigate the complexity of enrolment, course selection, and payment. Of course, if students are in an exceptional situation that cannot be accommodated by an automated system, they will have no choice but to use a manual system for their transactions.

2. What are the benefits to the institution of an online system? Are these benefits critical for the institution to achieve in its current environment?

The benefits to institutions of an online system are that they require fewer staff to process routine transactions and do data entry, it takes less time to process the information, and the online system provides vital information so that the institution can make adjustments based on enrolment numbers.

Providing users with the ability to self-serve allows staff to focus on exceptional cases and provide a higher level of customer service. In the current educational environment, cost for institutions is a critical issue. The use of an online system provides cost savings and helps the institution to improve its budgeting.

3. Errors occur. In the past, you may have experienced an error in your online enrolment, course selection, or payments. Do you think you would have been better off using a manual system to start with? Did you feel you spent more time trying to fix the error than you would have if you had used a manual system?

Student answers may vary, but they should recognize that errors are rare and that they tend to be rectified faster than if they had been using a manual system to begin with. They should also recognize that the use of an online system has many advantages over a manual one.

What Do You Think? Page 16 1. What are some of the way you use the Internet for entertainment?

Student’s answers may include the following: downloading MP3s, watching videos on YouTube, socializing with friends on Facebook, staying up-to-date ..

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on celebrity gossip, joining communities for chat, using programs like MSN messenger or Skype, etc.

2. Consider the site you prefer most for music or video downloading. What makes it so useful and interesting?

Student’s answers may include the following: selection, features, speed, fun, price, etc.

3. Do you spend too much time using the Web for entertainment? Is it the world’s number one procrastination tool, or is this time spent valuable?

In answering this question students must realize how distracting having entertainment 24/7 at their finger-tips is and the potential for spending too much time on it. They should also recognize how useful it is to have access to so many forms of entertainment at all times.

In-Class Exercise The following is a simple exercise to illustrate to students the meaning of input, process, and output.

QUESTION: Identify input, process, and output in an ATM transaction.

ANSWER: Input = bank card, PIN, deposit money Process = account access granted, funds verified, transaction entered, calculations on balance completed, data stored, etc.

Output = money received, receipt, account updated QUESTION: Identify input, process, and output in creating a school transcript.

ANSWER: Input = student grades from each professor for each class Process = compilation of information, application to student record, calculation of GPA Output = transcript, GPA QUESTION: Identify input, process, and output in doing a research project.

ANSWER: Input = articles, books, internet searches, journals Process = compilation, reading, review, reflection Output = white paper, journal article, book

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In-Class Discussion Topics The following questions can be used to generate in-class discussion.

1. In today’s world, are there any occupations or professions that are not supported by IT? 2. As a student, what are some of the ways you increase your personal productivity and enter the “productivity zone”?

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SOLUTIONS MANUAL The following sections provide the solutions to the review questions at the end of the chapter and suggested solutions for the end of chapter case studies.

Question Answer Number 1 C: I and II 2 D: All of the above 3 E: Data, information, knowledge 4 D: Workflow software, supply chaining, insourcing 5 Data 6 Information 7 Knowledge 8 True 9 False 10 False 11 B 12 A 13 C 14 B 15 A 16 C 17 IS for a telecom billing operation:

Section Reference for Answer

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What’s in IT for an Organization?

The Importance of Information Systems The Importance of Information Systems

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The Importance of Information Systems The Importance of Information Systems The Importance of Information Systems The Importance of Information Systems What’s in IT for Me? What’s in IT for an Organization?

The Importance of Information Systems The Importance of Information Systems The Importance of Information Systems The Importance of Information Systems The Importance of Information Systems The Importance of Information Systems The Importance of Information Systems

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Input: Name of customer, mailing address, number of calls made, minutes of calls made, types of calls made (international/local), number of text messages, data fees (if applicable) Process: A billing system that can take into account business requirements (like free local calls from 9.00 p.m. to 7.00 a.m. and weekends) and customer ..

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usage to produce a bill Output: Customized bills for all customers based on their usage that can be e-mailed, posted to a website, and mailed to the customer.

The productivity zone is the intersection of people, process, and technology. When these elements intersect they create more productivity than each of the individual pieces. In business a successful IS that integrates all three will create business value. An example of the productivity zone is a fast moving grocery or cafeteria line. The person working is using the check-out process and tools as intended and the line is moving very quickly.

IS: An organized collection of people, information, business processes, and information technology designed to transform inputs into outputs, in order to achieve a goal.

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The Importance of Information Systems

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IT: Information technology deals with the uses of hardware, software, and networks to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and retrieve information. IT is only one component of an IS. In the example of a transaction processing system such as one found at a restaurant or bar, it ..

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is easy to see that the wait staff and cook are part of the system ensuring that they use the correct information to deliver the right order to the right customer. The process of taking an order and getting into the kitchen or bar is equally important. The IT part of this system is, perhaps, an automated ordering system that the wait staff use to order food from the kitchen (rather than the traditional pencil and paper) and which produces a bill at the end of the transaction. The system could manage without the IT component, but would not be as efficient and accurate.

In the example of a payroll The Importance of Information Systems system: Input: Names of all employees, name of bank, bank account number, salaries of employees Process: Software Output: An automated system to transfer salary from the company's account to the employee's account.

This automated system will reduce human errors and redundancy of work, thus reducing company costs and therefore creating business value.

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Chapter 1 Case Study: A Day in the Life of a University Student 1. How many of the innovations in Ashley’s home or school life are available to you? How many are you actually using?

Students’ answers could include any or all of the below. They would obviously be using online quizzes/assignments, voicemail, and email. They would probably be using payment software, too. The rest varies with each person, as the technologies have some more distance to go toward significant penetration.

Some possible technologies include: • Payment software • Download manager • Content aggregator software/ RSS feeds • Webcasts • Mobile payments • Mobile stock alerts • Mobile quizzes/assignments • In class polling/response technology • Web-based conference • Podcasts • Online document editing • Video editing software • Blogging 2. There are many acronyms and technical terms mentioned in this case.

Research and write a short paragraph about each of the following terms: a. Blog: A blog (short for Web log) is a website where users can write journal entries about a topic of personal interest. Entries are usually listed in reverse chronological order (last entered displayed first). Blogs are primarily text but may contain other forms of information such as photos, video, and audio. Blogs also typically provide links to other online content of interest. Many individuals have blogs to chronicle their daily lives (e.g., online diary) while others use blogs specifically to promote products and influence the public. b. Wireless Access: The ability to connect to computer networks without the need of physical cables. Sometimes known as WiFi. c. LCD display panel: Liquid crystal display technology is used for many modern, flat-screen monitors. It is the most popular form of monitor technology having replaced CRT (cathode ray tube) some time ago. An ..

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alternative to an LCD screen is a plasma screen, but these are not often used for smaller monitors d. Podcast: Distributing information in a lightweight, audio format. The audio file is distributed over the Internet using special feeds and can then be played on various devices such as laptops and MP3 players.

3. Do you believe that any of the information systems involved in Ashley’s daily life create only limited value for her?

Answers may vary. Some possibilities include: •

Mobile quizzes/assignments are probably of limited use to her as she may prefer to see them on a larger screen.

•

Blogging has not yet proven to be very useful for most people from a professional perspective unless they are a professional blogger, but from a personal perspective she may find it useful and it may be more useful than a paper diary.

•

RSS feeds may or may not be useful to her. It may not be much effort going to the sites that offer content that she is interested in. On the other hand, automated downloads can cause information overload and clutter.

It’s a trade-off between saving time and having the ability to pick and choose content every time.

Chapter 1 Case Study: Building a Website 1. Before the club’s next meeting with the vendor, you decide to create a short PowerPoint (or similar) presentation that will outline the basic processes you feel need to be automated. Your presentation should include simple process diagrams showing the inputs/outputs and results of these new automated processes, and a list of the data and information that will be collected, automated, and stored behind the web pages themselves as a result.

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Student answers will vary, but should include the following: Process to Automate Membership sign-up

Data collected (input) Name, phone number, mailing address, email address, company information, information delivery preference, interests, membership type (e.g., general, administrator, premium etc.)

Membership account maintenance

Credit card account, credit card expiry date

Account status

Payments received and outstanding, itemized by purchases List of events, dates of events, cost of events, RSVP for events, payment history for events

Event management

Results (output) Member records that can be used to communicate to members the information they want to receive in a way in which they want to be communicated to.

Requests for member information updates can be sent using this information.

Membership type can provide the system with access information to allow members to visit specific areas of system based on their membership type.

Membership number assigned, start date of members, renewal period. Using account information, members can be reminded to renew their membership when it is due.

Online and/or paper statement is created by membership number.

Listing of all events, RSVPs from members, and payment status.

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Introduction to Business Information Systems Third Canadian Edition Norrie, Nanjad, Huber Instructor’s and Solutions Manual Chapter 2: Technology Essentials

INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Introduction to Chapter 2 The key learning themes of Chapter 2 are as follows: • Information technology components and terminology • A deeper and more technical understanding of the Internet and the Web • Increasing familiarity with IT to take advantage of opportunities and increase organizational and personal efficiency and effectiveness The materials below, in addition to those in the textbook and on the website, are provided as a way of reinforcing these themes with students. Below you will find suggested answers to the “What Do You Think?” boxes for this chapter, a suggested inclass exercise, and some other suggestions to generate in-class discussions that encourage learning and participation.

What Do You Think?

The “What Do You Think?” boxes are an opportunity to generate discussion with your class. Some can be discussed without prior preparation on the part of your students, but others will require students to do some research first.

What Do You Think? Page 52 1. Are there business applications for this technology?

Business applications for a Wii might include staff training or simulations for customers to help them learn about products remotely.

2. Why would this input method be preferable to others in terms of usability? Are these the same reasons why some gamers prefer this method of input over others?

