Networks & Wireless (Week 8)

Explain the business benefits of using wireless technology.


One of the benefits of wireless technology is that people can be anywhere and access information on the run. It is convenient, easy and efficient. Wireless technology is accessible with small devices such as phones, that can be easily carried around, have sufficient computing power to perform productive tasks and can communicate wirelessly with the internet and other devices. Wireless technology has enabled increased the speed of delivery to markets.  

Describe the business benefits associated with VoIP


VoIP enables phone calls, faxes, voice mail, e-mail and web conferences over digital networks. The benefits of VoIP include: 

• customers can port their numbers between carriers
• calls over the internet do not attract telecommunications charges
• VoIP runs over the existing computer network

Compare LANs and WANs


Local Area Networks (LANs) connect computers that reside in a single geographic location on the premises of the company that operates the LAN. The network itself is a way to share data to devices.


Wide Area Networks (WANs) connect computers at  a different geographic site. It is a series of LANs joined via the internet.

Describe RFID and how it can be used to help make a supply chain more effective.


Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) are tags that use radio waves to transmit data and are frequently used in inventory tracking. RFID technologies offer practical benefits to almost anyone who needs to keep track of physical assets. Manufacturers use this technology to improve supple chain planning , retailers use it to control theft as well as to increase efficiency in supply chain and improve demand planning. 


Unlike the commonly used barcodes, RFID tags can be read from much greater distances. If a person enters a store with a packet of gum in a handbag or pocket, the RFID reader can identify the packet of gum, time, date & place of purchase as well as how frequently the consumer comes into the store.

Identify the advantages and disadvantage of deploying mobile technology

Advantages                                                                                    

• bluetooth is able to penetrate solid objects & can operate over a distance of 10 or 100 meters.
• bluetooth is omni-directional & does not require line of sight positioning of connected device
• mobile technology is dramatically changing the potential of mobile phones

Disadvantages

• security of bluetooth devices continues to be a priority in the development of mobile phone technology

Databases and Data Warehouses (Week 7)

List, describe, and provide an example of each of the five characteristics of high quality information.

1. Accuracy - missing important information, example missing customers first name   
2. Completeness - incomplete information, example missing street name
3. Consistency - duplicate information, example similar names
4. Uniqueness - potentially wrong information, example are phone & fax numbers the same?
5. Timeliness - incomplete information, example missing area codes 

Define the relationship between a database and a database management system.

A database is an organised collection of data while a database management system (DBMS) is a group of programs that manipulate the database. The relationship between the two is that, the DBMS provides an interface between the database and its users as well as other application programs.


Describe the advantages an organisation can gain by using a database.

Organisations can benefit from using databases in the following areas:

• Data Integrity - data must meet constraints (eg. student averages cannot be negative)

• Data Independence - applications and data are independent of one another, they are not linked to each other. 

• Data Security - keeping the organisation's data safe from modification, theft or destruction

Define the fundamental concepts of the relational database model.


A relational database is a collection of tables from which data can be accessed in many different ways without having to reorganize the tables.

Describe the benefits of a data-driven website.

A data-driven website is an interactive website constantly updated and kept relevant to the needs of its customers through the use of a database.


The benefits of a data-driven website include:

• development
• higher efficiency
• lower production and update costs
• opportunity for future expendability
• content management
• minimisation of human error

Describe the roles and purposes of data warehouses and data marts in an organisation


A data warehouse is a logical collection of information gathered from many different operational databases, that supports business analysis activities and decision-making tasks.


It's primary purpose is to aggregate information throughout an organisation into a single repository for decision-making purposes.

Creating A Data Warehouse - Build A Better Business With Better Data

A data mart contains a subset of data warehouse information. They have focused information subsets particular to the needs of a given business unit such as operations or production for example.

Enterprise Architectures (Week 6)

What is information architecture and what is information infrastructure and how do they differ and how do they relate to each other?

Information Architecture

A general plan of how IT is to be used within an organisation. A firm decides what goods and services they will produce. 


Information Infrastructure
The implementation that will provide for effective IT systems, including hardware, software and services.


How do they differ?
IT architecture is the general plan and IT infrastructure is the implementation of the plan


How do they relate?
They are both vital parts of the implementation and change of IT systems within an organisation.

Describe how an organisation can implement a solid information architecture 


Information architecture identifies how important information, such as customer records, is secured and maintained. A solid information architecture includes 3 primary areas:

• Backup and recovery - businesses continually lose time and money due to system failures, therefore, one way to minimise the damage of a system crash is to implement a backup and recovery strategy

• Disaster recovery plan - is a detailed process for recovering information. A comprehensive disaster recovery plan considers the location of the backup information

• Information security - Identity theft and information security is on the rise, therefore managing user access to information is a critical piece of the information architecture. Ensuring up-to-date antivirus software is another way to minimise the risk of information security

List and describe the five requirement characteristics of infrastructure architecture. 


Reliability - ensures all systems are functioning correctly and providing accurate information. Low accuracy puts the organisation at risk.


