Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MB0047 Set 2
MB0047 Set 2
a) Speed – A PC can process data at a very high speed. It can process millions
of instructions within fraction of seconds.
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Input unit is used to give input to the processor. Examples of input unit –
Keyboard, scanner, mouse, bar code reader etc.
A processor refers to unit which processes the input received the way it has been
instructed. In a computer the processor is the CPU – Central Processing Unit. It
does all mathematical calculations, logical tasks, storing details in the memory
etc. Output unit is used to give output s from the computer. Examples of output
unit – Monitor, printer, speakers etc.
E business
E communication
E commerce
E collaboration
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board for scheduling and execution. These basic capabilities of Internet have
given rise to number of business models. Some of them are given in Table
The Internet and networks provide platform and various capabilities whereby
communication, collaboration, and conversion has become significantly faster,
transparent and cheaper. These technologies help to save time, resource and
enable faster decision making. The technology adds speed and intelligence in
the business process improving quality of service to the customer. The business
process of serving the customer to offer goods, products or services is made up
of the following components.
• Enquiry processing
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• Order preparation
• Order placement
• Order confirmation
• Order planning
• Order scheduling
• Order manufacturing
• Order status monitoring
• Order dispatching
• Order billing
• Order receivable accounting
• Order payment processing
The entire process in parts or full can be handled through these technologies and
software solutions. It provides important strategic, competitive advantage.
Further, the technology is flexible and capable of handling any business models
such as:
The manual system which was prevalent in the organizations before industrial
revolution was slowly transformed into digital form by means of computer and
related electronic instruments. A transformation had to necessarily go through
the following stages
b) Types of documents
c) Storage systems
f) Review
g) Documentation
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2. Explain the various behavioral factors of management organization? As per
Porter, how can performance of individual corporations be determined?
Ans:
Management organizations:
An organization is a structure that uses the resources from the environment like
manpower, raw materials, capital and returns the output like products and
services to the environment. It constitutes the rules, policies, responsibilities and
procedures that are adopted by the organization.
Behavioral factors
2. Loss of status
3. Change in interpersonal relationships
4. Loss of power
7. Job security
Decision styles symbolic processing of AI is heuristic; DSS and ANN are analytic
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Need for explanation – ES provides explanation, ANN does not, DSS may
provide partial explanation. Explanation can reduce resistance to change
Organizational climate some organizations lead and support innovations and new
technologies whereas other wait and lag behind in making changes
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There are two basic factors which may be considered to be adopted by
organization in their strategies:
a) low cost
b) Product differentiation
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a) Cost leadership;
b) Differentiation;
c) Cost focus; And
d) Focused differentiation.
The various attributes listed above can be sharpened the firms product by the
support of a suitable information technology.
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3. Compare various types of development aspect of Information System? Explain
the various stages of SDLC?
Once the plan of MIS is made, the development of the MIS calls for determining
the strategy of development. As discussed earlier, the plan consists of various
systems and subsystems. The development strategy determines where to begin
and in what sequence the development can take place with the sole objective of
assuring the information support. The choice of the system or the subsystem
depends on its position in the total MIS plan, the size of the system, the user's
understanding of the systems and the complexity and its interface with other
systems. The designer first develops systems independently and starts
integrating them with other systems, enlarging the system scope and meeting the
varying information needs. Determining the position of the system in the MIS is
easy. The real problem is the degree of structure, and formalization in the system
and procedures which determine the timing and duration of development of the
system. Higher the degree of structuredness and formalization, greater is the
stabilization of the rules, the procedures, decision making and the understanding
of the overall business activity. Here, it is observed that the user's and the
designer's interaction is smooth, and their needs are clearly understood and
respected mutually. The development becomes a method of approach with
certainty in input process and outputs.
b) Prototype Approach
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designer to fulfill the corporate information needs. When it comes to information
the functional, the departmental, the personal boundaries do not exist. This calls
upon each individual to comply with the design needs and provide without fail the
necessary data inputs whenever required as per the specification discussed and
finalised by the designer. Bringing the multiple users on the same platform and
changing their attitudes toward information, as a corporate resource, is the
managerial task of the system designer. The qualification, experience,
knowledge, of the state of art, and an understanding of the corporate business,
helps considerably, in overcoming the problem of changing the attitudes of the
multiple users and the originators of the data.