This type of input method is more life-like and realistic. It is easier to demonstrate skill and ability with this type of method as it is not much different from natural .. Unauthorized copying, distribution, or transmission of this page is strictly prohibited.

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movement. These are much the same reasons why gamers like to use Wii, as it is very life-like.

3. What are the drawbacks? Does this technology make you feel more a part of the machinery than you are comfortable with (e.g., Cyborg)?

Drawbacks might depend on the type of application this input device is being used for. For example, while the interface is life-like, it is not exact. One may not be comfortable using the input device for tasks that take a lot of precision. Others may not be comfortable doing tasks that make them feel too machine-like.

What Do You Think? Page 65 1. Are you concerned that your company’s customer data are stored outside of your company?

Yes. One always has to be concerned about customer data on two fronts: keeping it safe from competitors and keeping it private in accordance with the privacy policy of the company with respect to customer data. This concern, however, does not mean that data cannot be stored outside of the company. What it does mean is that the appropriate levels of protection on the data (e.g., firewalls, encryption, password protection) are employed. This will be a critical topic of discussion with any SaaS CRM vendor.

2. What if in the future the software you are renting no longer meets your needs? How will you move from one system to another?

It is not unusual for a company to start with one solution and switch to another. It may become more important over time for a company to have its data in-house or build and use a different, more customized CRM solution. Because this is not uncommon, the legalities around terminating service of a SaaS and the rights over the data are often detailed in the services contract. The appropriate amount of notice would be given to the SaaS provider that the service will no longer be required, and a plan would then be put in place to start up the new system and transfer the existing data to the new system. Some business analysis and data mapping will likely be required to facilitate this transfer. Once the transfer is made and the connection to the SaaS is severed, the organization can begin to use the new CRM system with the historical data pre-loaded.

3. Why would a company offer software for free? Should you consider a free CRM system?

Companies often offer introductory or simple software for free in an effort to sell a more comprehensive version of their product later. Certainly you have been subject to software urging you to “Upgrade now!” The free version gives the customer some experience with the software and instills confidence that the software will work for .. Unauthorized copying, distribution, or transmission of this page is strictly prohibited.

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their company. Consideration of a free CRM system will depend on many factors: how confidential is the data, what type of business is it (governments are not permitted to use such systems), is there a free system that meets the requirements, are there adequate data security guarantees, etc. A free CRM system is worth investigating, but it might not be a workable solution.

What Do You Think? Page 66 1. Have you ever heard the term “Crackberry”? What does this mean to you?

The term “Crackberry” refers to the addiction some people seem to exhibit to their BlackBerry. These people are constantly using their BlackBerry to check their email, since BlackBerrys give users the ability to receive email anywhere in real time. The use of the term “Crackberry” became so widespread that in November 2006, Webster's dictionary named "crackberry" the "New Word of the Year.” Students’ answers will vary on what it means to them, but answers may range from refusal to own a BlackBerry because they do not want to be constantly connected to inability to manage without one.

2. Do you think being able to access your email at all times using a wireless device keeps you more or less socially connected?

Students’ answers will vary. Some students may say that they use their mobile phone, texting, and Facebook to stay socially connected than more than they use email. Others may say it is a necessity since email is the only form of communication they use.

3. What do you think of the expectation some organizations have that if you are connected wirelessly, you are available 24/7?

Students’ answers will vary. Some students may say that some occupations require constant connection while others do not. They may also say that it is more a matter of convenience and being able to have work-life balance.

In-Class Exercise In this exercise, ask students how they have or how they would go about purchasing a new PC. • Would some turn to the Internet and use tools like those offered on Dell.ca or a PC ratings site?

• Would some ask friends and family for help? Would some turn to a “computer expert” they know?

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Are they confident in their own level of technology knowledge to purchase what they need at a reasonable price?

Poll the room and calculate the results.

What about for a new mobile phone or a gaming system?

In-Class Discussion Topics The following questions can be used to generate in-class discussion.

1. What is the one IT device you cannot do without and why?

2. What did you learn about Internet security from this chapter? Was your password on the worst password list? How do you manage all of the passwords that you need in daily life?

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SOLUTIONS MANUAL The following sections provide the solutions to the review questions at the end of the chapter and suggested solutions for the end of chapter case studies.

Question Number 1 B: RAM

Answer

Section Reference for Answer

Difficulty

The Components of IT

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B: Operating system

The Components of IT

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The World Wide Web Internet Security

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B: HTML B: A destructive software that can spread by itself and once started, it automatically sends out infected emails to everybody in the user’s address book.

Clock

The Components of IT

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Electronic spreadsheet software

The Components of IT

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LAN

The Components of IT

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Convergence technology

D

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False

Meaningful Applications of Technology The Components of IT

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False

The Internet

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True

The World Wide Web

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False

Internet Security

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B

The Components of IT

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D

The Components of IT

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The Components of IT

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The Components of IT The Components of IT

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RAM is the most important The Components of IT element in a computer system when it comes to speed. RAM is the area of the computer where all temporary data resides. Have you noticed a time when you had a lot of programs open on your computer and it slowed right down? This is because the RAM was working really hard to deal with the temporary data from all applications. Increasing RAM can ensure there is enough temporary memory for all applications.

An example of LAN can be found The Components of IT at home. It is possible that you have more than one computer at home attached to a LAN with a fixed line or wireless. On this LAN users can share printers and files, if there is a file server. It is easy to tell this is a LAN because a limited number of people are using it, but those that are do so in a very interconnected way. An example of a MAN is the one used at the public library. A MAN connects different branches of the library. You can tell this is a MAN because despite the distance between users, service is usually quite fast.

A computer can be protected Internet Security from various types of malware by keeping anti-virus and other software (which have security upgrades) up to date, installing a personal firewall, not opening

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email, attachments, or files from unknown sources, and being safe by using effective passwords.

Open source software has had several impacts on the software industry. First, there is no doubt that its availability has reduced sales for traditional software providers. Speaking to any software developer today, you would find that they first search for open source software to develop their programs before building something themselves or purchasing software.

Secondly, it has made development much easier. There is open source software for every type of application. This means that a software developer will often be able to find open source software that has been written and tested already and can be modified to fit their needs.

The benefits of cloud computing include reduced cost, scalability, accessibility, and increased collaboration. The drawbacks of cloud computing include inability to use technology for competitive advantage, inability to significantly customize, lack of control, and, some say, security.

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The Components of IT

D

The Internet

D

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Chapter 2 Case Study: Selecting a Computer 1. Using a limited budget of $3,000.00 and the requirements mentioned by Ashley, make specific suggestions as to what computer system she should purchase, including a brand name, model, and options.

A budget of $3,000 for a desktop (to be used for number crunching, reporting and communication) is not really a limited budget. It can buy the best-in-class desktop.

Students may consider making a case for a laptop, tablet, or both!

Since Ashley has specific requirements, a company like Dell that offers customization would be a convenient means of obtaining a system that matches her needs.

Ashley’s computer is a home computer. But it is also a work computer. Ashley would need to connect to the office network. She would also need software to do her day-today work. It is likely that her employer would let her use the software corporate licenses. Given these conditions, one example system that would suit her needs would be Dell OptiPlex 990. The price for the configuration mentioned below would be $2246 (as of Winter 2011).

While the models and prices that your students choose may be different, they should come up with something similar. Some students may choose to purchase a computer from Apple or given the budget available, argue for a desktop-replacement laptop rather than a desktop. Given the budget, perhaps they will argue for a laptop and a tablet!

An example configuration – Processor: Intel® CoreTM i7 2600S, 8M OS: Windows 7.0 Professional, 64 bit RAM: 8GB Dual Channel (RAM matters for performance) Hard Disk: 500GB Optical Drive: 6X Slimline Blu-ray Disc (BD) Writer Monitor: 23-inch flat panel TV tuner card with remote Wireless WLAN card Warranty: 3 year ProSupport Warranty (can be upgraded) Note: Other answers will be acceptable too, if the students can justify the configuration and the price.

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2. You realize Ashley has overlooked printed output. Considering her budget of $3,000.00, what options would you recommend?

Ashley may still have part of her budget left for a printer. She can find low-priced, quality printers to fit her budget. She can add a laser printer for less than $100 or, on the high end, a colour laser printer plus scanner, copier, and fax for about $300 (Winter 2011 prices). A laser printer is recommended for monochrome printing as it saves on the cost of cartridge. However, if colour printing is desired, an ink-jet or low-cost colour laser should be considered.

3. Do you think that Ashley’s choice of DVD as a portable secondary storage media is a good one? Why or why not?

Whether Ashley’s choice about DVD as portable secondary storage is good or not depends on the volume of data and the type of data she has to port between home and office. Flash drive (thumb drive) and portable hard disks are examples of alternatives available. If the volume of data she transports is extremely large, then a portable hard disk is recommended. Considering that Ashley is spending only about $30 for the DVD read/write drive, she is making a reasonable choice. As their capacity increases, Flash drives (some are up to 32GB!), may present a better alternative. Something to consider also is if Ashley’s company uses cloud computing. Rather than having to transport the data, she can simply save the data in the cloud and retrieve it from anywhere. Because Ashley is working on financial data, however, her company may have a policy of not using cloud computing for this type of data.

4. What upgrades would you recommend that Ashley purchase in the future?

Depending on how memory- and processing-intensive her applications become over time, she may need to upgrade her RAM and hard disk. If the applications become so CPU intensive that her CPU is not good enough anymore, she may have to upgrade the CPU. But the CPU comes with motherboard, chip sets, etc. tied to it. It may not be fully feasible to upgrade the CPU given these compatibility issues. By the time her CPU becomes obsolete, it will probably be better to buy a new computer.