Scalability - is a systems ability to meet growth requirements and refers to how well a system can adapt to increased demands. Scalability involves capacity planning.


Flexibility - requires being able to meet changing business demands, systems must be flexible enough to meet all types of business changes.


Availability - high availability refers to a system or component that is continuously operational for long periods of time. Availability ensures business continuity. 


Performance - measures how quickly a system performs a certain process or transaction. There is a growing pressure on systems to be faster.

Describe the business value in deploying a service oriented architecture 


A service oriented architecture (SOA) is a business-driven IT architectural approach that supports integrating a business as linked, repetitive tasks or services.


SOA ensures IT systems can adapt quickly, easily and economically to support rapidly changing business needs. Users are able to re-use applications multiple times for different tasks using existing applications, which makes development cheaper and more flexible. 

What is an event? 

An event is an electronic message indicating that something has happened, it detects threats and opportunities and alerts those who can act on the information. An event is repetitive, it is business procedures that happen often such as a credit check.

What is a service?

A service contains a set of related commands that can be re-used, it is more like a software product. An example of a service is a system that has a trigger that will send an email to all people in the system. 

What emerging technologies can companies use to increase performance and utilise their infrastructure more effectively?


VIRTUAL COMPUTING is an emerging technology that can be used to increase performance and utilise infrastructure more effectively. Virtual Computing runs multiple operating systems on a single computer and ensures enterprise applications perform with the highest availability and performance. It also reduces capital costs by increasing energy efficiency.

Ethics and Security (Week 5)

Explain the ethical issues surrounding information technology.


Privacy is one of the major ethical issues surrounding information technology. It is the right to have control over your own personal possessions and to not be observed without your consent.


Other ethical issues include:

• Intellectual Property                               
• Copyright
• Fair Use Doctrine
• Pirated Software
• Counterfeit Software

Describe a situation involving technology that is ethical but illegal.


A person who purchases a software package and makes two copies, keeping one for backup. It is illegal because they made a copy of the software but ethical because the intention is good.

Describe and explain one of the computer use policies that a company might employ


Internet Use Policy contains general principles to guide the proper use of the internet within an organisation. The policy describes available internet services, defines the purpose and restriction of internet access, describes user responsibilities and complements the ethical computer use policy.

What are the 5 main technology security risks?

1. Human Error                                                
2. Natural Disasters
3. Technical Failures
4. Deliberate Acts
5. Management Failure

Outline one way to reduce each risk.

Human Error: password policy such as changing passwords regularly

Natural Disasters: Backup data that is kept off site 

Technical Failures: Regular recovery testing

Deliberate Acts: system audits to track down malicious activity

Management Failure: Well documented procedures

What is a disaster recovery plan, what strategies might a firm employ


A disaster recovery plan is a plan that outlines processes of regaining access to computer systems and data after a disaster has occurred.  A firm could employ strategies such as communications plan, business continuity, location of back up data, well documented procedures, regular recovery testing and off site data location. 

How To Automate A Disaster Recovery Plan For Your Business

eBusiness (Week 4)

What is an IP Address?  What is it’s main function?

An Internet Protocol (IP) can be referred to as the basic communication language or protocol of the internet, it is a set of standards that specify the format of data as well as the rules to be followed during transmission. An IP address can either be public or private however each one is unique.
An IP's main function is to allow data to move around the internet.

What is Web 2.0, how does it differ from 1.0?


Web 2.0 is referred to as the Live Web as users are able to build and collaborate their own content. Businesses are using web 2.0 as a way of enabling access to critical business applications for customers and employees.


Web 2.0 has enabled changes, to web 1.0, in the ways software developers and end-users use the web as a platform. Web 2.0 has made the information retrievable by web 1.0, more efficient and relative to the world of business. An example of this is, while web 1.0 showed the number of page views on a particular site, web 2.0 now shows the cost per click on the same site.  

What is Web 3.0?

Web 3.0 builds information about a person using the concept of tagging. The semantic web is an evolving extension of the World Wide Web in which web content can be expressed in a format that can be read and used by software agents. The semantic web provides a framework that allows data to be shared and reused across various applications. 

What is eBusiness, how does it differ from eCommerce?


E-Business is the conducting of business on the internet. While E-Commerce is only the buying and selling of goods over the internet, E-Business also includes serving customers and collaborating with business partners.


What is pure and partial eCommerce?
Pure and Partial E-Commerce means that the product, process or delivery agent can be physical or digital.  


 List and describe the various eBusiness models?


Business to Business (B2B)
Business buying from and selling to each other over the internet


Business to Consumer (B2C)
A business that sells it's products or services to consumers 
over the internet


Consumer to Business (C2B)
Any consumer that sells a product or service to a business 
over the internet


Consumer to Consumer (C2C)
Sites primarily offering goods and services to assist consumers in interacting with each other over the internet 


List and describe the major B2B models?