There are many systems or subsystems in the MIS which have a life cycle, that
is, they have birth and death. Their emergence may be sudden or may be a part
of the business need, and they are very much structured and rule based. They
have 100% clarity of inputs and their sources, a definite set of outputs in terms of
the contents and formats. These details more or less remain static from the day
the system emerges and remains in that static mode for a long time. Minor
modifications or changes do occur but they are not significant in terms of
handling either by the designer or the user of the system. Such systems,
therefore, have a life and they can be developed in a systematic manner, and
can be reviewed after a year or two, for significant modification, if any.
Examples of such systems are pay roll, share accounting, basic financial
accounting, finished goods accounting and dispatching, order processing, and so
on. These systems have a fairly long duration of survival and they contribute in a
big way as sources of data to the Corporate MIS. Therefore, their role is
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important and needs to be designed from the view point as an interface to the
Corporate MIS.
Table below shows the difference between the two approaches helping the
designer select an approach.
1. Not to forget that his role is to offer a service and not to demand terms.
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2. Remember that the system design is for the use of the user and it is not the
designer's prerogative to dictate the design features. In short, the designer
should respect the demands of the user.
3. Not to mix up technical needs with the information needs. He should try to
develop suitable design with appropriate technology to meet the information
needs. The designer should not recommend modifications of the needs, unless
technically infeasible.
4. Impress upon the user the global nature of the system design which is
required to meet the current and prospective information need.
6. Impress upon the user that the quality of information depends on the quality of
input.
7. Impress upon the user that you are one of the users in the organization and
that the information is a corporate resource and he is expected to contribute to
the development of the MIS.
8. Ensure that the user makes commitment to all the requirements of the system
design specifications. Ensure that he appreciates that his commitments
contribute largely to the quality of the information and successful implementation
of the system.
9. Ensure that the overall system effort has the management's acceptance.
10. Enlist the user's participation from time to time, so that he is emotionally
involved in the process of development.
11. Realize that through serving the user, he is his best guide on the complex
path of development.
12. Not to expect perfect understanding and knowledge from the user as he may
be the user of a Non computerized system. Hence, the designer should be
prepared to change the system specifications or even the design during the
course of development.
13. Impress upon the user that the change, which is easily possible in manual
system, is not as easy in the computer system as it calls for changes in the
programs at cost.
14. Impress upon the user that perfect information is nonexistent; His role
therefore still has an importance in the organization.
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15. Ensure that the other organization problems are resolved first before the MIS
is taken for development. 16. Conduct periodical user meetings on systems
where you get the opportunity to know the ongoing difficulties of the users.
16. Train the user in computer appreciation and systems analysis as his
perception of the computerized information system will fall short of the designer's
expectation. Implementation of the MIS in an organization is a process where
organizational transformation takes place. This change can occur in a number of
ways.
The Lewin's model suggests three steps in this process. The first step is
unfreezing the organization to make the people more receptive and interested in
the change. The second step is choosing a Course of action where the process
begins and reaches the desired level of stability, and the third step is Refreezing,
where the change is consolidated and equilibrium is reinforced. Many a times,
SDLC
The system analyst has to do a lot in this connection. They are confronted with
the challenging task of creating new systems and planning major changes in the
organization. The system analyst gives a system development project, meaning
and direction. The typical breakdown of an information systems life cycle
includes a feasibility study, requirements, collection and analysis, design,
prototyping, implementation, validation, testing and operation. It may be
represented in the form of a block diagram as shown below:
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a) Feasibility study It is concerned with determining the cost effectiveness of
various alternatives in the designs of the information system and the priorities
among the various system components.
f) Validation and testing It is the process of assuring that each phase of the
development process is of acceptable quality and is an accurate transformation
from the previous phase.
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4. Compare & Contrast E-enterprise business model with traditional business
organization model? Explain how in E-enterprise manager role & responsibilities
are changed? Explain how manager is a knowledge worker in E-enterprise?
Ans:-
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.
