CHAPTER 7 : STORING ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION - DATABASES

• Information is everywhere in an organization
• Information is stored in databases
• Databases
• maintains information about various types of objects (inventory), events (transaction), people (employees), and place (warehouses)

• Databases models include :
• Hierarchical database model
• information is organized into a tree-like structure (using parent/child relationship) in such a way that it cannot have too many relationships.

• Network database model
• a flexible way of representing objects and their relationships

• Relational database model
• stores information in the form of logically related two-dimensional tables.

Entities and Attributes

• a person, place, things, transaction, or event about which information is stored.
• the row in each table contain the entities.

•  characteristic or properties of an entity class.
• the columns in each table contain the attributes.
• for example :

 

Keys and Relationships

Primary keys and foreign keys identify the various entity classes (tables) in the database.

• primary key
• a field ( or group of fields ) that uniquely identifies a given entity in a table.

• foreign key
• a primary key of one table that appears an attribute in another table and acts to provide a logical relationship among the two tables.

Potential relational database for Coca-Cola

Database advantages from a business perspective include

• increased flexibility

• A well-designed database should :
• handle changes quickly and easily
• provide users with different views
• have only one physical view
•  deals with the physical storage of information on a storage device. (hard disk)

• have multiple logical views
• focuses on how users logically access information

 

 

• increased scalability and performance
• A database must scale to meet increased demand, while maintaining acceptable performance levels
• scalability (refers to how well a system can adapt to increased demands)
• performance (measures how quickly a system performs a certain process or transaction)

• reduced information redundancy
• Databases reduce information redundancy
•  redundancy (the duplication of information or storing the same information in multiple places.

• Inconsistency is one of the primary problems with redundant information
• difficult to decide which is most current and most accurate

• increased information integrity ( quality )
• Information integrity
• measures the quality of information

• Integrity constraint (rules that help ensure the quality of information)

1. Relational integrity constraint (rule that enforces basic and fundamental information-based constraints). For example users cannot create an order for a nonexistent customer, provide a markup percentages that was negative etc.
2. Business-critical integrity constraint (rule that enforce business rules vital to an organization's success and often require more insight and knowledge than relational integrity constraints). For example product returns are not accepted for fresh product 15days after purchase.

• increased information security
• Information is an organizational asset and must be protected.
• Database offer several security features including :
• password - provides authentication of the user
• access level - determines who has access to the different types of information
• access control - determines types of user access, such as read-only access.

Database Management Systems (DBMS)

 

 

• software through which users and application programs interact with a database

Data - Driven Web Site

• an interactive Web site kept constantly updated and relevant to the needs of its customers through the use of a database

Data - Driven Business Intelligence

• BI in a data - driven Web site

 

Integrating Information among Multiple Database

• integration (allows separate systems to communicate directly with each other

• forward integration
• takes information entered into a given system and sends it automatically to all downstream systems and processes.

• backward integration
• takes information entered into a given systems and sends it automatically to all upstream systems and processes.

•  forward integration & backward integration

CHAPTER 6 : VALUING ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION

• Information is everywhere in an organization.
• Employees must be able to obtain and analyze the many different levels, formats and granularities (a long and complete of information, summary, the importance of information) and of organizational information to make decisions.
• successfully collecting, compiling, sorting, and analyzing information can provide tremendous insight into how an organization is performing.
• Levels, formats, and granularities of organizational information.

THE VALUE OF TRANSACTIONAL AND ANALYTICAL INFORMATION

• Transactional information verses analytical information

• Timeliness is an aspect of information that depends on the situation
• Real-time information
• immediate, up-to-date information.

• Real-time system
• provides real-time information in response to query requests. example, internet, Facebook, and technology.

THE VALUE OF TIMELY INFORMATION

CHAPTER 5 : ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES THAT SUPPORT STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

Organizational Structure

• Organizational employees must work closely together to develop strategic initiatives that create competitive advantages.
• Ethics and security are two fundamental building blocks that organizations must base their businesses upon.

IT Roles And Responsibilities

• Information technology is a relatively new function area, having only been around formally for around 40 years.
• Recent IT-related strategic positions :
• Chief Information Officer (CIO)
• Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
• Chief Security Officer (CSO)
• Chief Privacy Officer (CPO)
• Chief Knowledge (CKO)

• Chief Information Officer (CIO)
• oversees all uses of IT and ensures the strategic alignment of IT with business goals and objectives

• Broad CIO functions include :
• Manager
• ensuring the delivery of all IT projects, on time and within budget.