In addition, optical memory technology, display technology, etc. might change, although no major changes are expected in these areas. She may have to upgrade or discard her DVD drive, monitor, etc. However, if she can get her work done with the old technology, she is less likely to need to upgrade these. Finally, bandwidth may

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increase in future and she may have to upgrade her modem to make full use of the available bandwidth.

Note: Two to three of the above points should suffice. If students can add more points that’s great, too!

Chapter 2 Case Study: iPads for the Enterprise 1. As the above situation illustrates, the corporate use of iPads and other tablets is inevitable. Take the perspective of Michael Kennington and make a detailed list of the benefits of using an iPad or tablet for both business and personal use. Research and provide examples of where there has been a business benefit for their use to support your argument.

Student answers will vary but should include: • Most popular and essential business functions (email, Internet applications, and some business software is enabled using specialized apps) can be used on an iPad/tablet, making business users very efficient.

• It is very user friendly and encourages use with its variety of applications and amazing user interface.

• It is cheaper than most laptops.

• It has a long battery life.

• It is very portable, enabling work anywhere, any time. A fantastic resource for people in sales roles who can, using an iPad/tablet, show products to customers.

• iPads/tablets are being adopted by once non-technical professionals, such as doctors and dentists, in order to have immediate access to information, store patient information, and show information to patients.

2. Then, take the perspective of Arnold, an IT staff member who is responsible for supporting the employees of the organization, ensuring data and organizational security, and managing corporate IT resources. Again, research and use examples of the inappropriate use of iPads/tablets in businesses.

Student answers will vary, but should include: • iPads/tablets may not use operating systems and applications that are compatible with those used by their business. If businesses are using non-Internet based applications and do not store data in the cloud, iPad/tablet users would not be able to use their devices for these purposes, therefore making them inefficient

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and they would have to carry multiple devices. In the case of iPad, even Internet applications using Flash technologies cannot be used.

Often iPads/tablets only allow one application to be running at one time. Again, this is inefficient and limits the user’s ability to multi-task. iPads/tablets are not efficient input devices if a lot of data input is required. iPads/tablets typically do not have virus protection or other security features.

How best to secure these devices is still being debated, but security for iPads/tablets is a recognized risk of using them, especially for business.

Employees using these devices may be more inclined to use them for nonbusiness purposes (games, music, etc.). It may distract employees and make them less efficient Business IT staff have to learn more devices to support. This increases support costs.

3. Conclude your investigation with a statement of your opinion on the matter. Should iPads/tablets be used in the enterprise?

Student answers will vary but should be based on the research and conclusions of answers 1 and 2.

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Introduction to Business Information Systems Norrie, Nanjad, Huber

INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL and SOLUTIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 3: Managing and Using Data INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Introduction to Chapter 3 The key learning themes of Chapter 3 are as follows: • What are data, information, and knowledge?

• The role of data and information in decision making and problem solving.

• How organizations store and access data and information.

• The value of business intelligence and how IT supports it.

The materials below, in addition to those in the textbook and on the website, are provided as a way of reinforcing these themes with students. Below you will find suggested answers to the “What Do You Think?” boxes for each chapter, a suggested in-class exercise, and some other suggestions to generate in-class discussions that encourage learning and participation.

What Do You Think?

The “What Do You Think?” boxes are an opportunity to generate discussion with your class. Some can be discussed without prior preparation on the part of your students, but others will require students to do some research first.

What Do You Think? Page 97 1. What activities do you undertake to come to this university or college? This course?

Student answers will vary, but may include things like the following: completed aptitude tests, met with guidance counselors, researched universities and colleges, investigated academic requirements and options, ..

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reviewed course offerings and schedules, looked up professor profiles, spoke to friends and other students about course offerings, etc. All of these involve aspects of discovery, analysis, transformation, and synthesis.

2. Have you purchased a car? Are you thinking of purchasing a car? Which activities will you use to do this?

Student answers will vary. In purchasing a car, a student would look at their budget (or their parents’ budget!); research possible choices in this budget range; test drive some options; investigate insurance, maintenance, and gas costs; and make a selection. They may also consider leasing versus buying, depending on their budget. Again, all of these actions are related to discovery, analysis, transformation, and synthesis.

3. Are you thinking of getting a part-time job? Again, think about what knowledge work activities you will use to find suitable employment.

Student answers will vary. To find suitable employment, students would need to start with discovery. What jobs are available that match their needs in terms of location, hours, and wage? What job matches their qualifications? In analysis, they will gather the basic information about available jobs. In transformation they might compare the jobs based on a number of criteria and rank them. In synthesis they will have determined a recommended course of action and which jobs to pursue.

What Do You Think? Page 101 1. Imagine that you are a sidewalk vendor of frozen drinks in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

You get more drinks per amount of ingredients than your competitors; that is, you are highly efficient. But you sell only one frozen drink in January (when the average temperature is –17˚C), so your efforts are ineffective.

The issue with selling frozen drinks in Saskatoon in January is pretty obvious!

The addressable market is likely very small. To prove this hypothesis, some market research could be done to determine consumer drink preference by month (discovery). Analyzing, transforming, and synthesizing the results could lead to a decision to change the product offering for different months. If the same drink/ingredient efficiency can be applied to a new product, the business can continue to be profitable during the winter. Another ..

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consideration after analysis, transformation, and synthesis might be to change the location in the winter. Perhaps there is some where indoors where people would be more inclined to purchase frozen drinks (e.g., a gym). By deciding to make changes like these, the business can become both effective and efficient. IT could help in providing the survey tool and analyzing the results.

IT may also help in researching other locations and analyzing costs versus sales.

2. Now imagine you are the owner of a T-shirt-selling business on campus. It is so successful that you always sell out of T-shirts by the end of frosh week. You know you could sell more if you were able to produce more T-shirts by the beginning of September. Not having enough T-shirts to sell is inefficient.

The issue with the T-shirt business is the opposite of the frozen drink business—there is a lot of demand, but supply is lacking. The business needs to ensure that it has a reliable supply of T-shirts to meet peak demand. In order to understand this issue better, discovery must be undertaken to try to measure how many more T-shirts need to be produced before frosh week.

Using previous years’ sales, some trends can be determined by using synthesis. These trends can then be extrapolated and combined with enrolment numbers to estimate future sales. Based on this, T-shirt production can be increased prior to September to meet the frosh-week demand. Another possibility is to enter a ”just-in-time” production agreement with a supplier who would agree, at an additional cost, to quickly produce last-minute orders should supplies begin to run low. Although this arrangement might cut into profit margins slightly, there will still be profits on sales and customer satisfaction will be high. IT can help here by analyzing past years’ data and creating business intelligence in terms of trending and extrapolating. IT may also help in communicating with a just-in-time supplier.

What Do You Think? Page 121 1. What kinds of information about our business would you like to see on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis?

As CEO, I would be interested in information that links to key performance indicators and determines if the strategies we’ve employed are working in the marketplace. For example, I would want to know on a monthly basis how revenue is tracking against our budget projections and the resulting profit ..

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from this revenue. On a weekly basis, I would want to look at the sales results of regional retail or individual retail outlets. On a weekly basis, I may want to look at the sales of individual product types or groupings. There may be occasions, like the holiday season, where I would want sales figures daily. I would want to see all figures graphically compared to figures from the previous year.

2. How important is it that this information is accurate and up to date for the kinds of decisions that you normally make? Does it have to be accurate by the minute, hour, or day, and why?

Having accurate data is essential to making business decisions. If I, as CEO, am presented with inaccurate data about a retail outlet indicating its sales are below an acceptable level, I may decide to close this outlet in error. It is critical for some data to be received by the minute (inventory information, for example). Other data can be batch-processed to the hour or the day.

Depending on the volume of data, it may be unrealistic to be able to generate total organization sales by the hour. This is a process that might run daily, in the evening when operational systems are less busy. This timing also ensures that all sales for the day are accounted for. A total daily sales report run at 2:00 P.M. does not include sales that will occur between 2:00 P.M. and 9:00 P.M. that day.

3. How would you like to have access to this information? Where and why?

As CEO, this information must be presented to me in the easiest manner. I would prefer that this data is fed into a “dashboard” that I can access from my PC or mobile device at any time. This way I can access this information regardless of where I am, which helps me to make timely decisions. I should also be able to configure my dashboard to provide me with the data I am most interested in. That is, this week I may be closely monitoring sales on the east coast and would want to easily access detailed data from that region. I would also like to be alerted when batch information (e.g., organization-wide daily sales) is computed and ready for my review.

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In-Class Exercise The following is a simple exercise to illustrate to students the meaning of data, information, and knowledge.

QUESTION: In looking at a weather forecast, is 15 degrees Celsius data, information, or knowledge?

ANSWER: Data QUESTION: Combining the data of 15 degrees Celsius with humidity of 41 percent and probability of precipitation of 50 percent, this becomes _________________.

ANSWER: Information QUESTION: Using this weather forecast, you decide to wear a sweater and bring an umbrella. This demonstrates ______________.

ANSWER: Knowledge

In-Class Discussion Topics The following questions can be used to generate in-class discussion.

1. Go to www.idashboards.com and find a recent dashboard example that will be of interest to students (e.g., World Cup 2010 http://live.idashboards.com/worldfootball/?guestuser=worldcup). Discuss the application of dashboards in various business units and by the CEO. 2. Can students think of any application of a relational database for their own personal data (e.g., research source data, transit schedules)?

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SOLUTIONS MANUAL The following sections provide the solutions to the review questions at the end of the chapter and suggested solutions for the end of chapter case studies.

Question Answer Number 1 B: Address book

Section Reference for Answer

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B: Transformation

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D: Includes only transactions for the operational domain A: Strategic

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Database

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Foreign

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Wisdom Dashboard False

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Relational database systems provide organizations with the ability to standardize the storage of large amounts of data. Storing data in this way eliminates redundancy and allows for efficient storage and retrieval. Tables in a relational database system are easily queried

What Are Data, Information and Knowledge?