Ecommerce
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In E enterprise, business is conducted electronically. Buyers and sellers through
Internet drive the market and Internet based web systems. Buying and selling is
possible on Internet. Books, CDs, computer, white goods and many such goods
are bought and sold on Internet. The new channel of business is well known
as Ecommerce. On the same lines, banking, insurance, healthcare are being
managed through Internet E banking, E billing, E audit, & use of Credit cards,
Smart card, ATM, E money are the examples of the Ecommerce application. The
digital firm, which uses Internet and web technology and uses E business And
Ecommerce solutions, is a reality and is going to increase in number. MIS for E
business is different compared to conventional MIS design of an organization.
The role of MIS in E business organization is to deal with changes in global
market and enterprises. MIS produces more knowledge based products.
The last but not the least important is the challenge to organize and implement
information architecture and information technology platforms, considering
multiple locations and multiple information needs arising due to global operations
of the business into a comprehensive MIS.
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5. What do you understand by service level Agreements (SLAs)? Why are they
needed? What is the role of CIO in drafting these? Explain the various security
hazards faced by an IS?
Ans:-
SLAs have been used since late 1980s by fixed line telecom operators as part of
their contracts with their corporate customers. This practice has spread such that
now it is common for a customer to engage a service provider by including a
service-level agreement in a wide range of service contracts in practically all
industries and markets. Internal departments (such as IT, HR, and Real Estate)
in larger organization have adopted the idea of using service-level agreements
with their "internal" customers — users in other departments within the same
organization. One benefit of this can be to enable the quality of service to be
benchmarked with that agreed to across multiple locations or between different
business units. This internal benchmarking can also be used to market test and
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provide a value comparison between an in-house department and an external
service provider.
Service-level agreements are, by their nature, "output" based — the result of the
service as received by the customer is the subject of the "agreement." The
(expert) service provider can demonstrate their value by organizing themselves
with ingenuity, capability, and knowledge to deliver the service required, perhaps
in an innovative way. Organizations can also specify the way the service is to be
delivered, through a specification (a service-level specification) and using
subordinate "objectives" other than those related to the level of service. This type
of agreement is known as an "input" SLA. This latter type of requirement is
becoming obsolete as organizations become more demanding and shift the
delivery methodology risk on to the service provider.
One of the major responsibilities of the CIO is to establish the credibility of the
systems organization. The systems department should not only focus on
providing better service to the various lines of business but also help businesses
operate better. If the CIO wants to be taken seriously, he needs to do what other
executives do and have his own business metrics and performance
measurements, so that he can effectively measure his internal business
performance. Other business departments have them, but CIOs generally do not
because IT has always been viewed as a cost center. Measurements in IT tend
to be vague and lacking in context. For example, 'I had 14 projects last year, and
I did them well.' But there is no real business measurement there. How many
projects should the manager have had? Did he really have the capacity to handle
14 projects? A CIO should explore running their area more like a service
operation rather than a cost center, and develop metrics that track the
performance of the information systems staff, as well as the equipment
comprising the applications, infrastructure, and networks under the CIO's control.
The first step, they say, is to implement service level agreements (SLAs) with
business units. It sets the expectation on the technical areas of the CIO's
operations. At a minimum, they should set up what is expected and what levels
of service the equipment will provide. The underlying SLAs should be some sort
of a chargeback system with business units, particularly when it comes to
apportioning staff time. If information systems are now providing a service, the
staff needs to understand where the service is being used to be properly
remunerated or to demonstrate where the value is.
The second part of the IT operations equation is computer equipment, and CIOs
must have a firm handle on how that equipment is being used. There are
software’s to help with the people picture, and there are other products that can
monitor hardware performance, such as network and server uptime. One of the
major roles of the CIO is to make the organization information systems savvy and
increase the technological maturity of the information systems organization. A
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major part of the CIO's job is to make the users aware of the opportunities arising
as a result of technical innovations, how this can help them perform better, and
familiarizing them with computers and information systems applications. The
information systems management also has the job of helping the end users
adapt to the changes caused by information systems, and to encourage their
use. Finally, CIOs need to institute life cycle management with their applications
and computer equipment. Most IT organizations do not have any idea of the life
cycle of an application – how long they want it to last, and when it needs to be
refurbished, replaced, or disposed of. Lacking this knowledge, it is easy for
applications to linger long after they should be gone, and for companies to spend
far too much money on maintaining ailing applications.