• Leader
• ensuring the strategic vision of IT is in line with the strategic vision of the organization.

• Communicator
• building and maintaining strong executive relationships.

• If they have any problem involve IT personal, CIO that will solve it. (more effectiveness)

 

• Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
• responsible for ensuring the throughput, speed, accuracy, availability, and reliability of IT.
• effectiveness because make sure the system is efficient.

• Chief Security Officer (CSO)
• responsible for ensuring the security of IT systems.
• to make sure the system we do, no person can hack.

• Chief Privacy Officer (CPO)
• responsible for ensuring the ethical and legal use of information

• Chief Knowledge Office (CKO)
• responsible for collecting, maintaining, and distributing the organization's knowledge.
 

ORGANIZATIONAL FUNDAMENTALS

• Ethics and security are two fundamental building blocks that organizations must base their businesses on to be successful.
• In recent years, such events as the Enron and Martha Stewart, along with 9/11 have shed new light on the meaning of ethics and security.

 

• Ethics
• the principles and standards that guide our behavior toward other people

• Privacy is major ethical issue
• privacy
• the right to be left alone when you want to be, to have control over your own personal possessions, and not to be observed without your consent.
• sometimes, we fell want to alone. don't want anyone bother
• we don't want someone to corrupt our business.

• Issues affected by technology advances
• intellectual property.
• intangible creative work that is embodied in physical form. for example, from idea to something we can hold. 
• create new things. so, there is intellectual property, can touch.
• things that comes from a creative idea.
• such as architects, building that we can touch.
• copyright
• the legal protection afforded an expression of an idea, such as a song, video, game, and some types of proprietary documents.

• fair use doctrine
• in certain situations, it is legal to use copyrighted materials. for example song from oversea to Malaysia.

• pirated software
• the unauthorized use, duplication, distribution, or sale of copyrighted software. more cheap and free.
• counterfeit software
• software that is manufactured to look like the real thing and sold as such. for example, buy antivirus, notify original but not original.

• One of the main ingredients in trust is privacy. the system is effective because customer will be satisfied but efficiency because the system can be slow.

• Security
• organizational information is intellectual capital - it must be protected.

• Information security
• the protection of information from accidental or intentional misuse by persons inside or outside an organization.
• the CSO who save the information.

• E-business automatically creates tremendous information security risks for organizations.

CHAPTER 4 : MEASURING THE SUCCESS OF STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

Key Performance Indicator

• Measures that are tied to business drivers. Every year, all company will target their KPI.
• Metrics are detailed measures that feed KPIs.
• Performance metrics fall into the nebulous area of business intelligence that is neither technology, nor business centered, but requires input from both IT and business professional

   

 Efficiency IT metric

• measures the performance of the IT system itself including throughput, speed, and availability.
• lots of useful information.

Effectiveness IT metric

• measure the impact IT has on business processes and activities including customer satisfaction, conversion rates, and sell-through increases.
• the extent to which our services are preferred by many customers.

 

 

Regardless of what is measured, how it is measured, and whether it is for the sake of efficiency or effectiveness, there must be 

• benchmarks - baseline values the system seeks to attain. 

It means a level that should be achieved.

• benchmarking - a process of continuously measuring system results, comparing those results to optimal system performance (benchmark values), and identifying steps and procedures to improve system performance. (make improvements)

 EXAMPLE :

• United states
• although highest efficiency, the effectiveness lowest because they think can do system more sophisticated. (feeling not happy)

• Canada
• although lowest efficiency, the effectiveness is highest because they grateful and satisfied. (feeling happy)

THE INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS IT METRICS

•  Throughput
• want serve result for last semester, just open student portal, straight can look.

• Transaction speed
• System availability
• May bank 2 U, before this cannot do transaction at 2am, but now can do anytime 24 hours.

• Information accurancy
• financial system that involves a lot of numbers. after the key in, to check them, can continue to open the system and its figures will be the same as what is key in.

• Web traffic
• blog

• Response time
• want to get the information, get respond be time. good because once time open, straight get the information. 

•  Usability
• just click, keep out

• Customer satisfaction
• Conservation rates
• went go to this pages, the customer continues to be a member.