What Are Data, Information and Knowledge?

Databases: The Primary Data Storage For Organizations Decision Making and Problem Solving Databases: The Primary Data Storage For Organizations Databases: The Primary Data Storage For Organizations Business Intelligence Business Intelligence Decision Making and Problem Solving Business Intelligence What Are Data, Information and Knowledge?

What Are Data, Information and Knowledge?

What Are Data, Information and Knowledge?

What Are Data, Information and Knowledge?

Databases: The Primary Data Storage For Organizations

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and information can be readily combined as input to decision making.

The business intelligence pyramid Business Intelligence shows how IT supports business analysis activities. The business intelligence pyramid is shown as a hierarchy because it represents the additive nature of the concepts contained within it. For example, it is not possible to use business intelligence or OLAP without first having a foundation of transaction processing systems providing transaction data and a data warehouse from which to retrieve the data.

Knowledge work activities relative What Are Data, Information and to writing a term paper: Knowledge?

Discovery: Research and gather material on the topic of the term paper.

Analysis: Read all of the information gathered, sorting the sources for relevance and priority.

Determine if other sources need to be investigated.

Transformation: Write the term paper.

Synthesis: Develop or support the conclusion of your term paper.

Communication: Submit or present the term paper.

A data warehouse for a Databases: The Primary Data manufacturing company might be Storage For Organizations used to analyze the efficiency of the manufacturing process, determine the sales trends of ..

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manufactured products, and track manufacturing waste and defects.

A data warehouse for a services company may be used to analyze the value of service contracts and repeat business, the lifecycle of clients and staff qualifications vs. client projects. The data for these organizations would be quite different. Services businesses do not need to be concerned about inventory or the length of time it takes to turn raw materials into finished goods, and manufacturing businesses would be less interested in the number of employees with certain qualifications applicable to client projects. Both data warehouses would contain financial and competitor information.

Chapter 3 Case Study: Dell Inc. 1. How does Dell use IT to differentiate itself from its primary competitor in terms of its direct sales and distribution of its products? How would this discipline relate to being in the retail channel, or does it?

Many of Dell’s competitors sell computers through retail channels, as computers are thought of as a product that needs assistance from salespeople in purchasing, much like cars. Dell uses a direct sales strategy, employing e-commerce to sell directly to consumers. Dell lets consumers customize the computers they buy, selecting the components and accessories of their choice. The direct sales strategy also allows Dell to cut down on selling and administrative costs. Dell differentiates itself through this low-cost operating style and custom-built products to differentiate itself from its competitors. Conventional wisdom says that customization is expensive. Dell beats this old paradigm with its automated yet flexible manufacturing system, which is driven by information. Dell makes ..

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data available to customers in order for them to select their own ideal system.

Once all of the data is combined into a new Dell system, this information is used throughout Dell’s supply chain.

The customer order flows through the automated manufacturing system telling the machines how the computers need to be customized for each order. Dell’s expenses amount to less than 10% of its revenues and its highly automated manufacturing process increases employee productivity. Each employee of Dell generates an approximate revenue of $1 million a year, which is three times the employee productivity of its competitors.

This method of using IT is not possible to replicate exactly in the retail channel.

What may be possible in the retail channel is to display the popular computer configurations for customers to look at and feel, and then use a website on those floor models to order their personal computer.

2. Discuss ways in which Dell is using its online capabilities, business intelligence, and decision-support systems to improve both sales and service.

The e-commerce infrastructure is the backbone of Dell’s success. It provides consumers an easy way to interact with the company, buy products, and customize them. Dell’s website acts as a front end to Dell’s internal databases.

This helps customers and suppliers see the same support information Dell uses internally. Dell also provides technical support through its call centres to make sure that the absence of a retail infrastructure doesn’t hurt service. When a customer contacts a call centre, their information is readily available to the call centre agent and the agent is sure to offer appropriate products or services, such as extended warranty, to the caller. This increases sales to existing customers.

Dell uses its e-commerce capabilities to sell even those products it doesn’t manufacture. These include PDAs, music players, plasma TVs, printers, etc.

Given the presence of the e-commerce infrastructure, the incremental cost of selling these goods is almost nothing, but it is a source of additional revenue. The decision to add these additional products was likely the result of some decision support system analysis.

Dell has a powerful business intelligence platform. Its e-commerce capabilities help Dell to collect the demographic data and buying patterns of its customers,

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data that might be lost otherwise. Dell uses this information to offer upgraded products and product specials to existing customers, thus increasing revenue.

3. Why do you think that Dell made the strategic decision to begin to sell through traditional sales channels, even while remaining the dominant online supplier of laptops and PCs? What kinds of changes in Dell’s systems do you think this would necessitate?

In making this decision, Dell must have concluded that they could compete in the retail channel without substantially increasing their infrastructure to do so. In coming to this decision, they would have gathered information such as competitors’ sales, retail market share, and their own cost estimates for moving into the retail channel. Once this information was gathered it would have been analyzed to determine if Dell could compete with the likes of Acer and HP at the retail level and whether or not Dell’s infrastructure could change to accommodate distribution to retail outlets. Through transforming and synthesizing this information, Dell would have gained the knowledge needed to make a decision to enter the retail channel with its products. With competitors gaining marketshare for laptops especially, Dell may have felt that they had to move in this direction in order to maintain their dominance in that market. As prices for computers fell, they became more accessible to customers who wanted to touch and feel their purchase rather than order blindly online. And then there was the increasing marketshare of Apple Macs that may have impacted Dell’s decision.

For Dell to move from being exclusively an online sales organization that built each computer system based on an individual customer order to a traditional manufacturer may have required the following changes to their internal systems: • Changes to manufacturing systems to be able to make large quantities of standard “for sale at retail” products • Changes to their inventory systems to house parts and finished inventory for delivery to distributors or direct to retail outlets.

• Changes to logistics systems to transport and track finished goods to distributors or retailers.

• Development of systems or interfaces to the financial system to track retail or distributor sales and accounts receivables.

• Changes to business intelligence systems to be able to track retail sales versus online sales, and make decisions on which products were selling and which retailers were succeeding in selling Dell products ..

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Changes to customer service systems to track and recognize whether products were purchased online or through a retailer Potential development of compensation systems if sales of product at the retail level are based on commission

The above are only a few potential changes that Dell had to make to internal systems. Students may have others to add.

Chapter 3 Case Study: Data, Data, Everywhere….

1. Read the full article “Data Scrubbing: Hospital’s Surveillance Tools Help Track Infections,” which you can find on WileyPLUS. This article focuses on the benefits of this type of system in preventing infections. What about the negative aspects? List the potential negative aspects of this data collection from the perspective of doctors, nurses, and the hospital.

From a doctor’s perspective: Doctors’ hand-washing practices could be correlated with illness or even death of patients. This could affect their status at the hospital, subject them to medical license review, and open them up to legal action from patients. If the information was available to insurance companies, it could impact their malpractice suits. If the data was available to the public, it may be published on sites such as www.ratemydoctor.com and impact a doctor’s reputation.

From a nurse’s perspective: It could impact their employment at the hospital and if they are an RN, it could affect their professional standing.

From a hospital’s perspective: If a lack of hand-washing was discovered, the hospital may be subject to legal action from patients, audits by the ministry of health, scrutiny by their board of directors, and possibly some hospital administrators would be fired.

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2. Imagine that your eHealth record could be combined with other data sources.

What if it was combined with your credit card purchasing history? What if it was combined with your student record and marks? What conclusions could be drawn from this combined data? List three ways in which this data combination could be used.

Student answers may vary, but could include the following: • A combination of credit card purchasing history and eHealth record could determine if someone was purchasing their required medication on a regular basis.

• If credit card companies had access to health records, they might be more aggressive in collecting payment from ill customers.

• A combination of student marks and eHealth record could allow drug companies to direct advertising for stimulants or anti-depressants to those with low GPAs. • Student marks could also be tied to illnesses or ailments in attempt to explain poor grades.

3. What could be the commercial uses of the song data collected by Facebook?

Why would it bother to collect this data?

Student answers may vary, but could include the following: Facebook gathers and analyzes a lot of data to better understand its users. It is through this understanding that Facebook can continue to develop their application and continue to be relevant to users and maintain their status as the most popular online social network. This in turn ensures its commercial interests in terms of sponsored links and corporation presence within their site. One potential commercial use for the song data is to present relationship and songrelated sponsored links to users. As a result, users may end up buying songs, albums, concert tickets, etc.

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INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL and SOLUTIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 4: Enterprise Systems INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Introduction to Chapter 4 The key learning themes of Chapter 4 are as follows: • How information systems support business activities • The role of enterprise systems (ERP) • What enterprise risk management (ERM) is The materials below, in addition to those in the textbook and on the website, are provided as a way of reinforcing these themes with students. Below you will find suggested answers to the “What Do You Think?” boxes for each chapter, a suggested in-class exercise, and some other suggestions to generate in-class discussions that encourage learning and participation.

What Do You Think?

The “What Do You Think?” boxes are an opportunity to generate discussion with your class. Some can be discussed without prior preparation on the part of your students, but others will require students to do some research first.

What Do You Think? Page 141 1. What would the supply chain look like for an accounting firm? Would it have the same primary and support activities as a manufacturing business? How might they differ?

The supply chain for an accounting firm would include the same activities as other businesses. Inbound logistics would include the activities of acquiring ..

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new clients. Operations would include providing accounting services to the clients. Outbound logistics would include things like audit report production and communications. Marketing and sales would work to promote the services of the accounting firm. Service would include maintaining relationships with clients. An accounting firm would also require all of the support activities of the supply chain, including human resource management, administration, technology development and procurement.