ii) Fraud and unauthorized access: This hazard is due to dishonesty, cheating or
deceit. This can be done through –
iii) Power and communication failure: In some locations they are the most
frequent hazards than any other else because availability of both of them
depends upon the location. Sometimes communication channel are busy or
noisy. There are power cuts and sometimes high voltage serge destroys a
sensitive component of the computer.
iv) Fire hazard: it can happen because of electrical short circuits, flammable
liquids etc.
v) Sabotage and riots: sometimes the employees destroy the computer centre in
case of strike, lockout or there may be chances of riots in the area.
vi) Natural Disasters: Natural disasters are not controllable. They are not frequent
hazards but if they happen they destroy the things or ruin them. Examples are
earthquake, floods, tornadoes and lightening.
vii) General hazards: this category covers many more hazards which are not
covered anywhere and difficult to define and come spontaneously.
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6. Case Study: Information system in a restaurant.
Case Summary:
A waiter takes an order at a table, and then enters it online via one of the six
terminals located in the restaurant dining room. The order is routed to a printer in
the appropriate preparation area: the cold item printer if it is a salad, the hot-item
printer if it is a hot sandwich or the bar printer if it is a drink. A customer’s meal
check-listing (bill) the items ordered and the respective prices are automatically
generated. This ordering system eliminates the old three-carbon-copy guest
check system as well as any problems caused by a waiter’s handwriting. When
the kitchen runs out of a food item, the cooks send out an ‘out of stock’ message,
which will be displayed on the dining room terminals when waiters try to order
that item. This gives the waiters faster feedback, enabling them to give better
service to the customers. Other system features aid management in the planning
and control of their restaurant business. The system provides up-to-the-minute
information on the food items ordered and breaks out percentages showing sales
of each item versus total sales. This helps management plan menus according to
customers’ tastes. The system also compares the weekly sales totals versus
food costs, allowing planning for tighter cost controls. In addition, whenever an
order is voided, the reasons for the void are keyed in. This may help later in
management decisions, especially if the voids consistently related to food or
service. Acceptance of the system by the users is exceptionally high since the
waiters and waitresses were involved in the selection and design process. All
potential users were asked to give their impressions and ideas about the various
systems available before one was chosen.
Questions to be analysed:
1. In the light of the system, describe the decisions to be made in the area of
strategic planning, managerial control and operational control? What information
would you require to make such decisions?
2. What would make the system a more complete MIS rather than just doing
transaction processing?
3. Explain the probable effects that making the system more formal would have
on the customers and the management.
Solution:
1. A management information system (MIS) is an organized combination of
people, hardware, communication networks and data sources that collects,
transforms and distributes information in an organization. An MIS helps decision
making by providing timely, relevant and accurate information to managers. The
physical components of an MIS include hardware, software, database, personnel
and procedures.
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Management information is an important input for efficient performance of
various managerial functions at different organization levels. The information
system facilitates decision making. Management functions include planning,
controlling and decision making. Decision making is the core of management and
aims at selecting the best alternative to achieve an objective. The decisions may
be strategic, tactical or technical. Strategic decisions are characterized by
uncertainty. They are future oriented and relate directly to planning activity.
Tactical decisions cover both planning and controlling. Technical decisions
pertain to implementation of specific tasks through appropriate technology. Sales
region analysis, cost analysis, annual budgeting, and relocation analysis are
examples of decision-support systems and management information systems.
There are 3 areas in the organization. They are strategic, managerial and
operational control.
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the organization. Examples of transaction processing systems include order
tracking, order processing, machine control, plant scheduling, compensation, and
securities trading.
The information required to make such decision must be such that it highlights
the trouble spots and shows the interconnections with the other functions. It must
summarize all information relating to the span of control of the manager. The
information required to make these decisions can be strategic, tactical or
operational information.
Advantages to management:
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action can be taken to correct the situation. To make the system a success,
knowledge will have to be formalized so that machines worldwide have a shared
and common understanding of the information provided. The systems developed
will have to be able to handle enormous amounts of information very fast.
As the transactions are taking place every day, the system stores all the data
which can be used later on when the hotel is in need of some financial help from
financial institutes or banks. As the inventory is always entered into the system,
any frauds can be easily taken care of and if anything goes missing then it can
be detected through the system.
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