• Financial
• the profit increase. 

 

• Security is an issues for any organization offering products or services over the Internet. When we use security in our system, the system can be slower.
•  It is inefficient for an organization to implement Internet security, since it slows down processing
• however, to be effective it must implement Internet security
• Secure Internet connections must offer encryption and Secure Sockets Layers (SSL denoted by the lock symbol in the lower right corner of a browser)
• it can be slow because have a security and effectiveness but customer feeling happy because all information can be more safely.

METRICS FOR STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

• Metrics for measuring and managing strategic initiatives include :
• Web site metrics
• Supply chain management (SCM) metrics
• Customer relationship management (CRM) metrics
• Business process reengineering (BPR) metrics
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP) metrics

include :

1. Abandoned registrations  - number of visitors who start the process of completing a registration page and then abandon the activity.
2. Abandoned shopping cards - number of visitors who create a shopping cart and start shopping and then abandon the activity before paying for the merchandise.
3. Click-through - Count of the number of people who visit a site, click on an ad, and are taken to the site of the advertiser.
4. Conversion rate - percentage of potential customers who visit a site and actually buy something.
5. Cost-per-thousand - sales dollars generated per dollar of advertising. this is commonly used to make the case for spending money to appear on a search engine.
6. Page exposures - average number of page exposures to an individual visitor.
7. Total hits - number of visits to a Web site, many of which may be by the same visitor.
8. Unique visitors - number of unique visitors to a site in a given time. this is commonly used by Nielsen/Net ratings to rank the most popular Web sites.

•  back orde
• want to order goods, but the goods not enough.
• are ready to pay, but the item is not ready yet.

• customer order promised cycle time
• customer comes, no goods. so, for the first, order. promise will sent the goods a week from now.

• customer order actual cycle time
• the goods arrive right in the hands of customers.

• inventory replenishment cycle time
• goods are to be in the process. so, how long will it take to complete the items?

• inventory turns (inventory turnover)
• within a year, the company will update existing stock back five or six times since the company developed.

 

 Customer relationship management metrics measure user satisfaction and interaction and include :

• Sales metrics
• Service metrics
• Marketing metrics

  

BPR AND ERP METRICS

 The balanced scorecard enables organizations to measure and manage strategic initiatives.

CASES

OCT 2009 (PART D)

 

Question 1

Identify five (5) of competitive advantages used by Air Asia.

(5marks)

•  Chief Information Officer (CIO)
• Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
• Chief Security Officer (CSO)
• Chief Privacy Officer (CPO)
• Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO)

QUESTION 2

Which of the Porter's generic strategies were applied by Air Asia in the case study and explain with examples.

- Cost leadership are strategies that applied by Air Asia because it requires lower cost, broad market and satisfy customer's requirement.
- Air Asia promoting their slogan ''everyone can fly'' with lower cost to fly everywhere we want.So, everyone with different level now can go travel to anywhere they want with lower price of ticket they offer.
- They focus this strategies to broad market for example Air Asia will strengthen and enhance its route network by connecting all the existing cities in the region and expanding further into Indochina, Indonesia, Southern China and India. The airline will focus on developing its hubs in Bangkok and Jakarta through its sister companies, Thai Air Asia and Indonesia Air Asia.
-Furthermore, they satisfy customer's requirement with offer that they provided. For example they give good services to customer in term of price ticket, online booking ticket, treat customer with fair and equitable. So, they satisfy what customer want and need.

QUESTION 3

Based on Porter's Five Force Model, analyze Air Asia's buyer power and supplier power.

  Air Asia's buyer power- buyer power high when there many choices of whom to buy from and low when their choices are few. For example the buyer power is high when customer get many choice from other airline to travel and lower the buyer power when customer not have choice from other airline to travel.To reduce buyer power, Air Asia need do the loyalty program. For example, appreciate their regular customer by giving reasonable discount or prize holiday.

  Air Asia's supplier power-high when buyers have few choices of whom to buy from and lower when their choices are many. For example Air Asia have high supplier power when they are the only airline that offer ticket at lower cost and lower supplier power when they have competition from other airline.Through market B2B marketplaces, the supplier power can be reduced. Air Asia use private exchange because they are currently the main customer of the Airbus A320. The company has placed an order of 175 units of the same plane to service its routes.