While the major activities of the supply chain for an accounting firm and a manufacturing business are the same, the sub-processes and activities are quite different. An accounting firm deals with data and knowledge, whereas manufacturing deals with tangible raw materials that are transformed into physical goods.

2. What would the “materials” or other inputs be for an accounting firm?

For an accounting firm the inputs or “materials” would include client financial and banking information, and qualified accountants.

3. How do you think services firms manage knowledge and knowledge-based products to create business value for their clients?

Services firms must be masters of creating, storing, accessing, and communicating knowledge. Knowledge is their product. It is critical that they hire and retain the best professionals in the field to represent their firm and create knowledge and value not only for their firm, but for their clients.

Through this knowledge capital they are able to create value.

In-Class Exercise Ask your students to break into groups of three and work on documenting the primary supply chain activities of your university or college. Ask them to present their results. Below are some suggested answer elements.

• Inbound logistics: Application and registration, student services and housing, course offerings, professors • Operations: Support staff and administration, delivery of courses, marking, library and other student services • Outbound logistics: Graduation, output of qualified graduates • Marketing and sales: Promotion of the school and its offerings, student intake ..

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Service: Student support services, technology support, guidance, advisors, alumni, student clubs

As an advanced exercise, ask your students to identify the systems used to support these activities.

In-Class Discussion Topics The following questions can be used to generate in-class discussion.

1. Ask students to access the following articles: • Loblaw’s Supply Chain Restructuring: Is it a Nightmare? (2006) http://www.supplychainer.com/50226711/loblaws_supply_chain_restr ucturing_is_it_a_nightmare.php • Loblaw Profit Slips on Infrastructure Investments (2010) http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/07/22/loblawidUSN2117958220100722 Discuss the costs and benefits of this supply chain initiative. Does Loblaw have a choice?

2. Discuss some risk reduction methods your school may be using. Think of some current activities such as class over-subscription, on-campus protests, or an instructor strike, and discuss the potential risk responses to these.

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SOLUTIONS MANUAL The following sections provide the solutions to the review questions at the end of the chapter and suggested solutions for the end of chapter case studies.

Question Answer Number 1 B: Production scheduling 2

D: TPS

3 4 5

D: All of the above Applicable risk Functional information systems

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Risk reduction Competitive advantage

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True True

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False C B A D The characteristics of a transaction are: Atomicity: The transaction must be completed.

Consistency: All data in a transaction must be collected and stored consistently.

Isolation: Each transaction must complete independently.

Durability: A transaction must be permanent.

Section Reference for Answer

Difficulty

Information Systems that Support Business Activities Information Systems that Support Business Activities Enterprise Risk Management Enterprise Risk Management Information Systems that Support Business Activities Enterprise Risk Management Information Systems that Support Business Activities Enterprise Resource Planning Information Systems that Support Business Activities Enterprise Risk Management Enterprise Resource Planning Enterprise Resource Planning Enterprise Resource Planning Enterprise Resource Planning Information Systems that Support Business Activities

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These characteristics are known as ACID. If any one of these ..

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characteristics is not achieved the transaction is not successful and the data related to the transaction would be considered corrupt.

That is, unreliable and, perhaps, incorrect. Therefore, any processes or information based on these transactions would be suspect.

Porter's value chain applied to McDonald's production of hamburgers: Inbound Logistics: Raw vegetables, meat, cheese, etc.

Operations: Preparation of hamburgers Outbound Logistics: Big Mac marketing and sales— ads on TV, discounts, and promotional offers Services: Customer satisfaction surveys, quality assurance For external company involvement:

Information Systems that Support Business Activities

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By extending the value chain outside of the organization, organizations can increase efficiency and reduce costs. This allows organizations to hire less staff because they use the staff of external organizations. Because it is in the best interest of the external company to do a good job in order to maintain the business relationship and the work they are doing is their core business, the operation may be more efficient. ..

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Against external company involvement: By extending the value chain outside of the organization, organizations put key business processes at risk and increase management overhead. External companies may not be completely aware of business objectives and unable to provide the same value as internal resources. There is also the risk that the external company may provide the same services to competitors, making any gains in efficiency irrelevant when it comes to competitive advantage and introducing a confidentiality risk. External companies require a higher level of monitoring and maintenance in terms of agreements, contracting, etc. These management overhead activities reduce the cost savings this arrangement creates.

IT can help transform Information Systems that Support organizational value chains by Business Activities integrating the systems of organizations directly to improve an organizations ability to monitor the actions of external organizations. IT can also implement new types of monitoring systems to ensure that agreements are enforced and that external organizations are meeting their commitments.

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cost savings.

In the case of not passing a critical course:

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Enterprise Risk Management

Potential risks: • Terrible professor • Unable to go to class • Unable to acquire class materials • Assignments too difficult • Exam schedule conflicts Likelihood and impact: • Terrible professor – low likelihood, high impact • Unable to go to class – high likelihood, low impact • Unable to acquire class materials – low likelihood, low impact • Assignments too difficult – high likelihood, high impact • Exam schedule conflicts – high likelihood, high impact Through this assessment, we see that exam schedule conflicts and difficult assignments are in the area of applicable risk and risk reduction methods should be used on these two first. In the case of assignments being too difficult, it is probably best to employ a risk reduction strategy by, for example, making friends with the best student in class with whom you can partner on the ..

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assignments. In the case of exam schedule conflicts, this risk should be accepted and a contingency plan developed that includes a detailed study plan to accommodate all exams and investigation of the school’s policy on exam conflicts and exams in close time proximity.

Chapter 4 Case Study: Walmart 1. In what ways does IT contribute to the growth of Walmart?

Walmart’s business strategy is to offer the lowest possible prices, while still making a profit. The philosophy is embedded in the phrase “Every Day Low Prices.” Walmart’s competitive advantage is price. Walmart’s growth strategy is to continually keep prices below inflation and thus stimulate demand. IT is the chief enabler of Walmart’s business strategy. IT helps Walmart forecast demand accurately and avoid wastage or stock-out. IT helps Walmart obtain information on buying trends at the point of sale and share the information with suppliers so that they can use it to carry out automatic replenishments and replenish the stock themselves (i.e., Walmart saves staffing costs). IT also helps Walmart in collaborative forecasting and reducing transportation costs.

2. How is Walmart using IT to share data and information with suppliers? Why does this lead to lower prices for consumers?

Walmart has a system called Retail Link, which suppliers can use to look up the sales and prices of their products at Walmart stores. The suppliers can plan the production and distribution of their products to Walmart using this information.

They can also do automatic replenishments without having to wait for Walmart to explicitly order. Retail Link helps the suppliers be on the same page with Walmart, and avoid inventory issues such as too much stock or stock-outs. It is very difficult to forecast customer demand accurately and systems such as Retail Link allow members of a supply chain to use actual sales and inventory numbers to meet customer demand.

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Walmart uses EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) and CFAR (Collaborative Forecasting and Replenishment) to help suppliers access Walmart data from their offices over the Internet. The suppliers can use this data to make decisions on production, transportation, promotions, etc. for their products.

3. What are Walmart’s recent IT innovations, and how will they lead to lower costs?

Walmart invests in the supply chain and its enablers before it invests in new stores. Walmart has pushed the use of RFID technology. It replaces the bar code technology in inventory control systems and at the point of sale. It makes it possible for retailers to know what the contents of an incoming/outgoing pallet are without having to be near it. RFID tags, unlike bar codes, don’t need line of contact to identify the product. Walmart uses its POS data to minimize warehouse inventory. By using the warehouse as a “pass-through” point, where goods come in from the supplier at one side and go out to the store on the other side the same day over miles of conveyor belts, Walmart saves time and money.

Walmart is also a member of UCCNet (the data synchronization and registry service of the Uniform Code Council) that sets the codes to be used in bar code systems to avoid confusion and mismatch between the codes and the products.

Following these set codes avoids delays at the loading dock and the consequences of lost revenue/unhappy customers.

Chapter 4 Case Study: JEM Enterprises 1. Summarize what you find out from your research in a single page “position paper” that outlines what you think the marketing department’s initial position should be on this critical company decision.

Student answers will vary, but should include: • In order to get the VP of Marketing’s attention, the position paper should focus on the 4Ps: product development, pricing, promotion, product placement. o Product development – Provide sales with information concerning sales of products to determine retirement of some products and changes to others. Data on new product sales is exceptionally important to track. This type of sales analysis will be used in product development activities. ..

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o Pricing – Marketing will need to analyze the pricing of products relative to the cost to create products to ensure a profit is made.

Competitor information must be able to be incorporated in order to develop pricing models and develop forecasts. o Promotion – Marketing must be able to determine if advertising and promotions are reaching the target markets. o Product Placement (Distribution) – This part of the system will help marketing to manage distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and online channels to ensure the product reaches the intended markets at the intended times.

2. Is there anything else that should be considered or that marketing should raise with the other departments that they might not think about in this decision?

Student answers will vary, but should include: • HR – If sales or service people receive sales incentives and bonuses, marketing would want to have input into this area.

• Procurement – As the acquisition of materials may affect product pricing, marketing will want to understand the impact of the new system in this area and any cost savings that can be reflected in pricing.

• Outbound Logistics and Inventory Management – Marketing will want to ensure that products are stocked appropriately (not over and not under) and that they are being distributed efficiently. These areas impact price and sales.

• Service – Customer information and feedback is critical to marketing’s success. Marketing will want to understand how this data is being captured and how they can access it for their decision making. Also, the CRM portion of the system may be the foundation of a sales force automation system which would be used by marketing 3. If it was you, how else would you go about ensuring this IT system decision remains optimal from a marketing perspective?