Sell-Side-E-Marketplace
A web based niche marketplace in which one company sells to many business buyers from e-catalogues or auctions


E-Procurment
The electronic acquisition of goods and services for organisations which allows consumers to buy directly from the supplier


Buyer Side Market Place
A corporate based acquisition site that uses reverse auctions, negotiations, group purchasing or any other e-procurement method. This model automates ordering, fulfillment and sales data analysis.


Outline 2 opportunities and 2 challenges faced by companies doing business online?


Opportunities

• Saving on the cost of running a physical store (eg. rent)           
• Efficient way of monitoring sales 

Challenges

• Handling return of unwanted or damaged goods
• Packaging product efficiently to avoid damage on arrival (DOA) and organising fast delivery to consumer

Strategic Decision Making (Week 3)

Define TPS & DSS, and explain how an organisation can use these systems to make decisions and gain competitive advantages

Transactional Processing Systems (TPS) are systems that automate transactions, most commonly, EFTPOS/Payroll/MYOB. These systems are used at lower levels of organisations as they are the basis for analytical systems.

Decision Support Systems (DSS) are used at higher levels of organisations, they help managers make decisions particularly in relation to more complex problems. DSS provide data for analysis in an organisation, and through the use of complex modelling, also allow managers to solve business issues more efficiently. 

Describe the three quantitative models typically used by decision support systems.

There are 3 quantitative models used by Decision Support Systems include: 

Sensitivity Analysis which is the study of the impact that changes in one part of the model has on other parts of the model. If the model is sensitive then a company could expect to see a decline in sales.


What-If Analysis checks the impact of a change in a proposed solution. 


Goal-Seeking Analysis finds the inputs necessary to achieve a goal. This model looks to the end result and works backward to achieve the final goal.

Describe a business processes and their importance to an organisation.

A business process is a standard set of activities that accomplish a specific task, such as processing a customer order.


An organisations business processes must be studied, understood and continuously improved because an organisation is only as effective as their employed processes.




Compare business process improvement and business process re-engineering.


Business process improvement deals with a continuous improvement model which attempts to understand and measure the current process to implement improvements accordingly.


Business re-engineering on the other hand, is the analysis and redesign of workflow within and between the business. Business re-engineering assumes the current process is irrelevant or does not work and starts building from scratch.

Business Process Re-engineering

Describe the importance of business process modelling (or mapping) and business process models.


Business process modelling (BPM) is the activity of making a detailed flowchart or process map of work processes. BPM is important as it aims to show process details in a gradual and controlled manner. 


Business process modelling and business process models, bring visibility to technology, encourage consciousness of what people are doing in a business and enable analysis. 

Information Systems In Business (Week 2)

Explain information technology’s role in business and describe how you measure success

Information technology is an enabler of business. It facilitates communication and increases business intelligence. It allows for automated processing which improves productivity and accuracy, reduces costs, assists with quality decision making and the speed at which decisions are made. 

Success is measured through the efficiency and effectiveness metrics. 

Efficiency IT metrics measure the performance of the system itself which include throughput, speed and availability. These metrics are able to answer questions such as, how fast the system is, how many transactions per hour and how much capacity the system has. 

Effectiveness IT metrics measure the impact IT has on business activities and processes by considering customer satisfaction and conversion rates. 

Primarily, efficiency focuses on the extent to which an organisation is using its resources while effectiveness focuses on how well an organisation is achieving its goals and objectives. 

List and describe each of the forces in Porter’s Five Forces Model

Michael Porter developed the Five Forces Model which is a useful tool to aid in understanding competition and its implications for business strategies. 

1. Buyer Power

The power of buyers is reflected by their ability to directly impact the price they are willing to pay for an item. Buyer power is high when buyers have many sellers to chose from and low when their choices are few. 

2. Supplier Power

Supplier power is high when one supplier has concentrated power over an industry. When supplier power is high, the supplier can directly influence the industry by charging higher prices and limiting services or quality.

3. Threat of Substitute Products or Services

The threat of substitute products or services is high when there are many alternatives to a product or service and low when there are few alternatives.

4. Threat of New Entrants

The threat of new entrants is high when it is easy for new competitors to enter a market and low when there are significant barriers to entering a market. 

5. Rivalry Among Existing Competitors

Rivalry among existing competitors is high when competition is fierce in a market and low when competition is more settled. 

Describe the relationship between business processes and value chains

Value chain analysis is used to determine the success or failure of an organisation's chosen strategy. Business processes are a standardised set of activities that accomplish a specific task and a value chain views an organisation as a series of processes, each of which add to the product or service. 

Primary value activities acquire raw materials and manufacture, market, sell and provide after sales services. Support value activities support the primary value activities. 

Improving primary activities can decrease the threat of substitutes and improving support activities can decrease the threat of new entrants. 

Compare Porter’s three generic strategies

Porter's three generic strategies are:

1. Broad cost leadership

2. Broad differentiation

3. Focused strategy

Focused strategies target a niche market while broad strategies target a large market segment. A focused strategy ideally concentrates on either cost leadership or cost differentiation. 

Porter suggests that an organisation is wise to adopt only one of the three generic strategies in order to succeed.