Student answers will vary, but should include: • Consult marketing colleagues at other companies • Request vendors to provide references from marketing • Directly connect with vendor marketing SMEs

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Engage business analysts in the analysis of the systems from a marketing requirements perspective Test the proposed systems to ensure expected data is there

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INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL and SOLUTIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 6: Managing IS Projects and Creating IS Solutions INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Introduction to Chapter 6 The key learning themes of Chapter 6 are as follows: • Activities from pre-development through the SDLC • IS teams and managing IS projects • Tools for development and project management The materials below, in addition to those in the textbook and on the website, are provided as a way of reinforcing these themes with students. Below you will find suggested answers to the “What Do You Think?” boxes for each chapter, a suggested in-class exercise, and some other suggestions to generate in-class discussions that encourage learning and participation.

What Do You Think?

The “What Do You Think?” boxes are an opportunity to generate discussion with your class. Some can be discussed without prior preparation on the part of your students, but others will require students to do some research first.

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What Do You Think? Page 223 1. What types of information will you gather to determine if the IS under consideration aligns with the strategic goals of the business?

First of all, the strategic goals of the business need to be reviewed. Is one of the strategic goals to be a low-cost provider? If the IS being evaluated will save time and money, then it aligns with this goal. It will be important to prove and evaluate how the IS will meet this goal.

2. How would you decide between building or buying a system? What types of information will you gather and how will you evaluate these data to come to a solution?

To determine between building or buying a system, the effort, cost, benefits, and maintenance of each need to be evaluated. An off-the-shelf solution may meet all of the requirements for the system and be cheaper to purchase than building the system. However, the vendor support for the system could be minimal or very expensive. Building a system is great because it is a customized solution where the exact business requirements can be met, but it may take a great deal of time to program and support will be dependent on the knowledge of the original development team. Often in these decisions, the decision is not clear-cut, but a trade-off among several factors.

3. During the elaboration phase of the SDLC, many decisions are made about what the system must do. Many times there are a lot of requirements to consider. How would you determine which requirements are more essential than others?

There are many methods of determining and prioritizing requirements. One of the most common involves brainstorming based on the business need identified and the strategic goal(s) the system is to support. Once all the requirements are documented, sessions are held to rank-order, or categorize, the requirements into must-have, nice-to-have, and other. This prioritization exercise is often full of conflict and requires a skilled facilitator to assist the group in collectively making the right choices.

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What Do You Think? Page 239 1. Imagine if you were to do a term paper using “agile” writing. How would this work?

What would be the benefits and drawbacks of completing your term paper this way?

Based on the requirements for your paper, you would need to do some brief research, write the paper, research some more, rewrite the paper, research some more, rewrite the paper again, all the way up until the deadline.

Writing a paper using the agile method would require a lot of focus and potentially a lot of re-work. This would be especially true if you found something essential in the last round of research. You would likely not be able to work on much else while writing the term paper. Benefits of this approach might include it ending up being a higher-quality paper; after having been revised through so many iterations, the structure and writing should be sound.

2. Do you think that the type of system being developed (e.g., website vs. ERP) should determine the development methodology to be used, or should user preference determine the method?

Student answers will vary, and a case can be made for either choice. If type of system is selected, students may say that less complex and less integrated systems may be better suited to agile development methods. These systems are easier to build in modules, which can be reviewed and iterated later on. If user preference is selected, students may say that user involvement is required in all system development methods, and users should be able to decide how much involvement they have. If a critical system is being constructed, users may want more involvement to ensure that it meets their specific needs.

3. Is it possible to use both methodologies in the development of the same system? How would this work?

Yes, it is possible to use both methodologies. In the beginning of the system development process, a more waterfall-type method could be used. In this phase, the majority of the requirements would be documented and the system would start to be built. As pieces of the system are built, the method could switch to be more agile and iterative to finish the system, and confirm the requirements identified in the beginning. This often works with the ..

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difference between functionality and look-and-feel considerations.

Functionality requirements can be gathered completely up-front in the system development process, but look-and-feel aspects of the system can be worked on iteratively.

In-Class Exercise Show your class the cartoon “How Projects Really Work (Version 1.5),” found at www.projectcartoon.com/cartoon/2. Have they experienced any similar situation where their requirements and expectations were not met?

In-Class Discussion Topics The following questions can be used to generate in-class discussion.

1. Ask students to discuss projects that they have worked on as the project manager or as a team member. Perhaps this is planning a party or doing fundraising for a charity, etc. Do they recognize the project management methodology components?

2. What are the top reasons why projects fail? (Answers might include changing requirements/scope, unrealistic timeframes, no alignment on expectations, etc.)

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SOLUTIONS MANUAL The following sections provide the solutions to the review questions at the end of the chapter and suggested solutions for the end of chapter case studies.

Question Answer Number 1 B: Elaboration

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A: Inception

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B: Use case creation D: Risk avoidance Team composition Unified Modelling Language (UML) Integrated development environment (IDE) False

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True True True A D C B The stages of an information system life cycle are: 1. Concept: The stage in which the organization promotes or inhibits ideas for an information system.

2. Inception: In this stage, the focus is on understanding the problem and planning the project.

3. Elaboration: The project team

The Stages and Importance of the System Development Lifecycle (SDLC) The Stages and Importance of the System Development Lifecycle (SDLC) Managing an IS Project Managing an IS Project IS Development Teams Standard IS Methodology

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The Stages and Importance of the System Development Lifecycle (SDLC) Critical Pre-development Questions IS Development Teams IT Tools for IS Development Critical Pre-development Questions Critical Pre-development Questions Critical Pre-development Questions Critical Pre-development Questions The Stages and Importance of the System Development Lifecycle (SDLC)

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finalizes the requirements and designs the system architecture.

4. Construction: The development team builds the core functionalities of the system.

5. Transition: The development team finalizes the system, tests it, and puts it in place. They also train the users of the system and management.

6. Production: In this stage, the organization continuously monitors, maintains, and evaluates the system.

7. Retirement: The old system is retired, which usually leads to the inception of a new system.

Some examples of models: • Entity-relationship diagram (ERD) • Logical data model • Data flow diagram (DFD) • Unified Modelling Language(UML) In the evolutionary model, developers first investigate, specify, and implement core functionality with minimum functionality. Then the developers evaluate the functionality and add enhancements or make changes to it. Prototyping is used to build the system with the inputs from the customers. In such a development model, the customer can make changes and enhancements to the requirements and these can be incorporated into the system easily.

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The waterfall model is rigid in structure and it is difficult to make changes in the previous stage once the development reaches the next stage of the life cycle. Parallel processes cannot take place in the waterfall model.

Ideally, we would like to have an IS in place immediately (zero development time) and then use it forever (100% production) with no need for changes. Of course, we live in the real world, so project managers must manage resources and risks while seeking to build an IS as quickly as possible and with the flexibility and quality to be useful in production for as long as possible.

Managers should not only rely on financial analysis to determine an IS's feasibility. Although obtaining the ROI, NPV, and IRR gives a good picture about the financial feasibility of the project, there are other intangible factors that need to be considered. Project managers should also consider the strengths of the organization and the impact of the IS project on stakeholders.

For example, customer satisfaction is based on the speed at which customers are able to make transactions on the company website, and a satisfied customer may lead to increased business.

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Chapter 6 Case Study: Google Inc. 1. Using Google, develop five different queries related to the same topic (for instance, project management tools or integrated development environments, etc). State them in different word orders or using different terms. Working backward from analyzing the results you get on the front page, what do you notice?

Results for this question will vary widely. Through this process, students should recognize the following: • Those sites with the most exact words and in the same order will appear at the top of the list.

• The sites at the top of the list are likely the most visited sites for this information. Depending on the student’s search criteria, they may see Wikipedia listed at the top for each of the five variations.

• The five different searches may yield the same or similar results, but with a different order.

• Some word combinations will result in ads on the right of the screen.

Some may not.

• No matter what order you type the words in, there is a lot of information available.

2. Zero in on three specific sites that offer you free information that you might find useful as a systems development professional. How might you use this information to improve your organization’s systems development results?

Student answers may vary, but should include some of the following: • A lot of systems development methodologies are available on the Web. By gathering and implementing this information, you could help make systems development more standardized and efficient.

• There are discussion groups and blogs about the latest programming methods (agile, peer programming, etc.) and languages (ruby on rails).

Being aware of this information could help you to introduce useful methods and valuable tools in the systems development process.

• Signing up for RSS feeds from organizations (itbusiness.ca, zdnet.com) that provide information on systems development can help keep you and your organization up to date with the latest information in the field.

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3. Choose a specific commercially available automated tool that is used either for project management or systems development. Investigate it online and write a one-page recommendation to your manager that justifies your choice, says why the organization should purchase and use this tool, and define how it will help improve your work results.

Results will vary from students. Student answers should include the following: • A description of the tool and how it would apply to an organization • A description of the current situation and some potential alternatives to the tool being recommended • The key benefits of the tool for the organization • The cost of the tool and justification for the expenditure. If they recommend freeware, they should note any drawbacks to using free software.

Chapter 6 Case Study: The S2S Stuff Exchange 1. Sienna is an aspiring banker; she is all about the money and she wants a decent return on her investment. Create a business case for this venture. Is it a good idea?

Student answers will vary, but should include a financial analysis similar to that found in Figure 6.1 of the text. Items that should appear in the revenue area are transaction fees either as a flat rate or percentage of value of goods being sold, sponsored links, and advertising. Items that should appear in the costs area are hosting, web development, advertising and promotion, site maintenance, software, and hardware. There will be a lot of variations on the cost side.

2. Assuming that the business case is favourable, the next step is to determine how to make this website a reality. Sienna and Chelsea are facing a classic build, buy, or lease decision. Examine their options and make a recommendation.

Student answers will vary. For the build decision they should consider two potential options: Chelsea or another student. Chelsea’s time needs to be noted as a factor versus the cost of another resource (perhaps another student). For the buy decision, off-the-shelf Web solutions should be considered. Many of these toolkits will include shopping cart functionality. For the lease decision, they should consider a website service that will build and lease a site on a monthly basis or, perhaps, an eBay store. The recommendation selected must be justified. ..

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3. Create the project team for this website implementation. Who are the SMEs, the project sponsor, the technical staff? What are their roles and responsibilities?

Student answers may vary, but should include the following: Project Sponsor: Chelsea – communicate vision for the project and website Project Manager: Sienna – manages deliverables, deadlines, scope, and budget for the project Website Developer/Graphic Designer: Create or advise in the creation of the website functionality and look and feel SME – Marketing and Promotions: Responsible for determining how to promote the site both online and offline

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INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL and SOLUTIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 7: E-Commerce INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Introduction to Chapter 7 The key learning themes of Chapter 7 are as follows: • The business of e-commerce • The significance of B2B e-commerce • Understanding of e-commerce technology The materials below, in addition to those in the textbook and on the website, are provided as a way of reinforcing these themes with students. Below you will find suggested answers to the “What Do You Think?” boxes for each chapter, a suggested in-class exercise, and some other suggestions to generate in-class discussions that encourage learning and participation.

What Do You Think?

The “What Do You Think?” boxes are an opportunity to generate discussion with your class. Some can be discussed without prior preparation on the part of your students, but others will require students to do some research first.

What Do You Think? Page 258 1. What features make you choose to do business with an online vendor? What features or aspects make you leery about dealing with a vendor?

Student answers will vary, but should include the following: fast and easy to make purchases, reputation, competitive prices, good search features, and so on. For things that might make them feel leery: poor graphics, hastily put ..

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together, functions that do not work, no policies or privacy statements, no contact details, etc.

2. Are there products or services you would never purchase online? Why? Student answers may vary, but might include the following: clothing, shoes, legal services, or medical products and services. Some of the reasoning behind this may be that things cannot be touched and tried on, and some of the services require personal contact and confidentiality.

3. What makes online shopping useful, enjoyable, and fun for you? What types of offers or features encourage you to shop online?

Student answers may vary, but could include the following: convenience of 24/7 shopping, access to unique products, ability to learn a lot about the product, comparative shopping. Features and offers may include any of the following: “We think you would like XXX based on your past purchases” feature, coupons and special offers for online customers, fast-track purchasing, games, contests, and so on.

What Do You Think? Page 272 1. Have you ever used an online payment system like PayPal? If so, for what? Did you trust it would work the first time? Why or why not?

Student answers will vary, but it is very likely that many of them have used PayPal when buying things via eBay or another e-commerce website. Because PayPal has a great reputation and it is affiliated with eBay, it is likely that they had complete trust that it would work the first time. The discussion can be opened up to generic payment systems and their trust in those.

2. What are the signs of legitimacy that you look for in a website before providing your credit card information for payment?

Students should look for signs of security encryptions, like seeing the lock icon in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, when entering personal and payment information. Students may also be comforted to see certifications on the website like VeriSign indicating that the website transactions are secure.

Another sign of legitimacy is a detailed privacy and security policy that is listed on the site. Also, a student may be interested in a site’s return policy to assure them that unsatisfactory merchandise can be returned.

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3. Have you ever had a payment problem on the Internet? What were the consequences or solutions to the problem?

Student answers will vary, but it is likely that someone has had a problem using their credit card online. Perhaps the data on file did not match what they were trying to input online and the credit card was rejected (i.e., if the name on the credit card does not match the name input to the site, the credit card may be rejected). The consequence of this, of course, is a failed purchase.

On a site like eBay, this may mean an opportunity was lost! In terms of solutions, these types of issues are very difficult to resolve and can involve an investigation being done by the website, the student’s bank, and the credit card company. Most often people do not bother to pursue such an investigation.

In-Class Exercise Ask the class how many of them have used eBay to purchase something. There should be a few. Discuss how eBay works.

1. What business model is eBay? (Answer: Brokerage) 2. Are there any strong competitors to eBay? (Answer: Not really) Why not?

(Answer: eBay was first to market and continues to innovate based on user feedback. They are also very good at keeping their core business on strategy.)

3. Why was PayPal so instrumental in the success of eBay? (Answer: It increased the addressable market to include consumers without credit cards.

By purchasing PayPal, they have created a secondary revenue stream).

In-Class Discussion Topics The following questions can be used to generate in-class discussion.

1. What do you think of companies such as HMV scaling back their ecommerce operations and no longer offering physical products for sale online or Canadian Tire (which first had full e-commerce capabilities) ceasing to offer goods online and now offering limited items for sale via the Web? Take a look at www.hmv.ca and www.canadiantire.ca to discuss the functionality of each site and whether or not they made the right strategic decision by changing their approach to e-commerce.

2. Are there any ways left to make money on the Internet? New business models?

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SOLUTIONS MANUAL The following sections provide the solutions to the review questions at the end of the chapter and suggested solutions for the end of chapter case studies.

Question Answer Number 1 C: Distance to markets is shortened.

2 A: An exchange 3 D: All of the above 4 D: Web server 5 E-commerce 6 Supply chain 7 Response 8 Applet 9 True 10 False 11 True 12 True 13 B 14 D 15 C 16 A 17 A business model defines how a company will meet the needs of its customers while making a profit. Having a business model enables e-commerce companies to focus on their customers and make profits on a long-term basis.

18 The four-tier architecture is composed of the following:

Section Reference for Answer

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E-commerce Between Organizations The Technology of E-commerce The Technology of E-commerce E-commerce Defined E-commerce Between Organizations The Technology of E-commerce The Technology of E-commerce The E-commerce Advantage Introductory remarks The E-commerce Advantage The Technology of E-commerce E-commerce Defined E-commerce Defined E-commerce Defined E-commerce Defined E-commerce Defined

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Web client: Enter the URL and you send an HTTP request to a Web server.

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request and decides on what response to send back to the client server. If the request is static, then the server sends back a response, but if the request is dynamic, then the Web server routes the request to the client and application server.

Application server: If needed, the server performs queries on the data server to get the requested data.

Data/File server: Stores data that may be needed for the user transaction.

E-commerce is affecting business in the following ways: • Reducing barriers to entry • Preventing any company from “owning” the market • Enhancing collaboration/alliances • Multiplying market niches • Changing marketplace drivers E-commerce, with respect to customers, is also leading to: • Information density: Increasing the quality and the quantity of information provided to the customer • Mass customization: Customized products

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or services can be provided on demand • Personalization of marketing materials There are four generations of The Technology of E-commerce e-commerce.

The first generation is characterized by static content, sometimes referred to as “brochureware” due to its lack of interactivity. You will find many examples of this for local information sites or school board sites that post information only.

The second generation of ecommerce is when users began to see the start of interactive Web pages. In this generation, websites were able to collect information from users and dynamically generate content based on user input. Examples of websites from the second generation would be ones where you could sign up for a newsletter from an organization.

The third generation of ecommerce marked the beginning of what we think of as e-commerce today – shopping! In this generation, websites were not only able to interact, but take payments through real-time connections to payment vendors and ..

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automating process payments.

Many sites today fall into this category – any simple online retailer for example.

The fourth generation is where we find ourselves today.

Websites in this generation are using the latest Web tools including XML and Web services. These tools speed up the interaction between the user and the website and create efficiency within the site. For examples of websites in this generation, think of sites that include many functions external to the website itself. Perhaps the site is using Google search to give users the ability to search the site or Google maps to provide directions. Think of the most sophisticated websites such as iTunes and it is certain to use the latest fourth generation technologies.

Chapter 7 Case Study: Using B2B E-commerce at Boeing 1. What aspects of the website http://www.MyBoeingFleet.com qualify it as an extranet?

MyBoeingFleet.com qualifies as an extranet because it is the company intranet shared with customers and suppliers. It allows registered users to navigate the relevant part of the system after being authenticated. It is used to save the time and resources otherwise spent in meetings, data entry, order management, etc.

That is the broad definition of an extranet. It has features like security, access

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control, etc., and is not publicly available. It is deployed over the Internet and uses Internet-based protocols for data interchange, data encryption, etc.

2. How does this website help enable the Boeing supply chain to operators of aircraft built by Boeing?

After-sales services is a major part of Boeing’s business. Before the use of Internet, the process was complicated. The user had to get hold of the most, updated manual, isolate the number corresponding to the malfunctioning part and order it by fax or post. The process took time, money, and human resources.

The site MyBoeingFleet.com helps Boeing make this process efficient.

Manufacturing companies like Boeing are part of a supply chain. They don’t make all inputs they need themselves. Boeing needs to buy parts and other inputs from suppliers. The website helps the suppliers connect with Boeing, automating the ordering, order fulfillment, replenishment, etc.

3. Why is the PART page referred to as the key e-commerce element of the http://www.MyBoeingFleet.com website? Do you agree with the economic analysis for concentrating on spare parts? Why or why not?

The fact that a multi-million dollar aircraft cannot be purchased on the Internet is true, at least in the present scenario. It involves complex negotiations on pricing, features, and delivery/payment terms. The pricing of the deals tends to be so high that time and money spent on travel, executive meetings, and negotiations are well spent. So it is realistic to use B2B e-commerce for the part of Boeing’s business that includes after-sales service.

The rationale that since after-sales service is a high-margin business, it is better suited for e-commerce is however specious. It is true that the rationale for ecommerce is cost-benefit analysis. The idea behind the adoption of e-commerce is to generate enough savings or new revenues to justify the cost. But there is no rule that e-commerce should not be used to generate cost savings in a lowmargin business. In fact, the only way a firm can keep a low-margin business alive is by cutting costs aggressively using techniques such as e-commerce.

In essence, it is the nature and pricing of the aircraft-selling business that makes e-commerce unsuitable, not the margins.

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Chapter 7 Case Study: Knitting for Dummies 1. Make notes as you research how PayPal works. Describe what you plan to share with your mother in your next phone call about online payment processing options and how you will help make this happen for her.

Student answers will vary, but should include the following: • PayPal is very easy to set up on any website. Only a PayPal account is required.

• You can select a payment “widget” for each page or a shopping cart.

(Recommend shopping cart for multi-orders.)

• After the widget is set up and a customer presses it, a customizable PayPal screen opens to enter payment information for any credit card or PayPal. • There are no set-up fees or monthly fees.

• Payments are accepted from everywhere.

• There is a small, per-transaction fee, with extra fees for international payments.

• All customer payments are deposited into your PayPal account and can then be transferred to your bank account.

• You can help your Mom by setting up a PayPal account for her, customizing the PayPal page with the “Knitting for Dummies” look and feel, setting up the shopping cart on her existing website, and showing her how to do the bank transfer from her PayPal account.

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INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL and SOLUTIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 8” Web 2.0, Social Media, and Online Trends INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Introduction to Chapter 8 The key learning themes of Chapter 8 are as follows: • The reason social networks exist and why they are successful • Social and business impacts of social networking • The future of the Web The materials below, in addition to those in the textbook and on the website, are provided as a way of reinforcing these themes with students. Below you will find suggested answers to the “What Do You Think?” boxes for each chapter, a suggested in-class exercise, and some other suggestions to generate in-class discussions that encourage learning and participation.

What Do You Think?

The “What Do You Think?” boxes are an opportunity to generate discussion with your class. Some can be discussed without prior preparation on the part of your students, but others will require students to do some research first.

What Do You Think? Page 313 1. Would this affect your opinion of the organization? Would you still apply for a position with the company? Is it fair for employers to restrict access to social sites when they have no problem with you checking your corporate email at home in the ..

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evening (and indeed often expect you to)? If you were a business owner, would you allow your employees to access social networking sites at work?

Student answers will vary. Some will feel strongly that employers should allow the use of Facebook and Twitter at work and may not be pleased to learn of a company policy to the contrary. Given the pervasiveness and new business applications for these sites, it is likely that companies will need to re-think these types of bans.

What Do You Think? Page 315 1. Do you think the seventh video still falls under the specific theme you originally searched? Is there a tag that relates the seventh video to the first video you watched?

Retrace your steps. Can you think of tags that might link the first video you watched to the second video? How about the second video to the third video? Create a chain to illustrate which tags linked your videos together.

Student answers will vary. From this exercise students should realize the depth of content and that where you start may not be where you end up.

They should also be able to describe the usefulness of tags in finding content.

What Do You Think? Page 321 1. If you were marketing a product or service to students today, where and how would you market it? What role would the Internet or social media technologies likely play in your strategy?

It is impossible to market anything to students today without leveraging the Internet and social media technologies. These are the vehicles that capture their interest. If applicable, students should consider the following: • An iPhone app as a way of marketing • YouTube video with the hope it would become widely shared throughout the student community and maybe even go viral • A Twitter account students would be encouraged to follow • A Facebook page as another effective way of reaching students

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In-Class Exercise Demonstrate a website or Facebook page related to your school. What makes this site attractive or not? Ask students what makes applications such as Facebook and MySpace so interesting. Ask them to discuss the phenomenon and how businesses could achieve it. If the site examined is not interesting, how can it be improved?

In-Class Discussion Topics The following questions can be used to generate in-class discussion.

1. Discuss with students their use of social media. What do they find most useful? Which ones are they using and why? How active are they?

2. Discuss such risks of using social media as disclosing too much personal information.

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SOLUTIONS MANUAL The following sections provide the solutions to the review questions at the end of the chapter and suggested solutions for the end of chapter case studies.

Question Answer Number 1 D: Bandwidth 2

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B A C With media transparency it is known that people will interact with businesses through different channels (TV, Web, etc.). Because of this transparency it is important for businesses to have brand and advertising messages

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Defining Social Technologies and Utility Creating Business Utility Using Social Media Tools and E-marketing Defining Social Technologies and Utility The Social and Business Impacts of Web 2.0 Defining Social Technologies and Utility Defining Social Technologies and Utility Defining Social Technologies and Utility The Social and Business Impacts of Web 2.0 Defining Social Technologies and Utility User-Generated Content User-Generated Content The Social and Business Impacts of Web 2.0 Introductory remarks Introductory remarks Introductory remarks Creating Business Utility Using Social Media Tools and E-marketing

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that are coherent and consistent.

Media transparency is facilitated in social media in that any deviation will be noticed, and often attacked. As a result of this businesses, have moved to benign marketing practices.

A blog is a Web log that is posted Defining Social Technologies and on the Internet by an individual Utility or business. The concept of a blog is that it will contain up-to-date information and have almost daily entries. Many people have a blog as an online diary that they share with others. Blogs are used by businesses to communicate with customers and potential customers, if there is an official blog for the business. You would find a business’s blog as part of their website. More often there are independent bloggers that are paid by businesses to blog about a particular product in the hope that the opinion of the blogger will help to increase exposure and even increase sales of the product In the case of Facebook: Defining Social Technologies and Utility Affliation: Facebook supports affiliation in that it is a very popular social computing site.

Each of us is aware of it and likely has friends that are Facebook users. We may have extra pressure to use Facebook as it is the only place we can view photos posted by family members or be invited to events hosted by ..

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friends.

Participation: Through many iterations, Facebook has created a site that is quite intuitive to use and encourages participation.

Other elements, such as games, applications, and groups, also encourage participation.

Validation: Facebook validates its users’ participation in the site through direct feedback (e.g., ”You have 255 friends.”) The more friends and content added, the more useful the site is likely to be to a user.

As a marketer, the generally Creating Business Utility Using available sites I would monitoring Social Media Tools and E-marketing Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

These are the most prevalent sites and any start of a brandstorm or something going viral would appear on one of these sites quite rapidly. Twitter is excellent for tracking this type of activity due to its ability to search for key words and see trending topics.

The main indication of something going viral on these sites would be increasing numbers viewings (e.g., “XXXX times viewed”) and, in the case of Twitter, re-tweets.

There are also specific feeds that businesses can purchase which measure conversations all over the Internet, including individual blogs, postings on websites, and RSS feeds.

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Chapter 8 Case Study: Web 2.0 Applications at Eastern Mountain Sports 1. Why not just have regular meetings and send e-mails rather than use blogs, wikis, and RSS feeds?

Operating in a very competitive environment, Eastern Mountain Sports has introduced a complementary set of Web 2.0 tools, such as blogs, wikis, and RSS feeds, in order to increase collaboration, information sharing, and communication among stores and their employees, suppliers, and customers.

2. What are the benefits to EMS of combining its BI system and Web 2.0 tools?

By combining BI system and Web 2.0 tools, users can access a unified, high-level view of key performance indicators (KPI) such as sales, inventory, and margin levels, and drill down to granular details that analyze specific transactions.

3. In what ways is corporate performance bolstered?

Corporate performance is bolstered in many ways. Collaboration; information sharing; and communication among stores and their employees, suppliers, and customers are significantly increased. For example, by showing which items are selling better than others, users can collectively analyze the transaction characteristics and selling behaviours that produce the high sales. The knowledge acquired then cascades throughout the organization. In one instance, one manager observed an upward spike in footwear sales at store X. Investigating “why” revealed that store X employees had perfected a multi-step sales technique that included recommending (both online and in stores) special socks designed for specific uses along with an inner sole. The information was disseminated using the RSS feed. As a result, sales of footwear increased 57 percent in a year.

4. What kind of community is this? Who are the members?

This is clearly a virtual community. The members are EMS’s employees, suppliers, and customers.

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5. Can the company use any other Web 2.0 technologies? If so, what and how?

Yes. The company can use other Web 2.0 technologies for enterprise social networks. Here are some examples: • Utilize existing public social networks, such as Facebook or MySpace. The company can create pages and micro markets (subgroups), and advertise products or services there, post a request for advice, and so forth.

• Conduct several business activities in a social network where the primary objective is business-oriented (such as LinkedIn or Plaxo), or sponsor such a site.

• Create and/or participate in a social marketplace.

6. What information on http://www.ems.com is typical for what you find on social network sites?

• Product ratings and reviews: Customers can provide ratings and write reviews of products to share their opinions with others.

• Expert advice: This is a collection of tips and instruction from experts.

• Email sign-up: Customers can provide their contact information and preferences. They can also subscribe to the Eastern Mountain Sports email, filled with information about EMS’s great deals and special events.

Chapter 8 Case Study: Marketing Through Social Media 1. Using only the information above, the knowledge gained from this chapter, and your own experience or data sources, prepare a written recommendation for the product marketer. This should be in the form of either a detailed memo or small business case that outlines the social media choices you are recommending, their cost range, operation, potential benefits, recommended uses, and how they comply with your client’s requirements. Questions she will be looking for answers to include: a. Why is this platform a good choice for young, urban, women consumers? b. What do you hope women will do on this platform that encourages them to buy? c. How will you measure the contribution of social media to the product launch?

Student responses will vary. They can choose any relevant social media as long as it is justified with answers to the below. Some potential answers may include: a. Why is this platform a good choice for young, urban, women consumers? ..

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Many have been lead to believe that women are more prevalent on both Twitter and Facebook.

• There are many women-centric blogs.

• There are statistics on mobile use that may indicate that women would be more inclined to use mobile related social media or applications downloaded for this purpose. b. What do you hope women will do on this platform that encourages them to buy?

• Enter contests • Play games for status or rewards • Get access to activities and ability to involve others c. How will you measure the contribution of social media to the product launch?

• Check social media itself: look at number of hits on YouTube, tweets and re-tweets, tweetedbrands.com.

• Look at websites that do content monitoring on the Web, such as Google News.

• Use Web-monitoring tools that will monitor blogs, Twitter, the Internet, etc. looking for information on the product.

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